The City of Kitchener’s Public Art Program is holding a student video competition! Win cash prizes and have your videos digitally projected on city hall, Kitchener.
- Open to youth, ages 12-25.
- Winners get cash prizes! (Details in link below)
- Finalists get great exposure — the videos will be projected on ’The Cube’ atop Kitchener City Hall using state-of-the-art Christie Digital projectors.
Keep in mind that these videos are going to be projected onto the Berlin Tower so it will be shown as a silent film. Making a silent film can be a very interesting project; having to work without sound really forces you to think creatively. Good luck!
This video was released on March 7, 2011 and today on April 20th we’re looking at over 10,000 views. Here’s how it progressed over the course of its release:
March 7: Release!
March 9: 1k
March 10: 2k
March 12: 5.5k
March 13: 6.5k
March 14: 7.5k
March 15: 8k
March 22: 9k
April 13: 10k
We received mixed reactions towards this video, but generally positive ones. Thanks for the support, everyone. We had fun making the film and hope you had fun watching it.
2) A video series titled “Stache Up!“
We released this one between March 6th and 7th. Here they are in order of their release:
We hope you enjoyed these short bits involving the omnipotent moustache despite the fact that we are mo where close to movember. ;{D
3) ??????
We have codenamed this term’s magnum opus. Since we have to remain tight-lipped about this one before release, let us allow an on-set picture to say a thousands words for us:
Cast and crew of our upcoming project involving gratuitous amounts of awesomeness up the wazoo.
Our website’s fixed! Since it’s been quite a while since we updated, here’s some old news and new news about our club!
Old news!
We’ve decided to dabble with the new DSLRs lately such as the Canon T2i and the Canon 60D. These new cameras have a video feature that allows us to film in 1080p! Check the last two films we’ve made with the Canon T2i:
1) Shhh!
2) Jolly Zombie Christmas
New news!
Member and fellow UW student, Ivan Karpenko, recently launched a weather balloon strapped with an HD camera. The resultant footage was so amazing that the video clip was featured on Discovery Channel’s Daily Planet by Zia Tong!
We’ve already taken a look at some filmmaking techniques in Citizen Kane in Lesson One. In this second lesson, we’ll cover flashbacks, flashforwards, transition sequences, the layered soundtrack and the film noir atmosphere in general.
Flashbacks/Flash Forwards
The life of Charles Kane is told in a series of flashbacks and flashforwards; events jump chronologically. Flashbacks show events in the past. Flashforwards jump to events which occur later on in the future.
A flashforward from Kane as a young child, which then jumps to 20 years later
These flashbacks and flashforwards are like jigsaw puzzles – just like in detective stories, we put the bits of the past together in order to solve the mystery. By the end, we can finally come to a conclusion by seeing the “big picture”. These jumps in time let us see Mr. Kane’s progression from a child in innocence to a ruthless and power-hungry old man.
Use of Mirrors and Reflections
The reflections in this film are equally important metaphorically as they are physically. The appearances of these reflections make for dramatic points in these realizations. One scene shows Mr. Kane as an old man passing by a series of mirrors with his reflection duplicated infinitely. This is a representation of Mr. Kane as a shattered man, a man who sees only himself and his ego, and a man drowning in loneliness. It also seems that Mr. Kane now is able to finally reflect on his own life and see it for what it is.
Transition Sequences
Transition sequences move from one scene to the next in a gradual manner. Watch the opening scene of the film below. These types of transitions are known as dissolves - the first shot fades out as the next shot fades in. First we see fences dissolve to the main gate, which then dissolve to a shot of Xanadu Castle.
Another great transition sequence is used when depicting Mr. Kane’s marriage to Susan Alexander and the total disintegration of it. We first see them as a lively young couple as newlyweds…which then transforms into a shot of them as middle-aged spouses who are completely alienated from each other.
Here’s one more example of the transition sequence in Citizen Kane. A family is looking into a shop window of a photograph including Kane. The shot transitions from this scene to the event photograph itself, where Kane is as they are getting their photograph taken.
Layered Soundtrack
Welles pioneered a new technique for sound in the movies. He brought a lot of these methods from his previous experience in radio. One technique he created was the “lightning-mix”. He took a series of related sounds or phrases to create a continuous, smooth soundtrack.
For example, there is a transition scene where Kane grows from a child into a young man in just two shots. The words “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year” are spoken by the same person, except “Happy New Year” is spoken by him 15 years later. As the scene would close, the audio would help transition to the next scene before the visuals did.
He also spliced dialogue together – taking fragments from a number of a voice and putting them together. The result gave an impression of a whole town talking. Welles also liked using the layering or overlapping of dialogue. He considered it more realistic than the usual tradition of characters not stepping on each other’s sentences.
Film Noir Atmosphere
Many critics argue that this movie created the “film noir” genre – a French term meaning “dark film”. Film noirs are a certain type of American film, usually in detective or thriller genres. They are characterized by low lighting and a sombre, moody and fatalistic atmosphere. These films became popular in the 1940s and 50s.
The scene above is of Mr. Kane firing Leland. Note the sombre lighting and atmosphere conveyed. This shot couldn’t be done with deep focus, so Welles combined two different shots – (Kane and Leland / the background) through an optical printer. An optical printer is a device which connects a project to movie camera. It allows filmmakers to re-photograph one or more strips of film.
The University of Waterloo Film Creators Club (UWFCC) is looking for acting talent willing to participate in a short film. Drama and Speech Communications students have a great opportunity to add this film to their portfolio, although anyone is permitted to audition.
If interested, swing by the Modern Language building to Room 311 on Thursday, July 8th at 5:30PM for an informal audition. There is no dress requirement.
Feel free to direct questions to theuwfcc@gmail.com
The Waterboys are a male a cappella group at the University of Waterloo. “A cappella” means singing without instrumental accompaniment, and in this case, in a group. Check out a few songs the UWFCC managed to capture of these man-divas. Do I smell a UW version of Glee?
Kudos to Ivan Karpenko on the Waterboys intro. Check out the UW A Cappella Club here.
Come join us as we delve deep into the campus libraries and explore a community of strange, socially-awkward, and sometimes funny-smelling creatures. UWFCC documents the odd behaviour of these creatures. This is rare never-before-seen footage of what scientists and researchers are labeling as “the student”.
You can actually put some short desc about your site and yourself here...
