Shooting Week

At last shooting week has arrived and ready or not, all of the students must begin the process of filming for their documentaries. For the next ten days each of us will be traveling all over Europe to capture the essential footage that will ultimately become our films. Some of the films require more legwork than others, and for these, we each have to help each other out. I went with my brother to Spain to assist him with his project.

Upon exiting the plane at the Bilboa Airport, we were greeted with an unexpected summerlike heat. Wrapped in our warm coats and scarves, we quickly shed our extra articles before jumping into a taxi that would bring us to our first hotel. Along with us came one of the AIB student workers, Maren, who was thankfully fluent in Spanish. The subject of my brother’s documentary, a Basque artist and sculpture, would not be greeting us on our first day which left us some time to scout around. The most popular of the artist’s work is in the Bosque de Oma, a nearby forest, and involves a series of living paintings that appear to take form as you walk through the colorful trees. Unfortunately, to get to these paintings, you first had to hike for at least 40 minutes. This may seem like a small feat, but throw 50 lbs. of camera equipment on top of it and it becomes quite a challenge. On the brighter side, we managed to scout our location with sunny skies and very few technical problems.



The second day we met our subject. His three assistants picked us up at our hotel and brought us to the beautiful countryside where the artist and his wife lived. He invited us inside for coffee and after talking for about an hour, we began to prepare the interview. It was difficult to find the perfect spot. At first we thought it’d be best to film it in his studio, but we decided that the art would distract too much from the artists words. We settled to film it in his living room instead. It was clear that the artist and his wife were not so used to being filmed. In the middle of the interview his wife insisted on turning the lights off in the background. Because I couldn’t speak Spanish, I could only hope that my frantic flailing was not so distracting while the subject recounted one of his stories to the interpreter. There were always going to be unforeseen problems while filming, but I had never expected the interviewee to remove his microphone while we were filming.

Despite some issues, our kind hosts were nice enough to take us to din-ner afterwards. They insisted that we try the traditional foods in the region which included squid soaked in “ink” sauce and the “fresh” cod that you had to chew for at least a minute before you could even consider swallowing it. Luckily for us, the Basque wine proved to be just as delicious as its creators boast.



Our last day was spent hiking once again through the forest. Which meant, after waking up at 6 am, another 40 minute hike with all of our camera gear. This proved to be a very good idea because after we had finished filming amongst the quiet, peaceful trees with pleasant weath-er, torrents of crowds began to arrive and along with them steady drops of rain. Of course, not everything went as we had planned, but things went well enough that a strong documentary will come out of it.

Written by Casey Chavarria

Let’s Talk about the DOK!

Despite the fact that we spent the majority of our four days in Leipzig inside movie theaters, I feel our group left Leipzig feeling like they’d gained a whole lot of life experience. For me the Leipzig DOK festival revealed many eye opening stories to me, while also helping me improve as a documentary filmmaker. Through out the course of the three days most of us watched a total of around eight films. All of the films I saw were amazing, and they showed me that a story can be shown in many different ways.
In order for a documentary to be good, the cinematography does not have to be stunning with shallow depth of field and fiery sunsets in every shot. In fact most of the really good documentaries I saw, were shot with hand held cameras, that didn’t make the subjects look like Victoria’s Secret Models, but rather showed them as they actually are, which is human. Another thing I learned is that its much more interesting to watch someone doing something or living the story rather than watching an interview where they recap a story.
So trying to make our documentaries so they are happening as much as possible in the present, we learned, is very important.
A lot of what I learned at the DOK festival helped me with the actual filming of my doc. After each film played, we could hear the directors talk. All of the directors talked about their personal relationships with their documentary subjects, and how before filming it is important to have trust with your subject. However, during the filming process it is also important to make yourself seemingly not there when the camera is on so as to really capture the moment. This helped me a lot during the filming of my documentary about the Vegetable Orchestra.



I spent a lot of time just hanging out with them and talking to them before turning the camera on. However, once the camera was on I tried to make myself invisible.

