Dilemma

May 2, 2008 at 12:00 am (Crime Movie)

I have just noticed I am running out of time, which is not a good thing. I do not like my second script, so I haven’t started on the storyboard yet, and I’m thinking of ideas for the new script. After the miserable movie I uploaded to Youtube, I got one comment saying that it sucked. I know it is true, but hearing it directly from another person made me a little annoyed, so I deleted it immediately, but regretted it because I wanted to also criticize him/her/it. It was an annoying experience, but I satisfied myself by picturing myself beating up the anonymous (since I forgot his/her/its ID name) critic. I am so easy to please (just in case one did not notice, this is another boring sarcasm of mine). So I thought of a new idea that I might make me more interested than the previous one.

I like songs so much (listening to them, not singing, my voice is a disgrace) that my MP3 got taken away for a long time, and it still is. I listen to a lot of music, like Korean rap and ballads, I know a good deal about the songs and singers, and I’m not exactly into crime as much as I was in the beginning of semester. I was thinking maybe I could make a parody of a music video, which is related to crime. I have one in mind, and it is Korean, but it is a very good music video, and it has to do with crime. Personally, I think it is the best music video I’ve ever seen. It is far better than the English which has rappers sticking out their middle fingers. The title is ‘Gujitmal’ (Lies) by Big Bang.

Again, I will try make it funny, but I do not think I’ll succeed.

I have just talked to Mr. Burell, and he says that I cannot use copyrighted music, and even though I am still interested in crimes, I am not interested in committing one, so I forgot about the music (sadly). I am now planning to make a parody of the music video that I just talked about, but without the music, and on second thoughts, without the sounds. This is not a happy video, so maybe non-existant sound effects will put more effect(?) into the whole video itself.

Lastly, it may be one of the many little thoughts that come to my mind every minute, but since their name is Big Bang, I might want to add to the title that production is from Small Bang. Haha.

This is the original video.

This is Big Bang. Aren’t they cute? Haha.

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Critique of the First Movie

April 24, 2008 at 5:44 am (Crime Movie)

I have finished making my first movie, and I am not sure if I feel good about it. To start on the good side, I think that the use of sound effect is pretty good, but I am not proud of the camerawork. The acting was fine for the most part, and the props were bearable, since we didn’t need a lot of them. I am still not sure if it is good enough to upload on Youtube.

For next time, I need to learn how to use the tripod properly, because the whole movie was very shaky and the camerawork had to improve. The lighting wasn’t too bad, because the classroom and hallway that we captured in were moderately bright. What I really like in my movie is the sound effects. Some of them are meant to be funny and ironic, and overall, I think it suits the purpose and concept of the movie. The visuals, such as the titles, are good enough because they have fonts that go along with the movie.

Most IMPORTANT, I have to use my storyboard. I worked really hard on it, and for some unknown reason it slipped out of my mind to actually use the storyboard when I was filming the film. Nice. There are some pictures of my storyboard, so check it out. (My fantastic artistic abilities..argh)

photo-35.jpgphoto-34.jpgphoto-33.jpgphoto-32.jpgphoto-30.jpg

This is the movie, so please try to notice how the movie could have been much better if I used this storyboard.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://kr.youtube.com/v/oiD5HHRBwJQ" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]I uploaded the movie anyway, so please view this darn thing! I’m willing to make the next movie much better than this one, and if anyone would care to look at this movie and comment on it, it would be so much welcomed.

Any lessons learned? I definitely did.

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The Outcome of the First Movie

April 24, 2008 at 5:35 am (Crime Movie)

This week I made the first movie, and I must say, it sucks. The acting was OK I guess, but there were some unnecessary sounds that I made by mistake, such as giggling or laughing because I was nervous, which sounded more like I was sniveling, if that’s what people call it. The tripod was stiff, and made small creaking sounds that went along with my giggles to interfere with the movie.

I thought the cool part in the movie was using a real knife and fake blood (which we also call ketchup) and no real blood actually came out (instead, I received some suspicious and disapproving looks from the cafeteria ladies when asked if I could borrow the ketchup).

Sometimes I zoomed in to the wrong direction and got only the nose instead of the whole face, and it was depressing, because for the ‘librarian scene’, I abandoned the tripod because I had to turn 180 degrees, and I was afraid the the stiff tripod would fall or won’t move, because it’s stiff. I’m hoping that the movie will come in a much better shape after I work on it in iMovie, as soon as I learn how to do it without breaking my computer.

