This week's best of me:

There once was a man named enron who grew up amongst the selfish aritocrats in the deep south of the bible belt part of America Olivo.

He had gastrointestinal issues caused by over exposure to oil

This made people dislike not only his personality but also the scent of his presence made them vomit

and I don't mean normal vomit

I mean like that high velocity projectile grey vomit that brittana shot out of there mouths while singing tik and also tok by ke dollar sign ha

but that's a different story

enron was also insanely obese

he took up too much space and too much attention

as a matter of fact... he is so fat that he sat on his neighbor benevolence and completely destroyed her helping hands

one of the reasons he's so fat is because he eats way too much salt. like veruca salt from the willy wonka factory of chocolate

she was the greedy bitchy one that turned into a purple tomato right??

Week 9 Interaction I - Concept Worksheet 1

YOUR NAME: Elena Ortiz Concept #: 1

TITLE FOR YOUR CONCEPT (you’re not married to this title forever; but even working titles can help later on): EVE(L)

PROJECT VENUE/FORMAT: I want this project to be a live action web series. I think this project is suited for the web because the story is best told in episodes, piece by piece in short installments.

RUNNING TIME (approximately): I'd say an average of 10-12 minutes an episode. Because it's for the web episodes need to be short enough to be interesting but long enough to provide sufficient development and story arc.

TYPE OF CONTENT: live action video.

VISUAL LOOK(S) OF YOUR CONCEPT (stay with the visual here, and don’t be afraid to cite examples from films, TV shows, videogames, etc.): It would have the look of the standard television dramedy. Because there would be both funny and dramatic moments, the lighting and cinematography would reflect that, but it would be shot in a standard format using real people and real locations.

STORY STATEMENT: A young girl's need for risk and reward pushes her to lengths her family never imagined. When Eve's need for adrenaline and excitement becomes too great for even boxing and rock climbing to sate she turns to a life of thievery not to hurt others, but to thrill herself. Her mischievous ways are kept out of sight of her family and friends until one day a situation arises where she's forced to out herself or lose everything.

NARRATIVE OUTLINE: This series is about a girl named EVE. She was raised by her Aunt Lynn “LYNNEY” Ryder when her mother was sentenced to life without parole for murdering Eve’s father during her pregnancy. Eve’s uncle JACK, Lenny’s brother, is also very central to Eve’s life.

The series begins on the last day of Eve’s junior year of High School. Throughout the series we will gradually find out more about Eve and her dysfunctional little family. Each main character as their own addiction:

Eve: Adrenaline

Lenny: Pot

Jack: Gambling

Despite his or her addictions everyone is fairly normal. We will see that although Jack is not thoroughly introduced until the second episode that he is the one who has influenced Eve’s life the most. The two of them do a lot of bonding and one of their favorite activities is going downtown to people watch. Often, they pick out random people they think the other should date.

Eve is a very smart and talented girl. She is outgoing and active and has a keen interest in psychology. Some of her favorite things are boots, weapons, boxing, and breaking the law whenever possible.

The meat of each episode will be just another day in the life of the Ryder family and will serve the purpose of revealing more about the characters and who they are. The episodes will be book-ended by action montages of an illegal activity of some sort in which Eve has participated.

The timeline for the episodes will be mostly chronological except for the action/crime sequences. For example, Eve may be wearing a pair of shoes in episode one that she steals in episode six. The goal is to make the timeline of criminal activity hard to decipher.

WHY YOU THINK AN AUDIENCE CAN SHARE IN THIS (what are you trying to say or explore?): I think this is a side of myself I'm trying to share with others as well as find in others. I don't do crazy things or take big risks but it's something that I constantly want to do. It's a side of myself I hide from others because I think their reactions will be negative and I think a lot of people have aspects of themselves that they keep private as well. This isn't so much about the abnormality of certain situations as it is about how normal the abnormal is. I think it's about taking what isn't considered average or normal or regular and proving that it is.

