About my trip!!!

Yeah...

Last time I wrote that soon I'll be going to the Greatest Journey of My Life. My friend Iiris and I will visit 10 cities in 9 countries and film the whole process. And I think I didn't write much more :D

I think it's time for details.

So the cities we will visit (not counting Helsinki, where we start and end our journey, or Riga, where our plane makes a stop), in a chronological order: 

WARSAW -> KRAKOW -> BUDAPEST -> VIENNA -> PRAGUE -> BERLIN -> LUXEMBOURG -> BRUGES -> PARIS -> LONDON

We also visit towns of Oswiecim in Poland and Mont Saint-Michel in France, but they're short day trips. And we travel from Paris to London via small coast towns.
However, in those major cities we will spend 2-3 nights, whole trip taking about 24-28 days.

Like I implied, we will try to stay within a budget. It's not set in stone, but I think it will about 1000 euros. At the moment it seems close to impossible XD. Our plane trips cost about 170 euros. InterRail-ticket cost 260 euros. About 270 euros changed their currency. So, it's already 700 euros, and the trip hasn't even begun, oh my. Remaining 300 should cover our meals + public transportation for 16 days, entrance fees and a ferry trip. I think we won't to make it!

One BIG money saver is that we'll be couch surfing for the most of the trip. OK, we still lack over 50% of needed hosts and hopefully we get 'em soon enough, but still! We haven't couch surfed since never, so another new exciting experience.

That's all I can think of, for now. If you have questions, go ahead and ask them.

J.

One of my favorite newer Bowie songs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_KBqoktTl0

About my recent projects and other stuff too

Hello!

So, the end of my first school year of studying screenwriting and visual expression arrives in two weeks. Time has certainly flown quite fast. And it has been a good year. New friends, new skills, new experiences and so on.

Yesterday we finished filming our art history project. Our job was to re-create a piece of art history, but our group of five didn't find a suitably interesting picture to re-create, so we settled on an album cover from the ancient history of 1985.
I directed the film (again) and our team and I did a great job.
Unlike the short film which left something to be desired, "Windows" (as it's currently called) is probably the finest piece of work I've done during the school year. Which is excellent, because it shows I'm getting better and progressing.
Windows resembles story-wise my earlier film projects, and I joked about it being the epic conclusion of my "A Man Goes Crazy in a Small Room" -trilogy.
Next year I hope to do something completely different. Like "A Boy Finds Enlightenment While Fishing in Open Sea" -saga. Hopefully it and Windows will find their way to YouTube.

Exactly after a month, I'll be in Poland. There and in 9 other countries I will film a kind of traveling documentary with a friend of mine, Iiris. Unfortunately the trip begins just as I should be guiding applicants/future students of my subject, but you can't have everything.
I think our TravelDoc emphasizes two parts of the journey: First the cities we plan to visit and their unique history and atmosphere. Both of us realize that being a thousand year old city is most likely more exciting than being a 20 year old student, so we film stuff accordingly.
That being said, the other emphasis is on our journey. About 2 ordinary people traveling to 10 cities in 30 days with 800 euros. What it feels like to be a regular fellow and to travel to a new country almost every other day and to live with people of different cultures. And to do this with limited time and funds.
We're not professional travelers. And that's cool. Because neither are you.

More info about the journey and the TravelDoc will come soon, as the filming will begin just as soon as my school is over.

J.

A new Dave Matthews song! Video is bad, but the audio track is the best I could find.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJbOOUMHIMA&feature=related

About horror

"The horror... The horror..."
- Walter E. Kurtz

Hello there people!

For some time now, the genre of horror has fascinated me. Actually so much so that at the moment, I value it more than any other genre.
You might wonder why. After all horror is represented by crappy sequels with incomprehensible plots where gallons of blood and entrails splatter for no good reason.
Well that's horror, but more in a "THIS IS SO BAD! OH THE HORROR!" -kind of way.

But let's forget all that now, for the moment.

The reason I value horror (both movies and games, not having much experience with horror books) is that it must achieve something difficult to be considered a part of the genre and by default should delve deep into human psyche and engage us both mentally and emotionally.

For horror to be horror, it must terrify us. Like for comedy to be comedic, it must make us laugh. Simple, though not all genres are defined by reactions. These two are more than others.
For example: Action/romantic film is a action/romantic film even if no one is watching. Because it has action/romance in it. But there is no horror on-screen. Murdering and eery shadow movement perhaps, but no horror. Because we give birth to horror. We are the fire, the film/game is merely a spark that ignites it.

