Cameraless filmmaking has been a complete blast for me so far. Every Thursday I get so excited to come to class to see what new and exciting thing we are going to be doing. Because chances are I’ve never done anything like it before, and new experiences really get me excited.
I have also developed a newfound respect for those who make cameraless films. We’ve seen ours that we have roughly put together, and they’re alright, but obviously not planned in any meticulous way. However, going back and watching some of the other films that we have seen in class, there is some very obvious planning and effort going into these films that the untrained eye may not be able to see. An average person could see one of our class creations and then a film by Brakhage and not know the difference, but there very clearly is one, and I feel that I can now see it, and have much more of an appreciation for it.
I was really into the rayograms that we did last week. I’ve always been interested in photography and developing my own film with the chemicals in a dark room, but have never taken a class or gotten around to having someone teach me how to do it, so that was my first experience with developing. Seeing the finished product after not really knowing what you had laid down and where do to the extreme darkness was like a little gift or surprise. I embrace those little gifts of life, you’ve got to enjoy the little things to make it worthwhile! I have to say I enjoyed the experience thoroughly and think very interesting things could come from experimenting with it.
I also really enjoyed the magazine transfer lesson. I was always a big silly putty fan because it could transfer newsprint, and now I’ve learned that I can transfer pretty much anything and put it onto film. After watching the reel we made in class I discovered what colors look best (bright, lots of contrast) and if you want anything to really show up you’ve got to repeat it over and over and OVER. I felt so badly for the boy next to me (sorry I forgot your name man) who cut out all of those eyes and worked pretty much the whole class time putting that together, and then I barely saw it in the final film. It just goes to show people who make these sort of films must be EXTREMELY patient.
Patience is something I’ve been having trouble with while working on my animation portion of the cameraless filmmaking project. I’m just not sure if I’m doing small enough movements, and working in such a small frame is really difficult as well. Detail is next to impossible it seems, and I’m just really worried that when it is played through the projector it won’t animate properly. I know it will go by in a matter of seconds, but I really want those couple of seconds to look good, and for the audience to be able to tell what is going on!
Like I said, overall I’m really enjoying the whole process of cameraless filmmaking and can’t wait to see what all of the groups come up with because I feel that they will all be similar, in that we are all using the same techniques with the same assignment, yet radically different because of everyone’s own personal interpretation.
Good luck to everyone in your finalizations of your projects!
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