TCF 312 Reflection

When we first began this class, I was overwhelmed to say the least. So many new concepts and technical aspects of film were presented to me, and I honestly didn't know if this was the right field for me.

But once everyone started getting in their groove and we went to the studio to play with the equipment, I suddenly had a new motivation. I've always had fun making movies with my friends, and we have done it on a consistent basis, but I never cared to be meticulous in my work...until now. The things we learned in this class have had an incredible effect on my work, among other things.

I was a tad skeptical when I first came to the class and found out we had to keep a blog. It just seemed like busy work and Dr. Raimist was some sort of sadist who derived pleasure from our suffering. Up until the last day of class I was still a little unsure until she talked about it and articulated her reasoning behind it. Doing the research we did and writing our thoughts all paid off in the end. It clearly shows our growth as filmmakers and helps us express our visions in a way we otherwise wouldn’t be able to do. Words can’t describe how thankful I am for that.

One of the things that has probably helped more than anything is the relaxed nature of everything. I didn't feel intimated like I did at the beginning when we first started working with all the equipment. Instead, I became friends with many people in the class and I wasn’t afraid to test out new equipment.

I can't stress enough how beneficial this class was for me. What used to be a hobby has now become an obsession. I can't go five minutes without coming up with a new idea for something to shoot. Just thinking back on things I learned this semester, it's pretty obvious this class has had a bigger impact on me as a videographer , heck, even as a person, then any other class I've taken thus far. I'm beyond grateful to be in TCF 444 now after experiencing this.

DP Reel from Clifton Lewis on Vimeo.

My greatest goal in life is for my art to touch people in a way that is unique and fresh. I've been constantly driven, this year in particular, to show my work to people and elicit some sort of reaction. Usually, my intention is to make people laugh at least a little bit because that's how I view things and everyone could definitely use a few more laughs.

Through my vision, I feel as if I can definitely elicit those reactions, whether it be comedic relief, dramatic, or even horror. I feel as if I've developed a very acute eye for certain things and can deliver that to my audience each and every time I film a movie.

Scene Assignment

Three Guys. No Girl. And A Pizza At A Place. from Clifton Lewis on Vimeo.

Examples of A Money Shot

Short Film

In “A Good Shot,” the flow of the film is impeccable. Each transition seems so smooth and you really get caught up in the video which is a hard feat to achieve considering it’s only six minutes long. The decision to use low key light throughout the film was definitely a smart decision.

I absolutely love the back-and-forth shots of the two men around the two minutes mark, switching flawlessly from green-heavy lighting and blue-lit shots.

The lighting as a whole is what really gets me in this film. It’d be hard to judge if this is a short film or an excerpt from a motion picture if you watched a scene from this film.

Camera Movement

When I think of camera movement, one music video immediately comes to mind: “The Denial Twist” by The White Stripes.

This is the personification of camera movement...cleverly telling a story by moving in and out with the camera to show the viewer what is necessary to look at it in order to tell their story.

Another music video with incredible camera movement that I just watched recently is “This Too Shall Pass” by OK Go.

The camera fluidly moves throughout the building, zooming in on particular objects as we see the story unfold. Without the camera moving moving and zooming consistently, the video wouldn’t have the same effect as it does.

Prepping for the Scripted Scene

In prepping for my scripted scene, I first picked out the script that closely resembled something that I would enjoy filming. I finally came up with a scene from "Swingers."

After that was settled, and after e-mailing Lindsey the script, I went to a few of my friends houses to find out which one would be best suited for the scene, which required three guys to be playing video games on a couch, so first I had to find a big enough couch. Second, I had to look for a room with a door in close proximity to the couch. Luckily, I just recently got a crappy couch from my parent's house and the front door at my place leads into the den.

After that, I wrote down the shot list of everything we would need to film this scene in order to gain complete coverage. Once that was done, I e-mailed it to Lindsey so we could start prepping.

I then had to pin down three of my friends (literally) and force them to be in my movie. Due to my brute strength, I had managed to corral three friends and we were ready to go.

Nothing special for this scene in terms of props. Just a pizza box and a few dollar bills were sufficient. That really cut down on the prep time beforehand.