6x1: The Long-Take Shoot

My experience with the one-minute one-take shoot was very cool. My girlfriend was with me, which made it even better and she actually decided to be in it, so that was cool. I thought fast-paced nature of the shoot made it a little stressful, but once we figured out how it was going to work it wasn't as difficult as I anticipated. Everything went pretty smooth actually. I felt very comfortable processing the film with Sam, and Brooke and Tomasina made sure we blocked everything well before we shot and they ensured that we did not go over our time. We ended up shooting in 24 fps and we are going to slow down the footage to slow-motion. Most of the time the groups worked fairly independently. It wasn't until we go to the transferring process that we all really worked together to make sure that the projector was properly loaded and everything. It was a very cool experience getting to shoot on the bolex for the first time, and using 16mm. I hope I will get to use it again on some personal projects in the future.

6x1: Bridgman Packer

The entire experience of the Bridgman Packer week was interesting. It was quite a shock when I arrived at the workshop that we had to get up on stage and dance. I figured we would watch them and the dancers and that they would basically just show us how they work and operate. But then we had to get up and dance. I don't dance, not because I don't want to, but because I can't. However, once we were all out of our comfort zones, it was a very rewarding experience. The technology they use to incorporate video and live project into their performances is spectacular. While the mechanisms are simple, they have found ways to make their performances and truly surreal experience. I was inspired by their use of projection. It could be used so much in the context of filmmaking.

I particularly liked their use of costume in the first part of their performance. It was very unique, which is how I would describe all of their performance. The use of frame-within-a-frame was really awesome in "Voyeur." There were times when I found myself looking through up to 4 different frames at a figure moving, and that was an incredible sensation of depth. There were also several times that I got lost in the movement, especially when they were moving in and out from behind the curtain. Toward the end of that performance when there were several figures (projected and live) moving around, I lost track of what was the projection and what was live. It was truly fascinating. I also found myself almost hypnotized or in a trance when I finally stopped making an effort to follow what was what. It was really nice to just let my head get lost in the performance. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience.