Ecomm Final

Nathan Contreras 2019 senior year recap

short film

This project was our short film that I helped to make. Carson Bird was the director, script writer, and set designer. for this film I was an actor I also helped out a little bit with editing but Carson wanted his vision so I backed off a little. This project took about a week to write and a week to film and edit it went smoothly the second time we filmed it because on the first time the actors where not really prepared as well as we should have been so we remade the entire film and made some cuts so that the film would go smooth. I think that this film turned out really good because of the cinematic quality and also the scrip was really good. The only thing that I would change will be the fact that we where playing uno instead of a real card game. 

camera assignment 1 

This project was one of the first that we made this year and I think it turned out really good because the group that I was in was very talented with Mary porter as the script writer and the DP. I was lighting boom operator and helped with editing on this film. I was also an actor. this project took about 1 week to make the script and plan and then took 1 day to film and a week to edit which is one of the reason that it turned out soo good because we had allot of time to peer edit the video and make it fit the best. feedback that we where given was the black and white with no sound because we had a challenge along the way when we lost the SD card and had to redo the film or the better option was to make it with no sound so we went with plan B. Something that I would change would be the actors including me because I am not a good actor so it would look more professional if we got actors and not friends to play roles. But other than that I thought this film turned out exactly how we planned and it was allot of fun. 

Comercial project

This was our second film that we made this year and it was easy one of the best that I was in. Mary Porter was the director DP and script maker. I was the gaffer, sound, and lighting. This film took a few days to come up with a script and then a day to film with almost like 2 weeks to edit. The more time you have to edit the better the film will be. challenges that we faced was that Marys car broke down on the way to our filming location because the car had a broken head gasket so the car was literally melting itself apart. but we got the film done then got home late. We learned that when you spend the time to go to good locations instead of doing the close non cinematic ones than that's when the film looks really good. I don't think that I would change anything in this film because I really liked the outcome. This film was definitely one of my most memorable and I made more friends in the class because of the events that happen on filming night. 

In class I would say that this year I have been less productive but balanced. because when I have a project that I am apart of I will be over their helping ( if help is wanted ) but other than that I will be looking at videos on how edits are made or how to use the adobe software getting ready for the feature film. 

My areas of strength are definitely editing because I just have a creative mind and can see differently than others in the class which is good because it adds different perspectives Into the film. And I am also really good with any of the adobe software. I just know how they all work and how to use them the right way and the most productively. 

My areas of improvement I think need to be behind a camera because I have a creative mind its just I don't think I'm that good at taking action and leading a film to capture right image I am good at leading an edit tho. So I am going to try to get more comfortable with a camera. 

I think that all the guest speakers where helpful to the class but the person that stood the most out to me was Morgan Cooper. He was a really nice guy with allot of knowledge about film production and his tips will definitely help me get the upper hand on this feature film. I also liked Ryann Burnetts tips on how to make the editing side of the feature film to go smoothly. 

This year I am the post production head editor and I will bring allot of good information on how to smoothly edit and import/ export software because I have that prior knowledge. I am also really good at problem solving and making sure that the film is what the director sees inside of his head. I will execute this by getting to know all of the editors not in a classroom but on a personal level to find their skills and ideas on how to edit because they might bring even better perspectives into the film. I am looking forward to this year 100%. 

I loved most about this semester was the people that I met and the films I helped to produce because they look really good on a portfolio and website reel and I am proud to say that I helped with that film unlike some of the other years. Something that I would do differently would be Carsons funny level. to try to bring that down and use real props instead of funny uno and 1 dollar bills on the table. this semester I learned how to make a good film and all the pre production and editing that goes into them to make a good one. as in the more time you spend editing and pre production the better it will be. A goal that I have for second semester is to lead a crew of editors to the best of my ability. My final thoughts Are that film is a passion of mine and I love this class and the people in this class wouldn't trade it for the world. 

Entertainment Video Final

by: Nathan Contreras

These are the videos that I helped to work on through the semester in order form top to bottom shortfilm, music video, and commercial video.

