Project
Description
In this experimental film I will treat the
mechanical/electronic single-system recording device (camera/sound) as a living
and breathing organism that simulates a human pathological condition. The
camera’s digital sensor is a receptor that captures visual detail and
information, just like the human eye, and as such it can develop dysfunctions.
Colorblindness and blindness is somewhat an elastic
term used to describe a wide range of pathological visual limitations. Even
though partially blind people are devoid of seeing details or in high image
resolution, studies show that in their dreams these people see the same colors
and high resolution as those not inflicted with partial blindness. The same can
be said about those inflicted with the various types of colour blindness, i.e.
they are able to see colours in their dreams that they would otherwise see in a
conscious state.
Using film aesthetics such as cinematography,
editing, and sound I will mimic and or reenact what these visual pathological
conditions might look like through the experience of a camera. I will
experiment with how these experiences may subjectively look like when they are
in a conscious, subconscious and unconscious state of mind. Because I am
treating the device as a living and breathing organism, the camera is also
endowed with human characteristics, such as consciousness; awareness or
perception, awareness by the mind of itself and the world. Because the device
has taken on human characteristics, this would be an example of anthropomorphism.
As such, it shows a yearning desire; that of nostalgia. The camera’s digital
technical soul is sentimental. The camera inherently feels its life is ending, it
is wistfully longing for affection, for the simplicity of its past. Typically it is thirsting for the old period of
the celluloid, a place with happy personal associations and warmth. The
symbiotic hands on relationship between celluloid and human hands, the
relationship it once had with its creator.
The camera’s yearnings for nostalgic moments
will be filmed on celluloid, rhythmically intermixed and edited with digital
film medium. For example, as the camera’s technical abilities age and
deteriorate, the images presented on screen will be more from a celluloid
medium than a digital medium, until it completely diverts or digresses back to
complete celluloid.
Treatment
Working Title: Anomalous Convergence
Genre: Experimental
Duration: Ten (10) minutes
Target Audience: Designed for a
general audience and appropriate for all ages. It would be particularly interesting for
cineastes who love the dichotomy and interaction between digital and celluloid.
This experimental journey will also target persons interested on conceptual and
abstract ideas associated with the anthropomorphism of a camera’s visual technical
capabilities and lifespan, especially when compared to the human eye and its capabilities.
For example, how the camera may lose their visual sensory abilities, age or
lose their vision completely or just become obsolete. This abstract visual
exploration is for anyone curious, for every gender and ethnic background;
every income level and level of education, let the film take you into the poetic
and imaginative world of Anomalous
Convergence.
Crew: Director Wilfredo G Lopez
Director of Photography James
Taurasi IV
Sound mixer Natalie Hawkins
Producer Natalie Hawkins
Logline: Anomalous Convergence is an unusual visual journey. It is an
experimental movie poised around the anthropomorphism of a camera’s lifespan;
its self-worth in an age where visual technical advancement is constantly in
flux. It’s yearning for a simpler past, for nostalgic experiences.
Character Breakdown: The character is the film-medium itself, the
elements of pure cinema, i.e. the mechanics of digital and celluloid, their
cinematographic capabilities but also its editing. Film has its own unique
elements. The elemental characteristics of the medium create an experience
formed through the use of the film’s devices such as the medium itself, the visual
composition and motion, the relationship between sound and image, and rhythmic
editing.
Outline
Act 1: Self-awareness
a- The camera is becoming self-aware.
The single-system camera is inflicted with both Achromatopsia (total colorblindness)
and chromesthesia; a neurological condition of sound-to-color synesthesia
(color is heightened through sound). Its components are becoming dysfunctional,
the apparatus is aware it’s becoming obsolete; it set to be retired, to make
room for the next generation. In a moment of self-reflexivity the camera takes
a seat next to an old 8mm projector. It turns the projector on and examines
itself, its history, its maker. Meanwhile the past is lingering. Shots of
celluloid appear and disappear. The camera is being stalked by its past. Unknowingly
she is being captured by 8mm film. The camera feels uneasy, she can sense she is
being watched, it turns, it tilts, it tracks. It senses something is there, it
zooms in. It sees itself.
