About Me

Hi All!
I am Caitlyn, an 18 year old video student at Olathe Northwest High. I have loved movies and the artistic side of entertainment, since I was a little girl. I have always had a passion for photography and art. I would always love to draw cartoons of my favorite tv characters on my free time. I tend to love to be in front of a camera as well. I plan to pursue some sort of film or photography studies in college. I have learned a lot these past 4 years in my E-Communications class at Olathe Northwest. I will take what I learned, and apply it to my future. I have no doubt the skills I have learned will benefit me in the end.

Portfolio

Artist Statement: This is one out of many shots taken for my cousin's senior pictures, that I took. His pictures were taken in the summer of 2013. This shot consists of a naturally rough looking background, making his white shirt pop out, giving a nice glow to his tan skin. I had fun taking his senior pictures, and photography is something I really enjoy.

Artist Statement: This piece is a collage of fabric and cardboard. This artwork is a picture of my favorite English teacher, Mr. Krause. Also added into this piece, is Mr. Krause's favorite quote by Neil Young. I am very proud of this piece and it portrays my artistic abilities rather than just using a pencil and color.

Artist Statement: This is a music video Nickels Nickelesen and I created. We both came up with video ideas for our shots and we both filmed different parts of the video. We created the lighting, making a dramatic setting. This was particularly the most fun I have had in awhile, shooting a video. Nickels and I both worked hard on this project.

My Personality Test

According to MBTI, my personality type is ENFJ. My personality is described as outgoing, energetic, communicative, and warm. I believe the MBTI test was right on with my personality. I enjoy spending time with a large group of people, I have sympathy for others emotions. I can find myself sometimes so invested in helping others, that I neglect my own needs. I absolutely at all times need to be neat and organized. I see potential in others and often rely on them for the best at the time. I act as a emotion barometer when I am around people. But yet, I can be a leader when I need to be. I excel at using words to connect people. I have learned that I am dependent on others and I give a helping hand any time in need. I like to have control of my organization, and happiness is a common emotion for me. In my lifetime I will take on adventures and "live life to the fullest".

New Year.. New Me

First semester as a video student, I learned what it is like to really form a beautiful "artsy" shot in film language. The unique angle of a shot, along with the tone of color, causes the audience's eyes to stretch from corner to corner on the screen, creating an art-like display of vision. With practice, this type of shot can be perfected. Through out the semester I didn't learn all the techniques it takes to edit a perfect video. However, I would like to learn the consistency of editing a perfect film, with the skills of "special effects" that I can eventually apply. This semester, my goal is to create a video that is merely close to perfection, with editing, shots, story line, and overall cinematic display of creation. This can be achieved with practice, patience, and a lot of desire.

What Scares You?

For over a century, audiences have been entertained by horror films. Over time, horror films have adapted and changed into our society's standard of liking. The question that filmmakers have been trying to answer is, why do people like horror films so much? The answer lies within a semi-breakdown of psychoanalytic theories. It seems to be that whether you are watching a horror film just for the thrill of it, or trying to accomplish your fear over a specific "creature", as long as you are in a safe confinement, you want to watch a horror film. As humans, we know in the back of our minds that horror films aren't real, so it makes it a little easier to be able to watch things that scare us. Horror films help us identify what we are truly scared of and what we are not scared of.

Love Creates Horror

Love Creates Horror:

    In a book to movie comparison, we talk about the well-known author, Stephen King. Stephen King is anticipated to release a sequel to his successful novel, The Shining. King talks about how he is nervous about this particular sequel because the common thought of the general public about a sequel is, "It cannot be as good as the first one,". King has matured as a writer since The Shining hit bookstores, writing it at age 28. This experience should give King a slight advantage to make his sequel as successful as the first book.
Some worries King face are knowing his audience and their mindset to a sequel. "The fear is that people will come back expecting that kind of scare as grown-ups and that just never happens," King explains. King emphasizes that to really scare his older audience, he will have to make the novel in a honorable way, letting the audience get emotionally invested into the characters. "What I want the audience to do is fall in love with these people, and really to care about them and that creates the suspense that you need.. Love creates horror." If King does get his audience to fall in love with his characters, than he is more likely to have a successful sequel that he hopes for. 

Faithfulness to what?

The overall goal of a film maker is making the translation of faithfulness of literary text successful.

There are multiple features to take into consideration when translating the parent text. If there are two love interests that the audience falls in love with, you must be able to display that chemistry throughout the movie’s entirety.

• a turning point: a major fight scene
• the theme of the entire book
• the enemy
• the main point of the book
• main characters and their chemistry

Comparing translation with a scene from 'Safe Haven' the film, to the book: This scene in the movie is towards the end of the film where Katie has a flashback of Kevin (her abusive husband) having dinner with her and she upsets him in the smallest way. He gets enraged and starts to abuse her. He pulls a knife on her and she has to fight back or she will get killed. She has to stab her husband in the ribcage to get out of his death grip (it’s very violent)- she nearly escapes. In the book, the suspense builds up and keeps the reader on their toes. The book also incorporates details about the abuse.

I think in translating the film to the book it was successful capturing the "dark scary" scene. The film did have suspense that kept your focus and made you feel sympathy for the victim in the scene. I think the film did translate very well from the book and gained the respect it deserved. However, the intense suspenseful scene could have been a bit longer, building the anticipation more, which would've equaled the book's intensity that was well-known.