"The Delivery"

The first project is our shortfilm about a delivery boy who gets caught in the wrong place at the wrong time because he becomes the witness of a murder. The murderers are part of the mob so they take him to the mob lair for interrogation and finally gets saved in the end. Its a story told in the perspective of the main character Lewis and supposed to be a comedically shortfilm.

"The Ballroom Blitz music video" 

 The second video is our music video, the music we chose was Ballroom Blitz by the Sweets and is supposed to portray a jail break heist theme because the music is fast paced and high action. This video was also supposed to be a funny one that could catch the attention of the viewer and keep them watching.

"HP Computer Comercial Video" 

And finally the third video is our commercial video, Again supposed to show a fast paced run montage from the "enemy" than show that the computer within the video took to long "and thats why you should upgrade to the HP computers Faster and more reliable".

This Semester

I would say that all of the videos took around a week to setup with story boarding, locations, and scripts then filming for all of the videos took 1-3 days on an average to film with another 3-4 days of editing depending on if we could get everyone on site. Challenges faced through all of the videos would be film dates and actors I say this because this was the only problems that we ran into. For example we did not have actors for all of the videos that where reliable so thats why people from the group are also in the video which makes it hard if I am supposed to be the DP but also in the video. Than the only other real problem we came across was filming dated because people are very busy and have jobs and other commitments to keep, so not everyone was able to be on site every-time.

I learned that people have commitments so whenever making the scripts make sure that their schedules match up with the filming schedules so that the group can be very productive and not just "winging the video and edits" like on the first HP commercial the main actor did not communicate well so we had the director as the main character because we had to improvise.

Feed back that was given is sorta similar through all videos being, Nice shots, smooth editing, and very cinematic. especially on our last video "The Delivery" because on this video we had everything go smoother than normal so we where able to get really good detail and matched the story board almost exactly.

Something that I would personally change would be the locations because I feel like they worked but could've been better. For example I had to drive almost and hour away and hour back which is not bad but we could've done closer because I suggested maybe a group of robbers robbing a house instead of a factory, this would've been sayer to get to and sayer to portray their robbing someone. and also maybe take valuables instead of candy in the final cut because to me it seemed a bit childish for such a great film to end with the heist stealing candy instead of the diamonds. But other than that I think all of the videos were nice and showed the message well.

Time in class

I think that in the beginning of the year I was allot more productive when using time in class by working on video graphics ahead of schedule but now words the end of the semester I haven't really been doing that  but I have been staying ahead of the game at home instead of in class. Because with this new project I am the VFX editor so whenever I have absolute nothing to do I have been researching how to make some cool effects that I think can fit in the film. Also at home I have worked on some simple adobe aftereffect clips to recreate the VFX I saw in the video. 

Strengths and Improvements 

I think that one of my strengths are seeing the video or the ideas within my head which helps whenever we are filming and allowed for some more creative ideas through the video and somewhere that would need improvements really bad would be making scripts because I don't like making scripts but I like the recording and editing aspects of making a video not the scripting parts. even though that the script is one of the most important parts of developing a solid video so thats why I need to improve on script writing. 

Three guest speakers

1.) Drew Connors- I actually know him from marching band and we have became good friends because we share some of the same interest and play video games together but other than that Drew gave a presentation about how to further develop the characters when making a script or really anything. He said that characters can not be the perfect balance of charisma, power, and like ability because than you make a superman, so their needs to some imbalance within this chart and the villain needs to be the exact polar opposite.

2.) Brandon Preist- came in and talked about how the twenty-first century students can market themselves to find client work and selling items using all social media platforms by marketing they are the millennials and know how to use the social media better than any other business to get client work and other forms of "getting their foot inside the door" and making those connections. 

3.) For some reason I cannot remember who Gordon Lamb is I am thinking that this person came in whenever it was one of the 16 days I have been home sick with a stomach virus. so I do not remember anything about Gordon Lamb. 

