Kirsten Johnson Guest Lecture Reflection:

From the moment she started speaking, I knew this would be a dynamic lecture . The first thing she acknowledged was her excitement about the size of the room - which she immediately began to circle.  At first her questions seemed to be silly and unobtrusive, but you could see as people continued to dig deeper and deeper in their responses, that she was intentional in the questions she asked and was listening closely - just like we had been taught to in our interview project. It was the conversational and comfortable way she prodded at us, like a friend would, that got so much out of us - and it was the constant stream of humor that made even the hesitant participants (who she seemed to favor) stay involved. Her documentary "The Above" for Field of Vision, showcased the exact thing I'm talking about, where she takes heavy subject matter and complex ideas, and contrasts it with the lightness, children are often our viewer, we see the balloons, and even in the interview portion where the old man is speaking about god's endless reach, you see an excited young person consuming the moment and exuding a lightness, that is needed to counterbalance (and somewhat underscore) the gravity of the film's subject. There is no doubt in my mind that I am scared of Kirsten Johnson, but I am very excited to now go home and watch her movie, and I do hope to muster the bravery to meet her again.

Check Out Easy Listenin'

Final Video Project:

https://vimeo.com/377397272

Shot by Shot "Thunderbolt & Lightfoot"

Thunderbolt & Lightfoot - Opening Church Scene

(Eastwood & Bridges 1974)

Over the previous scene Clint Eastwood’s sermon.

Cut to a close-up on Eastwood’s sweating face and furrowed brow as he continues the sermon on “the meek and forgiving, and overcoming Evil for Good” 

Cut to a wide angle of Eastwood’s view down the pews of elderly people sweating to the open church doors,

Where an imposing man in a suit and straw fedora walks in (almost silhouetted by the light behind him) he continues to step forward

The view is reversed now 180 degrees, Over the shoulder and hat of the figure in the suit as he walks the length of the first few pews, and as Eastwood slows his speech.

We return to Eastwood’s POV and the figure (now 3 pews forward) appears larger standing the full height of the doorway (due to the angle and perspective) - he reaches into his breast pocket, as his hand begins to retract we cut again

As though still following Eastwood’s actual POV, the camera scans the rows of sweating octogenarians fanning their faces in a medium-close up. In unison they say “Amen”

We return to Eastwood slightly further than his original extreme close up as he looks down at his diass. 

And we cut to a mid-length shot of the man in the fedora as he finishes the action of pulling the gun from his breast pocket

We return to Eastwood’s shot, same perspective and as he looks up we follow his eyes up as he recognizes the figure who entered the parrish.

With the sound of the gun shots starting we return to the figure, now charging forward as the people in the pews acknowledge his presence for the first time.

In a half second long shot, Eastwood dips out of view of the close up

Now at a wide shot of the diass, similar to the original over the shoulder shot - we see Eastwood duck below the diass and bullets shred the wood panel on the front of the stand.

The figure, now seen from the side, continues to march forward, still shooting, as the crowd of parishoners, swarm in the opposite direction out of the church.

A mid-shot of Eastwood shows him tumble to the back of the apse room, where he reorients himself and takes an exit in the transept of the church - which the camera (probably on a dolly - begins to follow his exit)

Now an over the shoulder of Eastwood at the screen door at the church. The camera stays generally in place as Eastwood charges out into a field.

Now a wide shot perpendicular to Eastwood’s running tracks him stumbling/limping quickly through the field

The final move is a wide shot with the church on the ⅓ line and Eastwood leaping a barbwire fence (as bullets riddle the post it hangs on from the small door Eastwood exitted 3 shots prior.) once Eastwood has exited the shot the figure behind him, moving more slowly can be seen exiting the church after him.

Interview (Gabriella Vetrano)

https://soundcloud.com/user-593183041/gabriella-vetrano-wnet-intern-interview

Cal's Project One

Here's a link to a video I filmed with Gabby Vetrano. The music is also mine.
https://vimeo.com/362399847

Sound Walk (Buschwick)

My Sound-walk was from the L train, at the Morgan stop in Bushwick, to the M train stop on DeKalb Street. As I step off the train the first sound is the familiar ding-ding that precedes the door closure and the whining of the train pulling off. The whirr of the trains moving down the track continues as I walk out of the station, and it's slowly replaced by wind sounds and car sounds - a woman speaks into her phone quietly as she walks down the stairs, opposite me. I’m hyper-aware that I can hear other people, and it seems as though she can tell I can hear her. By the time I am fully out of the station, it's mostly only car sounds until I get to Knickerbocker Street, where I can now hear “I Want You Back” by the Jackson 5 playing out of the speakers at the vintage shop just before Flushing street, it is distorted by the cheap outdoor speakers, to sound muffled and almost wet. I follow knickerbocker into what is a more urban, less industrial area. The sounds change quickly - there are loud children and the sound of parents talking. I walk past a card game going on, the card players are quiet but jovial - there are a few laughs and short riff-sentences in what I think was either Spanish or Portuguese. I try not to linger and keep walking - there is a pizza shop which is playing loud Spanish music and lots of conversation and cooking sounds come out of its open front doors. I turn on to Dekalb street and it is almost immediately quieter, the social sounds are almost all completely replaced with car sounds, I’m now facing into the wind, and perhaps it's my focus waning, but I don’t really notice any other sound than the wind until I hear the distant sound of the subway, as I walk toward the stairs to the raised platform I see some 12-13-year-old kids smoking and listening to something poppy on one of their phones, I keep walking and swipe my card at the turnstile. After the second set of stairs, and 5 minutes more of wind, I hear the deep whirr of the train approaching and finally that familiar ding-ding.

Artist Statement

"Artist" Statement

When I was a kid, I was certain I was an artist - before even really knowing what an artist was. Looking back, I definitely had the artist's ego by the age of five. In my own Van Halen-esque "no-brown-M&Ms" kind of behavior, I would ask every waiter or waitress (at every restaurant I went to) for a pen, so I could draw on the napkins. If the server offered me a blue pen, I would say "no thank you" and sit idle until dinner was served. If it was a black pen, I would unfold my napkin, my mom's and my father's and proceed to scribble comics that I thought were absolute masterworks (without yet actually knowing how to write the alphabet.) Since then, the type of media I work with has broadened a lot - I play guitar, banjo and piano, I write music and lyrics, I paint (usually acrylic, sometimes watercolor) and I still draw often... sometimes even with blue pens. In the last year I started college across the country from all of my family, meaning I have access to fewer napkins to draw on, for that reason (among others) I moved into digital media production, working in photoshop and in illustrator. These programs offer me the same stark contrast and sharpness that I loved about black ink on white paper (or napkin) with more power to correct my mistakes, to try new things, and a greater capability to distribute the comics, caricatures and eccentric self-portraits I've always loved to scribble into existence.

 (Professor's Caricature - 2018)

(Playing with Light - 2019)