Zach Rudden Filmmaker

I want to start this reflection by stating the course this month was a complete sham. Any learning that was done was by me and just to try and get assignments done without any assistance or guidance. Often the assignments did not have any thought behind them, just generic editing. The point is this month’s class was a complete wash and I am very disappointed in how it was handled. I understand the difficult circumstances faced by the instructor personally, and the unprecedented circumstances the rest of us are in made it difficult but that is no excuse for the way things were done this month.

That being said this month was a good refresh for me personally. I have previously had editing schooling and experience from Full Sail when I completed the undergrad degree. So, during this month I refreshed skills like sound editing and timing. It had been quite a while for me, so I relished the opportunity to finesse a sound design by overlapping tracks. It was like riding a bike. I also took the opportunity to refresh my skills on basic structure and piecing together an edit from start to finish. The assignments we had this month were good practice but not very good learning experiences.

Overall, I believe this month’s class was poorly managed and executed and offered nothing in the way of actual new learning experiences. For anyone new to editing this was a wasted month and did them no favors. For those of us with experience it again was a middling excuse to dust off some old skills. Again, nothing new was learned. For the future I would suggest having someone able to give their full time to the class instruct and actually give lectures. This was a complete failure by Full Sail University and the master’s program, and I expected more.

I chose the horror flick 30 Days of Night. This is a movie I usually have on repeat during the spooky Halloween season. But it is also an incredibly unique and frightening take on the vampire mythology. The general premise is a group of vampires who come to a small town deep in Alaska. This small town is affected by a natural phenomenon during winter in Alaska: 30 days of no sun, a perpetual night for an entire month. The vampires use this time to isolate and feast on the entire town. During the thirty days survivors, led by the local sheriff (Josh Hartnett), try to make it out alive. They hide out and move quietly, whatever it takes. Unfortunately, someone must make the ultimate sacrifice to defeat the vampires. 

I think the genre of this movie is definitely horror thriller, however it pieces in moments of frenetic action to shock the audience out of complacency. With that in mind I would peg this movie as an action thriller. I have always believed the theme of this movie is to stand together and survive. The tone is very dark, it obviously has to be considering the whole movie takes place at night. However, it maintains a gray tone even during the daylight.

The structure is familiar yet unique. The beginning would definitely be considered a slow burn, it takes thirty minutes before things go south fast. All the buildup makes you feel the isolation of the town. And when night falls the vampires start going really hard. They move fast, and everything goes downhill right after. Once the horror starts it goes quickly. The vampires sweep through the town destroying as they go. The next forty-five minutes slow down. Individual issues and stupid mistakes cause more problems for the survivors as they are hunted nonstop for 30 straight days. Then as we approach the climax the speed goes from zero to sixty in no time at all, ending with a final confrontation between both vampires and men. Ultimately this stop and go pace feeds the structure perfectly, giving both a thriller and a horror experience.

The production design of this movie was minimal but effective. By minimal I definitely mean specific. Though there isn’t a huge amount of design, the thought put into everything pays off. They obviously designed and built the town’s main street where ninety percent of the action takes place; individual locations can be built as backdrops or just scouted shoots. The snow is one of the biggest elements of the shoot, it looks as though they used an actual location that is snowy and then added snow as needed. Whatever the case, the snow adds an incredible element, contrasted with the black clothes of the villains and the redness of the blood they spill. Incredibly well thought out.

The cinematography is equally well thought out. While the majority of the movie is achieved through a handheld setup, certain shots are put on a stabilized rig of some sort. One of my favorites things they do, is take a direct birds eye view shot over the town. They then filled the street with people and vampires fighting and blood everywhere. Really gives you the scope of what’s going on, and the idea that the attack is town wide. The frame rate also appears to be accelerated giving a very high-speed feel to the vampires and action sequences. The shaky camera feeling, and high frame rate really intensify the vampires and horror of the movie. When dealing with our characters though, the frame is well composed to fit the scene. Usually by utilizing a mix of empty space and close ups, the cinematographer makes us feel the space the characters occupy. Low exposure means all available light, which is usually from one ambient source, is used up just to light the scene. This plays well with the wardrobe’s choice with winter coats and hoods, so everyone’s face is hidden at some point. All of these elements make you feel the uncertainty our characters feel. Is that a friend or foe? We have to find out. Overall the cinematography just oozes horror and thriller and is one of my favorite parts of this whole movie.

