READING & WRITING
Overall Learning Experience and Impression
My overall learning experience and impression of this class was a very good one. While I was pre-disposed to liking the class topics and materials professor Kent Golden’s subject matter knowledge, even-handedness, and flexibility played a huge part in my positive class experience and impression.
Below are some tFrom the very beginning of class the worst thing, however, was that I was perpetually in production mode so I couldn’t full enjoy and employ my creative side. Balancing work, family and trying to do things like learn the class software and tools, for example Adobe Audition and Premier, my new Q2 mike, and my new semi-professional tripod, and my rented lav mikes was challenging. Never-the less the class assignments sparked in me something that I think will continue beyond its virtual walls. In addition to practicing on my own, I think that I fancy myself being someone’s Production Assistant (PA) to further learn my craft! Further, I hope and believe that I’m on target to reach my goal of having at least two of my class projects be used in some formal capacity at my company.
“Yes” — I enjoyed and was impressed with the pre-production, production, and post-production considerations, techniques, and documents that I was further exposed to in this class. Along with Tom Schroeppel’s The Bare Bones Camera Course for Film and Video book I now have specific things that I can reference and build upon. The best thing about the class for me was the freedom, within certain boundaries, to be creative and engaging. In that regard, I enjoyed working on my mini-documentary relating to Dragon Boat racing the most.
I believe that life is about options and I love the creative options that this class has given me to build on my written, graphic, and now audio and visual skills. I truly believe that these skills will serve me well in the next few years and beyond.! I would like to learn more about doing How-to videos as I’m already sensing and getting feedback from the training department at my company that there is a real need for my skills in that area!
RESEARCH TO INFORM
Use of Both L & J Cuts —- In my research to better understand, find, and show J + L cutting done well I learned that the best time to use either a J cut or L cut is during a scene with dialogue, but also that the J & L cut techniques can also come in handy during any scene with connecting action to a specific sound.
Since have scenes in my mini documentary that meet both of the above criteria including two interviews (which of course by definition have dialog) the potential effective use of these techniques became even clearer to me.
One Use of L Cuts —- I also learned that L Cuts are perfect when you want to make a scene linger, or even if you’re hoping to add a bit of tension to your content. L Cut examples can be found in montages, too, as you can show the viewer a selection of images while the audio from clip 1 describes them.
One Use of J Cuts —- I learned that one of the most powerful J Cut examples is when they’re used in opening scenes, as you can play the audio before there’s any video. Immediately, you’ve got the viewer’s attention. Why does it sound like there’s a pig on the subway? They need to wait for the film to roll to find out!
With my better understanding these cuts I searched with renewed interest to locate and document these two common cinematic staples. Further down below is what I came up with.
Sources: 1 – Surfaced Studio, Film Making 101 Tutorial – L & J Cuts, May 2016
2 – Epidemic Sound “What Are J Cuts and L Cuts, and How Can I Use Them?” February 2022
1 —— The Mist – Full Movie “Stephen King” Horror Movie (L cut Example)
The L cut happens at the I :52.35 mark into this video and goes right into the credits. By the audio going right into the credits the overall emotion of the film as well as the specific high drama and emotion of the last scene, is allowed to effectively linger.
Definite L cut Honorable Mention: The Poseidon Adventure – Now that I think about it I’m pretty sure that this, one of my favorite movies, also similarly ends with the audio going right into the credits. The Poseidon Adventure movie’s ending is also similarly effective for the same reasons as the ending of The Mist.
2 —— The Social Network (J Cut Opening Scene Example)
The J cut happens at about the 13 sec mark into this video. In my mind the use of the opening J cut here might underscore the nature of presumably a main character. Don’t know the rest of how this character’s personality plays out in the film but this initial J cut gives me the definite sense that he’s nerdy and talkative.
CREATE
My final project for this class turned out to be too large to link to You Tube here a I normally do. Barring shortening it significantly I may have to redo this final video into two or three parts. Please try this Google Drive link which I have made public. so that anyone should be able to see my “final” Dragon Boat Race related class video ======>
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CxDuR1rAyMgHipCEfLkT-UVMsMKIhigr?usp=sharing
Lots more to do/correct/shorten but you will get a sense of my direction. It’s a mini documentary. My goal was to use my company’s participation in an upcoming D.C, Dragon Boat Race as a backdrop through interviews and other story telling techniques to advance a human-interest story. I plan to continue to improve and refine the piece and see where that might lead me.
Enjoy!
Kevin