One of my favorite films, that most of our group also watched was called Toto and his Sisters. Toto and his sisters was a phenomenal film about an impoverished family that lives in Romania and whose lives have been destroyed by heroine. In particular the film follows the charismatic, optimistic and adorable eight-year-old boy Toto. Toto and his sisters have a father who left them years before and their mother is in prison serving time for drug trafficking. The family lives in a one room apartment, if it can even be called an apartment. They have no bathroom, no running water, no shower, no kitchen and one couch that is used as a bed by all three of the siblings. The film covers their struggle to survive in the mess that is their life.
This documentary was done wonderfully, the film maker was able to capture the endearing childhood hope of Toto who remained positive despite his growing up in adversity. The filmmaker was asked how he was able to sit back and watch things like Anna suffering, and Toto playing with needles without interfering. He said that as a film maker it was more important for him to tell the story than put down his camera and help because in the grand scheme of things his documentary would help more by raising awareness about the subject. Being able to sit back and not interfere is a very important skill in documentary film making.


My other favorite film was a lot less tragic and dark. It was about the theory of six degrees of separation. A Polish film crew had random people select random numbers and letters from a bingo ball roller. They asked six people to carry out very specific tasks that would lead them to their ultimate goal of creating a web separated only by six degrees.

The filmmakers spent two weeks with each one of the six people they met and then at the end of each two weeks they would have that person call another person that might lead them closer to their goal. The movie was not just about the theory but also about the personal relationships and details of the lives of each one of the six people. What was even more fascinating were the stories of each one of the six people that were revealed in this documentary.
Not only were we extremely inspired by the Leipzig DOK festival, and filled with ideas for our own documentaries, but we also got experience mingling and talking to producers and directors at the lounge parties each night. We were able to meet some of the directors of the films we had seen, and ask them for advice about our own documentaries. It also didn’t hurt that the treats they served there were delicious!

Written by Kendall Milton

Speed Dating or Composer Pitch?

“Fill out your bio’s and at the end of this you guys can’t leave this room until each of you has been matched.” Sounds like a speed dating event or something right? Wrong… A vi-tal part of our documentary process is the music that is going to back our stories. Music can create the mood of a film, shape the audiences attention and feelings, establish the time and space of a story, reveal character, create tension or a plot twist… So many crucial and important things come from the music of a film; that it makes perfect sense when going to pick a composer for our documentaries it was treated like a match.com date night. Two weeks before this event, the film group and students from the Musicube Academy met to hear each of us film student’s documentary pitches. Musicube is a film score composition production academy, based here in Bonn and actually at the AIB too. This first meeting was a piece of cake for us. We have been pitching these documentaries since our first weekend in Eifel. It was our second meeting, the pairing, that really got us nervous. On this day each composer from Musicube played three minutes of his or her work along with visual images they thought their music would match well to. Adven-turous music to mountain ranges, epic music to churches, and even hip hop beats to city skylines were shown.

Going into the pitch, many of us were nervous and thinking “how is someone going to make music that’s going to match my topic of Burlesque dancing… or Swordsmithing… or Animal Shelters… or even a Vegetable Orchestra?” But much to our surprise the composers showed an incredible range of music that could be paired to each of our unique stories. After the composers showed their talents, the awkward part came. Feelings from our first high school dance started lurking beneath us. “Do I go talk to that guy? I really liked his songs. I think he wants to work with someone else though… I should just go over there. Shouldn’t I? No… I don’t know…” All of these thoughts came rushing when our directors announced it was time to find a match. But eventually the nerves subdued and connections were made. The communication between the composers and us was really enlightening; as for the first time someone really understood the message we’re trying to portray and even knows how to do so through music. At the end of the meeting each of us walked away with something. We gained experience in net-working and a very important newly created partnership that will be shown in our final documentaries.

Written by Jocelyn Cooper

Light Me Up

“Let’s make it a noir!”
“Let’s make it a western!”
Let’s make it this, let’s make it that. We had lights, and we had an expensive camera. All we had to do was create the scene. Personally, this was my first experience lighting a set with the amount of equipment we had my excitement fed off of the other’s. Our equally excited cinematography professor, Jens arrived early to Cologne rented, picked up the gear and trucked it south to Bonn. All for us! I will admit, the opening lecture was complicated. It covered the most technical components of lighting, down to the equation to calculate the correct wattage one will need for lighting. In spite of the confusion, he motivated us right from the start. The first lecture started to make sense as he urged us to figure out which light to use where.
Sam Zook and myself decided to share the role of key grip. We reported to our Director of Photography, who in this case was also Jens. He mostly gave us pointers that allowed for more creativity on our part. It was a ton of fun deciding how to light the scene. Collectively we decided to set up a noir scene. Using the passion Jens imbued us with, we created a beautifully moonlit scene using 100 Watt Fresnel Lens light. Essentially it was the best light we had that could sufficiently mimic moonlight sneaking into a window. Next, we were charged with lighting the interior. The key grip role shifted to another pair of students who decided to give the room a midday feel. Far different that what Sam and I set up, but an invaluable learning experience none the less.