What however distinguishes horror from comedy (besides the obvious differences) is that with horror the interaction is even more critical. Because good horror relies on the imagination of the spectator. It teases us, but in the end, we scare ourselves. That's why we're scared long after TV's gone dark. That's why I lost my sleep the other night when thinking of a horror story which involves someone watching you from the dark when you sleep.

Horror can cause emotional reactions so unbelievably strong that it makes even the rational ones completely irrational. Experiencing fictional horror can be even traumatic. What other genre has power of that caliber? (Not that I want to cause trauma to anyone). Of course, violence is often dramatic (especially to those not of appropriate age), and excessive violence is easy way to cause trauma. But to be truly scared of something not happening, well that's a feat.
So instead of frightening by having a murderer jump out of the cupboard, one can also scare people more subtly.
Like, if ordinary things are just a little "off". They're so familiar that they are recognizable, but something is causing unease. The way someone looks at you. Something being there that shouldn't be there.

Oh crap. 

Perfect example of horror done right is Silent Hill games 1 to 3.
I've finished both 2nd and 3rd one once. Only once.
I really like them. They are really well made, with good developer choices been made. And sure want to play them again. So far I just haven't been able.
Playing through both was awesome, yes, but also very, very exhausting. To be on the edge all the time and to be so emotionally invested with the action is draining.
Each time I desire to continue, I remember the exhaustion of going through hell and the heavy burden of survival. I rarely have the strength to go for it.
A horror game so good that it's nearly unplayable for me. How about that.

That's why I value the potential of horror, albeit it's often wasted.

BTW: I stumbled across a good blog about horror games. Check it out if you're into it.
http://www.dreamdawn.com/sh/index.php

J.

Beautiful & creepy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL-X53ze5O0

About loneliness

Hi.

Today started as I had a nightmare where my best friend died (eaten by a dinosaur, but that's beside the point).
After that in my dream I felt a vivid array of sorrowful emotions, like emptiness and aimlessness. Some of the emotions were no doubt caused by (imaginary) death of someone close to you. Like the silencingly heavy burden somewhere between your throat and heart, and the numbness of it all. No one near to me has never died so I can only assume.
But some thoughts and emotions were all too familiar. Like the one where I ask myself: what can I do without the ones that mean to me the most?
I think the idea of being lost without friends is quite a universal one.

My view of the world, existence and humanity is based on a few keystones. Keystones like
"every human is inherently good",
"we should search and strive for truth and harmony"
"only one can truly save oneself",
"a mind should be filled with clarity and not blurred"
"true potential of one's humaneness is only found when with others".
Thus my inner world is not one concrete idea, but rather a web of multiple ones that somehow try to live in harmony with each other. I bet that's like it with most of us.
Some of the ideas are in conflict by nature: At the same time I truly think that we should be independent and autonomous, but also I realize that we can never be, that our need for others is as fundamental as our need to be free of others.

That dinosaur feeding friend of mine and I once had conversation that touched on similar themes. We thought about where we would like to be in future. She painted a life where she is a master of arts, her future filled with empty canvases, buckets brimming with paint and the will to fill the world with beauty and art.
I could not imagine at the time what I would do. I imagined for who I'd be doing it. I didn't know who she was, but she made me happy and gave me a reason to march forward through life's hardships.
My friend wondered this. "Is it not better to find happiness within oneself?", she asked. "If other people can make you happy, they can also make you unhappy. And your happiness should not dependent be on quirks of other people". She made a valid point.
I remember how I back then wished to go traveling around the globe. To find my place in this weird world, but more like a mental place. A home. A place in someone's arms, surrounded by caring eyes of friends.

Some time after that I found Buddhist ideas. I haven't been a good Buddhist recently, mind you, failing to find time to meditate, but I still value their thoughts highly. That all misery and pain in one's life is caused by craving.
And what's a greater craving than the craving to be loved as you are?
What causes more miserableness than the though that you are worthless? Like the Donald Duck comic where he wishes he never existed, as everyone would be better off that way.
What's a greater hole in one's soul than the one that can only be filled by love and care of other person?
What's greater strength than the one found in a group where you feel you belong?

