Letter From the Editors

Brynn Hughes

Brynn Hughes, who goes by Brynn, enjoys dancing as a hobby because it’s a way for her to express herself and have fun with her friends. She takes A/V video production at LASA and has always had an interest in film, so she is looking forward to writing about film in her feature story and overall Ezine magazine. Her ideas for after graduation include going to a college for film and becoming a director or studying forensic science. A fun fact about her is that she has two younger sisters. Barret Siebeneicher, a fine fellow, participates in sports such as football and basketball. He loves to sleep and relax at home. He plans on a possible sports career in the future as a manager, but he hasn’t quite decided what he wants yet. He shows interest in film and media and is writing an article about it wonderfully and greatly. He loves to eat because to him it’s always bulking season. Maybe he should become a professional eater so he can eat all the time.

Letter from the Editors

Barret Siebeneicher

Letter from the Editors

Luke Lipton Bernice Pierre-Louis

Luke Lipton or Luke is a student at LASA high school, who is interested in sleep and video games. Luke is thinking about writing about movies during his time in the ezine class and is interested in the history of movies. Once Luke leaves high school he wants to go to college but is not sure what he wants to major in. Luke has previous experience with extracting AirPods out of a school toilet, so maybe he could pursue plumbing. Bernice is a freshman at LASA. She’s really into art and has always been inspired by animations and watching tv. She also loves to read and write. In Ezine, Bernice is excited to do graphic design and make really creative spreads. After high school, Bernice is thinking of going into technology or computer science but she’s not 100% sure. She’s deathly afraid of dogs though, so as long as she doesn’t become a vet she’ll be fine.

The Under Representation behind the process of creating movies

By Barret Siebeneicher

You always see movies and films, but do you know how to capture that magic? What goes into the film that makes it perfect? Is it the lighting, sound, audio, etc? Or is it the director and actors putting a spin on their fictional characters?What really happens behind the scenes is what real prep work it takes to create movies. No one really knows the true way movies are interesting, but with research we can gain a better understanding. How do we really make a good movie then? Well first it has to start with who is creating the movie. This could be a director or film studio. They gather information on the movie they want to create and then put that plan into action. This plan consists of where to film, when to film, and what we need to film the perfect movie. Let’s start with the where. You want to set your movie in a place where it fits in with the story. You don’t want to film a deep dark movie on the beach because the feel isn’t right. Find a city with cloud cover that’s cold if you want that feeling.When directors plan out their movie schedules they do it in time increments from 6 months to 2 years. Directors find consistent times where they can get their actors and crew to get on set and film. With no film plan, no one knows when to truly show up. When needing props for a movie, directors “create a basis or an idea of how they want the movie set and the props included in the movie to be. Then they get together with a production team to make a sketch of the props they need for the desired films,” said Suri Bealer. Suri Bealer, the president of Electronic props, This a prop closet used to store uded and old props for movies and films.

says her process is as follows. “I reach out to directors and producers and ask if we can use our props in their movies. If they say yes then there are a couple of steps that need to be taken. We ask them if they need certain props that we already have or we ask them if we need to make any new specialized props for their film. We can then figure out the location and dates where we need to send the props. And finally, we “sign an agreement for our props to be licensed”.” This is only one major aspect of movie filming, with all that directors have to do they really feel pressure. One of the biggest things with planning films is location. Directors and managers have to either stage scenes or take flights to go places in the world to capture the perfect feel for the movie. With this you have to get actors and stunt actors to agree to go with you and assure them that the movie will turn out well.