After a day of lighting a scene multiple ways we were ready to take the fresh skills and apply them on the set of an actual shoot. With our C300 camera and myriad of lights, filters, and stingers we set to work building up a fancy set inside an elevator. The coolest thing about this shoot is we all had an opportunity to pick a job and try it. I got to direct, act as assistant camera, and your good old best boy. Directing a full crew was certainly a challenge, but Jens had great vision and was able to help me and the other students along the way. I had never been an AC before, but always thought of it as such an unsung hero, or underdog-y type of job. The key responsibilities I had as AC was two fold: I was St. Peter of the camera. The DP was God and she hired me to guard the pearly gate that was the very, very expensive camera. Second, I had to maintain the focus of the camera. That job itself included little miniature jobs like racking in and out of focus from focal point to the next.

Everyone got the chance to try brand new things and we all learned so much. The confidence I got from those two days alone was truly immense. Two days of total immersion into totally new crew positions really pays off. And, we have a great little product to show for it.

Written by Nick Logsdon

Mainz Excursion, New Europe Program

On November 13th, the students of the New Europe Program traveled to Mainz, Germany.

First, we visited the New Synagogue to marvel the unique architecture inspired by Leibeskind and to learn about Jewish-German history. Its unique form is ultra modern yet the individual letter components are ancient. The Sanctuary faces East towards Jerusalem and the dawning of a new day, thus symbolizing a new beginning and faith in the future.The new Jewish synagogue and community center exemplifies the revivification of Jewish life in Mainz.





Then, we went on a walking city tour to see the Cathedral and learn more about the history of Mainz, the second oldest city in Germany. The Cathedral represents the high point of Romanesque cathedral architecture in Germany. During World War ll, Allied bombing of Mainz destoryed 80% of the city, but the cathedral was left almost entirely unharmed.

   

After the city tour, we were guided through the Gutenberg Museum, one of the oldest museums of printing in the world, to learn about the beginning of the mass production of books and the printing press.

Having delicious sandwiches were a perfect way to end a fantastic excursion to Mainz!

AIB student film showing at Berlin International Short Film festival!

Here is what AIB 2013 film alumni Christopher Helkey had to say about his week at the Berlin International Short Film Festival:

"The Berlin International Short Film Festival was an amazing experience. It was right in the heart of down town Berlin at the Babylon Cinema. It was awesome and inspiring to watch some of the best short films from around the world. The festival ran for one week and there was 10 blocks of films that all together totaled around 50 short films. I was lucky enough to have been able to attend every block of films. The talented German composer Steven Settinger who created the music for my film was able to meet me in Berlin and attend the screening with me. The films ranged from short documentaries all the way to intense mystery dramas and horror films. The only limitation for these films was they had to be under the 50 minute time limit.
I felt very honored that my short documentary “The Magic Moment” was selected as one of the films for the Berlin Short Film festival! I made the film well studying abroad in Germany and I felt very blessed to be able to go back to Germany and attend the festival.
It was amazing to see my film play on screen in Berlin. The film was received very well by the audience in the screening. Meeting the other directors and filmmakers who had produced such great films was a very important part of the festival. I met many great filmmakers and made many great connections through the festival. The screenings would happen at night from around 6pm to 9pm. And afterwards I would go out into the city with some of the other filmmakers. It was interesting and fun to meet and talk about filmmaking with filmmakers from other countries. The whole experience was both amazing and professionally rewarding."

Here is a link to some photos from Berlin:
https://www.evernote.com/shard/s126/sh/5440a961-7ace-4bef-b8bf-c884714708c7/d81858b401a0337558e39fa1969d888b

After making the video public a week ago right before Christopher left Bonn it had gotten over 90 thousands views online. Many major online sites have done articles about it. Here is one of those articles:
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/11/spectacular-paper-pop-up-sculptures-designed-by-peter-dahmen
 
and here is the link to his film:
https://vimeo.com/98760774
 
Christopher was also contacted by a producer at WGN-TV Morning News in Chicago who is going to air part of the film!!