Overall, I’m not sure if I can call this movie successful because I don’t think it came out very well. I will keep working on it because I tried.

Thanks to :
Ann, Eunice, Beatrice, Paul (for acting), cafeteria lady (for letting me borrow the ketchup, in spite of the suspicious glances), Mr. Bray (for letting Ann and Eunice get out of the classroom), Beatrice’s Chinese teacher (for letting Beatrice get out of the classroom, and for not being mad at me), librarian (even though she made walk up and down the stairs to retrieve a library pass), and Mr. Burell (for letting me use the camera and tripod).

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The Difference a Title can Make

April 24, 2008 at 4:55 am (Crime Movie)

Looking at the sites in www.alltop.com, the crime section, I have found some blog titles that look so boring I do not even want to even visit that blog, and some titles that look interesting and look like they have at least something to do with crime. The top three boring titles are : CNN.COM-LAW, MSNBC.COM: CRIME & COURTS, and NYDAILYNEWS.COM – NEW YORK CRIME HEADLINES AND ARTICLES – NY DAILY NEWS. These titles make me want to sleep. On the contrary, there are some interesting and hooking titles such as DUMB CRIMINALS, DUMB CROOKS, and STUPID CRIMINAL FILES. I picked the blogs that had the words ‘dumb’ and ’stupid’ because when someone says ‘crime’, we tend to mention sinister detectives running after an equally sinister, but more evil criminals. When the words ‘dumb’ and ’stupid’ come out on a crime blog title, it is ironic, so it catches one’s attention, and also, we may want to know the limits of one’s stupidity, which seems endless nowadays. When we go deeper into blogs, we find posts. I chose to go into the blogs which had funny and catching titles, to see whether they had similarly entertaining titles or if they had really boring titles which again would make me want to sleep. I just found a boring title ; A Kid is into Pot. Who cares about a kid in a pot? I am sure that there would be enough stupid kids in the world to try that, no matter whose child it is. The second title I chose was ‘Mary Ann From Gilligan’s Island Arrested On Marijuana-Related Charges‘. The reason for this is because there are too many bastards doing marijuana in the world to keep track of everyone (oops, in this case, not a bastard, because the name seems female). The very last title I think is not good is ‘Man Reported After Reporting Pot Theft’. Wow. I, and hopefully the readers of this post realized how boring a title can be. The world has certainly changed a lot.

Back to the bright side with lots of interesting crime and stupid detectives (that was definitely one of my cynical sarcasms), I will now present some super titles that instantly makes you want to read the post, for example, ‘Don’t go to Court when Wanted’. This is funny!! A even funnier one is ‘Man Eats Marijuana in Attempt to Hide it from Police‘. This is interesting because marijuana is not for your digestive system, it is for your lungs. I felt sorry for that man who would have had all that crap in his stomach. The third title I chose was ‘A Dork with a Spork‘. I didn’t know what a spork meant till I searched in the dictionary – ‘a spoon shaped eating utensil with short tines at the tip’. Then, I didn’t know what tine meant, so I went and searched my good friend dictionary once more – ‘a prong or sharp point, such as that on a fork or antler’. Then, I didn’t know what prong meant (thanks to my fantastic vocab skills), so I searched the dictionary again, hoping it would be the last time – ‘each of two or more projected parts at the end of a fork’. It was the last time. To explain for why I think this title is funny is because – it rhymes. I couldn’t care less about a man in Alaska with a spork in his hands, but the rhyming part was actually entertaining.

All in all, I think that the element of a good title is getting attention, and having some sort of humor in it. Thank you for reading this post.

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Plans for the Movie

March 13, 2008 at 5:41 am (Crime Movie)

I have thought more about the movie I am going to make soon (hopefully), and as I have said before, I plan to put in sounds and OSTs that are ironic to what’s happening in the movie, which will hopefully make the movie more entertaining. To name a few, I plan to put Kim Chu Ja’s ‘Gujitmaliya’ (it’s an old song, and the title means ‘They are lies’) when Sandy is interrogating with the detective, which is ironic and unexpected. Secondly, I plan to put Wondergirls’ ‘Tell me’ when Tom expresses his profound hatred to Sandy, and she doesn’t realize it. The quick, cheerful dance music would make the scene less serious. I am planning to put in Big Bang’s ‘Gujitmal’ (which means ‘Lies’) when Sandy runs away from Tom’s body because of the specific lyric ‘I’m so sorry but I love you da gujitmal’, and I think it will go well with the scene, in a sarcastic way. When Sandy goes to the librarian, I plan to put in Dong Bang Shin Gi’s ‘Pungsun’ (which means balloons) to express Sandy’s innocence. Then when she kills the librarian, I will put the climax part of the song ‘What I’ve Done’ by Linkinpark, to give an insight to Sandy’s thoughts. Apart from songs, I will put some random sounds that do not relate to what’s happening at the scene, for example, a dog barking when Tom has a knife plunged into him. Even though I’ve planned them out, I am still not sure if this will make the movie too graphical and unrealistic. Thank you for reading this post and I will be happy to read anyone’s comments or opinions on how they think about my ideas. It would be very helpful if anyone who reads this post comments on this, because I am desperate for anyone’s opinions. Thank you.