Act 2: A Blurred Synesthesia
Monochromatic Journey
a- The camera is quickly feeling the effects
of its age. It has developed a monochromatic pathology along with partial
blindness. The lenses it chooses to use do not improve its condition. The single-system
camera medium seems to have crossed paths in an unpredictable fashion with
internal sound system. For some odd reason the single-system now possess the
ability of capturing color, but only because its internal sound system stimulates
its MOS sensor. But by now everything looks hazy, unclear and vague. At times the
visual perception is like an acid/lsd trip. The rhythm and colors generated
makes the camera’s tingle with a sensation of euphoria. Because of its
dilapidating sensor, the chromesthesia effects give the blurred shapes and
objects new forms and new meaning. At times the images are pleasing. If it’s
like the camera understood the eye perceived and what the brain understood were
two different things. But there are moments that seem to be hallucinations. The
experience is uncanny, as if a ghostly counterpart of my living mechanism was
being shared by another. Like a
spiritual opposite was filming my very life. As its condition worsens the shapes and colors
take on a more ominous look, like lurid dreamscapes. The digital creation knew
it was losing its technical capabilities. It started to concern itself with its place
within the art world, within cinema, its existential worth. What could it do?
It looked back to its birth, to its origins for answers.
Act 3: An Existential Journey
a- It was becoming more and more
difficult to see; its ability to see even the vagueness of objects and shapes
were quickly deteriorating, disappearing and its hearing abilities were also almost
gone. Self-aware that it was reaching its end it pulled deeper into itself,
into its memories, into its history. Impulses of bright flashes began to
appear, and then snapshots began to emerge. First still images without
movements, then a string of stills quickly in succession began to animate the
images in the composition. The lights began to burst more rapidly, it could
faintly hear a rhythmic clicking, and the images kept flashing creating its own
language, its own music, its own art world. It had found its place in
history.
Visual Elements:
1-Lighting:
mostly natural lighting.
2- Camera
movement: Steadicam and or a moving camera, essentially the camera’s own
perspective.
3- Editing: Pace
of the editing must match several factors, the period in its developmental
stage, the rhythm of the music and the action it captures. Example, when it is
at its best, it’s energetic, it’s spontaneous, it’s teaming with energy. The
editing also needs to match the intensity of the sound/music or lack thereof.
Basically the editing needs to either enhance or intensify this perspective, or
at the very least match the intensity. Basically the editing style and pace will
follow a parallel and progressive pattern with the camera’s abstract
existential existence.
4- Setting/Locations:
The setting and locations will parallel the viewpoint and demeanor of the
character, i.e. the camera. There will be moments when it is alone in a room
watching old films, and moments when it is a larger venue, like a theatre.
There are also times when the camera ventures out, e.g. downtown Wilmington
when it’s hopping with energy will represent the character’s young phase; a
quite recreational park can represent the character’s middle-age; while alone
at home or an apartment can represent the character’s total disability.
5- Actors: None, just
an impression of one.
6- Props: To be determined
7- Costumes: To be determined
8- Styles and
Techniques:
a- Crowdsourcing frames: I will break certain amounts of a scene into
frames, which I will distribute as sheets of paper with stills of the video. Each
frame will be numbered at the top left. They will be distributed. You can apply
oil pastels, colored pencil, collage technique using magazines, newspapers to
the frames. The frames will be put in order and digitally reinserted into its
perspective scene. They must be instructed to preserve the basic shapes within
the frame so that there is consistency from one frame to another.
b- Rhythmic editing: We will choose segments of the video to rhythmically
edit. It will be in a particular pattern of our choosing.
c- Special effects:
Use software programs such as Adobe After Effects to further enhance the
experience.
d- Discontinuous
Segments of 8mm film or found footage scenes, scratched and or looking decadent
and or old.
e- Inserts of Random
black and white snapshots.
f- Title-cards
Audio Elements: Contemporary
music, Natural Sound and Foleys.
Primary and Secondary Research; Achromatopsia,
synesthesia, film-medium history
Proposed Schedule: January 28,
2017- April 19, 2017
Wilfredo G Lopez
BIO
10161 Creekside Drive SE Apt-4
Leland, NC 28451
wgl5946@unc.edu
910-5546530
Qualifications Summary
Film Experience: Experienced in a
wide range of film form and styles. Whether concrete or abstract, I have been
involved with narratives to documentaries to experimental films, in both
application and scholarly.
1- FST- 302 Documentary
a- Positions held; Sound mixer, Key-grip,
and DP
2- FST-334 6x1 Variation on the 1
Min Film
a- Positions held; All, individual and team
projects.
3- FST-372 History of Avant-Garde
Film
4- FST-378 History of New Wave
Cinema
5- FST-399 Directing
a- Positions held; Camera, lighting, sound,
editing and the final project is directorial.
5- FST-220 3D Animation
a- Individual projects.
Technical Proficiencies: I have
schooling and experience in the following technical fields.
1- FST-392 lighting
2- FST-393 Sound recording
3- FST-394 Sound Design and
ProTools 10
4- FST-301 Films Tools and
Techniques
5- FST-331- Introduction to
editing and Adobe Premiere
6- FST-318 Screenwriting I: Introduction
7- Proficient on the Panasonic
AG-AF100 and the URSA, Sound equipment, and grip equipment.
Administrative and Communication
I have experience in scene sequence
organization and I adhere to deadlines. I can also quickly adapt to changing
circumstances while still maintaining my and the crew’s vision, goals and
mission. I support my fellow members, encourage cohesiveness and creativity.
S E L E C T E D P R O J E C T S
The Beast documentary FST 302,
sound mixer, sound design, editing input, cinematography
FST-334 6x1 Variation on the 1
Min Film; various projects, both individual and team efforts.
Final Project: Saturday Night
Fever excerpt; FST-399 Directing, cinematography, editing, and sound design.
Final Project in FST- 331:
Experimental project; editing, organization of found footage, planning project
and sound design.
DP in the movie Kunstliebhaber,
which was written and directed by Anthony Guevara for FST-399.
EDUCATION
UNCW FILM STUDIES
COMPLETED:
FA13 FST 200 3.0 B+ Introduction to Film Study
FA14 FST 201 3.0 A Intro To Film Production
FA14 FST 205 3.0 A Introduction to World Cinema
FA15 FST 376 3.0 A American Cinema 1927-1960
SP16 FST 372 3.0 A- History of Avant-Garde Film
SP16 FST 378 3.0 A History of New Wave Cinema
SP15 FST 302 3.0 A- Intermediate Film Production:
SP15 FST 318 3.0 A Screenwriting I: Introduction
SP15 FST 331 3.0 A Introduction to Editing
SP16 FST 367 3.0 A Film Authors
FA12 FST 210 3.0 A- Moviemakers & Scholars Series
FA15 FST 301 3.0 A Film Tools and Techniques
FA15 FST 393 3.0 A Sound Recording
FA15 FST 394 3.0 A Sound Design
FA16 FST 399 3. 0 A
Directing
FA16 FST 368 3.0
A Film Styles And Genres
SP16 FST 334 3.0 A 6x1-Var on the 1 Min Film
SP16 FST 392 3.0 A
Lighting
FA16 FST 220 3.0 A 3d Computer Graphics
IN PROGRESS
SP17 FST 230 3.0
>IP Women in Film
SP17 FST 496 3.0
>IP Senior Seminar in Film
Study: Insurgent French Cinemas
SP17 FST 495 3.0
>IP Seminar in Film
Production
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