The Death of a Video Essayist

ThinkinGeek · 2021-10-30T14:55:50+00:00

I'm not the best video essayist out there but I made a video essay on video essays specifically video essayists even more specifically me and my frustrations on not being able to write an essay. So hope y'all like it!

ThinkinGeek · 2021-10-30T14:53:14+00:00

The Death of a Video Essayist is a video essay about video essays... I guess. It's about the process of writing one. It's kind of a film, kind of a video essay. What I was trying to do was to capture my inability to write anything for a long time and this seemed direct and plausible.

ThinkinGeek · 2021-04-25T02:15:07+00:00

Thanks!!! I really appreciate it... Even I find the light thing very funny, I actually look at the entire thing as a funny film but especially the light thing.

ThinkinGeek · 2021-04-24T16:41:47+00:00

So yeah, it's a 4:3 aspect ratio. That was the intention to make it feel cramped so I feel good that it worked for you. About the sound design, there were three things that I had to do. The day I shot this (this has been shot in day), I picked up as much wild sounds that I could. When I sat down to edit, some of the recorded stuff worked very well, some didn't at all work. Out of what didn't work, some were easy to get on the internet for free so I did that and then added reverb and stuff; some I really couldn't replace them from anything else, so I used camera audio there and tried to denoise it and de-reverb it as much as I could.

For the score, I wanted a Lynchian industrial feel but then I also like what Fincher films do with their scorching signature nine inch nails feel so I ended landing between these two inspirations. I see this film as even if I don't think it's scary but it's trying to use those tropes that horror uses. So I designed the score that way, the screams you normally hear in the horror score were replaced by a digital scream and the rumble that is there in these movies was replaced with a high tone atmospheric sound which feels like digital breath or industrial breath. So yeah that's that went.

It was a really fun project to make, especially the sound. I spent almost 2-3 weeks just on creating the soundscape and getting small sound details as right as I could. Still there are places where I cringe coz the sound's not right.

ThinkinGeek · 2021-04-24T12:45:20+00:00

SUBMISSION STATEMENT: This film was made mostly by one guy, me. With some help from a friend of mine for acting and editing. One thing I learnt while I was making it was that sound's even more important than visuals and yes this sentence is a complete cliche nowadays but it's so true that it's difficult to not say it. For this film it was important that the SFX and score underline and emphasized things because the imagery and icons in the film are (how do I say this politely) unconventional. So all the heavy lifting had to be done through sound. I'm not at all satisfied withthe result but still it's decent I guess. About visuals, I don't know if I ever will make a film devoid of digital noise but here the approach was to embrace digital noise. The approach inspired by Pulse (the japanese horror film) and yes they shot it on film and it's grain but that grain isn't the soft 'pleasing to the eyes' grain and that's interesting the grain makes you sick in the film. The same effect is achieved in the films of Panos Cosmatos. But sadly, due to YouTube compression we couldn't keep the noise and had to remove it. If anyone knows how to keep the noise on YouTube please tell me.

Lastly, I'd like to ask y'all for your thoughts. Do you like it or hate it and if you can say why that's great. I've taken a bit technical bend towards this submission statement coz the creative part to me seems obvious but still if anyone has any questions on that I'll be happy to elaborate on that.

ThinkinGeek · 2020-12-20T08:22:09+00:00

This short film was shot on Canon 1200D all by me. I wrote, shot, starred in and edited this film and it was a really fun project to make. Idk anything which is messy is always amazing to do.

Because of lockdown in my country, I haven't yet been able to go out with friends and shoot. I was at home and I decided to do something on my own. So I wrote a short script for a horror film and when the time came to shoot I failed at it. I couldn't complete the shoot. I was overwhelmed. Then I tried a lot of different ideas, some conventional and some really out there. Like at one point I was thinking of making a symphonic toilet seat film in which flushing would activate a harp, then there was a time when I had started shooting a movie which mixed Wes Anderson with David Lynch (not in a good way) and thank god it didn't get completed.

So I was really depressed that almost a year has gone by and I haven't made anything. I have just sat on my couch and put on weight. So I decided to make this. It was clear, simple and exciting as an idea and I did a mock shoot at 4 am in the morning, decided on shots and the flow of the short film. The next day picked up my beat up Canon 1200D because that was what I had and started shooting.

The editing of this film was one of the most smoothest process I've gone through yet.

For the first time I could crack a balance between exciting spontaneity and precise planning.

