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Kelsey Chobotar

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  • September 13, 02:56 PM
    Hey, remember how I used to take pictures?
    Yeah.
    Too bad that hasn't been happening.
    I'm not allowed to have a camera at work, and since that's all I've been doing for the past couple of months, picture taking has been suffering.
    So, just to let you know, I fully intend on taking pictures again. One day. Hopefully.

    I'm gonna try.

    In the meantime, enjoy a few of my favourite pictures that weren't taken by me.








    Bill Henson

    Uhhhhh, oh yeah. Forgot to tell you. I'm working at my dream job, so I don't even mind not being able to take a camera to work. I've been working on the new Zack Snyder film, Sucker Punch, in the costume department as their PA. It's been absolutely amazing, and the costumes alone are worth paying the price of admission to see this thing once it comes out. Honestly.
    I'm done at the end of the month, which is a total bummer, but it's been the best movie I could possibly ask for to be my first real job in the industry.

    Also: I got a sweet water bottle out of the deal, so it's been more than worth my time.
  • June 22, 08:06 PM
    So I bought a thrift store point and shoot camera, was stoked when it actually worked, and have been taking pictures with it, but now I'm not so sure the film advance is actually working. The numbers just keep counting down and up and down again. Oh well. Another shitty cheap experimental roll of film wasted. Maybe it will turn out well in the end....
  • May 27, 10:15 PM
    Well, here's one more clip that I did for Pacific Theatre.
    I think it's the last one for the season.

    To be honest, I'm really not very happy with it at all. It was my first time using rented audio equipment, which of course decided to break RIGHT before we started filming...so I had to improvise a little with listening to the recording and the tape return. The mixer I rented was the same as what we had used in class, but I still really just don't think I have the knack for audio. I just can't seem to make it work for me!
    Oh well...at least I've given it a good shot...and I won't feel apprehensive about hiring someone to do it for me if I ever start taking charge of doing some bigger projects.

    In other news:
    I've been checking out some of the stuff at the DOXA Film Festival this week, which is one of my favourite festivals in Vancouver. We went to see The Dungeon Masters yesterday, and are going to check out American Swing on thursday night. I really wanted to check out Jamie Johnson's The One Percent, but it's been sold out for a while and the repeat screening falls right in the middle of a Traffic Control Certification class I have to take this weekend. Oh well, can't win 'em all. I ALSO have to miss Frederick Wiseman's Welfare (1975) on Saturday, which is being sponsored by Limelight Video (where I work...sometimes), because of that same class. But YOU should definitely go check them out, if you can.

    Finally, Things I Am Excited About!:

    WIFTV Vancouver Membership
    . I'm really liking the networking breakfasts, and actually connecting (randomly) with members at film events outside of the meetings.

    UBC Film Production Alumni Association Membership. That is correct, I'm finally finished school and actually considered an Alumnus. WTF?! I'm too young for this. Honestly though, it's pretty cool getting involved and helping out with the upcoming events we have going on. It definitely feels like I'm slowly bridging the gap between school of film production and real life film production in vancouver. I didn't actually major in Film Production, but myself along with a few other Film Studies students have been (graciously) made Honorary Minors in Film Production because we took so many dang classes, and also want to work in the industry.

    Certification Classes for Director's Guild of Canada (DGC) Membership. I might actually work in my chosen field after all...one day. At least taking these classes (and buying steel-toed boots...ugh) makes me feel like I'm being proactive about starting a career path (and becoming an adult) now that I'm done school.
  • March 31, 03:53 AM




    More b&w from photo class...to be honest though, I'm not really enjoying it as much as I'd hoped to. I think it's because the projects we are being given are slanted more towards staged photography than I really care to be. I suppose it's because I feel like anything I do actually put effort into staging has probably already been done, and doesn't end up being particularly interesting after all. My interests lie more in found photos. Where I am interested in staging things is maybe in terms of light manipulation, which I find I never really have time to pursue since there is so little time to work on each project. If anything, at least I've been able to discover where my interests lie, and I'll be able to explore that more once I'm done this class and out of school. I've definitely learned the basics, and I feel competent enough to venture out into the world of community darkrooms without looking like a total newbie photo dork.
  • February 16, 03:20 AM




    Photo class scans...finally. Whee! As frustrating as I find it to switch my mind over to think in B&W all the time, I think I'm really starting to like it.
  • February 13, 03:38 AM

    Nuit et Brouillard




    There were a lot more of these that turned out than I thought there would be. I was using a 300mm telephoto at 11:30 at night to get a lot of the dark ones (only one of which is posted here) and somehow managed to get enough light for some good shots. This was the first time I'd ever shot foggy pictures on film, so it was a learning experience definitely.

    I'm heading in to process some film for class, so hopefully I don't mess up big time on this roll I just shot or else I will have nothing for my first assignment. It's a very real possibility.
  • February 13, 03:38 AM
    So I finally just registered in the photography class I've been wanting to take since I started arts at UBC. It's just your basic intro to shooting and developing B&W film, but I finally have the time and resources to get everything out of this class that I want to. Also, it seems like cinematography class has basically taught me a lot of the stuff I need to know, so I'm not as stressed out about being light-years behind the other students (who all have the four pre-requisite classes that I have not taken).

    All in all, this semester should be really good. I'm very happy with the last classes of my university career. I've got:

    B&W Photography
    Documentary Production
    Sound Recording for Film and Video

    and...
    Wine Science

    I'm working a lot, but I only have classes tuesday-thursday so I'm hoping to be able to focus a lot on my class projects, and maybe other projects will stem from those. It helps that I'm really excited about the doc I'm working on (though I can't say much about it right now), and that finally learning how to properly record and deal with sound could potentially improve all future projects at least ten fold. Maybe I'll finally get some stuff posted up here after all...
  • February 13, 03:37 AM

    First attempts at Double Exposures on Canon AE1. Didn't turn out too well, obviously. Trying to get the frames to match up is difficult (naturally) but I kind of like when they don't.