Summary

I loved most about this semester is meeting new friends that share the same interest as me and love to create videos either for fun or for a specific reason, just depends. something I would do differently would be not get a stomach virus if possible because that made it really really hard to come to school and even harder to go to a location and film. I have learned allot this semester on how to develop a good feature, music, and commercial video and all the different steps in making them successful. One goal for next semester is to be more successful in showing the message this semester.

Music Video

Music Video Blog

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        Our concept for the music video was to make a fast paced street race, getaway, with a bank heist tone of video. we wanted to have something fast paced because we thought that everyone else would have a slower romantic video so our group wanted too catch the viewers attention and keep them engaged with whats happening on the screen. Something else that our group wanted to do was add some form of comedy into the video so that people would want to watch instead of having to watch. The song that we chose was Ball Room Blitz By The Sweet, our idea behind this music is that their is not much words and its was fast pace. the music not having any words helped us because we did not have to memorize and lip synch anything accept for a few words in the beginning.

         The process behind making this video first started off with the ideas, so we allot together and started to give ideas. I think that everyone on my group wanted to have the fast paced music video so their was no issue with trying to convince people to change their ideas. Carson already had a list of music ideas and we created the beat sheet to Ballroom Blitz because that was a unanimus decision. we then worked on the story boards while still coming up with ideas George and Spence Sid that they would use their cars and be actors. I recently got a new car which is the 350z in the video. But their was a problem with this, I was the cinematogropher and I was not going to let anyone be behind the wheel of my car 1 because I don't want anyone to wreck it and 2 I would lose the car because thats my parents rule, so this caused a problem because the group wanted to have my car in the video which lead to Carson the only one behind camera. 

         something that I learned along the way was to go to party city or a costume shop to get supplies. I went to party city and got masks based on car color and personality, I think that getting the props like the diamonds and the masks helped be even better than it could have been. technical skills where all used during this production because everyone become really good friends so we stopped if someone didn't like that idea so we reassessed the situation to fix the problems, we also had a group chat and communicated the ideas and the locations allot better than the last video team I was in. 

         Something that I would do the same is be with this group. I say this because the group all had diverse ideas so we made something that we all liked instead of someone in the group not lining the ideas and not participating like last time. Something that I would do different would be change the candy too stacks of cash and diamonds so that it would be really good and not feel like a high school film it would feel a lot more professional than what it became. Although we did use the diamonds that I bought too add some comedy into the video. The other big thing that I did not like in the video Is that I am really really short compared to everyone else and I know their is nothing that I can do about my height but we could-have hired a taller actor too make it look better. 

       experiences That I would gather is go and get some good props for the videos and too hire some actors instead of having the group as the actors this way we could've all been behind the camera and shared thoughts on that instead of letting the video turn into a high school video words the end. 

Comercial Blog

Hp Commercial Blog

By: Nathan Contreras

     Our groups project was a HP computer, and it was supposed to be a MacBook Pro but stuff happens so we had to improvise to an HP computer in the final. our concept was that someone is running with a computer with "important information" on the computer, the protagonist is supposed to be running from the antagonist and when he gets to the end of the roof the protagonist is supposed to hit upload and the computer does not work. so then we where going to have a voiceover that says "don't be like this guy upgrade to a MacBook Pro today"this way it would show that the HP computer  cannot upload as fast as the MacBook their the MacBook is better. 

       Process that our group went through in making this commercial, Carson and I did not really like the original idea of having the computer in a school environment so then we started to brainstorm after school when Carson the next day Brough the final idea to the group the next day. Skai worked on the story board and drew out all of the shots, as a group I do not remember making the script but Carson printed them out and brought them on site so I don't really know who did the script. I was assigned the editor in the beginning but could not see the image in my head like Carson so Carson took over the Editor and I took the role of the cinematographer, I would say that him and I both did edits on the video but I only helped when he needed.

