Joel Nelson's Mastery Journal

“I would think, as an artist, it’s inescapable that you’ll be affected by the world around you.”

-Dave Filoni

            I came into Business of Film with multiple intentions. Firstly, my main goal was to begin my networking and exit process from school into the real world. I have achieved much in this regard with my updated resume and recrafting how I present myself to future employers. Beginning this class I was unsure of where to go to find jobs while also being in a situation where I felt my resume was to structured for an office job to be effective.

            By the end of this course I have discovered how to best market myself while also holding a better grasp of negotiating contracts. Further, I have become more aware of the minutiae of wading through contracts both on a large or small scale professionally.

            Meanwhile outside of the regular understanding of freelance work I have begun to pick up on the journey of exploring current day trends in movies. To understand the modern day trends is to hold a more secure financial grasp on the wild stallion that is the film industry. Understanding how to pitch a project not only to the right people but also at the right time as well as the right budget is key.

            Furthermore, my journey into the side of business is further sustained by holding a better understanding of laws pertaining to film including copyright. Being able to not just understand the black and white but also the pros and cons of settling or fighting in court is a huge benefit to future endeavors. Being able to understand how to argue about the creative rights of a project without seeming like a child I’m sure will prove vital in any case that may or may not come my way in the future.

            I came into this class with high hopes and am relieved to understand that they have been met. Now, my main goal is to fulfil the next year or two in promoting our thesis film before publishing it publicly. From there I intend to go forward in my path as a storyteller wherever it may lead. To pull another quote seems appropriate for the end of my reflections with Full Sail. Stan Lee’s “Excelsior!” comes to mind. He has mentioned when coming up with a catchphrase a lot of people were confused as to why he was using a word that simply meant sawdust. However, Stan had always wanted to find deeper meaning in things. He had found that the secondary definition was “to go above and beyond to greater glory.” I can think of no better explanation of my aspirations. To find things in the future to tell as stories that may confuse at first, only to bring greater emotional depth and maturity to the audience when given more than a. passing glance.

            This month was all about post production in regards to sound. From sitting in the mixing studio to organizing our asset collection I learned a lot. My initial goals for this class was to gain a basic understanding of the core principals of Post production in regards to audio. I am very happy to say that this goal was not only met but was exceeded.

            Starting off I was blown away by the ability to come to a full working knowledge of ADR both in terms of technicalities and theory but also apply it in practice. Having Isaac and Richard come in to record was wildly fun and educational even before the day we recorded. I got the chance to review the film and come to an understanding of what would be needed to help enhance the film’s audio.

            Further, I got to have another experience recording as a voice over artist that I rarely get the opportunity to do. I truly enjoyed my time also learning the techniques and possibilities in my future towards foley work. I have always been fascinated by that side of creating a soundscape and now feel confident in my ability to think creatively in helping strengthen it.

            Having gained more of an insider’s knowledge into how a film’s post production process is covered has given me confidence in any future scenario where I have the privilege to work in such a professional environment again.

            I can also state that I have a lot of pride in my newfound knowledge of Pro Tools. I finally had a learn under fire moment where I actually successfully learned from a Lynda tutorial and was able to demonstrate that within a classroom whilst also gaining a greater knowledge at the same time. Not only that, but my ability to not only navigate but feel comfortable within a dub stage environment has filled me with relief. Previously I was very hesitant to work within the audio side of film but now I have a much more honest and confident feel for the craft.

            Overall, I believe this month was a huge success in terms of meeting my goals and cannot wait till I am put in a position of sound in post production in the future to show off the skills I have gained almost exclusively from this class.

Full Sails course on post production is split into two months and this post is about the first month primarily focused on reaching picture lock.

Full Sails course on post production is split into two months and this post is about the first month primarily focused on reaching picture lock.

I initially came into this course hoping to have a more broad understanding of data management in relation to good storytelling practices. I got more than I bargained for and left this class with a good understanding of where to focus my future research into this side of post production life.

Beyond merely editing our thesis film as a class, we were given the objective of creating our own edit or trailer of our short. I opted to cut my own version of the film as an exercise to see if I found anything that our chief editor would want to use in the final cut. In the end I think this system, although unconventional worked extremely well.

Holding in class discussions about editing techniques was useful and enlightening. As someone who had very lightly scratched the surface of special effects in editing it was a very positive overall experience.

The final experience I truly appreciated was learning about how to keep in mind the workflow potential while in pre production and production itself to help create a smoother transition into editing. Without this it is clear to me that many of our current day blockbusters would never have been made.

Holding in class discussions about editing techniques was useful and enlightening. As someone who had very lightly scratched the surface of special effects in editing it was a very positive overall experience.

The final experience I truly appreciated was learning about how to keep in mind the workflow potential while in pre production and production itself to help create a smoother transition into editing. Without this it is clear to me that many of our current day blockbusters would never have been made.

Every step through this process was however a struggle. I feel cheated with the limited timeframe we had and felt limited in my ability to ask questions due to the fact that we essentially lost two weeks worth of class. In fact, there were times where when I wanted to ask a question held back as I knew that would delay us as a class getting through a lecture that the others seemed to be following along in. mostly the questions I had seemed to rudimentary to be able to bring them up.

Joel Nelson

         Attack of The Killer Donuts was a 2016 cult horror film starring Justin Ray and Kassandra Voyagis. The story revolves around Johnny Wentworth, a young twenty something in romantic delusions. An apt logline would be, “When a trio of friends discover the local donuts shop has been infected, they must find a way to vanquish the mutant, killer donuts or die trying.”

Our story is given its inciting incident for the plot by Justin’s uncle, Michael Swan, as his failed, contagious experiment runs off to infect other sections of the plot. Following a B-plot of Johnny deluding himself that he has a girlfriend instead of someone who simply steals his money. Johnny works with his childhood friend and sweetheart at the local donut shop. Meanwhile, the local police grab one of the infected donuts and feeds one to a felon in the backseat. This man eventually goes berserk and breaks free, only to run into the three friends and dying in front of them. To make a long story short, this plot runs three intersecting stories that leads to a climax that blows up the donut shop to destroy the infected oil used to create more mutant killer donuts.

I have to give this film credit. Making an en-mass enjoyed B-movie is hard. Coming into a film with the intention of making something bad for the sake of enjoyment is hard. Usually, the best ones are made with an innocent mindset as to its low quality. This film however, was from the start intended to mirror a low budget, 80s cult film from the start and pulled it off.

It’s style of cinematography is well placed in the style of filmmaking from that time along with a proper deep depth of field to minimize wasting film. The lighting was basic setup for quick and easy readjustments that a time constrained film would need. The composition itself is straightforward. For the most part placement is exclusively for clarity. It’s designed to get the ball rolling for context and never stop. In regards to camera movement you had… pans.

The sound for this film was on point for the most part. The only issue I found was a few moments where there were no sound effects for a deep fryer that was on. Besides that, the film had a decent score that was utilized effectively to help guide our audience. Especially in the final shot of the film. The dialogue itself was always crystal clear. An important distinction to be made even when making an homage to the past, all audio needs to be as up to date and as clear as possible for the experience to be positive.

The Editing within this film at first glance holds many continuity errors. However, the film made the active decision to do so. Of the many, a few notable and clearly made continuity decisions was the bicycle on the front step disappearing after it being overtly left on the front step and people exiting and entering a car in different seated positions than was previously established. Besides it’s nods to the continuity errors of past cult films, the editing stay mostly straightforward with an emphasis on straight cuts with transitions between scenes trying to hold a clear establishing shot to allow the audience to reassess the surroundings of the characters present.

In regards to using methods shown, one particularly strong aspect would be time management. The film used a studio ranch to film many scenes within a limited space to help maximize crew move time. Our film has the challenge of multiple short scenes happening in quick succession around an entire town. However, creatively utilizing the space of the backlot in a minimalistic viewpoint should allow us to condense scene locations.

Although this film has a very clear relation to our own student thesis in regards to being an homage to a genre, we have limited options in what we can outright copy in terms of technical prowess. However, of the few options available to us I think one of the best resources to look at is the lighting. Keeping the need to move lights during production to a minimum should maximize our time on set and help diminish our risks of running over.

Attack of the Killer Donuts is a wonderful example of film in regards to the industry itself. Wanting to make art may in fact hold the potential to make it big, but following standards and properly managing numbers, be it monetary or viewership demands, will lead to solid investments every time.

Experimental Filmmaking was both a course that educated and refreshed me. I had started my filmmaking experience before full sail with experimental film so it felt really fitting to come back to it.

Starting with multiple student projects I was able to both experience low level participation to leadership. I especially gained new insights preparing a pitch with a reduced timeline. Although it hadn’t been my intention to pitch, I believe it was both a great opportunity and a positive experience.

I learned how to collaborate both as a bystander and leader. As a bystander, I was available to help on projects during production or add personal insights during constructive criticism of post production. I especially learned how to operate as a director working with a producer. I especially learned positive time management with my classmates.

I loved exploring the multiple newer formats of film and trying to see where those new formats will lead by looking to the past. I had seen multiple films in this class previously but gained new insights into them via their historical context. I especially enjoyed the class presentations by my classmates on individual short films from different formats of the medium.

My favorite assignments would have to be the six second videos. I was always a fan of vine but had never taken a crack at them myself. It was a fun experience that pushed me creatively while also encouraging me to not sweat production values. I went into it with the goal of getting a laugh and I feel I did my job in that aspect.

Working on the final project was hectic. Although I am proud of what we accomplished I was also stressed about time management. Both from myself and the group as well as our actors. We had two days to shoot something with three people on crew. It ended up working but I realized that I should prepare extra time for production in the future regardless of how easy it might seem at first glance. Our audio suffered due to the lack of people available to help us but; in the end, I am proud that we were able to overcome that issue.

            Mark Dindal may best be known for directing the movie The Emperor’s New Groovefrom Disney in 2000. He excelled at making use of artistic stylization to tell a story that we as an audience could care about. Paying close attention to everything from casting, backgrounds, and character design, Dindal was able to retell a classic tale with a twist that cemented it as popular cinema to this day. He also made sure to make extreme use of his medium to help blend the audio and the visual more tightly than your average animated film, let alone a live action story.

            Although the cast themselves were excellent in their work, Dindal used their talents to the fullest by directing their voices with a keen mind as to how their voices would fit with not just the animation styles but the music as well. In fact many lines would fall flat otherwise. This is not to say the delivery is poor, but rather the dialogue was, designed to be delivered alongside musical cues paired with physical representations of the underlying emotions. For example, a constant joke throughout is a setup of plot development which will raise stakes such as when Yzma transforms, only for it to fall short of both the audience and the characters expectations. In this case it is that Yzma is not in fact a terrifying monster, but a small kitten. Instead of this being a letdown, the actors were directed with the tempo of music in mind along with the visual comedy pairing with it to help sell the joke that even though it goes against storytelling expectations, the characters and audience should just “roll with it.”

            Another good example of voice direction is how Dindal kept in mind which bits of dialogue actually mattered. Paying attention to the beginning, we are set up with the fact that both Yzma and Kuzco do not in fact listen to anybody. Kuzco zones out when Yzma begins making excuses and if you listen carefully while he notices spinach in her teeth, Yzma is no longer saying actual words. Even though her audio is muffled she is clearly only grunting at that point. It is only as Pacha shows up that we see our first character interaction where people actually listen to the other party in earnest. Thus no one is zoned out.

            This being an animated feature, we also get to play a beautiful game of stylized visual storytelling. This both is used for comedy and for creating a visual subtext to parallel the story. One example is how whenever this film needs action taken with a critical need for attention to detail, the world around the characters fades to little more than a flat colored background. As characters speak with subtext, the background produces imagery to help enhance the story. An example here is when Kuzco is fed as emperor, the camera spins around him to reveal he is sitting on a giant floor mural of himself being fed. Another, more subtle time is when Kuzko sits down to dinner with Yzma, the wallpaper is of dead fish.

            Not only is visual complexity enhancing the story though. It also is utilized to tell Dindal’s audience jokes. Again, at the dinner scene, Dindal sets up a gag that pulls double duty as foreshadowing. Yzma throws her poisoned drink onto a cactus. When we next see it in the background, the cactus has now turned into the shape of a Llama. When Kronk sneaks Kuzco out of the city, he pauses for a moment pretending he isn’t being seen by anyone as he throws himself against a wall. We zoom out to see a Mesoamerican styled mural that has two collosol figures pointing out Kronk’s laughable hiding spot.

            Although not in fact a musical, Dindal made perfect use of understanding the placement of both diegetic and non-diegetic music to help sell the emotional beats of the story. We see this not just through the expected orchestration, but also in scenes like the diner where we have a laughably current music style one would expect to find in a themed restaurant. In fact Dindal makes good use of inappropriate period props as gags throughout his film.

            We see a basic establishment in the opening song, with the royal entertainer using a microphone that absolutely does not belong in Mesoamerican history. But having it established so early along with other small things such as, spinach puffs and a rollercoaster allows us to understand that although there is an established time period for this story, it does not in fact take that as law. In fact setting up these early half-jokes allows us to truly laugh when we see Pacha’s son using an industrial floor buffer and not get caught in confusion. It also allows us to have an easy out to make sure our antagonist does not die on screen but is instead saved by a trampoline.

            Dindal’s work on character design was clearly placed for each character. Not only is each outline distinguishable from character to character but also relatable to their relationships. Both our antagonists and our protagonists are opposite sides of the same coin. Yzma and Kuzco in either llama or human form is tall and skinny, while Pacha and Kronk are stout. There is a fun play on diametrics however, as Pacha and Kronks roles are reversed as the brains of the operations. Meanwhile, both lanky characters are the driving forces behind the plot.

            A classic tale retold is something that is possible to undertake. Dindal, however, took the herculean task of making his adapted retelling of the story the more commonly known version. Through careful use of character archetypes and how he visually displayed their characteristics in relation to how it was shown by the world allowed his audience to unconsciously understand his characters to a greater depth than the original story. In fact, Dindal went so far as to play with the delivery of the world to the audience as a relation to characters viewpoints. A brave choice that paid off. You can see this most bluntly in Kuzco’s introduction of himself and pausing the film to criticize the extended focus on Pacha.

            In summation, Dindal was an animation supervisor who ended up masterfully crafting his second directorial debut by learning form his first film, Cats Don’t Dance. He expertly weaved a zany narrative to be believable with the effective use of stylistic choices that could be employed beforehand to set up the punchline of a plot development. Instead of allowing voice actors to simply read their dialogue, he worked hard with his actors to help them understand the established pacing of the music and animation and thus the pacing of the movie as a whole.

            Directing Talent had many aspects I knew I would greatly benefit from. Starting first and foremost with blocking effectively. I come originally from an acting background for theater. Moving onwards from Highschool I began my dedication to film. From this I have both advantages and disadvantages. I work well with performers but have often fallen short when it comes to working with my crew. This class helped me truly build off of what I had previously learned and continued my education on effective blocking and direction of actors and crew as a single cohesive unit.

            My initial goal coming into this class was twofold. Firstly, I wanted to gain a better understanding of effective blocking to speed up my own future productions. Secondly, I wanted to have a better understanding of how to run the pre-production aspect of actors. That is to say, how to run an effective casting call both at the managerial level and the directorial level.

            By the end of class and having run through three directing assignments, I feel I have gained a better understanding of my first goal. While I do not believe my learning on this is by no means done; I do believe that I know have a roadmap of what I need to do to be more effective at blocking. Although I found the time restraints to be incredibly annoying for the directing assignments, I also believe they were crucial in motivating me to understanding what’s possible and what isn’t.

