Portrait of a Zombie: Gnarly

So for my other film I decided to go see for Cucalorus, I chose Portrait of a Zombie. You may not know this, but I love zombie films. I know it's tacky and they are way overdone but there is something about zombies that just tickles my fancy. So of course when I saw that this was one of my options I signed up faster then the time it takes you turn into a zombie after being bit... which is usually on the faster side. The movie itself had some amazing cinematography. There was a lot of camera use that made the movie seem more documentary style which gave the film a nice comedic side. The characters were somewhat typical. The director of the"documentary" film that would do anything and risk everything to get the shots he wants, the family who doesn't want to kill their son even though he's trying to eat their flesh, and the tough guys who just want to kill the shit out of anything non-human. Even though it was typical in that sense, it was a nice spin on the every day zombie film you've seen a thousand times. It was all about the first zombie and how his family deals with him becoming the first zombie. For a zombie movie, it actually had some pretty good acting which helped me stay mentally in the movie. Of course, since it is a zombie movie, there were some pretty gruesome scenes. It was past ten o'clock at night and let's just say I wasn't ready to watch a zombie eat a baby out of his non-zombie wife's stomach. When that happened my reaction, while it was within means (I think), made a few people stare at me.

Cucalorus Film Festival Animated Shorts

The first films I went to at the Cucalorus film festival was a group of animated shorts. They were all really good, if not a little weird, but one of them stuck out to me more then the others. The one I enjoyed the most was called Zeinek Gehiago Iraun, or Who Lasts Longer. It was the story of a group of kids who played a game to see who could stand in front of an oncoming train the longest. The stort takes a sad turn when one of the boys, Ander, gets hit by the train because his shoe is stuck in the track. Not only was the story sad and heartbreaking, it was also a very nicely written animated piece. The director, Gregorio Muro, I thought did an excellent job of combining the right level of emotions with excellent animation and a great soundtrack. The other shorts were also very good though. There was one called Belly by Julia Pott. Belly was weird, really weird. It was the story of a boy who loses his best friend in a really weird and crazy world that they live in. It's hard to see them finally part ways but the story itself has a simple enough message. I was a bit skeptical that I would not enjoy these films but I really liked them and it was nice to see a side of film I don't experience that much.

A look back at the Semester

This class taught me a lot about being a filmmaker. For starters, while I love films and helping on film sets I don't believe a career path such as this would be correct for me. After learning about the production side of film I think, if I was choosing to stay with the film major, I would have to go more the analytical path of film. I am so non-technologic that I am practically a cave man so I understand that going more with the production would be hard for me. I think this can be seen in my multiple failures as the director of photography. I enjoy talking about movies and discussing them way more then I enjoy making them. For me, 205 came much easier for me then 201 did simply because it was more my style of film education. This class was able to show me that film production was something that I am not that strong in and should not pursue as a career because of my lack of skill in that area. That is not to say I did not have an amazing time in the class meeting everyone and trying things I had never done or heard of before. Thank you for an amazing class and a fun experience in my college career!

Plans for Next Semester

My plans for next semester are probably different then what you want to hear. I have thought about it long and hard and have decided to take a different path away from film studies. When I first got into the film studies classes, I wasn't sure what to expect. Looking further into the major and the career options it presents I can tell that it is not the path for me to take. After looking at all the majors I have decided to major in communication studies with a minor in creative writing. I believe that this will offer me a wide range of career choices that better fit me and what I want to do in life. I am not taking any film classes next semester instead I am focusing on taking communication classes for my major that hopefully I will be able to declare by second semester junior year.

Ideas for the Wild Card Project

I have had a few ideas regarding the Wild Card project. I know Ally is really in to comedy so I figure what ever we end up doing will have comedy in it of some sort. I would like to do something with a little bit of action. It doesn't have to be much. I really enjoy incorporating action sequences such as death scenes and other clips of that nature so hopefully I will be able to put my own stylistic feel on some of the shots. As DP I hope I will be able to get the angles I want for scenes that involve more action then other scenes. I really like using high or low angles with scene that involve murder or other physical acton like that. So whatever we end up doing, being it a comedy or whatever, I hope I can use my favorite type of scenes to help make our project that much better.