Through the last month of digital learning I have learned a lot about the painstaking process of editing. In this past month I have edited a clip of a woman fighting people in a warehouse(cutting on action), a women gearing up for battle(split cut), and the new terminator dark fate trailer. When I edited the woman fight people in a warehouse the main thing I struggle with was hiding the action. Usually in movies I like to applaud none shaky camera action such as John Wick and Mission Impossible which have some of the best filmed action scenes ever and this is due to there long takes and following action. Compare this to films like Taken and Bourne Identity. In taken there is a scene where Liam Neson jumps over a fence and instead of showing him quickly jump over the fence they use 15 different camera angles and over a dozen in takes within the span of 7 seconds. The Bourne films also suffer from the camera shaking so violently that you cant see what is going on at all. When editing this action scene I decide to go with the many cuts to hide the action because the action was so poorly done. The choreography and lead actress were great but the goons that she was beating up were putting little to no effort and it look incredible ridiculous so I had to hid it by editing a lot. This taught me about how much power an editor has. When I edited together the split cut of the woman gearing up. I tried to do an Edgar Wright style montage with quick flashily cuts this partial worked but it ended up looking very quick and less stylized than I hoped. The final thing that I edited was probably one of my favorite projects of the year and that was the terminator dark fate trailer. I am a big fan of the terminator movies especially the first two, the rest are not that good however this newest one was a nice return back to formula and was a solid action film. I remember when the trailers first came out and I thought the first two were pretty good however that movie had about 5 different trailers and showed almost the entire movie. When I did this trailer I made it two minutes long even though we only had to do one minute I want to make it good. In most trailers I am a fan of licensed music but the stock horror film music almost perfectly and a worked we with the terminator film. Most of the trailer was the same as the normal trailer but instead of having the Arnold Schwarzenegger reveal randomly in the middle killing the pace i decide to have it at the end and I edited the rest of the trailer to hid the fact that he is in it. I learned a lot about editing over the course of this class and I really enjoyed it.

Leo Biagi

Mr. Mitchel

Film making 

04/08/20

The article I read was about new TV show the Witcher on Netflix. The article brings up other fantasy story’s such as Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. The article mostly focuses on how movies and tv shows are adapted from books and why changes are made to appeal to modern audiences. The author of the article talks about how fantasy books have a lot more detail and extra world building. The author says that most fantasy stories focus on world build and what type of world the reader is in. Movies have a lot less time world build yet have to do so anyway. The author describes the way this is pulled off is through production design by adding backgrounds and having an uneducated character. In most fantasy movies they require a character for you to see the story through. This character is used for the other characters to explain things about the world or story without it coming off as the characters are talking to the audience. I agree with everything the author says but I also think that it is hard to generalize all fantasy stories. Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones and the Witcher are compared very often and this is because they are all awesome fantasy shows that if you like one you will probably like the other. However they are still vastly different. Lord of the Rings has all different types of monsters magic and creatures just like the others however it is a fantasy adventure series. It is a hero’s joinery of characters crossing a treacherous land to destroy an evil artifact. Game of thrones tones back on the magic, monsters and sword fight yet still have it. Game of Thrones is more of a political drama set in fantasy times. Their is no clear good and bad, their is no one character that they dump exposition onto. It is fighting for power and greed and less of everyone teams up to fight the bad guy. The Witcher is a heavy blend of the two. While the books are more like lord of the ring the tv sho is more like gam of thrones. This is because it came out right after game of thrones and everyone wanted a new show like that. The Witcher doesn’t really have a character they explain the world to. You uncover the world and it’s inhabitants as you go through the series adding more mystery. I do think the author is right in comparing these types of media in certain areas because on paper they are very similar when in reality they are far apart. 