Perhaps a man should be an island, an island of fortitude.
As Simon and Garfunkel have sung it:
"and rock feels no pain; and island never cries".
That I have tried to achieve since the age of ten. In the age of fifteen I realized how much I needed and wanted other people. Thus the conflict, the battle began. Where one part of me just wanted to be beyond the glass wall I once built between me and others.

For the last year so I thought I started to be above that. I felt no lonesomeness. Perhaps I had found a place of my own, one could hope.
But lately, I've felt alone.

Perhaps it's a battle never to be won. Perhaps we should just stand upright against the sea of emotional weight and gusts of hurt. When the world rages around you like a storm, and the night seems too dark too see past, we could just stand laconically in the midst of it.
Like an island.


J.


Another song from Bob.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg-CIka1L4A

About shooting our short film

Hello!

Last weekend we finished filming our short film. The process was a bit harder than I thought (even though I consider myself a realist) and I definitely learned something. Of course, there's stuff I'd like to have done better, but then again this is our first short film (not counting the silent one), so guess I'm still learning. But I'm still somewhat satisfied.

During the first day only we shot about 40% of the film. We were still a bit stiff and had some troubles with lighting, but thankfully we improved later.
That day's length was... well... it was too damn lengthy, okay? About 14 hours. We filmed our movie's longest scene and had to move to another set at the evening for another scene. We had one of our actors just for this day, and thus had to shoot all of his scenes that day, although that wasn't the plan. After all that we all were very tired, but had to wake up at 6 A.M. for another shooting session, as one of our actors had to leave early and we had to shoot all her scenes before that.

During the second day we still had slight troubles with lighting, but otherwise everything went better than the day before. A lengthy day, but not as unbearable as the first one.

During the third day we shot outside of the familiar apartment were we had shot almost all the earlier scenes. We moved to a local cafe before it opened, but failed to shoot everything we needed before customers began to rush in and ruin shots :P. Instead we decided to leave and film 4th day's scenes early.

During the fourth day we returned to the cafe and filmed all we needed to and re-filmed some earlier scenes. We shot the movie's first scene for last (we shot almost everything in reverse order, as it was easier to shave a beard than to wait for the main actor to grow one)

Everyday was shorter than the one before, picture quality was better and everything went smoother than it previously had. Except for relations, as we had some tension within our crew, but I can't talk about in detail in a public forum like this.

After every day we looked through the material we had filmed and investigated whether we had to re-film scenes. And usually we had to, but that was expected, as there's always something one fails to notice in the situation. Unfortunately there's also limitations on what can be re-filmed and what cannot as actors come and go, they alter their physical appearance (shave their beard, etc.), and the set transforms irreversibly.
I'm a perfectionist and I shot a few scenes again and again (up to 9 times, until I was satisfied or someone convinced me to stop). There were some scenes I wanted to shoot again, but unfortunately for the reasons stated above or because of lack of time, couldn't.

Equipment worked as it should have, and the time I spent practicing definitely didn't go to waste in that regard. There were many scenes we couldn't practice, but they went surprisingly well.

In the end, within 4 days we worked somewhere between 30-40 hours. We shot exactly 300 takes and material for about 40 GB. For that reason we shot SD instead of HD, as high definition would have required about six times more space, which we couldn't reasonably spare.
We filmed a lot more material than we'd need, but it's better that way, because few things are worse in the editing table than not having enough material to work with.
Unfortunately editing is not my job in this project. I'd like to, as I love editing, but no can do mister.

It's up to the editor now, but I think we filmed a decent flick.

Sorry if the text isn't as good as in previous posts, and I think I forgot a lot that I was supposed to mention, but I'm tired as I came from fitness boxing.
I'm not sure what I'll write about next time, but I have some ideas. Until then.

J.

Today I listened this song for a first time in a long while:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=modXbqbsAvs

About my brand new home and our short film project (it continues!)

Howdy!

It's been a while. It's been a busy time in school, so I've been too tired to write anything comprehensible. I tried, though, but it grew and grew in length, and it's still a humongous monster in a desperate need of trimming and thus unpublishable. Perhaps sometime in the future...

Well, where does my time go?

A few weeks ago, just before my winter vacation, I moved to a new apartment. I ditched the student dormitory in favor of a apartment all my own. It's a bit further than my old one (5-8 minutes to school now, instead of 15 seconds. Still, not bad). Apartment is a lot bigger, but only 10 euros costlier. Right next to main street. I like it, but I'd like it more if it wouldn't be so messy as I've yet to unpack some of my stuff and haven't really found a place for them. My room at my parent's house is now completely empty as they brought all of my stuff here. All of my stuff. That means a lot of stuff. :P

I visited Netherlands! I went to see my sister there. Nice trip, but I'll talk about it more in some future entry. Possibly with pictures.