    Something digital. Shot from my apartment window, so, I'm kind of a creep. I'm going to try more night photography stuff...sometime.


  • December 08, 03:29 AM
    More work with Pacific Theatre!
    I'm a lot happier with this one, just because there's more content, and I got to play around with sound a bit more.
    Go check it out here.
  • December 12, 10:02 PM
    Like usual, I left my homework until the last minute and shot my final Cinematography project at about midnight one night...
    I'm not completely happy with it, to be honest, but I figured I'd post it since I'm stoked on a few lighting things I got to practice:

    1) Night for Day
    2) TV flicker
    3) High Key vs. Low Key

    I'm not happy with the ending, really, mostly because of the screen direction mix-ups (oops!) but luckily those are easily fixed next project.
    I've also decided, if I shoot in a larger space next time, a dolly will be invaluable and I may even try to rent some sort of a small crane.  You know, if the budget on my next project is bigger than this one (so...more than about $0).
    Anyways, despite all of the excuses I've moaned about, check it out here, since it's taking forever to upload.

    [p.s.]:
    I have to apologize for the low resolution - and inability to read the credits.  The file size is just too big to make it any clearer.  Here's how they break down:

    Actress:
    Catherine Yuen

    Music:
    "Finger Time"
    written by Scott Milligan
    performed by The Macadamia Brothers
    2008

    Filmed and Edited by:
    Kelsey Chobotar
  • November 22, 07:40 PM

    Some stills from an interview I did for Doc class. I'm not happy with how the sound turned out, and I wanted to be able to play around more with Depth of Field, but my apartment (where we filmed it) was just too small.  I am happy with how it looks, though, which is why I'm posting the pictures here.  The only problem I had in that department was forgetting to check the Gain, which got left on high, so everything is much grainier than I would have liked it.  That's the point of doing these assignments though, so, at least that's a mistake I'm sure I won't make again (hopefully).  All in all, I got to try out a bunch of new things, and It's nice to see them actually work out the way I intended.  If I can play around with it and actually get the sound to a quality level that I'm happy with, I might end up posting it here.  Probably not, though.

  • November 22, 07:41 PM



    I've got a new desk setup!  Yeah!  I love it!
    ...Here it is!

  • November 22, 07:42 PM
    Success! Pacific Theatre finally posted that 2-minute scene I did for them...
    I'm fairly happy with it actually. It was definitely a learning experience, and there are for sure things that I would change or do differently, but finding those things out is part of the point of doing it, I guess. I'm supposed to do another one for them in the next couple of weeks, so I'll see if I can improve on the things I would like to.

    At any rate, you can check it out here if you're interested.

    I have a ton more things to post, but no time to do it. School is not making it easy, but hopefully I'll get around to it sooner than later...
  • November 22, 07:43 PM
    I've had zero time to work on anything, so this is probably the last thing I'll put up here until school is out for christmas.

    Actually...probably not since I'm sure I'll want to put off doing my papers somehow, so who knows what I'll get done then.
  • November 22, 07:43 PM





    I finally got my latest roll developed.  Some randoms from the end of summer.

  • November 22, 07:43 PM

    Here are some stills from a short clip I did for Pacific Theatre's new play Mourning Dove.  I'm fairly happy with how it turned out, considering how simple they wanted the clip to be.  Sorry it's so small...

  • November 22, 07:44 PM
    1-minute short I made for my first year of film school...it turned out way better than my final project did, that's for sure.
    If you click through to my YouTube account, you'll find some sweet High School Film Class gems.  Pffft, you know you wanna....
  • November 22, 07:45 PM



    cont'd

  • November 22, 07:45 PM





    Some randoms...

  • October 11, 05:57 PM
    So, this is where I pretend like I sort of know what I'm doing, and upload things I've been working on (and am probably happy with) for others to look at, if they like.  Feel free to stick around and let me know what you think, or never come back again.  Hopefully I remember to update this, periodically (ha, ha).  

    P.S.! Click the pictures for bigger images.

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Posts

  • September 13, 03:21 PM

    I NEED TO BUY THESE BOOTS RIGHT NOW. Why doesn't endless.com ship to canada?!!?!?! I also need to buy a bunch of pyramid studs so I can do this to my old jeans (I don't remember where this picture is from, I'm sorry!):


    Also: The benefit of working in a big budget feature film costume department is that I can pick peoples' brains about clothing dying, breakdown, deconstruction and reconstruction. I have a few projects on the go. I'll let you know how it goes, maybe.
  • May 21, 02:48 PM

    You guys, hangover day today. Srs Bzns.
    Can't seem to get out of bed.
  • May 20, 12:28 PM
    You guys, graduation day today. Srs Bzns.
    I'm stoked.
  • May 19, 01:10 AM
    So much for that. Between writing that post, and putting the picture in it, I bought something online. Something I most definitely did not need. But is totally rad. So whatever.
    There's some other pretty rad stuff on there as well for SUPES cheap.
  • May 19, 01:06 AM
    I'm thinking I should just re-name this "things I want to buy but probably never will because I have already moved on to something else and only remember I wanted to buy it when I have no money left"

    exhibit A:
    (via ratstoriches)
  • April 23, 09:46 PM
    I might start posting things here. Because, really...who doesn't need ANOTHER blog.
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