Pre-test test shoot

This weekend I went in to get some test shots with the lighting set up and the falling process in the chair to see if it will work. I also planned out a few different outfits to get some stills of to see if they will look right on film.

Image of lighting

...and the chair











Here are some shots of the outfits I have in mind. I think that it will be stronger if there is a variety of changes to show time passing so that the process doesn't read as one day. Varying from dressed up to very casual. Things I would wear from day to day.

Footage:

This first video is the building of the chair as it was the very first time we put it back together, but the more we did it the better we were able to figure out how to keep it stable. 3 toothpicks are better than one!


building from Angelique Gonzalez on Vimeo.

The next two videos are of me falling. In the first one the chair started to break before I even fell down and because of the angle it still looked pretty believable. Which got me thinking that this could be a way to execute the shots. If I can get the chair to start falling and I fall just after I may be able to land without hurting myself or the chair but it could be tricky.

fall 1 from Angelique Gonzalez on Vimeo.

The problem in this film is that I hesitate when I sit down. Pretty much every time I sat down I did that. So, I am glad that I figured this out before the real test shoot coming up next weekend. I think I am going to try to tape some padding under my clothes. Most of my outfits are not fitted so I am pretty sure that I can conceal it so it doesn't show of film. Maybe with a little extra padding on my body I will be more confident when sitting down on the chair. It needs to look as normal and natural as possible!

fall 2 from Angelique Gonzalez on Vimeo.

At the end of the shoot there was an unexpected student that came into the studio, Jonah, we asked him to sit on the chair that was already set up. He did and it was good because the chair didn't break right away. He knew there was something wrong with it but for a brief moment I think he thought he was safe. The chair did break and he said it hurt but that he was ok. Sorry Jonah! I did discover what I was already thinking which is that he landed on the back of the chair with his back. Once again I need padding!

unexpected from Angelique Gonzalez on Vimeo.

Test shots in lighting studio

Over the weekend I went to the lighting studio to plan on where I would like to set up and get some shots of the chair documenting the way it breaks at this point. I am still trying to figure out a way to make the chair fall apart a little bit better so that it isn't a surprise at what direction it goes each time. I'm getting a little worried about making it happen. Ideally I want the cushion to fall straight down so that I am not falling on to the back or legs of the chair. I do not want anything to snap on the chair to the point where I can not use it anymore or snap anything on me for that matter.

The chair is in 3 pieces: the ladder back, cushion, and front legs. My helper and boyfriend, Randall, and I rigged the chair up with toothpicks because that is what we had conveniently at the house. After trying that out in the lighting studio we realized that it was working but something a little thicker would be better. So, we went by the home depot and got the smallest dowel rod and stained it to match the chair.


Here is some footage of what we did. This was all shot on my iPhone with a tripod.

 

I did not mess with lighting just yet because I am still trying to figure out the construction of the chair. I have to admit that I was a little scared to test out the chair myself due to either hurting me or breaking the chair too much before I even start shooting the project.

Here is a picture of the dowels stained.

Lighting

This is the overall look that I would like to have for my project. I was thinking of an interrogation scene or maybe being on stage, like Broadway.  I like how the location is unknown allowing focus on just the chair and the person in the chair. I also like the soft blue light and I would definitely like to have the light more feathered so that it fades to black.

Chair rigging research

 Cool video of a chair collapsing

Job Research

I narrowed down to my three jobs that I will be looking into and applying for at the end of the semester.

1. Robinson Editions-Digital Artist- 400 S. Front St. Memphis, TN 38103- (901) 576-0708- dan@radiomemephis.com-contact page- Jack Robinson Photographer from 1955-1997, after his death, his estate catalogued well over 150,000 vintage images of celebrities, fashion, landscapes, street scenes of the cities of the world.

Job Description includes: A basic understanding of computers and photoshop- talent in design and color sense- communicate in a professional design environment. Will digitally manipulating photography to create original art.

