To start, it probably shouldn't be called a lighting exercise. It should probably be called a cinematography exercise as we did a lot with setting up shots and directing as well as lighting scenes.
Day 1, as I mentioned in the previous post, consisted of portraits and lighting of an early morning bedroom. Day 2 moved a little faster than Day 1 did as we had finally started to get the hang of how to read the light meter and set the scene. We shot a hallway scene that connected into the story of the early morning bedroom scene, a mirror scene, a television in the dark scene, and a poker game scene with candles. These scenes were rather fun to work with. I got to operate the camera for the mirror scene and I got to act in the television scene as well as the poker game scene. I really do enjoy being in front of the camera occasionally.
After we finished up the lighting exercise for the day, we headed over to the FAMU main building to have a class with Pavel Marek. Luckily, we didn't have to discuss our scripts again and instead we watched a few short films/clips of movies that may possibly inspire us in some way for our own movies.
Day 3 started with the continuation of the poker game scene. We did close ups and shots around the table which are pretty neat. After we moved ourselves out into the hallway, where we proceeded to take over and create different lighting scenarios on the stairs and in the hallway. We messed around with mixed lighting and trying to fix florescent light color. We also did some shooting outside, which is extremely useful for Kris and myself as we are only shooting outside.
Here are some of the pictures I took during the lighting exercise:
The pictures are, in no actual order, lighting the hallway in Studio FAMU, Drew and Shayna protecting the "yummies" Kim sent to us via Gahut, part of the set in the studio, Dave and Tarek passing out after a long day, Steph filming with the camera, Kris and Gahut looking at the light meter, a picture of Studio FAMU and Tarek and Dave adjusting the camera.
Upon completion of the lighting exercise for the day, the FAMU kids headed home for some relaxation. But, before completely leaving the area, we stopped at a little Italian shop where I bought some ricotta cheese to make dinner for the night. Dinner would be gnocchi with chicken. I was making the homemade gnocchi that I know and it turned out to be delicious.
Later on Friday night, Kris and I finally got around to seeing Surrogates. It was a pretty good movie. And the best part was that it was in English...with Czech subtitles. The movie going experience itself was rather interesting. The price for a ticket wasn't all that bad. 129 crowns. I think that's cheaper than back home in the states. And then food wasn't too expensive either. Overall, I say that seeing a movie after three long days was one of the best things to start the weekend.
Saturday rolled around earlier than expected. I didn't get to sleep until late on Friday due to my current addiction to Dexter...I just needed to know what happened...But, I was then woken up slightly when Steph's alarm went off around 4am. You see, five of the eight of us went to Vienna, Austria for the weekend. They were seeing the Vienna Film Festival. While the other three of us stayed in Prague and went about a rather normal weekend.
So, after falling back asleep from Steph's alarm, which really wasn't a big deal, I got up around 9:15am and went with Kris to get a Thai massage before our sound class. It was absolutely amazing. I didn't realize that I had so much tension in my back and in so many places. While it hurt a little during the massage, the after effects made the entire thing well worth it. We then headed to sound class with Drew, which was at least interesting. I now have another way to ruin movies for people. Soon, no one will want to watch movies with me unless my mouth is taped shut. Oh well...
After class, Kris and myself went home for quick lunch break and then set out to buy tickets for our adventure on Wednesday. We got extremely lucky and managed to reserve the last two seats on the train. Should be a fun trip. We then headed out to Petřin to see the lookout tower and mirror maze. (I'll post pictures of these places the next time I go...stupid me left her camera battery at home...). They were a lot of fun. The views of the city were phenomenal. I can't wait to go back when I actually have a camera, so that everyone can see the amazingness that is Prague. Especially right now. The weather has changed back to normal and the trees are gorgeous.
Around 6pm, we headed back to the apartment to get ready to hang out with Rebecca and Lisa. We had plans to play card games and find out how their ten day trip around Europe went. It was a lot of fun. And it was good to see them.
Sunday was a lazy day. We were originally going to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, however, we found out that with children's films they don't do Czech subtitles...they just dub the whole movie. Which means it would have been pretty hard for us to understand what they were saying. Oh well. I'll see it eventually. So, instead I wandered over to Novy Smíchov to see if I could find a new purse as mine is starting to bother me.
I searched the entire mall, but to no avail. However, I did discover that my need to go into bookstores hasn't left me. Whether there was an English section or not, I felt the need to go into the bookstore and look around. I guess somethings just never really chance. I then returned home to make some dinner, talk with my family and Geoff on Skype and then continue with my Dexter addiction until it was time to try and sleep.
And so, here we are on Monday. The start of a slow week. As many of our professors are in the States this week, we don't have the usual amount of classes. Today was History of Animation, Czech and then the guest lecture class. Tomorrow is going to be us at Barrandov Studios watching the telecine transfer of footage from our lighting exercise. I'll then have my Acting Theories class, which is always a lot of fun. Wednesday is Kris' and my adventure to....VIENNA. But only for the day. You see it's a National Holiday and thus we have no classes, so we're taking this as day trip. Should be fun! Thursday is Acting Studio, Film Language and then my history class. And then Friday is a trip to the Jewish Quarter followed by Friday Night Fright Night.
So, as you can see. It's a slow, but fun week. I can't wait to see how nice Vienna is and I can't wait for this upcoming weekend. It's Halloween and I want to have a party and do fun stuff. I hope everything works out.
And now that I have told you everything you probably ever wanted to know about the last few days and more, I'm going to return to my addiction and begin Season 3 of Dexter. I'm just so curious as to what's going to happen that I can't help but watch. More things to come! Čau!
Nice to see what you've been talking about the last time we talked!
ReplyDeleteOh, I remembered what I wanted to ask you. What is this movie you are making in class about?
ReplyDelete