O.K. Keyes

Hey look. My computer crashed 24 hours before my final paper was...

Tue, 07 May 2013 04:26:43 -0400

Hey look. My computer crashed 24 hours before my final paper was due. Of my undergraduate career. Tomorrow. I think I’m in shock and should just lie down.

ellendegeneres: Portia is on the cover of OUT magazine, and I’m...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:49:03 -0400

ellendegeneres:

Portia is on the cover of OUT magazine, and I’m #2 on their Power 50 list! How gay are we?

oxfordcommafilms: The ‘Her Tragedy’ Promotional Clip! We were...

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 08:53:28 -0400

oxfordcommafilms:

The ‘Her Tragedy’ Promotional Clip!

We were so excited by the footage we got during the last week that we just had to share some of it with our supporters and our team. Here is a brief promotional clip showcasing some of the footage we took. The featured music is an original piece by two of our crew members, performed by two of our leads. With this first step, editing is officially underway. We will be releasing further trailers and clips as they are completed.

So this one time I went to Minnesota to shoot a feature length movie called “Her Tragedy.” Only here’s the catch, we had to shoot it in a week. So, me a group of other South Carolina crew members drove the 20 hours to the Twin Cities and had the experience of a life time.

This was my biggest project as director of photography yet, and I’m so proud of the cast and crew. I miss all of them so much.

These make me miss you so much.

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 00:08:36 -0500

These make me miss you so much.

Excuse my while I go cry in a corner and wish I could move a...

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 12:40:47 -0500

Excuse my while I go cry in a corner and wish I could move a camera like this.

This is “bullet-time.” A technique developed by...

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 23:12:22 -0500

This is “bullet-time.” A technique developed by cinematographer Bill Pope for the blockbuster hit The Matrix.

Basically, this cinematography is the sex.

thatneedstogo: A day without lesbians is like a day without...

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 01:38:31 -0500

thatneedstogo:

A day without lesbians is like a day without sunshine

xkalisto: Poor Dickie’s feels hurt. Bruce is in denial. Wait,...

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 01:33:20 -0500

xkalisto:

Poor Dickie’s feels hurt. Bruce is in denial.

Wait, am I reading Batman or Jane Austen novel?

Batman #416

mistermort: With a hat to match! #menswear #plaid #tweed...

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 09:57:28 -0500

mistermort:

With a hat to match! #menswear #plaid #tweed #polkadots #richstyles

Can I grow up to be a dapper old man, please? Just look at that hat!

Will someone read this and tell me if there are typos?

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 06:05:09 -0500

My initial field of study was optics, a compromise with my parents, which combined my “passion” for science with my “hobby” in camera technologies. However, halfway through my sophomore year, I realized that my passion was for the cameras and my hobby was the science. This discovery was much in part due to my experiences studying abroad in Japan, where I not only captured images of my travels but also learned about Japan’s unique cinema tradition for the first time. I returned to America with a new thirst for Japanese and gravitated towards animated films and television as both a means of language practice and a field of research.

This intertwining of Japanese and media strengthened, after taking an independent study, focused on Japan’s Takarazuka,an all-female theatre, which also happened to be one of the largest influences on early Japanese animation. During this investigation, I questioned the influence of Westernization on the theatre and, by extension, Japanese society as a whole. However, I realized using a Western lens to understand any culture, other than my own, could lead to harmful and patronizing assumptions. Initially, I was discouraged when I was told that I could never remove my Western perspective. But over time my professors taught me how to turn this bias into awareness, forming my own analytical lens, which I’ve applied not only to my research but also to my filmmaking. The creation of media, like in the analysis of culture, constantly runs the risk of manipulating the individual’s voice.

In fact, this challenge served as the inspiration for taking on a “participatory” documentary project for my Honors senior thesis. I applied for and received a USC Leadership Grant to fund a social media campaign called “Ask My Name,” which utilizes new media practices as a preventative approach to fighting bullying in schools. I teach students awareness about the harms of cyber-bullying and ways to use their digital literacy for building communities instead of tearing others down. By creating their own video projects, I engage the students rather than victimize. The videos will be available online and open for public discussion as a means of raising public awareness beyond the classroom.