Leo Biagi 

Mr. Mitchel

Film making 

03/27/20

During the past weeks of distance learning I have learned about the different types of lighting. I have had experience with lighting before when working on WSTX and seeing all of the different lights and where they are position to face the subject. While watching the videos this week and reading the articles I found out more about lighting and the definition. Lighting can be used not only to show the objects but frame the visual story telling. Lighting can be used to block out things we don’t need to see or make us focus on the things we do need to see. Some of the best examples of this are in Citizen Cane or any film noir film like Double Indemnity , the Stranger, or Blade Runner. Lighting can also be used to give the film a certain type of atmosphere. An example of the is is Mission Impossible: Fallout. Director Ralf McQuarry keeps this film bright with most of the action taking place during the day and that is mostly so you can see the action and see the danger because Tom Cruise is really doing all of his stunts. But the lighting is used most effectively when there is dialogue taking place. When there is a lot dialogue and conversations happening in the scene the rooms are darker and more strategically lit. There isn’t a lot of hard light and harsh shadows like in film noir but a lot of soft light. While the characters are easy to see because there is a lot of soft light on them the background is harder to see. Each of the conners is dark and hard to make out making these scene tense and claustrophobic. All of the talk of espionage becomes much more dire and stressful. I have never really notice any of these techniques until i watch the video on it in class.  Another good example of lighting is in the 2002 film Catch Me If You Can directed by Steven Spielberg. At the end of the film the main character (Leonardo Decaprio) is stuck serving out his jail time not in a cell but behind a desk doing paper work on Fraudulent checks. One shot in particular is when Spielberg uses hard light coming through the blinds and making parallel lines of shadow on Leo’s face. This is to show that even though he is not in prison he is still trap and unable like prison. This scene is a great example of wordless story telling because it conveys the subject thoughts just through lighting. I have now realized this after this weeks studies.  

Leo Biagi 

Mr Mitchel 

Film Making

03/09/20

The article I reviewed was The Problem With Science Fiction Films. In the article the author keeps saying how science fiction films lack in one certain area of story telling and that is  that science fictions films focus mostly on story, plot, creativity and, visuals yet lack in emotions and characters. The author uses ad astra and interstellar as an example of movies that suffer form this. While I have not seen ad astra I have seen interstellar and I strongly disagree the authors statement. Interstellar not only has and incredible score, visuals, story, concept, and actors but it also has great themes and characters. Matthew Maconihay gave and excellent performance and the themes of the film being sacrifice, family, and survival are shown well through the characters and visuals. While this film does lack a bit at the end when they talk about love being the fifth dimension and the story starts to loss the more science aspect of it. It still has really good themes and an interesting story to tell. While the author may a have a small point with ad astra and Interstellar I think he is very wrong by saying this applies to all aspects of science fiction. I bring up the movie Blade Runner which is probably one of the best Science Fiction films of all time. Some may say Star Wars is the best but that is Fantasy not Science fiction. Blade Runner has a lot of aspects that make it an incredible noir science fiction movie it also has a lot of aspects that make it the one of the best movies every and help discredit the authors statement. Blade Runners visuals such as effects and cinematography are  incredible and beautiful yet expected from most modern Science Fiction films. This movie also does a great job with the world it has created. The writer and production design made this world modern yet old and dirty, large yet cramped, over populated but at the same time desolate. This provides more to the story as we are allowed the focus on the main character and show how alone he feels. While the article says Science Fiction movies are about visuals and creative story yet not much in emotion and themes, blade runner completely discredits this. The whole movie is based around what you as an audience member are supposed to feel. The movie explores the idea of what it means to be human and what makes people unique. The first scene of the movie makes you feel nothing and makes you confused on what you are supposed to take away or feel about the scene just like the replicants. Harrison Fords character constantly is asking himself what makes him more human that the replicants and what makes the replicants so human. The themes present in this film is what drives the movie. Other science fiction story’s also are similar to this by focusing most on themes as well as story and visuals which is why I completely disagree with the articles statement.

