Well its dones and before I forget this is where you can access the movie https://oncourse.iu.edu/access/content/user/gishc/FlyingCircus.wmv , that is if it works. As I think about this project and the ones I did when I was a kid I really wish I would have had some freer inquiry. This project was actually fun for me. I still am a little hesitant in handing it in as I have never had such a free experience and I can almost see it being all wrong. Then again I am not sure if I would have had the maturity to do free inquiry as a child. Maybe if a teacher was watching me closely.
I must say though this project was unlike any I have ever did. This was the first project where books weren't the main resource tool. I used movies more than anything and gleaned ideas off of them. Even though they didn't come out straight and tell me, they gave me an idea on what music to use, how a word card should look and even how the lettering of the time period looked like. I'm not sure how you would site that stuff but I guess that is how music and movies work. Its the musicians and producers of the past that newer artists imitate which then turns itself into new work. You can't site a musical style, its just kinda there, same way with movies. I guess nothing is new under the sun.
Anyways if you are interested in any of the websites I used, here they are.
How to Make a Silent Movie- http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Silent-Movie - what I started with in my original search. Very basic, almost common sensical listing of how to make a movie.
Prelinger Archives- http://www.archive.org/details/prelinger - This site contains thousands of film clips in it from the olden days, including those old corny educational films (which might be a neat idea to do next). There are so many of them that I'll list a few I watched to give me some ideas
College- http://www.archive.org/details/college - a nice Buster Keaton feature film, had some good laughs
The Electric House- http://www.archive.org/details/TheElectricHouse - a Buster Keaton short film that features him hooking up a house's electrical supply
Between Showers- http://www.archive.org/details/CC_1914_02_28_BetweenShowers - I wanted to see a really early film so I tried this one with Charlie Chaplin. A little tacky and most of it is done through body language.
World War I Aircraft- http://www.theaerodrome.com/ - one of the few sites out there that deals with World War I aircraft. I just used this to spot check if I was as accurate as possible in my movie.
Copyright Question- http://www.cric.or.jp/cric_e/beginners2/beginners2_qa2.html
Copyright Law- http://www.cric.or.jp/cric_e/clj/cl2_1.html#cl2_1+A30 - These two sites dealt with some of my copyright questions though it is still a bit hazy with me.
After doing this film I really want to create a few more. I think I just have to wait a little longer for my main actor to be able to go along a little bit better with the script
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Saturday, February 9, 2008
It's Done
Well the flick is done. I am pretty impressed by it also. I sent it out to the folks and family and they got a huge kick out of it. "Great" "Nice them to go along with his room" and "Liked the scene of him in the plane" all went with their emails.
I've been able to find a few books that have dealt with the aircraft of the time period though it was a little too late. Combat Aircraft of World War I and II and Aviation by Year both helped but it still kind of angers me how little this subject comes to the forefront as for every book on this subject there are fifty more for World War II.
I was reading through the standards and one of them hit me, the fourth one "Students pursue information related to personal interests" as this has been the most interesting project I have ever done. It seems like growing up in school that you always had a list of topics and a format in how your project had to be done. Most of the topics I hated and writing a paper never suited me that well. So this project still doesn't feel like its legit. I keep feeling that I am doing something wrong as I actually enjoyed doing this. It incorporated all the things I like, planes, my son, Move Maker and gave me the opportunity to make something that my family enjoys also.
Now with the movie done I have an idea on how to make future silent films. I think I will keep this "Little Bert" Series thing going. Now I just need to come up with a new film. This time I am going to script it out a little bit more before just jumping into it. It might save me a little more time.
Now comes the final task and no small one. I have to find a way to place the film onto the internet. I have never been all that tech-savvy so we'll see how it goes. I think I'll work it out through OnCourse as I hate setting up another accounts. I am going through a password and account login overload. I have to now type in about six different passwords before I can get into any of my computer accounts. Just too much out there.
I am digressing so I am getting off of this thing and hopefully the next time I come back on I'll have it on the web.
I've been able to find a few books that have dealt with the aircraft of the time period though it was a little too late. Combat Aircraft of World War I and II and Aviation by Year both helped but it still kind of angers me how little this subject comes to the forefront as for every book on this subject there are fifty more for World War II.
