So here's the final count. We have 87 hours of footage, about 55 of which are interviews. The movie is going to be about 45 minutes long. I hope you're thinking, ". . . how?" Because it was no easy feat.
The people in charge of carving the story out of the countless hours of footage have throughout this process been known as the narrative committee. Although I feel it incumbent upon myself to note that it was more of a narrative "non-committee." Throughout the entire semester there has never been a set group of people who collectively comprised the narrative committee. It was whoever felt strongly about it that week, with of course about 5 regulars. As this is a student-led project and we are all on the same level, no one of us could really turn another one down who was interested in helping, even if it was a scattered showing. The fact that all 17 students are so strongly invested in one story has been the most amazing and equally challenging aspect of this project. But fear not! We did manage. It just took . . . a little bit longer.
We tried a couple of different organizational ideas and finally landed on the most effective to date about 3 weeks ago. Every single reel of footage was assigned to someone on the narrative "committee" (on average about 10 people), which means each of us had about 8 or 9 reels to either watch fully or review the transcripts. In doing this everyone was supposed to find the golden quotes and place them into an appropriate place within the rough script outline posted on our group's personal (wiki) website. It got a little crazy sometimes, and I'm sure not all of the quotes were golden, but in the end everyone did their work. Now, two days away from the premiere, I've seen our work together (thanks to the editors) and I'm very impressed that so many minds can do individual work and it can come together so organically. I'm very proud of our work.
Showing posts with label Narrative. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Narrative. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Monday, November 26, 2007
Ups and Downs...and Ups again
As the semester comes closer to its end, I find myself looking back and evaluating my experience at the Virginia Ball Center. Coming into this semester, I was very excited to have an out-of-the-classroom learning experience. I was a bit nervous about the different type of workload...one semester-long project that cannot be finished by simply cramming at the library the last week of classes. I was also anticipating the diversity of the group of people I would be working with.
My parents kept telling me that this would be a very challenging experience, but completely worth the time and effort. I actually slightly disagreed with them because I knew we had at least 15 people in our group...how challenging could it be if all the work was split up between us!?
The semester started off as good as I could have imagined. Our group got along from the start and soon developed inside jokes and positive group dynamics. I thoroughly enjoyed our class discussions that usually involved gender issues, which is one of my all-time favorite topics. I would leave our daily meetings feeling intellectually fulfilled.
As our semester progressed and we broke off into committees, the stress level of the project increased. It became my number one priority to work with the narrative committee. Many days I found myself feeling completely bogged down and full of stress from trying to develop skills and creative ideas to help produce a narrative for the film. At times, I would feel as if we were making tremendous progress...only to run into another one of the various speed bumps along the journey. Discouraging...
Finally, Finally! A skeleton narrative was produced which was followed by a storyboard. At this point, I could feel our project starting to really come together...there was an end product in sight and we would successfully accomplish our goal.
We have had to place together interview clips/voiceover, visuals, and narration to fit into our storyboard. This required the time-consuming process of going through each and every reel of footage (85 discs to be exact) and recording timecodes for each clip. When I saw the rough cut of the documentary last week, I felt very proud of our work... and thankful that I had been motivated enough to sit at my computer for 13 hours straight the previous day/night in order to give the editors more clips.
I saw clips throughout the documentary that I had personally chosen and it made me feel great inside. It really showed me that all of our hard work throughout the semester has been worth it. If I felt that incredible sense of accomplishment from seeing the rough cut, I cannot wait to feel the sense of pride when we show our final product on Dec. 6!
To sum up this semester in one sentence...
This semester has been the most stressful and challenging educational experience of my life thus far, but the development of skills and sense of accomplishment have been completely worth the time and effort.
Looks like my parents were right...again!
My parents kept telling me that this would be a very challenging experience, but completely worth the time and effort. I actually slightly disagreed with them because I knew we had at least 15 people in our group...how challenging could it be if all the work was split up between us!?