Another big part of creating movies is audio, music, and sound. If you had a movie with bad music and sound effects it probably wouldn’t be a good movie. Let’s take a look at the new Batman movie. The Nirvana song that plays the entire time gives a feeling of darkness and fear, which goes with the narrative of Batman. If it was some random song or some happy music it wouldn’t give off the same feel. “It’s really important to remember that sound is half of your movie. You know, without audio, you’re a silent film, you know, you’re limited to what you can see on screen,”said Morgan Honaker, a sound mixer for sound crafter studios. Audio, not just music, is important too. With special mixing and sound effects it makes

your film more alive and professional. Morgan Honaker reflects on this topic by saying “one of the ways that you do that is with backgrounds. So if they’re at a waterpark, you would add like children laughing in the background. You would add like distant sounds of slides and kind of maybe a rumble of like water moving underneath the park that’s supplying all of the rides. But then also, you’d add, if it’s daytime, you’d add like birds or air, or if you’re near the ocean, maybe distant waves, that kind of thing to really build out the soundscape and again, make it feel real”. This process takes a while though, sound crafters for movies have to watch the films over and over with no sound and create a game plan of how they want to incorporate effective sound. Mixing sound usually takes high quality and many speakers so you can have the best quality sound. “You could have a hundred-ish speakers if you really wanted to go crazy. Generally, though, you’d have 10 to 20 speakers and then a couple of subwoofers that you’re working with,” said Morgan Honaker. When creating a movie your budget is also very important. You have to plan out how much money you need for the film production, and then how much money you need to pay the crew and actors. We see this play out in the designing of sets, during the filming of John Wick, Suri Bealer said this in relation, “The movie company paid for half the price of the creation of the props’’ that production cost is split between the production company and the independent company hired by the production manager. The production manager is the supervisor of money being made and being spent. For big movies like John Wick money is a key role. You have to film many explosions and death scenes, so the cost to make it look real is going to be a lot. "Most scenes are of explosives, guns, buildings breaking stuff like that so when creating the props we had to hire people who specialize in blowing things up, pyro artists. We also had to then create all the props for two years which was the longest we have ever worked on a project. I don’t like to say it but for the purpose of the interview I will it was like we were making fake movie bombs for two years This really shows how dangrous movies can be. One factor that plays into this danger is stunts. Stunts are hard to do because you have to find the right person to do everystunt. They have to look like your actors and agree to do near death defiying stunts.

Suri Bealer said this about the John Wick movie production "I think that one thing I’ve learned is that if things are going well and you’re writing well you don’t stop at half past five. I’ve a very loose schedule. If it’s going well I will carry on writing through the night – if it’s happening you’ve got to keep it happening” Mark Herman a well known director speaking on script writing. Script writing has to be one of the key components when creating movies. People like Mark spend days and weeks trying to create the perfect narrative to tell a full story. Many script writers say that often viewers look past the text and dialogue in a movie, and just zone in on the images and sound. This makes script writers like Mark frustrated because all their hard work has been in a way excluded from the viewer’s perspective. When you read reviews there is almost no reference to the language and dialogue being presented in the movie. What really can make movies is in fact the language and slang. There are reasons why Marvel movies are so popular, because the charters are funny and relatable. That all has to do with the language of

Morgan Honaker watches film to help visualize what sounds need to be added. Courtesy of Morgan Honaker

the script. Given a movie is being filmed but as well with everything mentioned before the camera crew and the cameras itself elevate the movie. Some of the most used professional digital movie cameras include:Arri Alexa, Blackmagic URSA, Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Cameras, Canon Cinema EOS. Panavision Genesis, Red Epic, Red Scarlet, and Red One. Though the ARRI has continued to set the standard for cinematic filmmaking. Americans eventually got their hands on the compact ARRIFLEX 35 film cameras they had heard so much about. Directors can indulisallly decied what camera they want to use for their film, whatever they choose should be a valid pick because of the range of greatness cameras have nowadays. Movies are such great things that are very much appreciated in our society, people spend years trying to make a near perfect movie. People might say Titanic or Avengers are the greatest movies, but every great movie has its flaws. People can say the writing of the Titanic is cheesy or that the Avengers plot doesn't make it great. Not all movies are made perfect and us as viewers have to respect that. Viewers have to know how hard it really is to make a near perfect movie. We need to give more credit to the prop makers, the soundcrafters, and the writers because without them we wouldn't have any masterpieces. People will learn how important the behind the scenes process in creating films is. You know without any of those key steps and tiny details we don't get to see these masterpieces displayed before our eyes. Because without movies and films our world seems a little less interesting. movies and films our world seems a little less interesting. Movie camera ready to shoot any action for a film. Courtesy of Denny Muller