Scavenger Hunt

The theme for the three photos is awareness. In each successive picture, the subject of the photo is (presumingly) more aware that a photo is being taken of him. Regardless of the camera though, the subject does not look at the camera, but instead continues what he is doing.

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The first photo is taken behind Newman Towers in the woods. The subject is completely unaware that a picture is being taken and is walking away from the camera. Since the first shot is a wide shot, the best place for this is in an outdoor location. The trees seem limitless as do the rocks, giving off the sense that the picture continues beyond what is shown. The subject walking away from the shot also gives a sense of continuation.

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In the second picture, the subject is standing, yet is most likely aware that a picture is being taken of him. Rather than moving away from the camera, the subject is standing still, not attempting to leave the frame or come closer to the camera. As in the first picture, the subject has no interest in the camera and instead continues to do what he is doing.

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In the final shot, the close up, the subject almost definitely is aware of the camera. Since he is in the middle of a pool shot though, he keeps his focus on the ball that he is attempting to hit into the pocket. The red ball is extremely close to the camera, almost making it the subject rather than Mark, who is about to hit the ball. The yellow and green balls are there to help fill the picture and add another element to it.

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Week Two Reflection

I am days away from buying a new LCD HDTV. Could there be a better time to learn exactly what I am getting for my money? Since it's an HDTV, it's in the 16:9 format, meaning that the screen is wider than it is tall. The set can handle 1080p, which as we know is 1080 pixels tall, progressive scan. Progressive scan meaning that each line is done successively, rather than interlaced in which every other line is represented at a single moment. It is topped off with a 120 Hz refresh rate; it shouldn't have a problem keeping up with fast paced sports games. And of course, 47 inches isn't too shabby. All of these specifications we touched upon in our second class.

In the latter part of the class, we learned about camera lingo as well as the different types of camera shots one can take. There is tilting, panning, trucking, zooming, dollying, and more. Each of these camera movements are different from one another, giving off a very different feel when it is watched in action. Then of course there are the different types of shots. Wide shots, mid shots, and close ups all concern the distance from a subject. All in all, I know quite a few more technical terms in the Video realm.

Long Take Reflection

The long take video was, for me, a very different type of film. Only after we started filming did I realize how difficult it is to have everything go perfect in a single take. Even in the final product, there are a few mistakes that I wish I could change with another cut, but alas, that does not fall in line with the point of the project. The first step in creating the project was to select the music track, and since my entire apartment had been listening to the song "Home" for weeks, it seemed to be an appropriate choice. Listening to the music helped me put action to the song - every time the singer changes, the followed character changes as well; every time there is a "Hey!", this is when the change is supposed to briskly occur.

Slowly but surely we added on parts and figured out where different people should be at different cues in the film. The way we got it all to work was simply by practicing over...and over...and over. The final take we did was the one that we ended up using, and it took nearly two hours to perfect the take. As I explained in class, we had a stereo playing the song for everyone to hear the cues when we were filming the video, and I then cut the sound and added the song in directly over the video in the final stages. The song had to be cut in a couple places to make it run smoother; the cuts are hopefully not very noticeable to someone that doesn't know the song by heart. Overall, I had a great time creating and editing the video - the final product is definitely worth my time and effort, as well as my group-mates effort and all of my suite-mates who starred in the film.

First Class Reflection

September 14th, 2010

So we're all going to get in front of a camera on the very first class? Well, it actually didn't turn out nearly as bad as I thought it would be and I found it to be an interesting way to start a class off for the semester. I am very excited for the projects that we have coming up - especially the music video. During the summer, I was going to create a music video on my own, but as the summer went on, soon I was about to head back to school and I didn't have enough time. I already have several song ideas and I have been thinking about different ways to produce the video.

The class as a whole greatly interests me. As I mentioned in my "opening day interview", I made a few movies last year, which, if you're interested, can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=erweinstein7&aq=f

I'm really excited to have a class that focuses on simply this portion of what I did in my honors class. I figure, the sooner I find out if this is something I want to pursue, the better. Regardless, I can't wait to make some more movies/videos and the class as a whole interests me greatly.