What takes most of my time, is, unsurprisingly school. Especially the short film project (which still travels with its working title, which roughly translates to "Then We Lived"). After a long pre-production phase, we finally start shooting next week! Exciting!

The storyboard phase was awfully arduous. Let me explain: It was useful and even required. But it took lots of man hours to do.
First version I did with PowerPoint. 150 pictures, all drawn with it. Very simple style.
The next version I photographed. It took several photo sessions with other crew members standing in for the actors. Perhaps 200 pics and 50 videos. Then we heard some feedback from our camera teacher and our screenwriting teacher, and I re-did about 30% of the storyboard. I had some trouble with finding a suitable program to arrange the photos with (and to write all the required info). I decided to use Celtx.
The final product was so enormous, that I couldn't send it to anyone via internet, even with all the zipping. I didn't have printer at the time and our school printers didn't support Celtx-format and I couldn't convert it to, let's say, PDF. I worked 6 hours, just to get the finished product out. In the end, we used memory stick and a friend's printer. The whole storyboard took at least 50 hours of work. A lot, I think.

We've been practicing for the last few weeks and I feel carefully hopeful.
All of my more innovative camera angles have worked well, though some of the scenes they featured in, got cut, and I have more confidence working with the camera (though I still tend to forget to measure the white balance so that the colors show correctly...). I've used gadgets like glide-cam and camera rig, successfully. We even improvised a snorri-cam!
We have the actors, we have the set. There's still a few areas where everything can go wrong, but let's hope for the best.

J.

My favorite song of theirs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBa9PJjqm0Q

About studying different courses in SWAVE, part 3

Hey! You, reader! Yes, you! The one behind the window! I can see you...! Now, get out of there!

Before dwelling into endless depths of our short film production, I decided to tell you about the courses still to come. Of course, I can't really tell that much about stuff I've yet to experience. However, I do have the names of all the courses, and short descriptions. I'll let you know about them, and then we can together imagine what it will be like :).

By the way, I found the official English translations for the course names. Although in some cases my translations were more accurate, I decided to change every name to its official one. Even in the earlier posts.

Color theory
Okay... Apparently we're learning how colors have been used in art throughout history and what attributes they possess.

Drama and history of moving picture
Yes! We do have history of cinema! That's great. Of course, I've already been in 3 courses about history of cinema, but then again, now I can show off my intelligence in the subject matter ;).

Direction, set decoration and costume design
Hmmm... Seems more like a play sort of thing. Definitely useful, probably fun too.
One of my favorite directors, Sir Ridley Scott, started his career as a set designer, and it shows too, as an incredible amount of background detail in his films. That alone is a reason enough for me to be interested of this course.

Corporate and TV-production
Apparently this is more about how productions work in reality. A bit boresome, maybe, but useful.

Contract and copyrights
Yes. One of the most useful courses there is. Also known as "How not to get screwed over".

Printed advertising and photography
Graphic design and photographing, making posters and ads. Yes, I could definitely like this.

Editorial and news work
While in high school, I took some journalism courses. This is probably pretty much same, except more emphasis on video production part. Not too bad, I think.

Digital post-production
Both 2D and 3D, special effects, working with green/blue screen. I'll like this one.

3D-animation / Flash animation / 3D-modeling
The name says it. Three different courses, but in the same territory. Could be nice, depending on how hard the whole process is.

Theory of documentary
Yes, I'll like this one, as I'm quite interested about working on documentaries, and I'm considering making one as my bachelor's thesis.

Music video project
Many people start their careers from the realm of music videos, so no doubt it's useful. Just have to be ambitious and creative here.

...

Like I said in one of my earliest posts, SWAVE is huge and vast, and it truly is. We learn a little from almost anything you can do in the biz these days. So employment shouldn't be a problem.
Of course, there's a lot of other courses too, but I just stuck with the more interesting and differing ones. Many continuation courses (like "computer graphics 2" or "technique of editing 2") and so on.

Hope you have now a better idea what I do, or I'm about to do, in my school. Until next time.

J.

Sometimes cover songs just differ a lot from the original.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxHIVxz1K5M