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Cheerful Soundtracks for Crime Movie

March 13, 2008 at 12:16 am (Crime Movie)

I have thought more about the movie I am going to make soon (hopefully), and as I have said before, I plan to put in sounds and OSTs that are ironic to what’s happening in the movie, which will hopefully make the movie more entertaining. To name a few, I plan to put Kim Chu Ja’s ‘Gujitmaliya’ (it’s an old song, and the title means ‘They are lies’) when Sandy is interrogating with the detective, which is ironic and unexpected. Secondly, I plan to put Wondergirls’ ‘Tell me’ when Tom expresses his profound hatred to Sandy, and she doesn’t realize it. The quick, cheerful dance music would make the scene less serious. I am planning to put in Big Bang’s ‘Gujitmal’ (which means ‘Lies’) when Sandy runs away from Tom’s body because of the specific lyric ‘I’m so sorry but I love you da gujitmal’, and I think it will go well with the scene, in a sarcastic way. When Sandy goes to the librarian, I plan to put in Dong Bang Shin Gi’s ‘Pungsun’ (which means balloons) to express Sandy’s innocence. Then when she kills the librarian, I will put the climax part of the song ‘What I’ve Done’ by Linkinpark, to give an insight to Sandy’s thoughts. Apart from songs, I will put some random sounds that do not relate to what’s happening at the scene, for example, a dog barking when Tom has a knife plunged into him. Even though I’ve planned them out, I am still not sure if this will make the movie too graphical and unrealistic. Thank you for reading this post and I will be happy to read anyone’s comments or opinions on how they think about my ideas. It would be very helpful if anyone who reads this post comments on this, because I am desperate for anyone’s opinions. Thank you.

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Dreams for being a Movie Director

March 12, 2008 at 5:39 am (Crime Movie)

My first dream ever was to become an archeologist, when I was five years old, but a long time has passed since then. Then my dreams were to become an actor, when I was seven, but soon gave up after I looked at my reflection in the mirror, and then I wanted to become a professional judo player. When I was eleven, and I remember that my stimuli for wanting to become a judo player was because I wanted fight with my uncle, who is still about twice as big as I am, so he’s really big. Then, I kind of realized that I should become less like a man, so I chose to be a detective when I was thirteen. That dream lasted for about two years, but then, I had to give in to my hopeless sports skills, because I was, am, am going to be bad at sports, forever. This seemed soo unfair!
Then after watching eight movies in a row (when I was living in Moscow and my parents were out for two days) I really wanted to be a movie director. I admire how the directors hold the black and white cardboard thing and say ‘action!’ and ‘cut!’, and they also look really cool and TV when they explain how they directed their pieces. But most of all, I want to meet some celebrities such as Ha Jung Woo, Gang Ji Hwan, Jang Geun Seok and lots more.
Being in English Seminar class, I have a chance to at least try making a movie, because it is what I always wanted to do, and upload it on Youtube (hopefully). I have part of the storyboard ready, but not the whole thing. My short film is not exactly funny, and I’m not a very funny person, so I tried to make it funny by adding some very ironic pieces of music, and picture, such as Wondergirls ‘Tell me’, Big Bang ‘Gujitmal’, Kim Chu Ja ‘Gujitmaliya’, and for picture, I plan to put a picture of a pig before and after every flashback moments, because, my favorite animal is a pig and I’d like to put it as a mascot. I am hoping these pieces of music make the movie a little more enjoyable.Thank you for bearing with my post about myself and my film.

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I don’t know what to do!!