As with everything else, the sound design is very well thought out, and serves to make the audience feel what our characters feel, drowning us in their fear. Once again minimal sound design, focusing on the specific, is used to perfection to create the world and generate unease. Footsteps in the snow, blood, axe hits, gunshots, creaking boards, everything creates the world the characters live in. Likewise, the lack of music makes those sounds all the more important. Minor sound-based music is used in key moments, but it is minor and builds up to a volume that is meant to shake the audience up. Overall, another minimalist approach that truly pays dividends.

The editing is well composed as well, the cuts are fast and hidden by movement or other actions. It creates a seamless nightmare that we are all trapped in. However, when it does linger on a shot or scene, it is usually to deliver information, or worse to make you feel the characters fear as a vampire approaches them. Overall, I believe the editing is not the strongest aspect of the film, but like everything else plays its part to add to the experience of the audience.

To conclude this review, I would like to reiterate that this is one of my favorite movies, particularly in the horror genre. It takes the vampire genre and turns it on its head, while taking us for a scary ride that leaves us reeling at the end. Overall, an excellent addition to a long-loved genre.

This is my reflection on Experimental Filmmaking which comes to an end this week. Over the course of this class we were introduced to short format techniques which reinforced our storytelling fundamentals. We were also charged with completing a short film project to submit as an end of the month project to showcase the skills we learned. By the end of the month we were expected to have a handle on our thesis projects despite the changing situation right now.

I want to start by stating that I believe this course could have been a lot more. I did not attend the on campus optional labs, but from what I heard they were a refresh in things we were already familiarized with. Especially for me since I have already had an in-depth education on gear from doing the bachelors program. On top of that, no gear was handed out to us for our required projects. This really stifled my creativity, as well as just made this class almost kind of pointless which was really disheartening. Overall, the lackluster use of this month’s course was truly hard to grapple with and it just killed my creativity.

That being said, I was given the opportunity to use my expertise with our short film assignments. They gave me the opportunity to get creative in the short time span available. I was also excited about the prospect of doing a final film project, however because of the lack of gear and constant changing situation outside of class, I was unable to really do what I wanted to do. Regardless, I was able to compromise and do a good job on revitalizing and updating a previous documentary project.

In the end I truly believe this month could have been a lot more than it was, for both us and our instructor. The current pandemic has thrown an absolute wrench into the way Full Sail does things and I understand that. Unfortunately, I just feel like this was a wasted month for me, but I look forward to moving on and doing more.

This is my reflection on Script Production and Analysis and how the lessons learned will benefit my thesis project. Coming into this class I was already well versed in a lot of the fundamental studies on script production. I have my bachelor’s degree in film from Full Sail University which I completed in 2017. So, when I started this class, I had a solid base and familiarity with the subject matter. I did however learn a lot more about how to analyze a script and get the best story out of it. From the first draft to the last draft, a story needs to be carefully thought out and fleshed out before being put forward for review. Another thing I really gained from this class was about the little details. We are in the business of showing not telling, and that process begins ironically in the script. Putting in the small details can really sell a story and its characters. More than that, delving into our characters is a window into the soul of the movie. While in this class I was encouraged through assignments to really delve into the characters I was writing. So, when it came down to making changes to my script it was slightly easier, and the choices I made were true to my character thus giving me a deeper story.

So, what does this translate to my thesis? Quite a bit actually, starting with my characters. Taking those lessons on character, I was able to really take my protagonists to the next level. My supporting characters got more personality and were more fleshed out as well, as a result they influenced the story to a greater degree. The through line of story was supported by all these improvements brought on by this class.