Week 9 Interaction I - Starting With Sound

Starting on black I would first bring in heavy breathing joined shortly thereafter by a lock clicking, floorboards creaking, and lastly running footsteps. My first shot would be of feet pounding the pavement, but not in running shoes. They would be boots on a jean clad 17 year old girl. There would be a smile on her face and a record in her hand and she'd be navigating the streets of and average suburban neighborhood with ease and familiarity. I like these sounds because there is an uncertainty to them. Breathing can have any variety of meaning and when combined with the noise of a lock can invoke any amount of images to appear within the mind's eye. The footsteps are last because the real image that the sounds are illustrating is happening chronologically. The girl steals a record from someone's house. She's breaking and entering but we don't see it. We hear it. We hear it and then are presented with an image that doesn't quite tell us what happened but shows us that it probably wasn't what we thought. I like being deceptive with sound and story cues, getting people to think one thing only to have the reality be something completely different.

Week 9 Interaction I - Reading

I think Kate Amend says it best, "if they just want a pair of hands, they don't need me." It's important to have a vision for your film and to have ideas and a picture of where you want to go and what kind of aesthetic you want to have but you have to be open to change too. Setting yourself in stone only insures that you have a last resort, not that you have something beautifully crafted and well executed. A rock is not a diamond. A director is not a set designer is not an editor is not an actor is not a DP and so on and so forth. There are different specialities because everyone brings something different to the table. The point of collaboration is to work together to create, not to make a single person's vision a reality. If you view the world differently then I do, show me what you see, maybe what you're seeing is better than what I'm seeing, and I'm okay with that.

Week 8 - Intuition II: Place Changes

I watched the sun set. I saw the light change. I sat in a slightly different spot than usual, on a boulder instead of the ground. Less dirt. The wild grass is taller and no longer dead, rather, it's greener and less brown, I don't think it ever really dies... Pretty soon I'm not going to be able to sit there at night anymore because the temperature is getting warmer. I say that because the snakes come out and I really hate snakes. Like really really. But yeah, it's getting warmer and things are coming alive. There was only a little wind today so no dust was kicked up and the rustling of the trees and bushes was inaudible and invisible. The boulder on which I sat was pock marked at the frequency of a golf ball but in nowhere near as smooth or as perfect a pattern, which I think actually makes it more perfect. It's smooth and rough at the same time because it's not lumpy but it's not soft. The little trail I created for myself to get here is clearer now, easier to see. The ants are still around and thank god I've yet to see any spiders though I'm sure they're here too. There's less traffic that I can hear tonight, but more people nearby. I hear their footsteps and occasionally parts of their conversations when their voices echo properly. It's kinda cool, how the sound carries away from houses and electrical hums.

This week's best of Me:

this is a character. A man. Almost 80 years old. 2 marriages. 6 kids. The youngest still in college. He worked his entire life, finally retiring when his youngest child was in her 2nd year of college. The family still needed his income, but he just couldn't work anymore. He's well past retiring age so his daughter understands. His wife doesn't. She's working two jobs, trying to make ends meet. He spends his days online, checking emails, falling for gimmicks, thinking he's gonna get millions of dollars from the UN from some foreign bank. He sees his family struggling to get by and wants to make them happy again so he starts working with a couple guys on selling bonds. Again, he thinks he's going to get millions of dollars when the deal goes through. Every time, there's a catch or a fee. He moves his family into a new house but he borrows money to make a payment on it. He alienates people by not paying them back because his "money" hasn't come in yet. He believes it's all true and you want to believe in him, but you know deep down all hell is about to break loose. Best case scenario, you become a millionaire. Worst case, you get evicted from your house for the second time in 3 years and are left wondering, "What happens now?" Is this man delusional? Sick? Stubborn? Hopeful? Senile? I don't know, because this man is my father.