I plan to email about interest for this position and inquire if they are hiring

2. BioWare-Product Media Specialist-8300 North Mo Pac Expressway Austin, TN- (512) 382-8682-“BioWare's vision is to Create, Deliver, and Evolve the Most Emotionally Engaging Games in the World”

Job Qualifications: Demonstrated knowledge of visual design expertise in both graphic and video formats. (an online portfolio or DVD of relevant work is required)
1-2 years experience with digital, non-linear video editing
Familiarity with Adobe Photoshop, Flash, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Photoshop, QuickTime Pro and other industry-standard audio/video editing tools
Technical savvy and a robust understanding of interactive technologies, particularly video games
Willingness and ability to meet aggressive deadlines and extraordinary attention to detail
Excellent oral communication and interpersonal skills (experience in cross-functional team environments preferred)
Demonstrate a high degree of flexibility and adaptability
1-2 years of experience in an online/marketing production environment
Industry experience preferred
Strong understanding of design principles for the web
Deep familiarity with non-linear editing techniques, streaming video, and web compression technologies and approaches (an online portfolio or DVD of relevant work is required)
Working knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and contemporary Web 2.0 technologies and development approaches. Understands commonly-used concepts, practices, and procedures within the web production workflow
Technical savvy and a robust understanding of interactive technologies, particularly video games and BioWare intellectual properties
Excellent oral communication and interpersonal skills (cross-functional team environments)
Ability to travel up to 5% domestic and international


*Note: Im a bit worried I may not be fully qualified for this one??

Can apply online to their jobs page

3. Modcloth- Marketing: Creative & Community-Locations in San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and Los Angeles- Our creative teams focus on developing engaging and beautiful, brand-affirming content for our site, blog, and all of our member communications. Everything from the photos and descriptions in our product listings, to our image and design-rich stylebooks, to communications (like emails, blog posts, and tweets) are artfully crafted by this team. ModCloth's community is core to our mission, and the ModCloth community teams are building engaged and delighted communities, both on ModCloth (through our product reviews and Be the Buyer and ModStylists programs) and on social platforms across the web, like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr.

Check on openings


I am concerned about Bioware and if I am qualified enough for that position

I did some more searching on Indeed.com and came across this company call Pearson. They have a couple openings, an Artist job that sounds more like what I am looking for and Art services manager. The company is all about educating children as well as businesses to reach their full potential. It sounds like a great company with a wonderful goal of helping others and they have many locations all over the world.

Chair Reupholstery Step 1

So I got started on the reupholstery process, and I recorded the steps along the way. I only finished the stripping down of the old material. I still need to figure out how to properly add the new cushion which is a lot thicker than the old cushion since I will be falling on it. I do know for a fact that the new 2" thick cushion is going to save my bum because I was falling on it in the store before I bought it. :)

Also, I realize that I could have left the staples in the underneath part of the chair but there was something kind of satisfying about pulling them out. I got all of the staples but three which is pretty good considering that the wood seat has been covered twice and who ever stapled it up went a little staple happy.

Here are all the pieces, the middle fabric is what I will be covering both seats with. I like it because the print isn't as loud as the original. It's just a cream and beige pinstripe.

Back of seat- look at all those staples.

Layers of dirty old materials.











Layers and thin cushion.








 

Rusty staples.











Finished! Yay!











My next step will be to do a little research on reupholstering so that I do not mess up the ten dollar cushion that I purchase. 

I took karate when I was real young, I sort of remember learning certain ways to try to land and brace yourself when falling, so I decided to save a few links to refer to when I start filming. I realize that I should not look prepared in the film when I am falling over and over but there are ways to safely land without looking too obvious.

http://www.wikihow.com/Fall-Safely

Falling Down Without Breaking Bones - These bloopers are hilarious

Job list

Memphis:

Varsity Brands- Photo, web, video, and graphic design

Robinson Editions- Digital Artist- digitally manipulate photographs to make original art

WMC TV 5- Editing

Insurance Media- Studio/final cut pro


Austin: 

Bioware- Product Media Specialist- Qualifications Video editing and Photoshop

Dallas:

A&A Video- Video-editing

San Fran/Pitts:

Modcloth.com- video editor- Marketing community/ creative department




I will be adding to this as I think of/find more!!!