Overall, even though I was already familiar with the base material, the deeper insights I gained in this course made me a better filmmaker. These lessons were immediately put to use on my thesis script to make the best possible short film I can make.

During the course of this month I have been flexing my directing muscles. While I have been doing this in my apartment due to quarantine restrictions, it has not diminished the lessons I have learned. I have had to get my actor into the headspace despite the restrictions put on us. Overall I would say I have been successful.

The next step for me is personal projects. I have been doing smaller things but it is time to actually take my equipment and go out there and create. The safety of school is that you are either given a premise to work on or are given guidelines that guide your decision making. So it is important to take those lessons and use them on your own. So to that end, my next step in mastering directing is to take all my skills and put them through the crucible of real life. I have two projects I am writing to be created and submitted for review from my peers. This will be the first step to my larger journey of mastering my style of directing.

“Cargo” is a short film with no dialogue. It follows a man and his effort to save his daughter during a zombie outbreak. The main protagonist and his wife are fleeing the zombie overrun city with their daughter when things go very wrong. In a freak car crash, our hero’s wife is killed and unfortunately turned into a zombie. Our hero is unfortunately bitten by his now zombified wife, making him infected. He takes a moment to come up with a plan. Instead of losing hope, he decides to get his infant daughter to safety. He takes her car seat and makes a backpack to carry her in. Once he does that, he makes sure she is secured to his back and can not possibly fall out of the seat or off of his back. He then finds raw meat and hangs it in front of him so that when he turns, it will draw him forward, so he continues to walk even after his death.

He walks for two days straight, not stopping, trying to find someone to give his daughter to. When he finally comes across people, they see he is a zombie and shoot him. They do not give him much thought till they hear crying. When they inspect his body, they find his daughter and a note. The note tells the people the baby’s name and the circumstances that led them there. The people decide to take the baby in and raise her. And the story ends.

The story takes place during the day. The cinematography works with that. Everything is medium shots or closer, and natural lighting is used. Moving shots are used while the main character is moving, for obvious reasons. The movement is always right to left. This has a story element as the home with people that finds the hero’s daughter is left side oriented on screen. The idea being that he is moving that way.

The dramatic structure of the short film is well put together. The climax occurs as he is shot as a zombie, releasing all the tension in that moment. Being a short film with no dialogue, the first and second acts move really quickly. The crash and hero being infected all happen in the first act. The second act encompasses the journey he goes on to find a safe place for his daughter, ultimately finding it in the climax.

The production design was appropriately minimal. A car, a house, and a myriad of other small props are used to set the scene. A lot of the props were used on our hero’s person. Things like a backpack, harness, the baby, and other things he uses, are props that really give the story its life. Furthermore, the make – up effects done on him to make him look like a zombie were feature film level.

The sound design is intentionally empty. Using minimal forest sounds, wind, movement like footsteps, and moans and groans, the film’s sound design created a very quiet solemn world. Certain sounds like a car and a gunshot were the most obvious designs. But to me the baby’s cries and his groans as a zombie were the most important story elements brought to life by sound design.

The editing of the film was really well done in my opinion. It started off immediately into a car crash, immediately drawing you into the drama. The opening scenes are very slow, drawing out the pain of losing a loved one, and the drama of having to save your daughter before you turn into a zombie. After that, the pace quickens, giving the feel of an adventure, going on a hike to find the unknown.

My premise is a romantic comedy short film that ends with a twist. Some of the things done well in Cargo can make my film a success. Sound design for example. Using ambient sound design to add atmosphere to a restaurant atmosphere. Especially helpful to cover the fact that I have no extras to fill that atmosphere.

The challenges faced by my crew and I are one of lack of resources. My crew and I are going to need to create a world without any resources to create it. Using peak sound design to create atmosphere is one way to do this. Some of our more creative ideas are to use our background sets to maximum effect. Also keeping our shots within a closer range like 50mm and 35mm will maintain our audience’s focus on what we do have in our film and not what is absent.

For my final inspirational post I’d like to share a quote from one of my inspirations, Steven Spielberg.