Working with these students made me reflect on my own craftsmanship and analyze my own influences, such as the Japanese animator Mamaro Oshii and the American cinematographer Bill Pope, who were influenced by American and Japanese animation, respectively. Which raises the question: Are there elements in animation that make stories more accessible despite cultural differences and can they be utilized by media-makers? For my graduate studies, I propose investigating this fluidity of animation, and then incorporating this research into a new participatory documentary project, focusing on stories about growing up LBGTQ (Lesbian Bisexual Gay Trans* Queer) in South Carolina.

It was not until I traveled across the world and found myself an outsider in a different country, that I realized I had been an outsider back home all along. I do not want to make the same talking-head documentary or satirical cartoon about the LBGTQ experience that already exists. Instead I want to tell new stories, unique to the South, in which the participants direct own stories and I am their director of photography, providing the technical assistance to help them craft their stories. These narratives will be collected on a website, where the public can access them and have a forum for discussion as well as invite others to share their stories.

The aims of this project are gain knowledge in both the history and craft of animation as well as new insight into different modes of visual storytelling. I want to investigate how to communicate a story despite cultural differences, like between the queer and conservative Southern communities. And most importantly I want to develop my own understanding of the history and craft of documentary, especially as it relates to new media practices and how media-makers can facilitate further discussion instead of only providing one piece of the conversation.

Shit.

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 03:46:42 -0500

Just I just propose that I would learn animation methodologies if I was a graduate student at USC? Like traditional animation? Pfft. Who do I think I am? DISNEY?!?!?

Throughout my time as an undergraduate, I have performed many roles – the writer, the director,...

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 03:40:39 -0500

Throughout my time as an undergraduate, I have performed many roles – the writer, the director, the production manager, and the coffee-bringer. However, none have been more challenging or more satisfying than that of the director of photography. Perhaps it comes from my technical background in optics or my fascination for the frame, stemming from a childhood obsession with comics, or maybe even my research into the visual styles of Japanese storytelling?

mod-ern-day-hip-pie replied to your post: So I’m Going To Warsaw holy shit congratulations!...

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 01:43:45 -0500

mod-ern-day-hip-pie replied to your post: So I’m Going To Warsaw

holy shit congratulations! that’s so fantastic!

floorclaudiuscb replied to your post: So I’m Going To Warsaw

amazing!

Thanks! I’m pretty excited. :) Starting to put plans together for a fundraiser, but I can’t believe the opportunity. Warsaw to Berlin. And trying to bring to light the voices of women lost in their time and ours. And my first time to European countries I don’t hold citizenship in!

So I'm Going To Warsaw

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 00:32:07 -0500

to film a documentary about lesbians during the Holocaust.

Brain is stuck in Hyper-Mode

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 00:02:56 -0500

Damn it.

His shirt reads “They gave me a medal for killing two men, and...

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 21:29:20 -0500

His shirt reads “They gave me a medal for killing two men, and a discharge for loving one.”

You are a bad-ass.

火花: 5 examples of how the languages we speak can affect the way we...

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 09:34:16 -0500

火花: 5 examples of how the languages we speak can affect the way we...:

5 examples of how the languages we speak can affect the way we think

To say, “This is my uncle,” in Chinese, you have no choice but to encode more information about said uncle. The language requires that you denote the side the uncle is on, whether he’s related by marriage or birth and, if…

tastysynapse: Korra Harlem Shake by Sherbeeee But where is...

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 07:57:38 -0500

tastysynapse:

Korra Harlem Shake by Sherbeeee

But where is Meelo?!

What are these feelings?!!!

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 22:19:36 -0500

What are these feelings?!!!

"It’s through cinema that our children learn to open their imagination and dream just a little bigger..."

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 18:33:36 -0500

““It’s through cinema that our children learn to open their imagination and dream just a little bigger and to strive every day to reach those dreams.””

- Michelle Obama