I was reading through the standards and one of them hit me, the fourth one "Students pursue information related to personal interests" as this has been the most interesting project I have ever done. It seems like growing up in school that you always had a list of topics and a format in how your project had to be done. Most of the topics I hated and writing a paper never suited me that well. So this project still doesn't feel like its legit. I keep feeling that I am doing something wrong as I actually enjoyed doing this. It incorporated all the things I like, planes, my son, Move Maker and gave me the opportunity to make something that my family enjoys also.
Now with the movie done I have an idea on how to make future silent films. I think I will keep this "Little Bert" Series thing going. Now I just need to come up with a new film. This time I am going to script it out a little bit more before just jumping into it. It might save me a little more time.
Now comes the final task and no small one. I have to find a way to place the film onto the internet. I have never been all that tech-savvy so we'll see how it goes. I think I'll work it out through OnCourse as I hate setting up another accounts. I am going through a password and account login overload. I have to now type in about six different passwords before I can get into any of my computer accounts. Just too much out there.
I am digressing so I am getting off of this thing and hopefully the next time I come back on I'll have it on the web.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Aircraft and Inquiry
Well the air sequence of my film has led to a whole bunch more inquiry. To make the film appear realistic I am doing the only time era open to silent movies about aircraft and that is World War I. The only problem with that is I know very little about World War I. It has always been overshadowed by World War II and recieves little attention. There are a few websites such as The Aerdrome and I even found that there is a magazine (good luck in finding it) but this time period and topic are kept in near obscurity. And its no wonder. I found out a fighter pilots lifespan averaged three weeks on the front and most of the major aces, the Red Baron included, died in combat, often in their early twenties.
Well like I said, my son's ceiling is covered with models that I have created so I looked at the World War I ones (numbering four) and decided to work with them. There is only one German (a Fokker Dr. I, a triplane for those of you who don't know)and this one would be needed for the enemy. I needed to find out when it was used and found out 1917 before it was pulled out of service. I then looked at the good guys and the Sopwith Camel would become the main advesary as it was during the war. Maybe my folks and any modern day audience wouldn't know this but I would and went at it as keeping it as accurate as possible.
So now I had settings and a plane. Using the white cloth technique I got some good shots (an apple corer makes a great gunsight) but could not get everything I wanted. I couldn't get the plane to look like it was taking off or being shot down for that matter and that is where footage from Hell's Angels came in. From what I've read (and understood) in copyright laws, as long as what you are doing is being shown to a small group and not for money, you are OK to use it. In fact many things that were made before 1937 fall into the public domain. The copyright can be renewed but the older the work the less pertinent the copyright is.
So I have filmed a few shots of the movie and placed them in. The movie is very inaccurate from what I researched. The German planes are old British De Havillands with crosses painted on them. But I got some good stuff and used it to good effect.
Now that I had all these shots and had them loaded into my computer, I had no idea of what I really wanted to do with them. I had no script, no direction and learned really quickly you just can't start lumping things together and make a story. There needs to be something to go off of. So I made a script, reshot a few scenes and started piecing the film together.
For the word cards I used my uncle's technique with great success. I have even found some old art deco lettering that really fits the time period. So now I am about halfway done with making the film together. For a three minute film if I keep at the pace I am going, it will take about ten hours to make. You never appreciate the work you see on the screen until you actually have to do it.
I also watched a modern day World War I flying movie, Flyboys which was a neat experience. It seems like nowhere is accuracy strived for. While the aircraft are the right types in this film, all German planes are red, just like the Red Barons. I found this comical as most of these types were either camoflaged or in blue but this film makes them all red.
Well like I said, my son's ceiling is covered with models that I have created so I looked at the World War I ones (numbering four) and decided to work with them. There is only one German (a Fokker Dr. I, a triplane for those of you who don't know)and this one would be needed for the enemy. I needed to find out when it was used and found out 1917 before it was pulled out of service. I then looked at the good guys and the Sopwith Camel would become the main advesary as it was during the war. Maybe my folks and any modern day audience wouldn't know this but I would and went at it as keeping it as accurate as possible.
So now I had settings and a plane. Using the white cloth technique I got some good shots (an apple corer makes a great gunsight) but could not get everything I wanted. I couldn't get the plane to look like it was taking off or being shot down for that matter and that is where footage from Hell's Angels came in. From what I've read (and understood) in copyright laws, as long as what you are doing is being shown to a small group and not for money, you are OK to use it. In fact many things that were made before 1937 fall into the public domain. The copyright can be renewed but the older the work the less pertinent the copyright is.
