HyperSteveHaiku!

http://fmundergrad.hunter.cuny.edu/~luws/

html

Reflecting on the importance of Boardom

Given another chance, I would definitely have begun storyboarding my project first. After the audio was completed, incorporating video turned what I'd originally "envisioned" into something vastly different - and knowing beforehand that I would have been given the chance to add video, I'd have shot a few scenes of the audio with Jess talking - adding a level of intimacy to it. Furthermore, I would have asked different questions knowing that I can compliment those answers with fresh video that I can tailor to whatever Jess described. In my clip, I felt limited to being able to shoot only what might abstractly represent things Jess did in Paris, but if I had known about video, I would have tailored my questions to something different - maybe to more things that happened indoors.

Having immersed myself into this project now gives me a more analytical approach to appreciating everything that is portrayed on screen - from the multiple angles in a shot, to the myriad of audio clips including sound effects, music, dialogue, etc, to the actual melding of both a/v in the editing room. I've also learned just how critically important storyboarding is, and how easily hours of shooting can be deleted for the sake of editing a "better" finished product. Also- having contributed 9-10 painstaking hours to create just 4 mere minutes of this project, I can definitely give more credit to everybody involved, the directors, actors, camera/sound crew and the editors that have the patience and talent to make entire movies!

Back-Outting!

Untitled from Steven Luw on Vimeo.

Due: Lab #6: Sound-Image and Image-Image Relationships

        I'd like to explore the first 3 minutes of Saving Private Ryan, which I believe are very telling of the brilliancy of technique used by the editors throughout the rest of the film. Starting with a fixed camera tilting to reveal the gentle sound of waves, albeit crashing into tank traps, on a seemingly desolate coastline, the juxtoposition of image and sound immediately puts the viewer into a calm state.

        However, abruptly cross-cutting into the American barge crashing thunderously against the water, and then again cutting into a wider side shot of 5, 6 or infinitely more barges of soldiers roaring toward the beach shows us the  enormity of power with which the Americans are approaching the beach. This scene also reminds me of the rhythmically fast-paced feeling of motion in the opening "Train" sequence of "Berlin- Symphony of a Great City, 1927".

        Next, we are thrown into a quiet cross-cut showing the uncontrollable shaking of Tom Hanks' hand, which he finally subdues when he slaps the cold metal of his flask, raising it to his mouth, and quickly emptying its stomach-numbing contents into his body. The camera stays on his face, revealing eyes that seem to look over us, before zooming out slowly, showing us the other soldiers on board throwing up onto each other.

        Here, we are WITHIN the barge, part of the sequence, and arguably, of the mindsets of the soldiers themselves, and we feel the same anxiety and uncertainty, and are downright gut-wrenchingly terrified of what awaits us at the beach.
        Another crosscut into the loud drone of a smaller barge shows a soldier giving us a 30 second warning, and we are cross-cut once again to a quiet scene with Hanks, giving us his speech, warning us to avoid the "murder-holes", as a second soldier orders us to save our ammo. We are facing the backs of the other soldiers, so the viewer has the same perspective of the soldier, heightening the sense of uncertainty.
        And then, loud bangs that sound like bombs explode against the walls of the barge, and the camera position is low, well under the tops of the barges, again, making us unsure of what is upon us.
        At 1:50, the door rolls down and a thundering of bullets and grenades is sprayed all over the barge, hitting each and every soldier before the door opens all the way. Another cross-cut shows the soldiers' backs, being shot-dead from the front, so again, we assume the perspective of the soldier and we are left feeling hopeless, with the only certainty looming being that of inevitably being shot like everybody else before us.
        At 2:00, we finally see the enemy's perspective, high, covered, and safely nestled far from the coastline, but we never see their faces, and are far enough where we don't hear the Americans.  The scene quickly scrolls right to reveal a multitude of enemies each loudly spraying their machine guns away at the American barges, efficiently killing everything they points towards.
        Another cut brings us back to the soldiers screaming, all discombobulated, and gorily losing their limbs, blood and lives, and we get a shot in the distance of the enemy's machine gun nest, tall, immense, and frightening, with blasts of fire from their weapons, but we never see their faces or bodies.  More soldiers are shot, making them fall lifelessly into the water, and the camera drops with them, transitioning back and forth from loud machine gun blasts to quiet muffled water.
        For a brief moment, it seems safe down here, and even suggests that drowning might be the "better" way to die. But immediately, we see bullets piercing through the water, killing whatever lays in its path. This tells us there's really nowhere safe at all, so we might as well get out of the water and at least try to fight back.  The soldiers do.  Those that aren't shot underwater quickly swim up and a lucky few advance towards the tank traps, the midway point between water and enemy and they find refuge behind their thick protective metal bodies.
        This cut foreshadows a turn of events, for the very thing the enemies placed to protect themselves against an invasion of tanks is now protecting the Americans.

Live on the Radio with your host Steven! Today, we're interviewing Jessie!!!

Hey- that sounds familiar!

     My trek starts with irritatingly loud drilling by some construction guys across the street.  Normally, I would cringe, and possibly cover my ears, but for this exercise, I decided to stop and listen.  Eerily, as I stopped walking, so does the drilling.  I hear them talking to each other, but I'm far away enough not to make out anything decipherable.  I decide to cross 2nd avenue, and head west.  As I wait for the light, I notice the M15 driving past me, and I hear a loud wooosh, like a turbo on a racecar.  I've never noticed that before. 
     I hear 2 dogs barking at each other across the street and they stop and one walks over for a buttsniff.  I hear an ambulance or police car too far away for me to actually see, and actually, physically closing my eyes for a few seconds, I can hear more than one siren!  With so many people around me, it's strange that I can't hear their voices clearly.  The sounds of cars, trucks, and buses drown out everything else.  I cross 2nd avenue slowly and I actually hear the sirens getting louder, but it's a type of siren you don't normally hear in the city.  I look back and see that the siren is coming from a group of black cars donning diplomatic plates, and they're blazing through the bike lane- these are the guys from the UN summit.  I wonder if I can ride on the bike lane later tonight when I head downtown. 
     As I approach Lexington Ave, I can actually begin to put words to the sounds I hear as there are infinitely more people scattered all over the street scrambling for their lunches at 2pm.  There's a ton more traffic here and I hear Spanish music pouring out of a beat up Lincoln Navigator that's seen better days.  I can hear a woman somewhere behind me talking to her child, telling her something about being such a great girl for doing something in school.  I turn around and see that she is talking into her phone.  I also noticed an M57 crossing 57th Street, but the bus did not make the same woosh sound as the M15. 
     I decide to walk uptown on Park and I hear a familiar sound, the sound only my car makes.  I drive a Subaru WRX and the engine makes a very specific exhaust note that all Subaru WRXs make.  I nod to the driver as he comes to a stop and he nods back - it's something we do in the WRX "brotherhood".  Even though I wasn't driving, we just have this kind of sixth sense that we can spot other WRX owners easily.  In the "brotherhood", we take our nodding seriously, and if we both happened to be driving, and I didn't nod to him first, or didn't catch his nod and consequently not nod back, it'd be blasphemous.  Not that there's a secret WRX nod-police patrolling our streets, but that I would simply suffer with the thought of knowing that I ignored a fellow brother on the road.  It's more serious than it sounds.