Week 8 - Intuition II: Reading

I can't write with other people, but I often can't think or see alone. I can't work with someone looking over my shoulder constantly but I can't finish without feedback. When I sit myself down to work I do it alone. I take everything I've talked about and everything we've discussed and I put it to use when I'm alone. The structure comes from not working. I stay focused when I'm not working. The second I sit down to work I have notes in front of me so I know where I'm going but aside from that, it's anybody's game. Whether I'm busting out paragraphs or slicing and dicing footage, I go where it takes me, referencing notes and concepts and structural decisions only when my flow starts to slow. The preparation is the structure that builds the skeleton and the actual doing of the work is where I create the muscle and the meat. In the moment, I go with it. It may not be the exact plan that I had set out for it, but it has a structure. When I lose sight of that structure and intuition is getting me nowhere I have to step back from it all and bring in other eyes and other ears and recreate the plan and redevelop what's starting to crumble. Once I figure it out then it's back into isolation for me.

Week 8 - Intuition II: Music and Creativity

I took my love and I took it down, looking all around when I'm lost and I should be found, offer you, all of my love, please take it, take me, look at who we are, what have we become, I was scared so I ran away, pushed you back 'cause I couldn't say, that I love you, well I do, It's all i want to do...

I had Stevie Nicks' "Landslide" stuck in my head so I wrote a rap to go over the guitar solo. I couldn't turn off my conscious thinking during that exercise and kept thinking about what I wanted to do for my animation final since I keep changing my mind. At the time I was thinking of remixing or sampling a song, writing a rap over part of it, and then doing a hybrid animation/live action music video for it. "Landslide" would be angsty. I actually wrote out all of the lyrics to the song as well prior to writing the rap and sang it to myself quietly over and over while trying to figure out what to include.

Week 4 Inquiry 1 - Reading

I often find it's really easy to get blocked when trying to work on imagination and creativity alone. Things start to feel inauthentic and because you have no experience with the situation you lose sight of where you're going and you also have no idea how to get there. I think it's extremely important to have experiences to draw on because even if they aren't exactly what you need for your story or what have you, they create an authentic representation in a way just imagining it can't. An example would be that I've never been in outer space, but if I have someone get into a sparring match on a spaceship I can write it because I've been in sparring matches and I've fought before. I know the feel of adrenaline in my veins and I know what it feels like to get hit by a professional fighter. I can write about fighting as a dance and as a psychological battle because I've felt it and I understand it. It's not about throwing punches or scoring takedowns, but about calculating and reacting and understanding your opponent on levels unimaginable to someone just watching.

Week 3 Introspection III: Reading

I have a natural inclination towards psychology. I like learning the way people work, reading their body language to hear what isn't said, and understanding what they're saying when they're saying nothing at all. I like listening and observing. I read books on love and philosophy and mental illness for fun. Sometimes I really wish I could double major in psychology and film because I feel like the two go hand in hand. I took a psychology class in Savannah and it was my favorite class. I passed with ease because I was so interested I actually did my assignments immediately and sometimes even did the reading before it was assigned. Even when I was seeing a counselor, a young woman who was currently getting her masters in psychology, I put to use what I'd learned in class, seeing if she'd pick up on certain body language cues and the like. Granted, that was unproductive in regards to the reason I was seeing her, but I was highly amused and highly intrigued. And my interest in psychology is extremely visible in my creative writing and filmmaking these days. I not only develop the standard character profile but I look at the psyche of the character. I think of whether they're introverted or not and how the hold themselves physically. I think about how their minds work and why they work the way they do because someone who appears psychologically sound isn't always so.

Week 2 Introspection II: Reading

From a writing perspective it is much easier to make things your own because you are the one creating the material and voicing the story. From an editing perspective the challenge of finding myself in a project and somehow making it my own is a bit different and in my opinion still a hard task. You are given the material, you are given someone else's story, and it's your job to put it together. It's written a specific way and then interpreted and reinterpreted by multiple people before it ever ends up in your hands and at that point, you get to interpret it again. You choose the best take, you choose whether it's better to hold on someone's reaction for two more frames or to go ahead and make the cut now. You manipulate the emotion of the scene with your cuts and I think a lot of time, my emotions are reflected back at me when I edit whether I intend them to or not.

