So my adventures in filmmaking abound. This weekend was actually one of my favorites of the semester so far in terms of filmmaking. For my project I had to shoot two rolls of film and then edit them into one cohesive 2-3 minute film to create visual rhythm. I was actually really excited to shoot because I went home for the weekend and shot around the Hudson River and train station. I had sort of an idea of what I wanted to do and how I wanted my film to come out.
Thursday my film came back and it was time to put it together. I have to say I was really happy with the shots I got; the exposure came out really well and the scenes themselves were really beautiful. I decided I wanted to edit my film to create a kind of rising momentum that began slow, crescendo-ed, and then slowed down again which left me with a lot of editing.
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| Super 8 film. It looks larger than it really is. |
The one thing I can say about editing is that it is tedious, detailed oriented work. You have to be meticulous, good at remembering things, and have A LOT of patience. Firstly editing super 8 film means literally cutting and taping together the scenes you want to use. And super 8 film is tiny. Using a light bulb I had to go through each inch of my film looking to see where each scene ended and began, then cut that scene, and literally splice it together using the world's smallest piece of tape to the next scene where I wanted it to go. I also had to make sure that the film was all going the same way, meaning that all the sides with the emulsions were tapped together. If not, then some scenes would appear upside down and backwards, which happened to several of my scenes that I had to go back and fix.
I had film hanging everywhere. The editing room has racks to hang the film on, but mine was so long that it hung on the floor and around the table. At some points I had film wrapped around me as well. I really wish I had brought my camera with me. My poor film went through hell because I kept stepping on it and scratching it all over the place trying to get the film to stick and holding/burning it on the light bulb, which lead to it having a cool (unintentional) effect later on.
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| Film reel & project scraps. |
I went into the editing room around 11 Friday morning and did not emerge until 5 in the afternoon. Somehow the time flew by. I really enjoyed the process of editing; I found it creative and amusing. It was something completely different from anything I have ever done before. It was the first time I though "I can actual do this, I can edit film." It was such a hands-on process. I kept wishing I had more time to really think about what I wanted to film. So many times while editing I got ideas for scenes I wish I had shot.
Overall, I think my project came out really well. If I can figure out how to convert it, I may put it up on youtube. I think my favorite part of the project (besides actually doing it) was showing it to other people. One of my friends convinced me to let him see it and I was really glad I did because he liked it a lot. It was just cool to see people respond so well to something I created. It also made me less nervous to show my class when I was picked to go first. My professor really liked it; he said it spoke a lot about inhabited space vs. natural space which I thought was a really good way to put it. Also all the positive feedback from my class was a definite ego boost.
I think this project and this class in general is really good for me. I am learning so much about myself and my creativity and about film in general. I have always said that I liked editing, but this is the first time that I can really say I like editing because I've actually done it. I'm actually sad that we are moving onto digital film because I want more time to explore and play around with super 8.
Oh well, onto the next adventure...
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