Webspinna Reflection

This was probably the most challenging assignment we've had this whole semester.  It was something that we are just not used to.  Each assignment we've had before is something that we present after it is is finished.  We are able to make it look how we want and show the rest of the class a finished product.  The Webspinna was just the opposite.  We were showing people the creation of the product.  The product wasn't the important part.  It was the creation of it that was important.  I have to admit that it was a very frustrating project just because I was pretty unsure what I was going to do and I didn’t know exactly what my partner would come up with either.  

To start this assignment, Brandon and I first had to come up with personalities that we could use to inspire the sounds that we would use for the Webspinna battle.  After watching the fire and ice example in class I first thought of dark and light.  They are polar opposites that are general enough to allow for a lot of different soundbites and songs to be used in the battle.  Once we had the different identities to use, we both did separate research to find pieces to use.  It was tough to get much time to practice together and work out our sequence because we were both quite busy.  We were able to work out a few things like the sequence of our songs but we wanted to leave a little bit to simply be improvised.  This is why we left out the soundbites and quotes in our practice.  I thought that this would really be in the spirit of the assignment as it is very nearly an improvisational art form.

Inspiration for this assignment came from a lot of different places because everything I used in the project was used for inspiration.  Harry Potter was a big influence because of the use of the name the Dark Lord for the villain Voldemort.  Star Wars was also very influential because of the existence of the dark side in the series.  The reading we read by DJ Spooky was very interesting in its progression as it didn’t have a clear beginning, middle and end.  Brandon and I didn’t want to be this ambiguous with our project so we decided to start with something that would introduce both personalities and to end with a soundbite that would act as a good closer.  We also wanted some parts to be able to flow together better than other parts that cut together just to experiment with the different feel in the sequence.  I found this project to be a teaching project.  I found that I had to let go of control and be comfortable with it which is something that people wanting to be filmmakers don’t want to do.  I just wish there was more time to really get a more concrete identity to portray and to practice more in order to create a better battle.