Friday, April 6, 2018
12:30 - 2:30; 120 min. -
Photography:
Photo editing -
I assisted Will in purchasing a version of Photoshop on his computer. We then examined the photos he took during his trip to Los Angeles, discussing frame, subject, and composition as we proceeded. We discussed his movie and how to use Photoshop to repair some aspects of the images we collected for the film. Homework: Repair Tony’s shirt and pants, and Mark’s coat.

Friday, March 16, 2018
12:30 - 2:30; 120 min. -
Photography:
Event photography /Photoshop -
Will was the event photographer for a school wide activity. When he was sure he had captured the event sufficiently, he continued with the work on his Photoshop assignment. He used the stamp tool to repair part of the image, and removed the non-green sections from a few images from his movie. Homework: take photos from his trip to Los Angeles.

Friday, March 9, 2018
12:30 - 2:30; 120 min. -
Photography:
Stop action photography -
Will helped erect the green screen stage, and set it up for shooting the last scene. We repaired the actor’s wardrobe, and reviewed the script. We set up the lights and the camera. Will collected the stop action images for the second act of his film. After reviewing them, we examined the script again, and found there were small close-up, action shots still missing so we quickly set the stage, and completed the ‘filming’ of the movie. We discussed the mood of the film, the music and the name.

Friday, March 2, 2018
12:30 - 2:30; 120 min. -
Photography:
Photoshop -
Will is continuing with the Photoshop project. He is working on one scene, and all the images he collected for that scene. He was tasked with removing the ‘non-green’ parts of the background of his movie images. Will used the polygon and marquee tools to remove large areas and the erase, and the paint bucket tools for more complex work.

Friday, February 23, 2018
12:30 - 2:30; 120 min. -
Photography:
Photoshop -
We discussed how the iMovie program will work with the color green in his movie images; predominantly the green-screen backgrounds. Then when he places the images in front of the chosen background, the green will be replaced with the desired image. However there are some parts of our background that was not covered by the green screen. Will was directed to work on one scene, and complete all the stop-action images he collected for that scene. He was tasked with removing the ‘non-green’ parts of the background of his movie images. After reviewing the tools he was familiar with, such as the erase, the marquee, and the paint bucket tools, he learned to use the polygon tool, which allowed him to create a multi-sided box around any unwanted parts of the image. Will completed corrections on all images in one scene of his movie.

I will give a Will an introduction into graphic design and how it applied to his interests. I will show him some images created by Drew Stewzan and Rob Duenas so that he can see how composition works and how it relates to his field of study. Lastly I will show him two short films created my graphic designer/film students.

Friday, February 2, 2018
12:30 - 2:30; 120 min. -
Photography:
Themes and selfies -
Will and I discussed last week's photo assignment. He was tasked with presenting his photos to me, describing the setting, and identifying the subject for each. We then explored themes. Will made a connection to themes from his music lessons, and applied them to photography, giving me subjects that could be included in the group. Will listed some possible themes for photo assignments, and we discovered together the photo homework assignment for this week. We then collected some ‘selfie’ photos he will need in the film. Homework: photos that are inspired by a theme of your own choosing.

Friday, January 26, 2018
12:30 - 2:30; 120 min. -
Photography:
Animation -
Will and I reviewed his homework, and discussed how he utilized the rules of frame, subject, light, and shadow. We discussed the homework assignment for this week. We then examined what we had already completed, in terms of our shooting schedule. We examined what was left to do, and decided today we would get close up shots of Mark. Will was tasked with setting up the camera and stage. We took photos from two separate camera angles and Will was solely responsible for all action in the scene. Will was also asked to ‘break down’ the set, including putting away all supplies, and cleaning up the site. Homework: take six photos, one representing each of these words: Hot, Cold, Wet, Dry, Soft, Hard.

Friday, January 19, 2018
12:30 - 2:30; 120 min. -
Photography:
Backdrops and Close-ups -
Will and I examined the scenes he has already shot. He was encouraged to notice how much of each scene is actually visible during a scene, as opposed to the image-by-image view he sees during a shooting session. We discussed what needed to be completed in post-production, including removing the sticks that hold our actors’ upright, using Photoshop software. I reminded him to not be too concerned about small things in one image, as it will be on the screen for less than a tenth of a second, and is not worth his time to correct. We then discussed the background he wanted for the last scene he collected last week. He searched the Internet for a suitable image for the scene in question. We then made a plan for today’s shooting schedule, and Will decided to concentrate on close-up shots of Tony. We found the various situations where Tony was to have a close-up, by examining the storyboard we created several weeks ago. He was then tasked to set up his camera, and actor, for the day's shooting. We collected the close up shots, and broke down the set. Homework: take 5 photos: 1photo with one subject, 1 photo with two subjects, etc.

Friday, January 12, 2018
12:30 - 2:30; 120 min. -
Photography:
Scene 2 -
Will set up the stage and adjusted the camera angle to prepare for today’s shooting schedule. He checked the preceding scene to make sure his set up was correct and positioned his actors to perform the scene. Once the set up was to his liking, he filmed the scene, one image at a time, making sure to move both his actors through the action. He was diligent to make sure each actor’s wardrobe was undamaged between scenes and there were no flaws in the images. Finally we watched the scene to make sure we had all the action we needed from this set up. Will had some questions about a scene we had filmed last week, so we examined the film and discussed what he had accomplished so far.