Class Write-up

As promised, this is what I will be sharing with my class before I premiere the film. It contains cited reasons for the use of music in early films, as well as examples of where this has been utilized in my film. I hope you learn a lot!

My A/V project, an experiment in sound, is ironically a silent film. When working on my Blackboard project on film music, I was interested to find out Gorbman and Brown’s explanations for the use of music in early silent films. Brown’s “Overtones and Undertones: Reading Film Music” states that film music was used because early Greek tragedies had used it for more effect on their audiences. It was also done to cover up the noise from projectors, which were not yet soundproofed, as well as to psychologically ease the audiences’ fears of darkness and silence.

According to Gorbman’s “Unheard Melodies,” silent film music provided aid to transitions, mood for scenes, and attention to certain details. It was used especially well in melodramas to “mark the entrances of characters, to provide interludes, and to give emotional coloring to dramatic climaxes and to scenes with rapid physical action” (Gorbman 34). I have utilized this in my film, The Great NJ Wallet Robbery.

In the first and last few seconds of the film, a projector sound is heard before the music begins, as well as after it ends, to emphasize the need for music to cover up the projector sounds. Whether it is the sneaky, suspicious theme for Jack the Thief, or the romantic theme for Katherine, the music marks the entrances of these characters, and tells us everything we need to know about them. The chase between Donald and Jack, as well as the climactic railroad scene, show how music aids the fast pace of these scenes and gives mood, as Gorbman stated. Ever since I began making films, I had always wanted to experiment with a silent film. This project has finally given me the opportunity to do so, and the Gorbman and Brown readings have enhanced my knowledge of early film music to make my film even better.

The Audienes Agree...

..."The Great NJ Wallet Robbery" is a hit! I've shown the film to almost everyone I know and they have all loved it! The film has gotten big laughs, even from people I thought would be a little more skeptical. There was little real criticism, and what was said was not very important in the first place. The real test comes on December 5th, when I show the film to my class. Will the students laugh? Hopefully. Will the professor laugh? She better. Will the 6 and 1/2 minutes that doubles the time allowed be forgotten by all the laughs? If not, we're all screwed! Will I get an A+? You betcha. I will post a copy of my write-up when it's finished, so that you may gain a more insightful look into how film music began. Until next time...

Who would have thought?

Literally, ten minutes ago, I completed the film! It came out pretty well, I must say. The only problems were the second-long noises that came before or after title cards. Next time I make a silent, I'll see if I can turn the volume off on the camera, so that this annoying problem won't be an issue in the future. Otherwise, I think I have crafted a very nice film, with the help of many people I care about. Special thanks to my brother Daniel for helping with camera work for a day. Special thanks to Steven Benassi, who did a wonderful job in his debut in a (finished) film of mine. And an extra special thanks to my dear Cait, who not only starred, helped film, but also designed all the title cards for me. I could not have done this without any of you, so thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

There might be a last minute bit of tweaking to make the film as perfect as possible, but it looks like we're all finished. At six and a half minutes long, it's going WAY over the given time limit, but hopefully everyone will be laughing enough to ignore that. I am so excited to show this to my family and friends next Friday. The final step, other than burning the film onto DVD, is to make a write-up for class, which is essentially a justification for this film as a sound experiment. It may be a little more of a stretch than other sound projects that I'll be seeing, but my professor seemed thrilled with the idea, so I am confident.

Okay, maybe more than one more day...

iMovie is causing some setbacks. The amount of footage I have for this film and its outtakes is slowing everything down tremendously. Every time I play the movie to look at it, it stops and skips. I certainly hope this is not a problem when I plan on transferring the film back to the camera, and then onto DVD. It has become a real pain to finish work on the film, but I am almost there. 75% of the film has a score, and the rest will be done possibly tonight when I recieve title cards for the opening credits. The score sounds great so far. I have good music for the romantic scenes, as well as good music for the chases. Wish me luck for tonight again!

One more day?

Principal photography is complete! So is the first stage of editing! Although we could not go back to any railroads to film, Cait managed to find some good train clips on the internet of old trains that will work nicely. After much strife, I got them to work on iMovie. I have also picked out a backdrop photo for the opening credits which should look nice, if I can get over using black letters for the opening credits instead of white...compromises must be made I suppose. All that must be done now is to insert the opening credits, and to make up the film's score. It should be a mildly difficult progress, and I hope all the piano rag files I've downloaded will work and give the film a funny sound. I hope to have the film completed as soon as by the end of tomorrow! I am so looking forward to showing this to my friends and family, more so than my class, of course. Working on this film has been both a great joy and very stressful. Another update on how the music goes tomorrow night...wish me luck!

We're Getting There!

Principal photography and editing are going very well. We finished our pickup shots, and now I no longer have to don the suit, moustache, and bowler hat on camera. It's quite a relief not wearing that moustache anymore. Either it wouldn't stick with scotch tape, or the fumes from the crazy glue we used made me nearly pass out! All our actors are done with their work, and they all did a fine job I might add. I also got my town introductory shots, which I forgot to do the other day. I've been working hard on editing the film, and it's turning out great.

An interesting event occured yesterday. Hoping to FINALLY get a shot of the train sequence, Cait, Steven, and I were accosted by one of Haworth's finest in uniform. He told us we were trespassing on private property on those tracks and that we could face prosecution and jail for being there. I'm glad there were signs there to tells us that in the first place. My friends and I have been having fun on those tracks for YEARS now, and never once faced Officer Stickup Ass. I guess everything is ruined by someone eventually. Thankfully, we were let off with a warning, and now our names are in the computer in case we go back there again, with which we WILL be prosecuted. I probably won't even bother going near a train anymore, let alone the fine, upstanding town of Haworth, New Jersey. People just suck – plain and simple. End of rant.

Anyway, a new innovation in train footage will have to be thought of. One option is to find old stock footage of trains from a silent film. Another is to film model trains with an outdoor background. By the end of next weekend, we will have tried both, and I will tell you how it all went! I also thought of a nice idea for the opening credits. A shot of the cautioning signs at the railroad tracks will have the opening credits over them – sort of a foreshadowing shot to the end of the film. I hope to premiere the film over Thanksgiving break to my friends, after which I will be showing it in class at some point soon. Better get back to work!

In the Editing Room Again

Today I started really editing the film for the first time. We haven't finished those last few shots yet, but I felt it was best to start to put it all together, anyway. So far I have a little over a minute that's finished – I hope the film doesn't turn out to be too long, as I'm on a bit of a time limit! I have a good feeling about this one. I look forward to showing it to my friends, more so than my class.

Just a few shots left...

Day Two of shooting was largely a success! The weather was beautiful, and most of the shots came out great! We need to do two more shots of me again, a couple shots of downtown, and then get some train shots, which will wrap production. Then, I can finally move on to editing with just a little more than a month until I need to reach my deadline. We also filmed a few outtakes that are sure to amuse, including finally getting on film me at the Burger King drive thru! I think I almost passed out this time from the super glue for the moustache, so thankfully the shots we need to do over will allow me to just use less reliable but far safer scotch tape. The lessons of the past two shooting days have taught me to take the time to storyboard my scenes and really think about the exact shooting locations, so I'm not sitting there thinking all day long.