So I have filmed a few shots of the movie and placed them in. The movie is very inaccurate from what I researched. The German planes are old British De Havillands with crosses painted on them. But I got some good stuff and used it to good effect.
Now that I had all these shots and had them loaded into my computer, I had no idea of what I really wanted to do with them. I had no script, no direction and learned really quickly you just can't start lumping things together and make a story. There needs to be something to go off of. So I made a script, reshot a few scenes and started piecing the film together.
For the word cards I used my uncle's technique with great success. I have even found some old art deco lettering that really fits the time period. So now I am about halfway done with making the film together. For a three minute film if I keep at the pace I am going, it will take about ten hours to make. You never appreciate the work you see on the screen until you actually have to do it.
I also watched a modern day World War I flying movie, Flyboys which was a neat experience. It seems like nowhere is accuracy strived for. While the aircraft are the right types in this film, all German planes are red, just like the Red Barons. I found this comical as most of these types were either camoflaged or in blue but this film makes them all red.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
So Far So Good
Yesterday filming started. It was supposed to be the easy part of the film. I am just shooting the natural scenes. Ones that need no acting. I have placed them into the film, added the old technique and it looks good. The nice thing about the film being silent and all scratchy is that you don't need to worry about saying anything and any mistakes in filming are greatly alleviated due to the old fashioned effect which purposely weakens the quality of the film, hiding things that would otherwise not look right.
I have a song picked out and recorded that last night also. An old polka from the 20s that sounds more Sousa than polka. I have a feeling that copyright will not be a problem with this stuff. Heck I could have the last copy there is.
To shoot the scenes of planes flying I have been working on two things. One is hanging model planes (which I have an abundance of) in front of a white sheet and move the camera to simulate movement. I have done this and it has come out pretty good. The second way is to get images straight from another movie. Howard Hughes's Hell's Angels has perfect sequences for that. I was not able to translate that into a video format that I could work with till my wife suggested filming it off of the screen. I didn't think it would work but surprisingly it did.
So the next thing is to see copyright laws. I doubt that this would infringe upon anybody's copyright as everything I am using is old and I am not doing this to make money. But I'll still check to make sure.
As I was reading about the different literacies for class this week one came out and struck me. The visual one. I have known all my life that I see things better than read things. Hence my love for history. I excelled in the class due to my ability to picture what we were reading. By picking this project and making a movie I guess I am showing my full fledged support of visual literacy. I think at times though it is hard for a visual learner in school where things are often set in the written word. I had a hard time feeling that this project would be acceptable as I am so use to writing a term paper. I guess we all have our different abilities and while my wife is analytical and needs everything explained fully, I have always been able to see things in my head and can't often find the words to convey those ideas to her. The decor of our house is a perfect example. We got to the point where I stopped trying to explain my plans to her and just did it. She can't believe how I can see the things before they are done and I still don't know how to convey these thoughts to things she can understand. So we just go that way and its saves on the fights.
I have a song picked out and recorded that last night also. An old polka from the 20s that sounds more Sousa than polka. I have a feeling that copyright will not be a problem with this stuff. Heck I could have the last copy there is.
To shoot the scenes of planes flying I have been working on two things. One is hanging model planes (which I have an abundance of) in front of a white sheet and move the camera to simulate movement. I have done this and it has come out pretty good. The second way is to get images straight from another movie. Howard Hughes's Hell's Angels has perfect sequences for that. I was not able to translate that into a video format that I could work with till my wife suggested filming it off of the screen. I didn't think it would work but surprisingly it did.
So the next thing is to see copyright laws. I doubt that this would infringe upon anybody's copyright as everything I am using is old and I am not doing this to make money. But I'll still check to make sure.
As I was reading about the different literacies for class this week one came out and struck me. The visual one. I have known all my life that I see things better than read things. Hence my love for history. I excelled in the class due to my ability to picture what we were reading. By picking this project and making a movie I guess I am showing my full fledged support of visual literacy. I think at times though it is hard for a visual learner in school where things are often set in the written word. I had a hard time feeling that this project would be acceptable as I am so use to writing a term paper. I guess we all have our different abilities and while my wife is analytical and needs everything explained fully, I have always been able to see things in my head and can't often find the words to convey those ideas to her. The decor of our house is a perfect example. We got to the point where I stopped trying to explain my plans to her and just did it. She can't believe how I can see the things before they are done and I still don't know how to convey these thoughts to things she can understand. So we just go that way and its saves on the fights.
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