Cucalorus Experience

The first event I attended was Dance-a-lorus. This particular event was an interesting way to start my experience at Cucalorus. This was my first year attending this festival and I was not sure what to expect. Dance-a-lorus started out by reminding me of my days as a dancer and having my recitals at similar stages. I even got to see one of my old school friends perform in one of the dances. Some of the dances I felt could have used more emotion but the rest provoked tons of emotion. For example, Pulse. When I saw the name in the flyer I just assumed it meant a heart pulse. I was reminded of the Pulse Room of which I did my Media Analysis on in Interactive Media. However, when the particular dance started you heard and saw the news reporting of the Pulse Nightclub. The dance provided viewers with a sense of being there during the shooting and the aftermath. Pulse ended the night in a strong, thought provoking way, leaving me speechless. As this was my first event that I attended, I was ready to explore more of what Cucalorus had to offer. Unfortunately, Cucalorus and my swim meet happened to be scheduled on the same weekend so I was rushing to get my events in so that I would make my meet on Saturday and Sunday. I decided to go to some of the feature screenings in Thalian Hall. One of my favorites that I saw was, Women Who Kill. I got to see this film with Lauren and being with a fellow student and filmmaker added to my experience. Unlike Dance-a-lorus, where I went alone, I was able to express my thoughts with Lauren about the film. We were also able to meet up with some other people like Mike, Brian, and Stan to see the following film: She's Allergic to Cats. This film reminded all of us of Holy Motors, leaving all of us confused and slightly disturbed. Each event I went to were all different and had a particular impression on me. I definitely want to go to Cucalorus again next year and hopefully I will be able to attend for more days and for more events.

Photo: Mini-Assignment

Self portrait ideas

Just like I am about some things in life, I'm still a little bit unsure about what I want for my self portrait. I went around and ask some family and friends about what they thought when they think of me. Some of them didn't quite grasp the concept but they still gave me some words that I could use in a different manner.

Here are some of the words that came up:
Organized
Money
Travel
Culturally Immersed
Beautiful
Respectful
Considerate
Patient
Kind
Creative
Artistic
Gentle touch
Swimming
Photography
Television
Individual

One thing that I was hoping to do was a double exposure. This would be interesting to do for me one, being as I have never done it before but I love the way that it looks in other people's work. I also think it would be a good thing for me to do because of who I am. I will show one side of me to everyone but very few people know the real me. In one of the exposures I would have myself in the shot and in the other I would have things that portrayed me. I really like the idea of doing something with my art supplies and having ink flowing or even having my GoPro under the water and looking up as one of the background exposures. Another thing I would love to do is have the exposure of me start out either darker or out of focus and then as the film goes on it gradually gets lighter and more in focus. This would be representing the past couple of years for me, seeing as how I went through a really rough patch and I was unsure about practically everything but now I'm finding my way and I'm seeing things I haven't seen in a long time.

Cucalorus Plan

The five events I'm planning on attending are:

Dance-A-Lorus
Fare
Women Who Kill
She's Allergic to Cats
Dark Night

There are other events I would love to attend but because I have a swim meet the 12th and 13th of November I have to plan ahead and work around my schedule.

Music Video Producer/Costumes/Makeup

For the music video assignment I have been assigned the roles of producer, costume designer, and makeup artist. As far as being a costume designer and makeup artist I am not surprised people recommended me for the job seeing as how I have a background in studio art and how I have done the roles before on other projects. However I have never done the role of producer. As I have heard, producers are the ones that secure the shooting location, determine the budget, helps set up the shoot schedule, and overall talks to the crew to decide what works best for everyone. It seems to be a very logistical position, one of which I believe I will feel comfortable in once I get the hang of it. Personally, I like to follow things by a guide and get everything completed on time. Timing to me is extremely important and I can't stand for something to be late. Most of the time I am usually well organized with multiple calendars filled with events. As producer, I will be able to set up a schedule that will accommodate most everyones needs. A problem that has occurred too often among my previous projects. I would also like to make sure that we have everything we need in terms of props, costumes, and other equipment. This will deal quite a bit with budgeting and seeing how we are all broke college students, the budget will have to be on the lower side. This however, does not mean we can't be creative and come up with a better solution.

Art House

One thing that I have always loved is experiencing a film with a small group of friends. It is something I value, similar to how the author says that there is a cultural value to microcinema. Microcinema, is in my mind similar to tradition because sure you may not get to see or experience them all the time but it is something to keep alive and to share with other people. It's kind of like saying that every film student has seen Citizen Kane due to the fact that it is a classic. Microcinema is a classic tradition that I think should stay alive.

Assignment 1c

While I have shot on film before, this was a different experience. I'm use to working with my mother's Minolta Maxxum and neither of us had use for a light meter. I have also taken a photography course a couple of summers ago through Hoggard High School where we got to process our own film in their darkroom. The class was a great way for me to further my abilities but yet again we did not work with light meters. I think that if the course would have been over a longer period of time then we could have explored the idea of light meters rather than just the film itself. I loved working with the Pentax once I got a feel for the camera and for the light meter. I believe that I have a Pentax somewhere at home that I was given as a gift from a teacher and have been wanting to use that and the Holga she gave me for some time. After working on this project I have had the inspiration to want to go buy some film and once the weather has let up go and explore with those cameras. I think that I feel the same way about film that my mother did. Where film is a unique process and it gives you a surreal experience. The only thing I hope to work with one day is shooting a film on film stock. I have worked on destroying film stock in the 6x1 class but I feel that if your actually shooting something on that camera there will be another feeling or experience that is different to everything else that I have mentioned above. Overall, working on this project and shooting with the film was a great way to explore and expand my creativity and has given me more ideas for the future.