Week 1 Introspection I: Reading

I feel that I too was predisposed to be in the film industry because my fascination with recording and editing became extremely evident when I was about 7. My sister had a "hollywood" themed birthday party one year and invited all of her friends over and they basically filmed the entire party and at some point I got ahold of the camera and was pretty much as smitten with a piece of technology as someone could be. I didn't get into the editing side of things until I was 11 and I discovered windows movie maker on my computer. A couple months later and I was buying the basic version of Sony Vegas Movie Studio and a few years later I had FCE in my hot little hands. Making Movies and editing them was just something I found and loved. I didn't take a class or have any type of instruction in how to do it until I attended a 2 week crash course at Chapman University the summer before my senior year in high school and that was when I realized that my inclination towards a film career was more of an "I am going to study film, no ifs ands or buts" kind of thing.

Week 1 Introspection I - Paul Auster

"Why Write" was full of seemingly impossible occurrences that made it extremely interesting, though the fact that clearly, they are possible, would render the term improbable more appropriate. While I definitely agree that it is important to always have a pen on you - and most of the time I do - I have the bad habit of not using it. Yes, I will write when inspiration strikes, but rarely do I remember to write down the things that I see everyday. I am rather closed off in the sense that I am constantly looking for specific types of inspiration or that I am only consciously aware of situations that somehow apply to me or to a story I'm working on. And those times when i do feel like I should write something down, I often either get distracted before I can or just let myself get lazy and put it off until it is no longer accessible in my mind.

Museum Visit

Favorite Piece(s): The series of "House on Fire" pieces by Kim Russo were my favorite part of the exhibit. They were simple in that they consisted of only graphite and watercolor on paper but they were also intriguing in their subject matter. The large piece, 2 squirrels, is I think the most simple. It's natural that squirrels would be more interested in stealing food than the house on fire behind them. They are oblivious to it and it makes me smile. The other two pieces are equally interesting in that they draw your attention not to the tragic burning of someone's home but to the bizarre presence of a man in a chicken suit and a bull. It feels like a reminder to remember the little things when the big things get crazy.

Least Favorite piece: I think my least favorite piece was "La Guadalupana" by Delilah Montoya. It was huge and I understand that it is supposed to reflect an alter but all it made me think of was Johnny Tapia and his huge tattoo of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It just didn't move me or interest me visually like I think it was supposed to.

Most surprising: I think I was most surprised by Max Cole's "Tomah II". I didn't notice the ink at first or how intricate and detailed it actually was and I actually felt a stronger connection to the piece once I took the time to look at all of the tiny ink marks.

Most moving: It wasn't moving in a particularly emotional way but I found Peter Sarkissian's "Gathering Series I" to be moving in an inspirational way. It's almost interactive in a sense and it isn't just visually interesting but it you can also hear it and it creates a very dynamic sensory experience. It pulls you into the piece because you can stand inside of it, you can imagine the people around you talking and it allows you to be a part of it instead of just being a piece to observe.

I really don't understand this last question. Like content and approach how? Like I could create an interactive film that incorporates aspects of Sarkissian's piece if I wanted? I'm confused.

This week's Best of Me:

The impact of words.

Tears wept over simple prose.

I'll never hurt you.

Week 7 Intuition I - Storytelling 3.0

I say that the presentation was not quite what I was expecting, though I'm not really sure entirely of what I was expecting. Most of what he talked about I've heard many times from different people. The evolution from simple verbal recounts to the written word, photos, film and television, and now to the internet are all things I've either been taught about before or experienced myself. I agree that the evolution of communicative media has had a huge impact on what and how stories are told, i'll never deny that, but I thought the way it was presented was a little blase.

