A Fun Semester of 2D Animation - Starring Darnell Benoit

It was a lovely start, but with a little more effort and time I could be one of the greatest to ever do it
Here's to more to the future (and these links working on grading day)

Man's Best Friend A clay stopmotion story
Plans - Video Poem
Domestic Violence PSa
Thanos Narrative

Thank you for an amazing semester

Final Project: Make Notes

Thank You for the year.
I hope you enjoy!

Blog Post #4: A MoMI to Remember !

I will not lie to you, when I arrived at the Museum of Moving Images I was not impressed. The entrance was small the stairs were alabaster white like some sort of insane asylum and the entrance just seemed open and bland. That being said I just traveled to Queens so I had no choice but to make the best of it so I kept an open mind.

First, we get a cool tour guide who did her best to ask us questions and keep us involved. The camera exhibit was insightful and it shows you how far the cameras have come from gigantic contraptions requiring a wagon and 3 people, to a small little portable device that 1 hand is more than enough for. I also really enjoyed the movie pro exhibit where I was very freaked out by the Exorcist Doll and I got an in-depth understanding of how they make certain gore and special effects. I appreciated the Freddy Kreuger outfit since that guy is classic. The Muppet exhibit was nice and I liked the Muppet theatre because it showed that there’s a lot of work that goes into such a franchise and you have to love what you do to do it every day. I wasn’t a big fan of the Muppets but I gained more of an appreciation for the talent needed to make it work everyday.
You best believe I hit the arcade section and spend $3 playing games like Streetfighter and Mortal Kombat because well, games are really great and It’s a moving image!
All in all I had a good time and I am very thankful for the experience, as it gave me a new view on the work and talent that goes into making some of the greater productions of history. 

Blog Post 3: Analysis of Film: Relationships between Shots

I came across this student film called Suitcase that I found to be interesting. It’s about people walking around transferring a suitcase all the way up to its destination with a somewhat big payoff at the end. What I really found interesting was how the video was made and what kind of techniques he used to make his peace. There is no dialogue and it doesn’t seem like there are any people-focused shots. As in his characters are not always the focus of the frame. It’s like he was creating a moving background video where his character was moving urgently and the background was always moving. I thought it was interesting how he stuck to the rule of thirds with his character following the exact lines necessary for it: his first and second character remained on the left with the background taking up most of the right space, and his final character remained on the right with the background taking up most of the left space.  He had a lot of wide shots and there was this perfect wide shot frame of the suitcase being transferred and birds flying across at 0:57 that I thought was so cool. He had a close up of his last character but we never saw anything from the character’s point of view it was always from what the viewer saw. He used small aperture because the entire video was shot as a deep focus since everything was in focus and the shots were clearly and the warm colors were accentuated nicely on a sunny day. It was a really cool student 1 take that seemed simple on paper but when you really think about it every detail mattered. 

Project 2 Audio Portrait: Ashley's Adventure

Bog Post #2: Soundwalk

For this Experience, I decided to take a trip down memory lane: I visited the place where I grew up, Crown Heights, Brooklyn. It has been 14 years since I’ve been there and I really wanted to see how much the community has changed. The buildings remained the same but the people, atmosphere and even prices were different. I could go into a gentrification tangent here, but I’m digressing. 
 I decided to start at the apartment I grew up in. I sat outside on the steps and closed my eyes. As I was meditating I could hear footsteps pacing at different rates. Some fast clicks of heels some steady timbs moving forward, light sneakers jogging on the ground. I could hear my own nervous raspy breathing and the infrequent whisk of a car or even bus going by. With my eyes closed (and don’t try this at home kids) I started walking forward from Franklin Ave. It was a little spoopy but I could hear the frantic/frustrated steps of people trying to dodge me walking forward. I heard random side conversations and laughter, I heard the honking of cars from the block over. I could feel the flow of traffic and it felt weird. It felt like there was an ebb and flow to it, slow, steady, fast, steady, slow. All controlled by traffic lights and the decisions people make. When I opened my eyes I was a little surprise because what I heard was peaceful but what I saw didn’t quite match. It wasn’t as peaceful but it’s a step up from what I grew up from. I definitely enjoyed the walk I took, it felt nice.

A Stroll Through Central Park

A Walk Through Central from Emil Boche on Vimeo.