Leo Biagi

Mr. Mitchel 

Film Making 

03/02/20

Since my last blog post I have learned a lot about film making, not through different shots and camera moves but how to apply them to film making. I have learned more about how to make a story board and how you should be thinking when you write the story board. When drawing a story board you should already have them film in mind and what emotions you want to put on display and what shots will make that happen. In a story board you should always have all the images match the shot as well as a description of what the shot is and the actions that are going on in the shot. I next learned more about manual verses auto focus. When using auto focus it is more for a general shot that the focus ones not have a specific purpose and you want your main characters in focus. Manual focus is more purposeful and intentional. You are using this focus to show the audience what you want the to see a leave the other information blurred or a mystery. It can also be used so that you are only focusing on one thing and not the entire shot. Its entire purpose is to show the audience what the film maker wants you to see. During our six shot film we used used the manual focus a few times keep the audience guessing on what is in the blurred background but also to highlight the main character in the scene. I also learned more about how to set up a shot. First you decide where you want the camera to be positioned. You scout the location and then look at the spot from different angles and which direction is best to capture the action from. You adjust the focus as zoom. Second you tell the actors what they are doing in the scene. You tell them where to stand and where to move. Then you do a practice run and make sure they are moving into positions where they are still in frame. If they are not in frame then adjust the shot to were it fits the characters perfectly while applying the rule of thirds. Finally you film the scene. We filmed each scene two or three time because there might be a mistake during the shot or we do it again so that we will have more of a selection to edit with. I also learned that all the shots don’t have to be filmed in chronological order. I learned a lot about film making by doing it first hand it was really fun and i cant wait to do it again.

Leo Biagi 

Mr. Mitchel

Film Making 

02/24/20

This article talks about the 2019 movie “The Light House” starring Robert Patterson and  Willam Defoe. The movie is a take on 1940s horror films and is shot in black and white with the same aspect ratio that movies had in the forty’s. The quality in the camera is supposed to resemble a 1940s horror film like Frankenstein and the Invisible man. The article talks about the how the director made it look like one of these films as well as why he decide to make it like this and how it affected the film and story. The article says that the movie was films on 35mm film  with a vintage camera lens and a nearly square aspect ratio. The director says “I filmed it in black and white because I wanted to seem like something that had been dug up form the past.” The film is about two lighthouse workers who slowly descent into insanity as the island starts to play tricks on their mind. The main reason I chose this article was because I have seen the movie and really liked it. The way this movie is filmed is very traditional and might not get high praise but that’s what works about this film is that it doesn’t try and pander to all audiences but has a certain audience and focuses on that group. The aspect ratio is used to make you feel claustrophobic and bleeds into the background at the begin of the film. Most of the shots in this movie makes it very immersive and keeps you focused on what is happening in the film. While this movie has some of the best acting I have seen with long takes of important dialogue and a great script the movie still wouldn’t be as good if it wasn’t filmed in black and white and used an older camera with a small aspect ratio. The cinematography is the icing on the cake and really utilizes this abstract aspect ratio. Most of the shots in this film have harsh lighting and shadows that closeup this screen so that we are focusing at small spots in the frame. While this technique cant be used for everything, the article reminds us that you don’t need a massive budget or a great camera to make a great movie but a creative idea and a good technique to capture it. You can tell that the director has a vision and idea that he is trying to tell in this film and it really shows. Everyone working on this film is putting a lot of passion into the project and it really shows. The actors are incredible, the editors are amazing, the cinematography is film in a very unique and creative way. It is easy to tell that the director is a big fan of classic horror films and does his best to make one for the modern audiences and it works so well.

Leo Biagi

Mr. Mitchell 

Filmmaking 

2/3/20

1. Groundhogs Day 2020 (Jeep)

This commercial was my favorite for a few reasons. The first being that one of my favorite movies is Ground Hogs day which I had watched the day before because it was ground hogs day. This commercial really plays the nostalgic factor for people who like this movie. Not only does the commercial have a lot of jokes that were actually funny and not force but it felt more like an extension of the movie due to its amazing attention to detail when it came to the town and the songs and bead and breakfast. You can tell that the people who made this commercial really like ground hogs day and put a lot of love into the crafting of it.

2. Smaht park Hyundai 

This was my second favorite because it was probably the funniest commercial of the Super Bowl. I am a big fan of Chris Evens, John Krasinki and Rachel Dratch who are all from Boston and use the exaggerated Boston accents by replacing every r with a h making this commercial almost more like a skit on SNL than a Hyundai commercial.

3. The Shining Mountain Dew

I liked this commercial because once again it hit me with a nice wave of nostalgia. I love the movie The Shinning and I love Brain Cranston. When you combine those two things you get one of my favorite Super Bowl commercial of the year.

4. Loretta Google home

This commercial is my number 4 because it is true amazing. Not only its the sound editing and voice acting on point to were it makes it truly sad but it also manages to make you want to get a google home. The only reason it is this low is because I enjoy more comedy in my super bowl commercials.

