Witchy Ghosts, Murderers, and Shia LaBeouf | Recent Film Projects

TIA HERE with some videos for you! I've been doing a lot of stuff lately, but haven't had much to show for, unfortunately. It sucks when you put a lot of work into something, like a project or a paper, and then it sort of disappears into oblivion to later become a part of your GPA. But the good thing about videos is that you can hold onto the evidence that you did something and actually show it to the world. So that said, here are the films/YouTube videos/music videos I've been creating lately, both WIP (unlisted) and completed:

1. "In Spirit" - black and white short film; Bolex (16mm)

This was my first time using the Bolex and shooting on film. The assignment was to make a "portrait" of something. Because my house is terrifying, I decided to focus the short on that, with my friend Thelonia as the ghost in my house (also with my own brief cameo). All the sound was done later. We used no light kit, hence the soft natural look—aka my class hadn't worked with lights yet, so I didn't think to use them—and that made the shoot just a little more challenging. I'm pretty happy with how it came out overall!

2. "God Only Knows" - black and white narrative music video; Bolex (16mm)

This one is currently a WIP. As you can probably tell from the beginning, we haven't done ADR/dubbing yet (I have a list of at least 22 sounds to add, and that isn't including dialogue), but the song is pretty much in there—and it starts about a minute in. The narrative is a bit hard to follow without the introductory dialogue, but if you have any theories of what it's about just from this, let me know and comment below! I'm curious what you read from this, because in its current state, it's a bit hard to decipher.

I had a lot of trouble deciding how to indicate flashback. Originally I did recoloring but that looked too distracting in an otherwise black and white film, so I ended up just blurring the edges (a cliché tactic but hopefully one that does the job). It's a bit subtle, so I'm not sure how well it's working right now, but I'm thinking that altering the song to make it appear as diegetic sound in flashbacks might help—or make things even more confusing. Maybe an echo? We'll just have to see!

3. "Actual Cannibal Shia LaBeouf" - music video based on the viral song; DSLR

My a cappella group, Less Than Three A Cappella, has regularly covered "Actual Cannibal Shia LaBeouf" in concerts, but this is the first music video I've completed for them (and their first uploaded music video in general!). It was a crazy shoot in the woods and in my terrifying basement (again, without a light kit but with flashlights as a thematically relevant replacement), and the video was finished in less than 12 hours. I'm also really happy with how this turned out, considering that I wasn't sure how well it was going to work throughout the shoot.

4. "Dreamland" - digital found footage short film

For my Intro to 16mm and Digital Filmmaking class, one of our assignments was to do a found footage project using whatever we could find on the internet. I decided to combine two Steven Universe instrumental songs I loved (Pearl's and Malachite's themes) with dream/nightmare imagery. I used mostly footage from music videos and random stock footage I could find of forests. I also wanted to mess with masks, and as you can probably tell from all of these videos so far, I really love layering footage. I might get over it soon, but I'm in a stage right now and I just can't let it go!

5. "Everything Stays" Cover - filmed on iPhone, edited in FCP X

I've been posting a lot lately on two of my three YouTube channels (my vlogging and singing channels—I have stuff for the gaming channel but need a little more time to put it together), and I'm particularly proud of this cover. I've never actually watched Adventure Time, so I'm a total poser, but I heard this song randomly on tumblr and really loved it. I knew I had to cover it, and it would be easy given that Rebecca Sugar always does her demos with a ukulele, which is the only instrument I have with me at school. Even though I recorded this vertically on my iPhone (I know... puke...) I think I made it work pretty well as a typical-aspect-ratio internet video. The scratchy audio quality kind of sounds nice, so thanks, iPhone? I've also been posting a lot of videos with Emily (one of two Emilys in my a cappella group), so be sure to check those out!

That's it for now. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and that you continue to have a great holiday season!

For more, check out Tia's new blog!

Much love,

T.