The semester started off as good as I could have imagined. Our group got along from the start and soon developed inside jokes and positive group dynamics. I thoroughly enjoyed our class discussions that usually involved gender issues, which is one of my all-time favorite topics. I would leave our daily meetings feeling intellectually fulfilled.
As our semester progressed and we broke off into committees, the stress level of the project increased. It became my number one priority to work with the narrative committee. Many days I found myself feeling completely bogged down and full of stress from trying to develop skills and creative ideas to help produce a narrative for the film. At times, I would feel as if we were making tremendous progress...only to run into another one of the various speed bumps along the journey. Discouraging...
Finally, Finally! A skeleton narrative was produced which was followed by a storyboard. At this point, I could feel our project starting to really come together...there was an end product in sight and we would successfully accomplish our goal.
We have had to place together interview clips/voiceover, visuals, and narration to fit into our storyboard. This required the time-consuming process of going through each and every reel of footage (85 discs to be exact) and recording timecodes for each clip. When I saw the rough cut of the documentary last week, I felt very proud of our work... and thankful that I had been motivated enough to sit at my computer for 13 hours straight the previous day/night in order to give the editors more clips.
I saw clips throughout the documentary that I had personally chosen and it made me feel great inside. It really showed me that all of our hard work throughout the semester has been worth it. If I felt that incredible sense of accomplishment from seeing the rough cut, I cannot wait to feel the sense of pride when we show our final product on Dec. 6!
To sum up this semester in one sentence...
This semester has been the most stressful and challenging educational experience of my life thus far, but the development of skills and sense of accomplishment have been completely worth the time and effort.
Looks like my parents were right...again!
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Diamond in the Rough
Since our return from the University of Tennessee, we have been devoting our lives to logging, capturing clips for the storyboard, logging, editing and panicking. Did I mention logging? Our time has been spent locked in The Cave, dorm rooms and apartments at all hours -- throwing ourselves into our roles in the project.
The result, thanks to an incredible story board, was the beginning of a "rough cut" that took the story caught in 17 minds and placed it on one computer screen. We still have a lot of work to do, and I can't say how much I appreciate the editors and music boys being able to work with so little time and a crew comprised largely of non-T-com students.
Right now, our narrative script, which shows us the clips that will represent each frame of the story board, is filling out nicely and sequences are forming. Music is being mixed and placed into the film, and ambient noise is being modified.
Last night, the rough cut of the film so far was showed to members of Ball State's and the Center's faculty, and was followed by a discussion of the film's narrative. The outside opinions were helpful, giving us all a chance to step back and look at the film as, using a comparison of Fred Johnson's, a pliable sculpture. We were able to step back from the storyboard and look at new ways to shape the scenes and stories we are creating.
I think Thanksgiving break is going to be a real blessing for us. We'll be able to come back and look at the project with fresh ideas, after having days of isolation which I know at least half of us will use to stew over the project and think of new ways to use clips, new pieces of footage to include, new interviews that introduce ideas. . .
The result, thanks to an incredible story board, was the beginning of a "rough cut" that took the story caught in 17 minds and placed it on one computer screen. We still have a lot of work to do, and I can't say how much I appreciate the editors and music boys being able to work with so little time and a crew comprised largely of non-T-com students.
Right now, our narrative script, which shows us the clips that will represent each frame of the story board, is filling out nicely and sequences are forming. Music is being mixed and placed into the film, and ambient noise is being modified.
Last night, the rough cut of the film so far was showed to members of Ball State's and the Center's faculty, and was followed by a discussion of the film's narrative. The outside opinions were helpful, giving us all a chance to step back and look at the film as, using a comparison of Fred Johnson's, a pliable sculpture. We were able to step back from the storyboard and look at new ways to shape the scenes and stories we are creating.
I think Thanksgiving break is going to be a real blessing for us. We'll be able to come back and look at the project with fresh ideas, after having days of isolation which I know at least half of us will use to stew over the project and think of new ways to use clips, new pieces of footage to include, new interviews that introduce ideas. . .
Saturday, October 20, 2007
I totally dominated Final Cut Pro!
Yep, you read right. The philosophy/psychology major has mastered professional editing software. Well, maybe I didn't master it, but it feels like I did! This past week I spent most of my time working with Teri and Samantha D on the behind-the-scenes documentary. During the all-nighter we started to pull together all of the footage of the class that has been taken thus far. We soon realized that while we had lots of footage of classmates doing things, we didn't have anyone talking about our project. We decided at that point to do a couple interviews with Aaron L. and Rachel. We also created a list of all the subjects that we needed people to speak on so that we can 1) use the footage we already have and 2) create a documentary that is representative of our creative process. At this point we want to interview our classmates on the subjects of interviewing, the reunion, the Tennessee trip, frustrations with the project, learning new skills, our own attempts at playing volleyball, and our enhanced appreciation and excitement for Burris volleyball. I'm sure we will add more subjects as the semester progresses.
On Wednesday, Samantha D. and I discovered that Kecia expected a clip of the behind-the-scenes documentary by next Tuesday. We looked at the mess before us and decided there was no way to we could create a trailer that hit on all the subjects that we wanted to cover. We had been working intensely on a small section devoted to the all-nighter narrative meeting and came up with the idea to just focus on that section for the Tuesday screening. It was very important to us to create a trailer with structure as we need to get used to envisioning the project, itself, as a story. We added an introduction and a nice wrap up, as well as a few surprises of which I am quite proud. By the time we were finished we had created a trailer with a little story line and even some music.
The completion of a 3 minute and 42 second trailer might not seem like a huge accomplishment, but for me it was. I had spent most of the semester completely avoiding anything associated with technology. I was convinced that I would break or mess up any of the great work that was being done by my more technologically savvy classmates. Tackling this fear was a huge achievement for me. I also experienced the reward that comes from creating something tangible. Most of my college experience has been spent reading and writing papers. A whole semester may result in one paper that I actually like, but this was totally different. I don't know exactly how to explain it, but I finally felt like I had something to show for all of the work I (and the others) had done. It is simply different from turning in a paper at the end of the year, or giving a presentation. I was so excited about what I had completed that I told everyone I saw and even called my mom. That's something I have never experienced with a good paper and it's awesome. I can't wait to continue working on this part of the project!
**And thanks to everyone who popped in and imparted some of their wisdom on us: Adam, Dan, Aaron L., Blake, Laura Huffman, and anyone else I have forgotten**
On Wednesday, Samantha D. and I discovered that Kecia expected a clip of the behind-the-scenes documentary by next Tuesday. We looked at the mess before us and decided there was no way to we could create a trailer that hit on all the subjects that we wanted to cover. We had been working intensely on a small section devoted to the all-nighter narrative meeting and came up with the idea to just focus on that section for the Tuesday screening. It was very important to us to create a trailer with structure as we need to get used to envisioning the project, itself, as a story. We added an introduction and a nice wrap up, as well as a few surprises of which I am quite proud. By the time we were finished we had created a trailer with a little story line and even some music.
The completion of a 3 minute and 42 second trailer might not seem like a huge accomplishment, but for me it was. I had spent most of the semester completely avoiding anything associated with technology. I was convinced that I would break or mess up any of the great work that was being done by my more technologically savvy classmates. Tackling this fear was a huge achievement for me. I also experienced the reward that comes from creating something tangible. Most of my college experience has been spent reading and writing papers. A whole semester may result in one paper that I actually like, but this was totally different. I don't know exactly how to explain it, but I finally felt like I had something to show for all of the work I (and the others) had done. It is simply different from turning in a paper at the end of the year, or giving a presentation. I was so excited about what I had completed that I told everyone I saw and even called my mom. That's something I have never experienced with a good paper and it's awesome. I can't wait to continue working on this part of the project!
**And thanks to everyone who popped in and imparted some of their wisdom on us: Adam, Dan, Aaron L., Blake, Laura Huffman, and anyone else I have forgotten**
Friday, October 19, 2007
All-Nighters and Boxed Webs
This week the group and I decided that we needed to sit down and hammer out more of a narrative for the film. Since we are college kids, we decided to do this in the form of an all- nighter at the mansion. (Because really, who wouldn't want to sleep at the mansion??) Most of us congregated between 7 and 8 with food, and started talking about the plan for the rest of the evening.
