#tcfinla

My experience with Campus Movie Fest began back in Tuscaloosa, where I worked as a director of photography for Christina Irion on her movie, “The Chase.” Our set could best be described as a struggle. We missed two days of exterior shooting due to rain delays, had three times more child extras than we had crew, and ended up with audio issues in post production. We didn’t make the top 16, but our final product was still good enough to be selected for screening at Black Warrior Film Festival. When comparing my work to the finalists screened in Tuscaloosa, I saw that my work was almost as good as theirs, but just needed more polish. This was encouraging to me, as it gave me a concrete list of issues that most student films have, so that I could check to make sure my film didn’t have those same issues. More on that later. Unfortunately, I had to work during the CMF Hollywood panels, but that doesn’t mean my time at CMF Hollywood was without any educational or professional value. For example, I managed to take off of work an hour early on Thursday, July 9th, allowing me to catch the last 20 minutes of the CMF Opening Reception. There, I met with other filmmakers, and got a feel for where I am professionally in relation to them. I’d say that the people I was really impressed with were only slightly above me in terms of technical skill, but they had a lot to teach me about equipment. I’m planning on doing a little more personal study on my off-time to try and catch up. I also met with Calvin and Kevin Ross, two UA students, while at the mixer. We had spoken around campus several times before, so seeing them in Hollywood was a reminder that we work in a small industry, where word is very easy to pass around. It made me mindful to not be a trash-talker, but to instead try and be positive and encouraging to my peers. That same night, CMF screened Judd Apatow’s new movie, Trainwreck. I thought the movie was quite funny, but I was quietly amused by how many of Amy Schumer’s standup comedy bits made it into the final product of the movie. Considering Schumer wrote Trainwreck, this isn’t so much as a surprise to me, but it still seems like a screenplay should consist of entirely original jokes, not re-hashed versions of jokes Schumer had told before. That aside, the movie was excellent, and the crowd response made for a great atmosphere. I probably learned the most at CMF Hollywood from the screenings. Seeing so many student works back-to-back really helps point out flaws and strengths to student film. I noticed a couple common issues between a lot of the films, some of which my own team made on “The Chase.” For example... SOUND: Sound is half of a movie, but student filmmakers seem to sweep it into the corner and replace it with more visually compelling images. This practice should be highly discouraged, because the mark of a good film at CMF Hollywood was how good the audio turned out to be. Improper mic placement was probably the most common issue, resulting in muffled or echoed dialogue which was harsh on the ears. Sound mixing was another big issue. Often, loud sounds like gunshots were far too quiet, and quieter sounds like alarm clocks were so loud it hurt your ears. This could be the result of editing with headphones on, and then not checking the audio afterwards without headphones. Finally, some films had inconsistent room tones, or poorly edited dialogue with too much dead air before or after lines were delivered. This is a disappointing mistake, because it’s entirely too easy to fix. It is simply a matter of cutting your lines shorter in the editing room. One film that did audio well was “Getting to Ten,” from Clappity Productions of the Georgia Institute of Technology. Their dialogue was crisp and understandable, their mixing was well executed, and the sound quality added to the production quality of the no-budget film. ALL STYLE, NO SUBSTANCE: One mantra I’ve always heard around filmmakers is that we are storytellers first, before anything else. So, bearing that in mind, story should be the principle concern when creating a concept for a film. Several of the CMF finalist films went against that convention, and suffered as a result, in my opinion. The worst offenders were rife with cliches. Opening shots of alarm clocks, stories of suicide, and the infamous dutch angle shot where the protagonist slides down a wall in defeat were all cliches present in these student films. I was quite impressed and pleased by how few of the University of Alabama films had these tropes in them, and when they did, they were done in ways that were fresh and less cliche. COLOR GRADING: I don’t often think of color grading as an essential part of the editing process, but after seeing some of the films at CMF, I remember now why it is. Making your film look consistent is more than just a check mark added to the production quality box, it is crucial to keeping your audience immersed in your universe. One film that had a very consistent color scheme was Tanner Robbins’ own Syzygy. His color scheme really helped sell the spooky cultist vibe of the short.