Final Shoot:

My group (group C) worked towards a round table discussion about health on Shepherd's campus. We narrowed the topic to include three basic sections; what is being taught in the health classes on this campus, what healthy eating choices are available at Shepherd, and finally what can be done to improve.

This did not, on it's face, sound like a controversial topic.

We were greeted, however, with much difficulty as we selected and approached guests.

I first approached the instructor who runs the human performance lab. He seemed enthusiastic and was on board with the project. Unfortunately due to scheduling conflicts he informed me that he would not be able to attend the shoot. I contacted several other GSPE instructors; many did not respond, many were hesitant. In the final hour I was able to lock down a guest, a GSPE instructor who was very generous and trusting of this project.

As much difficulty as I faced finding a faculty member able and willing to come into the studio, my fellow group members faced even more hardship. In short, Shepherd's dining services found our topic to be confrontational (despite eager assurances that we did not mean to host a debate, just a simple discussion) and declined our invitation into the studio.

Additionally group members had trouble finding students willing to get in front of the camera.

We all worked tirelessly, putting on our very best and convincing faces.

Today, in the studio, we will have one student guest and the GSPE instructor that I rallied to the cause. We have a clear cut time schedule, our discussion topics prepared and printed. We are hoping for less hardship in the actual studio than we faced in preparing for this shoot.

I plan to either direct or technical direct in the studio today.

Revision Process:

After the midway checkpoint with my advisor and additional department directors I was determined to be on track, with few revisions to be made. The principal of which was to pen all hand-drawn pencil panels, rescan them and replace them into the final pages. The goal being to thicken the lines and create a less washed out appearance. Initially I had thought I wanted my panels to be light, sketchy, erratic. In practice this looked poorly put together and did not reflect the hours of tedious work I had put into the project. In this revision process the lines were given more density, giving the over page a more professional and cohesive feel:

Where previously pages included scans of this quality:

The former makes for a much crisper image. I decided, instead, to convey the frantic-ness, the slips of sanity by my protagonist, through my font. Initially I had elected to use Comic Life's default font, something very thin which resembled Arial. The finished product using something more sketchy, a thicker lined font. The final feel then is a sort of disconnect between what is being seen (through image) and what is being said (through text). This may seem to be paradoxical, a sort of breach of the fourth wall, but it is absolutely intentional. The tone of a postmodernist text (which I take inspiration from in this project) is one of distrust; I intend for my audience to feel uneasy, wary of my authorial voice, to be cognisant of the work as a fiction, as unreal. 

I am able to achieve this through careful planning. I can use a sharper image and simultaneously make my readership feel Simon's anxiety pulsing from the page. 

Things for free:

When looking for free editing software for the scans of my sketches I came across Pixlr. Pixlr, like other free online photo editing software (Picnik, FotoFlexer, LunaPic) allows you to upload a photograph from your computer (some sites let you import photos from Facebook or Flickr, etc) and edit them. I decided to use this software because it was the most user friendly that I tested and allowed me to add color to my photos. For the sections of my graphic novel which are fantasy I've decided to add color (muted, but color nonetheless) to contrast with the grayscale of Simon's world.

These photos come from the 17th page of my graphic novel. I'll include one of Simon, which has no color, and two of Ruby (one with the original color, and another with the final muted effect). I used Pixlr to edit all of these photos and will continue to use Pixlr, perhaps adding photoshop effects at a later date:

 This is the first panel of page 17.

Here is the second panel. Originally I just added the colors that I thought were most fitting. However, after fiddling around with some of Pixlr's effects I found one I rather liked called "Old Photo":

I liked the way that this effect added color to the panel but didn't overpower it. I want there to be differentiation between reality and fiction in my piece but I don't want those lines to be so distinct. After all, Simon himself is struggling with those boundaries so that reader should feel them blurring ever so slightly as well.

Shoot participation; Rolling with the punches:

(Photo Credit: snow0810)

Over the course of our two day commercial shoot for Shepherd's writing center I took on several different jobs. Initially (during day one) I stayed in the booth and observed. I have had trouble wrapping my mind around the audio booth; figuring out what all of the switches on the board do has proven as difficult for me as simplifying my understanding of sound as a concept (which is qualitative) to sound as physical waves. I watched peers direct, technical direct, and operate the sound board. I did a lot of listening the first day, to both our client/director (the writing center) and to students and our instructor. It was interesting to see how ideas for the commercial clashed, how separate concepts became melded together.

I was much more hands on during the second day of shooting. I operated a camera; this mostly consisted of setting up the shot (listening to the director, taking his direction) and then holding the camera in place. I assisted with audio, placing mics on talent, and was floor manager (relayed messages from the booth to the set) for one go-round.

While my second day of shooting was much more active I feel that I was actively learning both days. My second day I expanded my "techie" knowledge. I became more comfortable doning a headset, more willing to raise my own voice and give direction. I started to become comfortable with the camera. I learned that talent do not want you to touch them which makes placing a mic a more complicated task than it seems it would be.  My first day of shooting found me adjusting to the whole process. I have always envisioned filming being more set in stone, harder to change. Nothing, I discovered, is fixed. The entire process is this really cool fluid thing that requires more input than any other creative medium I have encountered. Sitting down to write a short story isn't like this. I found it both jarring and fascinating to be a part of. Additionally the ability to just keep going despite mistake was something I hadn't considered. We were working with non-actors, genuine writing center employees and affiliates, and had the unique challenge of shooting them. We set up a white board with the script written on it, ideally so that they could read a few lines then turn to the camera and recite them. The process was meant to repeat in that fashion, leaving us the room to edit and fit together a commercial that would appear to be rehearsed. Naturally the board became a crutch and we noticed more and more our talent's eyes drifting toward it rendering the footage virtually un-editable. So on the second day of shooting we removed the board entirely. We had someone feed the talent their lines from a position beside the camera. We were put in a positon where we had to problem solve without going out and buying some "magic fix-it"or taking weeks to brainstorm a new strategy.