Once we had more of an organized game plan, we watched a couple of the interviews together while we finished our late dinners, then began coming up with sub-groups and categories. These were branches of our big themes such as gender, community, and sports. We all decided we needed to be more specific and came up with many sub-topics to focus on. After this we ventured up into the creepy 3rd floor and started designing our "box web". We started with Burris history and branched off from there. We also made lists of follow up interviews we want, interviews we have yet to get, and other footage we need to make a good movie.
While some of the narrative team was in the attic, other members of the group were working on the behind-the-scenes documentary while our musicians were composing a song for the film. Both made very good progress. Kristen, Teri and Samantha had clips to show us throughout the night, and interviewed Aaron L. and myself so they could incorporate sound bytes into their film. I have yet to force myself to work on editing with the Final Cut Pro, so I have a lot of respect for those that have sat down and learned it. And as for the musicians, we could hear the drumming all the way in the attic. It amazes me how they can complete a song in one night.
After descending from the attic, the Aarons went on a pizza run to keep the rest of us fed and motivated. The narrative team watched and read through interviews, finding the parts that we found insightful as well as fitting into the narrative topics we had just layed out. This was more difficult then I thought it would be. Nearly every interview has so many good sound bytes within it. This makes it difficult to choose just a few from each person.Around midnight some people started trickling out because of work or meetings in the morning. Others stayed and kept working until about 2 a.m.
After that our productivity went a little down, but those of us that were left listened to Adam and Dan's newest song. Then we had a little drum circle/jam session which helped keep up our spirits. We slept (ghost free) for about four hours, claiming both couches and floor space.
The first of what I can only imagine will be many all-nighters was incredibly successful. We showed Kecia our web the next morning, and she seemed pleased with our work. She also listened to the new song which she enjoyed. I learned that many of us work a lot better at night and it's when many of us are free since our jobs fill our daytime hours. The narrative keeps coming further and further and I can't wait to see the final product.
Rachel
Once we had more of an organized game plan, we watched a couple of the interviews together while we finished our late dinners, then began coming up with sub-groups and categories. These were branches of our big themes such as gender, community, and sports. We all decided we needed to be more specific and came up with many sub-topics to focus on. After this we ventured up into the creepy 3rd floor and started designing our "box web". We started with Burris history and branched off from there. We also made lists of follow up interviews we want, interviews we have yet to get, and other footage we need to make a good movie.
While some of the narrative team was in the attic, other members of the group were working on the behind-the-scenes documentary while our musicians were composing a song for the film. Both made very good progress. Kristen, Teri and Samantha had clips to show us throughout the night, and interviewed Aaron L. and myself so they could incorporate sound bytes into their film. I have yet to force myself to work on editing with the Final Cut Pro, so I have a lot of respect for those that have sat down and learned it. And as for the musicians, we could hear the drumming all the way in the attic. It amazes me how they can complete a song in one night.
After descending from the attic, the Aarons went on a pizza run to keep the rest of us fed and motivated. The narrative team watched and read through interviews, finding the parts that we found insightful as well as fitting into the narrative topics we had just layed out. This was more difficult then I thought it would be. Nearly every interview has so many good sound bytes within it. This makes it difficult to choose just a few from each person.Around midnight some people started trickling out because of work or meetings in the morning. Others stayed and kept working until about 2 a.m.
After that our productivity went a little down, but those of us that were left listened to Adam and Dan's newest song. Then we had a little drum circle/jam session which helped keep up our spirits. We slept (ghost free) for about four hours, claiming both couches and floor space.
The first of what I can only imagine will be many all-nighters was incredibly successful. We showed Kecia our web the next morning, and she seemed pleased with our work. She also listened to the new song which she enjoyed. I learned that many of us work a lot better at night and it's when many of us are free since our jobs fill our daytime hours. The narrative keeps coming further and further and I can't wait to see the final product.
Rachel
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