5. Rick and Morty Pringles 

I like this commercial because I like Rick and Morty. This is just a normal commercial with a tv show implemented on to it but it provides that classic Ricak and Morty spin on things. As the characters became self aware that they are in a Pringle’s commercial I found myself laughing out pound at the classic rick and Morty shenanigans.

1. Hard Rock Cafe JLO 

I think this was the worst Super Bowl commercial because it had such a large budget yet was so poorly done. THe major flaw was it was so poorly edited. Each shot probably only had one to two seconds of screen time and I believe this was because of how long of a trailer it was and how much time they had to show it. Never the less it was so poorly edited that i could not tell what was going on the entire time.

2. Old Town Road Diorites 

While this was a funny commercial it did get on my nerves. First i am not a big fan of the song Old Town Rd. I think it is and incredibly overrated song and its not really a song you can dance to which is not good because the main point of the commercial is its a dance off. But the main reason I dislike this commercial so much is because Sam Elliot should have one the dance off.

3. Mr. Peanut

While this was an incredibly well done market campaign by killing off their mascot which is soon to be copied by other brands I found it very dumb and a cheep way to profit of of baby Yoda success.

This article talked about how studios and directors are using film less and less. Now days most movies are digital instead of film. There are still some directors such as Christopher Nolan and Greta Gerwig that stick to the traditional methods and use film. The article focuses on how five major company’s bought celluloid to keep the tradition methods alive. Now a lot of big budget movies such as the Irishman, Marriage Story, Once Upon a Time In Hollywood  and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker were shot on celluloid. Keeping the practice traditional method alive. I personally think that moves should continue to shot on film because it has its bonuses however digital has become so practice and easy to use. When shooting with film they can not go back immediately and rewatch the footage which shows in some of the fight scenes in the dark knight rises which was shot on film. I personal think that Martin Scorsese used film the best in the Irishman which used a combination of digital and classic film which was the best balance. The scene in which they used digital footage was during the scene where they used CGI to de-age Robert Denerio which required them to shoot with digital footage on three separate cameras to match the lighting perfectly on his and Joe Pesci’s face. This serves as the best way to use film. Uses film but when it is necessary or more practical the director should switch to shoot digitally, like for a fight scene or CGI.

This week one thing that i learned about filmmaking was the cross the 180 degree line rule. I have never heard of the that rule before but now that i look back on movies that I have watched over the year, most of them stick to that rule. The 180 degree rule is when you never film from one way then film on the other side because it confuses the audience about the location and direction of the scene. This is a very obvious technique that i was unaware of being a rule previous to this class. However there are exceptions for this rule like there are to most of the rules in film making. I think this rule is used and broken best in Christopher Nolans the Dark Knight. In one scene of the film the Joker is caught and is being held in the police station interrogation room. When Batman interrogates the Joker he sits down at the table and listens to the joker talk about how similar they are and how they complete each other. In this scene Christopher Nolan breaks this rule by having the over the shoulder shot on the left while Batman’s over the shoulder is on the right. Through the discussion Nolan films the over the shoulder shot to have the Joker on the right and Batman on the left and then back again. Christopher Nolan ones this to visual show how Batman and the Joker are similar. He does this to you subconsciously using the 180 degree rule. i think this rule work so well in this scene because not only was it well integrated into the story but he slowly pans the the back of their heads during the shots as if to show the camera switching to the other shoulder to give the look a more natural feel. this makes the scene look more visual impress and purposeful and less of a careless mistake. This scene perfectly shows how the rule 180 degree rule that we learned in class can be used in film to elevate the scene in a good way and a bad way. This technique is something I was always subconsciously aware of but never knew what it was called or how important it was until class.

Im Leo Biagi, Sophomore year of high school I took Honors filmmaking where I studied film and created two movies. For the two movies I used shots I have learned over the years such as Dutch angles, the rule of thirds, over the shoulder, wide angle, close up and, perspective. I have also worked in WSTX film studio for three years were i have used all the equipment that is used during a live broadcast. Over the summer is middle school i took filmmaking camps were I film four small movies. I also have watched an excessive amount of movies.