What I took away from the experience was, above all, the need to be flexible in the study. Studio production puts you in a collaborative environment where you are never (regardless of the job that you hold) totally in control. You have to learn to roll with the punches.

Modules, modules, modules:

For my Drupal website I will be making a basic resume site, including my portfolio, my contact information, and my capstone research and final project. 

I've been having difficulty going through Drupal's list of modules. I'm just not sure what I need. I don't need anything fancy; a shopping chart, Facebook likes or links. I've compiled a list of options, below, to consider during the development process:

• Shadowbox : This feature highlights photos, bringing them into the foreground much like Facebook's "Image Viewer". This could be a nice way to show the pages of my capstone project. 
• Guestbook : I'm not sure if this would be a stretch (or maybe even unreasonable or inappropriate) but I could have a guestbook for "references" of previous employers, instructors in this area. This would give people who knew me a place to brag a little, if they felt it deserved, and if they didn't have anything nice to say I would have the power to delete it. 
• Bibliography Module : This would be the perfect format for my capstone research. 

Progress:

Progress is slow but steady.

I have completely finished storyboarding the project but actual sketching of panels is proving consistently baffling. The option of stylizing my own sketches in Photoshop has been shown to me - a neat little trick where I can create more depth, add color, or alter my sketches in Photoshop. I look forward to exploring this venue further as more of my sketches are completed.

I have, however, found a sonnet of which I'm fond that I think I will use (properly cited, of course) for the last page of my novel. It's a sonnet by John Keats which explores his fears (and more universally, any artist's fears) of dying before reaching his own artistic potential. While I have always harbored a crush for Keats and his work I never really until I re-stumbled upon his sonnet "When I Have Fears that I May Cease to Be" that I realized I had, in part, modeled my protagonist after him.

(Photo Credit: Phil Sellens)

Simon, my protagonist, has a driving need to finish his novel before the end of the world, more personally his own world. Keats lived a life sprinkled by tragedy and by the time this sonnet was written knew that his own short life was coming to its end. Keats died at the age of 25 of the very disease that ravaged his mother and his brother. What has always fascinated me about Keats (and this hinges and is limited to, I understand, of my own interpretation of his poetry) was his hope, his sentimentality, his grounded-ness. I am moved throughout his poetry by the tenderness of his spirit, by the wonder through which he approaches life. Keats loved living, despite his fears and perhaps because of them. Keats cherished, revled in simple everyday beauty. 

Simon, my novel's main character, is not yet able to appreciate the world as it is. By the end of the story we find Simon transformed, still afraid but hopeful. We find a little bit of Keats in him. 

I realize that that is the story I wanted to tell all along. I thought I wanted to write something about the basic goodness in life, but really I just wanted to write about one man's struggle to see that. About my own struggle to see that. 

Writing Center Shoot:

This week we are shooting a commercial for the University Writing Center, a group of students working out of the library's basement who edit papers for their peers and try to instill better writing in our campuses students. 


We plan to shoot the commercial against a black curtain, the subjects facing away from the camera to recite their lines. These shots will be interspersed with shots of a "title card" which will ask a "student" question about the Writing Center.


The biggest hurdle in dealing with a shoot like this is that we won't be dealing with actors, we'll be working with people. Everyday people who aren't practiced in making what is fake (a scripted conversation) look like what is real (an actual conversation). The pros of this type of commercial (the black background with our subjects looking off camera) are that it masks the awkwardness of non-actors, it is also simple and not difficult to edit.


But I'm not quite sure it conveys the tone of our message properly. 

What's great about the "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" commercials is that they convey information lightly and simply but clearly. The feel of the commercial is upbeat. This commercial doesn't talk down to it's viewers but it does help viewers understand the key differences between these products. 


And, to top it all off, it's a studio shoot - which means it's doable for our class. Pedagogically it offers us the same reward as the other shoot would; simply, we'll learn the same stuff. I think the darkness of the shoot that we are doing is inappropriate for the subject matter - it almost takes itself too seriously. Though it would be difficult for our non-actor actors to appear as relaxed and natural as the actors in this commercial I think that this type of set up would be the most fitting way to have a discussion about the writing center. The writing center wants to get their basic information out - this would be the perfect way to do that.


Or there is this route:

This commercial is very similar in that it shows two people just talking. This video however uses stylizied cuts to keep the viewer from being bored by sitting and watching two people just standing and talking. It gets the message across - that eHarmony works - but the viewer isn't subjected to the drone of some non-actor (which supposedly these two people are) sitting in a too serious setting,looking too serious.


My biggest reservation about the shoot we are scheduled to shoot is how uncomfortable we will be making the very people we should be putting at ease. Their script recitations should sound natural and sincere and instead of letting them be expressive we are sitting them in a chair, facing them to the wall, and lighting them against a dreary black curtain. 


If it were me I'd freak and I suspect the people who walk into our studio on Thursday will as well. It may be a harsh judgement but I think our proposed shoot goes against everything that the writing center would want to represent.