Log- Hours Worked

9/01-  5.0hr-    Chair shopping 11am-4pm
9/03-  1.5hr-    Chair breakdown
9/09-  0.5hr-    Cushion shopping
9/10-  1.5hr-    Reupholstery
9/16-  2.5hr-    Chair assembly and test shots in lighting studio
9/22-  3hr-       Pre-test test shoot
9/24-  1.5hr-    Format and edit
9/29-  5hr-       Test Shoot
10/01-3hr-       Format and edit
10/06-4hr-       Final Shoot
10/07-6hr-       Format-edits

The Chair

Over the long weekend I set out to find the perfect chair for my project. I spent all day on Saturday driving around town looking for garage sales, Goodwill, and thrift stores. I was hoping to find a cheap set of four identical wooden chairs. I wanted the chairs to have a standard "chair look" to them. I did not want them to read kitchen, office, or lawn chair. Believe me there were plenty of lawn chairs on clearance but not exactly what I am going for. Well it is pricey to get a set of 3 or 4 chairs and there were not any chairs just hanging out in the cheaper places like Goodwill, but I did find two chairs that have the overall look that I want. They were at a thrift store that I went to early on in the day. I did not purchase them right away because I was hoping to find a larger set but after running around to more places I ended up getting the two that I found because at that point I just felt like it would be better than nothing. They were ten dollars each so twenty for both. I am ok with that considering that I know I have spent way more on a school project before. I just hope I do not break the already broken one too much to where I can not use it again when filming. I know I need to get started on this project to make sure to work out all the kinks.

Here are some images of what the chairs look like:

Today I dismantled one of the chairs to help me start thinking about how I am going to rig it to make it fall when I sit on it. I am thinking that I am going to carefully remove the fabric from the seat and replace the wood bottom with some foam board or something a bit softer. Also, I will be adding more stuffing. I made sure to save all of the screws that were removed as well as the wooden pieces just in case.

       
On order are four of those foam mats that interlock to make a big piece. I have been wanting some for the house anyway but thought that I may be falling on those to help cushion my fall as well. They are black on one side and gray on the other. 40 dollars so far on this project! I hope I can make everything come together the way I see it in my head! I am excited and anxious about the breaking and falling part of this process!

This is the mat:

Pitch

"Elevator" Line- Visualization of perseverance through constant struggle and defeat in a seemingly hopeless situation  

Explanation of Theme- As a metaphor, I will use falling from a chair to show how life is a constant battle.

What is the central point you are trying to make with this film? The point is to show a person’s emotional determination toward an obstacle by not giving up no matter the level of difficulty.

What is the central goal of the film? The goal of this film is to give the viewer a sense of sympathy toward the main character, as they will be able to relate to the emotional feelings of overcoming obstacles in their own lives. What is the movie about in abstract terms? Perseverance towards obstacles.  

Why should we care??? This project will allow me to create a short film using a portable camera to have freedom in experimenting with hands free camera angles, as well as allow me to focus on performance, installation, and most importantly allowing time to improve my editing skills to fully be able to execute my vision.  

What is your project about??? This project will elicit feelings of sympathy thru struggle but bring attention to determination.  

Does your film have a premise? The premise is to not let interruption stop you from moving forward. In life there will always be a hurdle to conquer.  

Short synopsis- The film will show the repetition of a person sitting in a chair that will collapse causing them to fall each time. She will keep going back to the chair rebuilding it and sitting again only for it to break. I will focus on the girl’s frustration and defeat but highlight her commitment to keep trying. The film will be presented in its usual display on a computer screen, but I will place the same chair from the film in front of the screen as an installation, giving the viewer the option to experience the uneasy feeling of the unstable chair.

Place- a nondescript setting indoors, clear empty, blank walls and floor.  
Time- unidentified time  
Atmosphere- lonely/ empty  
Character- Late-20s female   
Tone- sympathy, empty and lonely

Execution- To execute this film I will be using my Iphone camera. The size and weight of the phone will allow me to rig it on different parts of the body as well as let me strap it to overhead objects and the furniture that I will be using in the film to help me get different angles and perspectives.
  
Structure Breakdown-
The film will be on a loop:
Fall
Rebuild
Rest
Fall
Repeat