            My second goal I believe was one hundred percent met. I was able to learn firsthand the managerial aspect of a casting session as a runner, sign in attendant and also an observer. As a runner I was able to gleam a more personal understanding of how an actor feels going to a casting call. But most importantly as a runner I was able to sit in and watch the auditions themselves. I was able to watch directors work with talent in a realistic way. As class continued, we were able to debrief about effective directing techniques in a casting environment.            Overall, I believe this class was extremely useful in crafting a more defined view of how a director should work with actors. I was happily surprised with what I already knew but emboldened by what I didn’t. It truly got me excited to continue my journey of learning

The short Film I chose to analyze for this assignment was Geri’s Game (1997). The film was a short directed by Jan Pinkava as Pixar’s first attempt at animating a human being believably. One might consider the logline as something simple, yet effective. That being “An elderly gentleman plays chess against himself alone in a park. His competitiveness raises the stakes as both sides of the table become so engrossed in the game they become their own character. I personally see the tone as both light comedy and yet it also has the air of parodying the genre of intrigue. The theme truly feels as if it is exploring the nature of how man vs self does not always need to be dramatic and can in some cases be a healthy dose of fun.

            The plot of the film is incredibly simple and yet all the more intriguing given how it is shot. Starting with long shots explaining to the audience Gerri’s method of self dueling. We follow the Gerri meticulously as he sets up the board and switches places on the bench after each move. As the game progresses, the film starts cutting out the moments where Gerri gets up to switch his role. In doing so, the audience now quickly suspends their disbelief a second time as Gerri now becomes two distinct characters. Finally, our climax occurs as the white side is put on the run from the black pieces. Gerri decides to play the old man card and fakes a heart attack in order to distract the opposing self so as to flip the board around. In doing so, the joke plays out that Gerri has effectively fooled himself. The resolution pulls us in with a final joke. The two were fighting over who got to use the dentures. This not only in itself is funny, but the fact that he physically removes the teeth only to reinsert them triumphantly once across the table adds a level of absurdity and playful whimsy that isn’t often seen on short films.

            The production design was extraordinarily simple given the limitations of the animating capabilities yet also very effective. Having only one character dressed exactly the same save for a pair of eyeglasses made sense to help us distinguish the two personas beyond just the camera axis of action. Meanwhile the use of focal depth helps the audience focus on what matter while also allowing to create a nice backdrop that doesn’t take to much processing power. Meanwhile Lighting being bright and the music being a light whimsical tune played on an accordion helps set the audience up for a fun and simple story.

            The camera work is what intrigued me the most. For a 3d environment they were remarkably precise in using the angles to their fullest. The frames were carefully constructed so that while the editing picked up speed, you were always aware of which side we were on in each shot. The composition also held up by framing Gerri and his chess pieces to either show us the emotional power or weakness on display by the persona from each shot itself.

            Although no actual dialogue is used, the grunts and minor outbursts that Gerri gives helps sell the concept of Gerri as a whimsical human being that is having fun in his old age. We very quickly pick up on his dramatic character from his second chess move.  Meanwhile the park background noise is always faint, but present. Allowing us to feel like we are sitting in a park somewhere in Europe. This again is especially helped by the music which is exclusively an accordion.

            What really sells this short above all else though is the editing. The pace of this film starts slow and easy. We have regular cuts to help with the time it takes for Gerri to set up the board and to get up from one side of the bench to the other but at the same time it is calm and allows us to see the necessary motion without being droll. Following Gerri’s move across the table, the editing picks up speed as we mimic the fast pace that the second persona of Gerri has. This eventually leads to leaving out any shots of Gerri switching sides. This genius move allows us to differentiate the character of Gerri into two personas allowing for the joke of the heart attack. What strikes me though is we see the power shift even before Gerri flips the board around when the other persona isn’t looking. The camera slows down at an incredible deceleration as Gerri locks himself into checkmate. At first this seems like it is because it is the end of the road for the game. It soon becomes apparent however, that this is to help sell the idea that the losing persona is stalling for time. Having the board be flipped around is emphasized by the editing as we finally get back to a final shot of Gerri sitting alone in the park laughing at someone across the board that we can no longer see.

In regards to the short film I am currently working on, I believe that I should take creative license with regards to editing. My script holds an unreasonable amount of plot that needs to be covered quickly. I think by deciding to trust in the audience more than usual I can edit the film to expedite some of the more obscure plot points of my film.