        Professionally the group that I was in was really good at keeping everyone up to date and on track except for a couple of days that did not workout for everyone in the group so we got behind schedule. I shared my ideas and so did the rest of the group so we where on track and never really got off track. project management was ok besides the two days that because we had a group chat witch allowed us to add dates that worked for everyone in the group.

        something that I would do different would be, being able to go to the last film day. I was not able to make it on the last day scheduled because an emergency came up 30 min before film time. something that I would do the same is have Carson in my group because Carson is really good at filming and making good ideas which was important to being successful. I liked this project and think that it was awesome if you consider the problems that we ran into but I know some people do not like it so if we could've finished the video and make the ending more clear that would've been better. Finishing the ending is the only thing that a could'e been better. 

Captured

Short Film Blog Post 

             


Our short film was tilted Captured, it was written by Thomas Rex and directed by Cade Walkins Captured is a about two boys, one of them being a jock and the other is a normal middle schooler. The synopsis is that the normal middle schooler saves the jock even thought the jock is mean to him on a daily basis. The boys are captured by a recently released prisoner. The everyday middle schooler has one of two options, save the person that is mean to him or let him be killed.

we included key elements of filming with the locations, shots, and actors because our group chose all of these locations and actors very well and the entire project came together perfectly. During pre production the group decided to go with Thomases story because it was the best one that was not easy but gave us a challenge. My job was to draw the story boards according to the directors visions. our production schedule was during the weekend and film from 7 in the morning to 2 in the after noon starting at Cades house ending at mine. I learned along this project by watching Thomas and Cade because I think that both of them are really good at filming and so I watched them while we where setting up the cameras. During this project my group used the 5 guarantees perfectly because everyone communicated and everyone participated unlike some of the projects I've been in. something that I would do differently is reshoot some of the shots when the actors would over exaggerate things. If I could I would do everything the same because I think this was the best project all year.

bouncing balls

Bouncing Balls Animation 

This animation was different from all of the other animations because we had to first record the real world ball falling and bouncing back up, this was important because after we have the actual balls recorded we marked the keyframes and height of the balls in a google docs sheet. Then we went onto Maya and replicated the spread sheet so the animated balls are exactly the same as the recorded ones, this was really interesting to me because it was combining the real world with a animation, if that makes sense. We had to make the balls relatively the same size as the recording bot to make the balls we used a image from the internet and turned that into a bump map. This animation was also one of my worst because I missed allot of days this project and set me behind a long time, the other problem that I had was restarting the entire project three times because Maya would crash and not save. Then on the day I would render Maya would not render correctly so I spent a total of two day rendering this animation 6 times before it would save correctly. but I still liked how it turned out even with me rushing the entire project. 

High School Trailer Blog Post

High School Trailer Blog Post 

The trailer that my Group and I chose to replicate was Say Anything. Out of all the options on the list to replicate my group was a unanimous decision that Say Anything was a trailer that could be replicated without a budget. We incorporated the key elements of filmaking into this video by getting all the necessary shots, by that I mean whenever their was a wide, close up, extreme wide, and body shot in the actual trailer we made sure to get the clip as close as possible to the real thing. The processes I contributed to in pre-production was storyboards, production schedule, and editing. These where the main things that I would do, but whenever someone needed me I would help them. 

My main role in the processes was director of photography, however if we where on site and someone  with a different role the rest of us would take over the needed parts and spread roles. Technically I was behind camera a good amount of the time and we all edited our on trailers so editing was the other thing that I did technically. I think that everyone in this group used the five guarantees, unlike some of my other projects, the five guarantees I worked on the most is communication, collaboration, and project management. I say this because I, collaborated with the entire team to get the best product possible and project management I used to get the props, like the car and some locations. 

Something that I would do differently is filming in better locations instead of inside of the e-comm pod, because we filmed in the e-comm pod some of the shots jumped form past to 2018 witch did not make the video smooth and not as good as it could've been. If I had the choice I would try to get into a group with Thomas again, because Thomas was a really good director and leader. Experiences that I will use in the next projects is to film in the same time period throughout the video and to get better audio than what was used. My general thoughts about this video is that the high school trailer project went very well and well made.