March 7, 2008 at 5:37 am (Crime Movie)

I didn’t have enough time to go to the IT office today, because of my interview with Mr. Couros (I got some information!), so I’m not sure if I can storyboard but I really want to edit my script to make it better, because it needs lots of improvement, and there’s another thing I really wanted to do – I was thinking about putting in an NG parade to make it at least a little bit more entertaining, because I don’t think my script itself is very entertaining (? hm…I’m not quite sure about what I’m writing…) Also, whenever I watched ‘behind the scenes’ part of a movie, or review documentaries, I always admired the ‘NG parade’ and how the actors and directors explained what they had to go through to do a good staging and how to become the character (it’s really cool how they talk about it, I think that is one of the reasons for why I want to become a movie director ). By adding the ‘NG parade’ I think it will make the overall movie more interesting and more fun to watch.

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Script Draft

March 5, 2008 at 5:39 am (Crime Movie)

School Crime

Sandy : 9th grade school nerd
Tom : 9th grade boy, hates Sandy
Student Detective : fellow 9th grader, very serious
Librarian

Detective – So…how did this all happen?
Sandy – It…it was an accident! I really didn’t mean to do Tom any harm!
Detective – You mean that you accidently stabbed a knife into his stomach, when the blade was open.

Flashback
(Sandy walks down the hallway, and sees Tom)
Sandy – Hi Tom! How is your day going? I got a 100 percent on the science test! I thought I was going to get an F or something worse!
Tom – I never asked your science grade, go away.
Sandy – (seems not to have heard Tom) Oh, yesterday I was at a flee market, and I bought this really cool knife for 5000 won. (Flicks the knife open as she shows it to him, and turns face to face with him) Isn’t it pretty?
Tom – I don’t care where you spend your money on, even for drugs, which you seem to take daily. I recommend a medicine that increases your IQ instead of drugs.
Sandy – Oh, and – (accidently trips over her shoelaces, as she steps to the left side, plunging the knife into Tom’s stomach)
(Tom freezes, blood comes out)
Sandy – Oh…. (blinks stupidly, not knowing the seriousness of the problem yet) are you ok?
(Tom falls to the ground, then Sandy realizes that she killed Tom, and runs away, her hands over her head)
End of flashback

Sandy – (hesitates) Yes…But I really didn’t mean any harm! Tom and I are best friends, you know.
Detective – (makes a face) I………uhh…..see.
Sandy – I ——
Detective – Then what happened to the school librarian? Was that ALSO an accident?
Sandy – Yes, I just wanted to ask her to recommend some books on crime…and…

Flashback
Sandy – (out of breath, starts talking to the librarian)Hello, can you recommend some books on crime?
Librarian – Sure follow me. (Looks at Sandy’s arm, with some blood, and gives it a strange look)
(It takes Sandy a while to realize what she is looking at)
Sandy – Oh, this isn’t anything! It’s just some paint from art class.
Librarian – (apparently scared of Sandy, hands her a huge, heavy book) I think this has everything you would want to find on crime.
Sandy – Thank you. (receives the book, but is too heavy, and accidently hits the librarian on the head, knocking her out) Ah!
(Librarian is on the floor, dead. Sandy runs out of the library)
End of flashback

Sandy – I ACCIDENTLY killed two people before lunchtime. It’s really…
Detective – Odd.
Sandy – Look, I’m really clumsy. I gave my baby sister a doll for her birthday, and the next day, I had muddy boots on…and something was in my way, so I…
Detective – (Sighs) Don’t tell me you stepped on the doll’s face.
Sandy – I didn’t.. I stepped on my sister’s. Years later she still has a squashed nose. But how did you know it was me?
Detectives – Your shoe was next to Tom’s body, and there was also a science test with a score of a 50%, which has your name on it.
Sandy – (Looks down in embarrassment)

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Crime and Film

March 2, 2008 at 5:35 am (Crime Movie)

I got in touch with Alec Couros, and he agreed to do an interview on skype. I am planning to ask him questions like :
1. Is there anything different in how the movie directors direct or use tools to make a crime film?
2. Do you know how detectives’ lifestyles are; such as how much sleep they get, and how much they get paid?
3. What kind of tools do you get to film crime?
4. How do you make the wounds?
5. Is there a good chance of getting promoted when you work as an actor?
6. In general, how are the actors’ relationships with the director?
7. How do you set up the staging in climax moments?
8. Is it hard work?
9. Would you recommend your job to other people?

After I finish the interview I plan to start making a crime film in school. At first I thought about making a serious crime film, but on second thoughts I think that it may be better to make a semi-comic school crime film with nerdy detectives who can’t solve crimes properly. As well as my interview, I will continue researching in the internet blogs the lives of detectives and staging of films.

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