Progress Report

Progress Notes

1. Concrete Progress- Last weekend my capstone partner went to Munster Indiana to get more footage of the Three Floyd's brewery. I had the weekend off but was not notified of his trip up there until he was already there. So, we have more footage, B-Roll, of that brewery, but NO INTERVIEWS.
   We have 2 trailers in production right now. We are both producing one each and both will be different. Mine is focusing more on the public enjoyment of beer at festivals we have shot. Joe's, I believe, will be focused more around the brewery experience.

2. Mentor Contact- Joe and I see our mentor once a week in another class and try to spend a few minutes after class discussing our progress and new ideas with her. She keeps our heads out of the clouds and gives us a reality check when we need it.

3. Timeline Changes- Joe came up with the idea of adding a stop-motion scene in which we show the process of beer making with Legos last week. At this point in the project I think it would be a bad idea to add it, especially since we don't have enough interviews with real brewers yet.

4.Need To Complete- We need more interviews with brewers, we need to complete the stop-motion title sequence, which should take us 2 days max (I know this because we just did one for another project), and I need to get an idea of how this thing is going to feel so I can write the score for it. Also having the promos done would be a plus.
So,
a. Interviews
b. Title sequence
c. Start writing the score
d. Promos

5.Changes- The one significant change would have to be the stop-motion Lego sequence. As I wrote this I sent Joe an email outlining my concerns with the timeline of this project and making suggestions as to what we can do to speed up production.

Production on the Indiana microbrew documentary is coming along well. We got some behind the scenes footage from taking the tour at Sun King and will be going to Tomlinson Taproom for a tapping of a new Three Floyds brew this Wednesday evening. The only thing giving me issues is the music. I am rather constipated creatively. I think I will be pulling out some old instruments to relieve myself.

Project Development Issues...

   What's funny is, I ran into this project blindly after I was asked to join it. I was so happy to finally be working on my capstone that I didn't sit down and go over the finer points of film making so that, in the end, we would have something awesome. Now we seem to be playing catch up, or at least I do.
   We have over 64 gigs of B-Roll and one interview. We need at least 3 more interviews from brewery owners and some from brew masters. Once those interviews are done I will be less stressed for sure.
   Then we have the script. Will we have one? Do we need to write one now? Or should we wait until we are editing the doc? Thinking about these issues makes me tired. I'm ready to be done. I have 12 credit hours left to complete my degree and graduate. I'm ready to be done, seriously.

Mentor Profile

My capstone is to create and composed the score to a documentary about Indiana microbreweries.
I would be looking for a mentor who 1. has made documentaries before 2. has a great deal of experience in conducting interviews 3. has knowledge of camera gear 3. can assist us in keeping to a timeline 4. and has experience with stop action animation.
Our 1st choice for mentor was Susan Tennant. She makes documentaries for a living. My second would be Thomas Lewis as he has worked on major Hollywood film productions and has also made movies. My third would have to be Ricardo Laranje because he has made music videos before.

I am still working on getting some emails back from potential second mentors. Basically waiting for an answer.

Secondary mentor

Joe and I have already used Thomas Lewis to bounce ideas off of so I think he would be a strong secondary mentor. His advice has already caused us to scale back the size of our project. For that I am thankful. Another mentor we could use would be Mark Pfaff or eve Ricardo Laranje. Both have experience in composing for video and video games.

Peer Capstone Support

My capstone fits into the video category.
 I think Samantha's capstone is similar to mine also Garin and possibly Jacob because we will be using some animation or stop-action animation in the documentary.

Class discussion

Through the class discussion I found that having a timeline is very helpful in completing your capstone. However, waiting around for people to email you back about interviews and shooting schedules can throw off the best laid plans.

Ales of Indiana website

This site was set up to help us raise money to travel to the many breweries in Indiana.


Ales of Indiana

Capstone Ideas...

   Before getting the chance to work with Joe on the Ales of Indiana doc, I was planning on creating a "lost trailer" for Star Wars by cutting up all of the movies then taking the best battle scenes from them and splicing it all together. Then I would remove the sound and add my own sound effects and music. There were questions as to whether or not I would need to get permission from Lucasfilm in order to do this since it was for a capstone project so I dropped the idea and was looking for something to do when I was approached by Joe to share the Ales of Indiana doc. 

What is a Capstone?

   To me the Capstone project should show off as many of the new skills you have learned in school as possible. They should be mini professional productions that teach you how to do those things in the real world. Ideally they should be good enough to get you a job on the outside.

Ales of Indiana!!!

   I have already begun work on my capstone with Joe Milton. He and I are working together on the Ales of Indiana documentary.
   Originally I was asked by Joe Milton to assist him with the filming of his doc about Indiana breweries. Susan Tennant suggested I score the doc and use that as my capstone. Joe thought that was a fine idea but as time went on he asked me if I just wanted to split the doc with him and have it be by capstone as well. I agreed and here we are.
   I am in the middle of putting together the first promo video for the doc.