I tell stories all the time. I say that because I don't believe any recounting is ever the truth and is always a personal or generally accepted story. I can't remember which philosopher it was who said it but the concept was this: the act is fact and after that, it's untrue. Throwing a chair across a room is fact. Describing it is a story. Slamming my fist into a table is fact. Feeling the pain is a fact. Saying it hurt is a story. The only truth is in the act and in the moment. After that we are putting our own interpretations on it.

Even though I understand the presentation was for a community of filmmakers I feel like the written word was just kind of glossed over in favor of talking about social media and facebook. Yes, things happen on facebook. Things are shared on facebook. But what about blogs? What about chain emails? I don't know... I just felt like there was a lot more value to be had from this presentation that just wasn't there.

Week 7 Intuition I - Limbering

My mind tends to wander at the most inappropriate times. For example: when I'm trying to sleep or when I'm trying to write a paper that actually matters. If I want to escape, if I want to daydream, I usually just kind of recede into myself and start thinking of stories in my head. If I try and keep to a specific train of though it almost always diverges into something different and that's when I reach the state of daydreaming. Sometimes listening to music helps me day dream but more often than not it's reading that does it. My mind tends to feel the need to wander every five minutes so trying to focus on something for longer than that invokes a push-pull between my conscious and subconscious which tends to result in my eyes rereading the same paragraph repeatedly while my mind tells me a completely different story.

Week 7 Intuition I - Reading

I definitely think that our reality influences our dreams just as much as our dreams influence our realities. I am a person who often interprets my dreams after writing them down by going to dream dictionaries and such and there is almost always a direct reflection of what is happening in my life. I once dreamt of boxes upon boxes of macaroni and cheese, not having seen any or had any in weeks. When I looked up what it meant it said that I need to be more frugal an conscious of my spending. At that point in my life I was struggling with knowing I'd have to give up boxing because I couldn't afford it anymore and I was constantly upset about not having the money for it.

I have also had some of the best ideas for films or novels come to me in dreams. While reading a piece of syfy fiction online I found it coming to life in a series of dreams which pushed me to begin writing my on. I think dreams are such an amazing look into our subconscious and really would like to be able to lucid dream fluidly. I've managed it once and it was the most awesome experience ever.

Week 7 - Intuition I: Evocative object

Junk yard dog was a world class wrestler, but having been alone since his creation, all he's ever wanted was a hug. He's trapped by his appearance and marred by a violent past. He searches for someone who can look past the clenched fist and wrestling pants but all are too afraid to approach him. He is far past his prime as a wrestler but if you look into his eyes you can see all the sadness he carries. His arms are open in waiting, his face soft and concerned instead of angry and threatening. He just wants a hug.

"I wasn't meant for a life of violence," he thinks to himself. "I should have been a pound puppy."

People think his fist is clenched as a threat but really he rescued an ant from the evil intentions of a young boy's magnifying glass. He would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it, but he already gave it to the homeless Ken doll he saw by the dumpster last week.

He gets beat up day after day, week after week, and all he wants is a hug.

I kinda want to see this done Toy Story style. It could be about the struggles of a stereotyped and prejudged toy that reflects the bias and judgements of the every day world.

Week 7 Intuition I - Dream Journal

When I remember a significant portion of a dream I always write down the key images or instances i remember and I look them up in dream dictionaries... this is one:

The dream at BIG 5 w/ Lindsey

There were racks of clothing

To see a rack of clothes in your dream, represents your indecisiveness and lingering uncertainty or self doubt.

I was shopping

To dream that you are shopping, indicates your needs and desires. It also represents opportunities that you come across in life.

I went to the parking lot

To dream that you are in parking lot, suggests that you need to slow down and take some time to relax from your daily activities.

I was looking at a restaurant

To dream that you are in a restaurant, suggests that you are feeling overwhelmed by decisions/choices that you need to make in your life. Alternatively, it indicates that you are seeking for emotional nourishment outside of your social support system.