Review

Superstar:

The movie was long but the length helped as a viewer, allowing time for me to be sucked into the world that I was being pulled into. The shots were so dynamic and cinematic because they were so well lit and the compositions were so well controlled.
Some of the shots seemed to stick out to me and it pulled me out of the experience of the film.
One of the main shots would be the closeups of the woman's mouth and the different body parts at various times.
Another would be the Ex-Lax when it is first presented to the audience, the shot just seems to go on for a little too long.
But for the most part the mixing of the shots didn't bother me and they all seemed to flow well together - so much so that I wasn't even paying attention to the shots after a while because the story got me so sucked in. The subtle movements of the dolls that more implied movement than actually showed was a smart move, and allowed for the audience to not pay so much attention to "how did they do that?" which can take away from a viewing experience.
I wish that the text was more legible, perhaps just a different color instead of black since so much of the background on the shots is dark and therefore only some things can be read.

The ending with all of the mashed up shots seemed very successful.
The voice overs, the tipping back of the camera as she drank the bottles, and the dark dark lighting that only gave you clues - they all were edited very well so that the viewer becomes completely immersed waiting and anticipating what is going to happen (since it is already set up in the beginning of the story all the viewer has to wonder is "when?" and "how?")

Pitch Time: Shadow Film "Allegory of the Cave"

Means:
-Screen in foreground
-Puppets behind the screen
-Light source behind the puppets

Story:
Plato's Allegory of the Cave
http://faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/320/cave.htm
[[The above link explains everything in the most basic way that I could find - check wiki for a tad more complicated run down of the allegory]]

Synopsis:
By taking a story based on shadows and their symbolic meanings within a philosophical theory, the movie will create it's own illusion to the audience. Within the allegory the characters are watching shadows, and within the context of the assignment the audience is watching shadows. During the whole movie the same kind of animation is going to be presented so that the viewer is convinced of the animation and into the world themselves. At the end, once the character changes mentally within the story, the animation will be taken away and live action filming will instead take over. This parallel between the character being pulled from one state to the other, and the viewer being pulled from one illusion to the other is the main focus and reasoning of the film.

Dialogue:
There may or may not be dialogue based on feedback within the class, either way there will be no talking of the direct characters and only narration over the top of the story if any dialogue is within the piece.

--

Inspiration links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPRjIIQsSAk
[The above link shows a tutorial on how to create a puppet - the puppets made in our film will be a combination of the two shown in the tutorial; made from cardboard and using string for moving arms, with rods to guide from behind]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muhHgUlyzBc
[The puppets in the above video demonstrate the way that the puppets within our piece will move their limbs and the flipping from one side to the other will be taken care of in the edit to be seamless]
[[3:30 to around 6:00 are the best sections within the video as examples of movement]]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2afuTvUzBQ
[[Above is a video showing the general setup of the cave that will be in our piece, our video will end at the part where the person is brought into the sunlight]]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yefR6UaRv-s
[[The above video shows another very different take on the Allegory of the Cave, but the idea of not having any dialogue is a definite option within our piece]]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4XXItJYFKA
[[Above is just a really wonderful stop-motion of the Allegory of the Cave]]

Lighting Maps: The Proposition

BEDROOM: Sax's house (above)

LIVING ROOM: Sax's house (above)

HOSPITAL: Sax's room (above)
HOSPITAL: Sax's room (above)
DR.BLOOM'S OFFICE: Sax's appointment (above)

---
These are the proposed lighting set-ups for each main shot within the story, outside lighting and front door lighting of the characters house will be natural light, so the only tool used (depending on time of day when shot) will be a bounce card or a reflector to fill in the talents features.

Additional lighting tools will be:
- extension cords for farther away outlets
- a snoot for concentrated light
- bounce card / reflector
- foam-core to create a sliver of light - OR - barnyard doors and black tinfoil for spill

Conditional to shot:
Because of the requirement for fill light, the lighting schemes above have the proposed spot to place a fill (a weak setting to keep features visible) however, the scene's dramatic features may change the need for any kind of fill light - and that piece of the lighting map is subject to revision.