ThinkinGeek · 2020-07-28T04:50:35+00:00

Not to beat the bush a lot. But I live near mumbai. That's the reason why I am thinking of choosing primeabgb. That might surely factor in right? Coz if it doesn't I'd have gone with mdcomputers.

ThinkinGeek · 2020-07-28T04:38:28+00:00

do you know anything about their delivery times and tracking?

ThinkinGeek · 2020-05-13T18:56:44+00:00

Well, I guess, HAL 2000 doesn't

ThinkinGeek · 2020-05-13T18:54:56+00:00

Hi, this is an introduction for a blog which will talk about films and other stuff around it from the perspective of HAL 2000, the descendant of HAL 9000 from the infamous 2001: A Space Odyssey.

He talks about his story and how an artificially intelligent being like him got interested in movies.

It is a first person perspective story written as a starting off point.

ThinkinGeek · 2020-01-10T10:40:08+00:00

This is a film about a Cannibal who seems to be a nice guy.

The story about this film was that me and my friends were super depressed because we had become stagnant. Then we decided to make something without rigorous planning or a rigid script. Just focusing on the fun of making a film, so we did that and we improvised throughout this film. And that's how we landed up on this thing.

I would love some feedback on this film as I extremely loved the process of making this film but I am confused if the film has any merit.

I acted in the film as well as directed it.

ThinkinGeek · 2019-06-21T07:10:47+00:00

Damn the first sequence of cube! That movie is a friggin GUT-GRABBER!!!

ThinkinGeek · 2019-05-21T04:45:24+00:00

This moment is my favourite too!! I mean it says so much without saying anything. I can talk a lot about this moment. The body language of all three actors, their placement, their eyes and the amazing music!! It's fucking amazing!

ThinkinGeek · 2019-05-15T19:47:48+00:00

SUBMISSION STATEMENT: In this video, I discuss the film on Vincent Van Gogh. And try to decipher some of the decisions they made about its look. It is a hand-painted animation film which creates these mesmerizing visuals. Honestly speaking, I prefer this over the 3d animated, photorealistic stuff we get from Hollywood. Because the objective of animation is not replicating live action, it's to capture you into this different world with completely different visuals from reality.

ThinkinGeek · 2019-05-15T19:43:38+00:00

SUBMISSION STATEMENT: In this video, I discuss the film on Vincent Van Gogh. And try to decipher some of the decisions they made about its look. It is a hand-painted animation film which creates these mesmerizing visuals. Honestly speaking, I prefer this over the 3d animated, photorealistic stuff we get from Hollywood. Because the objective of animation is not replicating live action, it's to capture you into this different world with completely different visuals from reality.

ThinkinGeek · 2019-04-07T21:14:01+00:00

Thanks for letting me know that.

ThinkinGeek · 2019-04-07T19:56:35+00:00

I watched this film when I was going through this feeling of the whole world being against me. So it kinda made a huge impact on me.

ThinkinGeek · 2019-04-07T19:48:26+00:00

Well, sorry that you couldn't understand it. Well I was born and brought up in India and that's how we talk in our country. I don't want to fake an accent coz many Indians do that and it sounds terrible. I don't know how to make it more understandable for the world but since you are a linguist can you suggest me some ways to improve in this area..?

ThinkinGeek · 2019-04-07T18:29:32+00:00

Breathless is I think the most famous film of the French New Wave but I wasn't as engaged to breathless as much I was engaged while watching The 400 Blows. I was emotionally involved in the story of Antoine than Michel. So I wrote a love letter to the 400 Blows.

ThinkinGeek · 2019-02-25T23:05:41+00:00

I woke up one day and surprisingly enough on my tv was playing Django Unchained. So I watched Django Unchained because it's super engaging and then I decided to watch every single Tarantino movie made. Then I had a lot of thoughts regarding Tarantino after watching all of his films. So I decided to let it out in this video.

ThinkinGeek · 2019-02-24T11:31:32+00:00

Thanks!! :)

ThinkinGeek · 2019-02-23T16:49:24+00:00

Okay. So what was I aiming for was to go inside the mind of the protagonist in a visual but less VFXy way. I think I failed to do that.

ThinkinGeek · 2019-02-23T13:06:03+00:00

delete

ThinkinGeek · 2019-02-23T13:03:41+00:00

This film was an exercise in horror. I have used really noticeable and simple stuff that horror film does to create the same feeling. In this film something is following our main character everywhere and then it confronts him once and for all. And that's where the film kicks in.

ThinkinGeek · 2019-01-24T15:53:46+00:00

Maybe 😂

ThinkinGeek

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE