How has your understanding of visual literacy evolved and how has your understanding of media, specifically moving image and its use in our collective narrative and culture influence how its interpreted in its various forms.
I think my understanding of visual literacy has evolved in the aspect of making video. I think my views on video while watching it has only been refined. I always look at the video with a critical eye and base how good it is on more than just the entertainment value. I think this class has made me be more critical about the little things, like transitions and also what is in each frame of the video and seeing how everything in the set represents something to the viewer. And how when I am making video I have to think about all these things before I film, before I put together the final project I need to consider everything and how the film as a whole fits together to represent what I want to show. I think we also have to consider what audience we are displaying our work to because each audience is going to see the work differently and the audience plays a big part in what we include and what we can assume the audience might know or what the audience might have a bias on.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Visual Argument Treatment Proposal 11_27_07
Writing with Video
WRITING A PROPOSAL + TREATMENT
A proposal presents the film or video in a series of categories whereas technically a treatment
is a narrative version of what is or will be on the screen. Although both terms tend be used
interchangeably, they have different functions. The proposal is written first – and that information informs the treatment. Both are written to convince the reader that you can produce a video or film with impact and significance.
Visual Argument PROJECT PROPOSAL GUIDE
Working title: Lifestyle Modification
1) WORKING HYPOTHESIS and INTERPRETATION
What are your persuasions about the world you are going to show in your video, the main
‘statement’ that you want to emerge out of the video dialectics. Write a hypothesis statement
incorporating this wording:
Ultimately I want the audience to understand that diet and nutrition are not just short periods where people have fads, but that they are lifestyle modifications and need to be taken seriously.
2) TOPIC
Write a concise paragraph about:
a) The subject of my video is diet and nutrition.
b) I will be giving the basic information about diet and nutrition through professionals and also students in the field of dietetics. I will also be getting information from the general public about general misconceptions of diet and nutrition.
3) ACTION SEQUENCES
Write a brief paragraph for each sequence that shows activity. A sequence is usually what
occurs in one location, at one specific time, or an assembly of material to share one topic).
Incorporate the following:
I think the biggest activity will be me filming random restaurants, fast food places, people eating, buffet lines, and etc.
4) MAIN CHARACTERS
Write a brief paragraph about each of your main characters (subjects). For each include:
a) who (name, relationship to others in video, etc)
b) where (where does this person belong in the scheme of things)
c) what (what is the character’s role, what makes the character interesting, significant?
what is the character trying to do or get at?
a) Karen Plawecki b) Professional in Dietetics c) Clarification of what Diet and Nutrition should be like
a) Jessica Schroeder b) Student in Dietetics c) Student perspective studying in the field of Dietetics
(Also I will be asking random people about diet and nutrition in general, what “society” thinks about diet in nutrition)
5) CONFLICT
What is the issue in the video? Consider:
The conflict of this piece is the conflicting views of what “society” feels is the right kind of nutrition and the right way to eat and be in good health. I think it will be very interesting to see what people think about diet and nutrition and what is the real method that we should go about diet and nutrition.
6) AUDIENCE/AUDIENCE BIASES
Who is your audience? But go deeper – what are the stereotypes or expectations carried by your audience that your video must deliberately set up to alter?
I think that the audience generally believes that diet and nutrition are very sporadic things. I think the public believes that diet is something we do for a period and not something that we do the rest of our lives. The public believes that we can change our diet whenever we like, but the definition of diet is different that what most people think about. People usually think about diet as something we do when we want to lose weight, but diet is what we consume in our daily life, or habitual consumption of food.
7) TO-CAMERA INTERVIEWS
For each interview list:
a) Karen Plawecki & Jessica Schroeder, professional & undergraduate in the field of dietetics respectively, clarifications about the subject as far as what the right thing to do is.
b) The interviews will hopefully give a more educated perspective.
Questions: What do you think it means when I say the word Diet in correlation with Nutrition?
What do you consider to be a good diet?
What are the problems with diets?
Why are people obsessed with diets?
What makes a person healthy?
How can we be healthy while also enjoying what we eat?
How do people become healthy?
8) STRUCTURE
Write a brief paragraph on how you hope to structure your piece. Consider:
I want to show the misconceptions of diet and nutrition and then refute it with professionals and students studying dietetics. I want to show the audience the right way to go about our personal diet and nutrition.
9) FORM AND STYLE
Any special considerations in shooting or editing style that might further your video’s content.
Things like narration, lighting, camera handling, type and amount of inter-cutting, juxtapositions of scenes, parallel storytelling, use of text, special effects, color etc...
I think I want to be able to portray a society view of diet and nutrition so I will be trying to film not as smooth, to show the ups and downs of diet and nutrition.
10) RESOLUTION
Write a brief paragraph about how you imagine your piece will end and what you would like the ending to accomplish for the audience. Comparing any intended ending with the video’s
beginning also exposes what it must accomplish as a story to get there. The ending is your last
word – and has a disproportionate impact on what in the end, the video will mean.
I want to end the piece with people understanding the truths about diet and nutrition. I think the ending will be a question challenging the people to rethink what nutrition means and what it means to have good health.
11) BUDGET
Typically includes: all personnel, materials (tapes, gels etc...), equipment, location (travel, per
diems etc), post-production costs, graphics etc...
12) LOGISTICS
Shooting schedule, address feasibility etc...
TREATMENT
Using the information from the proposal, restructure your presentation into a written narrative, descriptive form written in the present tense. Write so the reader can see and hear the video you have in mind as a result of researching and careful consideration of each idea presented. Do not be afraid to use the language that elicits the emotional response you expect your video to evoke. A treatment does not include any philosophy or directorial intentions – so be sure to only write about what an audience would get from the screen (thus our early aesthetic writing assignment!).
WRITING A PROPOSAL + TREATMENT
A proposal presents the film or video in a series of categories whereas technically a treatment
is a narrative version of what is or will be on the screen. Although both terms tend be used
interchangeably, they have different functions. The proposal is written first – and that information informs the treatment. Both are written to convince the reader that you can produce a video or film with impact and significance.
Visual Argument PROJECT PROPOSAL GUIDE
Working title: Lifestyle Modification
1) WORKING HYPOTHESIS and INTERPRETATION
What are your persuasions about the world you are going to show in your video, the main
‘statement’ that you want to emerge out of the video dialectics. Write a hypothesis statement
incorporating this wording:
Ultimately I want the audience to understand that diet and nutrition are not just short periods where people have fads, but that they are lifestyle modifications and need to be taken seriously.
2) TOPIC
Write a concise paragraph about:
a) The subject of my video is diet and nutrition.
b) I will be giving the basic information about diet and nutrition through professionals and also students in the field of dietetics. I will also be getting information from the general public about general misconceptions of diet and nutrition.
3) ACTION SEQUENCES
Write a brief paragraph for each sequence that shows activity. A sequence is usually what
occurs in one location, at one specific time, or an assembly of material to share one topic).
Incorporate the following:
I think the biggest activity will be me filming random restaurants, fast food places, people eating, buffet lines, and etc.
4) MAIN CHARACTERS
Write a brief paragraph about each of your main characters (subjects). For each include:
a) who (name, relationship to others in video, etc)
b) where (where does this person belong in the scheme of things)
c) what (what is the character’s role, what makes the character interesting, significant?
what is the character trying to do or get at?
a) Karen Plawecki b) Professional in Dietetics c) Clarification of what Diet and Nutrition should be like
a) Jessica Schroeder b) Student in Dietetics c) Student perspective studying in the field of Dietetics
(Also I will be asking random people about diet and nutrition in general, what “society” thinks about diet in nutrition)
5) CONFLICT
What is the issue in the video? Consider:
The conflict of this piece is the conflicting views of what “society” feels is the right kind of nutrition and the right way to eat and be in good health. I think it will be very interesting to see what people think about diet and nutrition and what is the real method that we should go about diet and nutrition.
6) AUDIENCE/AUDIENCE BIASES
Who is your audience? But go deeper – what are the stereotypes or expectations carried by your audience that your video must deliberately set up to alter?
I think that the audience generally believes that diet and nutrition are very sporadic things. I think the public believes that diet is something we do for a period and not something that we do the rest of our lives. The public believes that we can change our diet whenever we like, but the definition of diet is different that what most people think about. People usually think about diet as something we do when we want to lose weight, but diet is what we consume in our daily life, or habitual consumption of food.
7) TO-CAMERA INTERVIEWS
For each interview list:
a) Karen Plawecki & Jessica Schroeder, professional & undergraduate in the field of dietetics respectively, clarifications about the subject as far as what the right thing to do is.
b) The interviews will hopefully give a more educated perspective.
Questions: What do you think it means when I say the word Diet in correlation with Nutrition?
What do you consider to be a good diet?
What are the problems with diets?
Why are people obsessed with diets?
What makes a person healthy?
How can we be healthy while also enjoying what we eat?
How do people become healthy?
8) STRUCTURE
Write a brief paragraph on how you hope to structure your piece. Consider:
I want to show the misconceptions of diet and nutrition and then refute it with professionals and students studying dietetics. I want to show the audience the right way to go about our personal diet and nutrition.
9) FORM AND STYLE
Any special considerations in shooting or editing style that might further your video’s content.
Things like narration, lighting, camera handling, type and amount of inter-cutting, juxtapositions of scenes, parallel storytelling, use of text, special effects, color etc...
I think I want to be able to portray a society view of diet and nutrition so I will be trying to film not as smooth, to show the ups and downs of diet and nutrition.
10) RESOLUTION
Write a brief paragraph about how you imagine your piece will end and what you would like the ending to accomplish for the audience. Comparing any intended ending with the video’s
beginning also exposes what it must accomplish as a story to get there. The ending is your last
word – and has a disproportionate impact on what in the end, the video will mean.
I want to end the piece with people understanding the truths about diet and nutrition. I think the ending will be a question challenging the people to rethink what nutrition means and what it means to have good health.
11) BUDGET
Typically includes: all personnel, materials (tapes, gels etc...), equipment, location (travel, per
diems etc), post-production costs, graphics etc...
12) LOGISTICS
Shooting schedule, address feasibility etc...
TREATMENT
Using the information from the proposal, restructure your presentation into a written narrative, descriptive form written in the present tense. Write so the reader can see and hear the video you have in mind as a result of researching and careful consideration of each idea presented. Do not be afraid to use the language that elicits the emotional response you expect your video to evoke. A treatment does not include any philosophy or directorial intentions – so be sure to only write about what an audience would get from the screen (thus our early aesthetic writing assignment!).
Representing Others Journal 11_26_07
1) pre-production_____________________________________________________
reflection: I think the thing that inspired me the most to film this subject/subjects was that the subject matter was something that I was interested in because it is something that is very far from what I can do. It was something that I don’t know how to do or even where to begin. I didn’t really know anything about how to make music or even how to start and I have very little experience when it comes to music and having a music background. I think the thing that I have the most hesitation about is being able to put together all the pieces of the film since I don’t have a music background it will be harder for me to piece together the different music shots. I want to combine the interview with the musicians song in the background, showing the composition of the music with how the musician developed the piece helps to integrate the form and the content all into one piece. I know really little if nothing about the art of making music, but I do know the musicians and I know that they make music, but I know nothing about how they create each song and how they put together all the different parts that make up of song.
research: I don’t really have to do any research for the subject matter. All information will come from the interviews and what the musicians have to say about how they make music. Everything that I want to learn will come from the questions that I will be asking each subject.
preparation: I plan on filming the people at the same location so that I can get the best lighting on both and so that it makes it easier for me because I won’t have to set-up in two places. I think the potential obstacles that I may encounter are that the sound of the guitar may be loud and it may set of the loudness of the singing. Also I think that the lighting may be the hardest part of the shoot. I think I have very little experience with lighting and it may not be the best. I think my idea will be able to be met, but it may be difficult to put the videos together, splicing them and fitting them together with the program I have to edit.
2) production process__________________________________________________
shot list: For most of my shots I wanted it to be on the fly, but I wanted to have one head on shot for the interviews with a guitar somewhere in there. I also wanted to be creative with what angle I wanted to shoot the musician playing the guitar. I don’t really have any idea of what shots I want. I just want to take a bunch of shots so that I have a variety of shots to choose from.
script: I didn’t have any script for this video. I decided to just put together the videos as I saw fit based on all the footage I had.
storyboard: See below
interview questions:
How do you make your music?
What are the ways in which you determine what you write about?
Do you usually have a theme when creating your music?
Do you ever create more than one song at a time?
How do you put together your music?
Do you create random lyrics and put them together or do you create one whole song at a time?
How do you put chords/notes to your music?
When you write do you want people to get a certain message out of your music?
Do you write for someone/something, or do you write for yourself?
location - setting - props - lighting etc: I will be doing the shooting in their respective rooms so that it is the most natural place that makes them the most comfortable for the interviews. I also want to do it where they are most natural for their inspiration of making music. I also want to do it in the afternoon where they are most alive and where they can be the most passionate about their music. I think people are able to answer more naturally when they are in a place that is most comfortable to them, it allows for more natural feeling from the musician.
in the field: I think that the thing that was the most difficult was how hard it was to find the right lighting. The first shoot was really bad lighting with the sun being blocked by the clouds and the sun showing made the camera change it’s white balance and really made the shot darker and lighter at random times throughout the shot. I think that the sound was really good, but the shotgun microphone was really sensitive to movement and it also caught sounds like the closing of doors from the other people in the dorm rooms. I wish there was a place where I could have gone to have no outside noises besides the background room hum. I also would have liked to have more cameras so that I could have one focused on the musician as a whole and the other focusing on different parts of the guitar playing so that it would have been easier to synchronize the music with the shots. I also think that the interview part was the hardest part of whole filming because I couldn’t judge what the interviewee was going to say or how long they were going to talk. I had to come up with questions that would help to get them to say more, not leading them, but making them more explanative so that I portray a bigger picture of who they are and a complete picture of who they are. I also think that I could have left more space in-between the interview questions and the interview answers so that I would have more freedom with the splicing and the movement of the shots and I also would have been able to remove my voice and questions to have a more continuous interview.
reflect: I like this stage the most because it allows for my creative juices to really flow. When I have a camera in my hands I am able to see new shots and really get a good picture for an overall good film. I really like going with the flow and filming whatever comes into the frame of the video camera. Although it doesn’t make for the most productive production at times I feel that this is my best method of filming and creating a good video in my eyes.
3)post production/editing process__________________________________________
log: Look at storyboard. I also have a lot of audio of each musician playing their songs more than once for the best quality sound.
review: I have a bunch of shots of the musicians playing their guitars and also a bunch of different shots with different angles. I also have a variety of songs so that I can use any song depending on the length of it.
script and arrange: Look at storyboard.
re-shoots: I looked over my shots and realized that I needed more random angle guitar shots, and a shot with better lighting, but I wasn’t going to film the interview again because I didn’t want to manipulate the interviewee after they saw their respective interviews. I wanted better light, but instead I decided to take the best shots and cut out the bad ones and put in the filler guitar angle shots. I wasn’t able to synchronize all the music with the guitar cutaways because I didn’t have the right shots at all of the right times. I really wanted to synchronize it, but it was too difficult with the program that I had. It was too difficult to synchronize all the sounds. Instead of re-filming the interview I decided to re-shoot the guitar angle shots, the only problem with that is that there was different lighting for both shots. I think that this wasn’t as big of a problem, but it made the video a little more choppy than I wanted it to. I really wanted to have a smooth piece, but it was really hard with the times to shoot and making more time to re-shoot. If there was more time with the project I would have re-shot the interview, but without showing them the interview that was first shot so that there would be no bias when I asked them the questions for the second time.
reflect: I really didn’t like editing this project. It was really difficult to organize the shots and to synchronize the sound to make it match up so I decided to not match it up and put the guitar cut scenes wherever I felt would be the best place. I really wasn’t manipulating the material as much as I could and I think I portrayed the musicians as they were with no mutations to their real character. I think that the two stages are completely different in how I handle them because I really don’t like manipulating the film, but I always try to portray the truth in everything I do.
Do after Critque
4) distribution_______________________________________________________
reflect: I think I liked the responses and I agree with what most of them said. I felt that the criticism was appropriate and I feel that what most of them said I would have done myself if I had had more time to re-shoot and re-edit the material. I also think that the project could have been better if the program I was working with had more options and allowed for more flexibility. I think my strengths are my camera taking abilities and my weakness is not being able to work ahead of time, but I think I will try to work ahead of time, but with the limited time I won’t be able to work ahead of time. I think that I learned the most about re-shoots and how smooth the transitions need to be.
critical thinking: I think the things that came across my mind were the different ways that we can represent others and that we don’t necessarily need to show the people and to show what the subject is about. I also really thought about the different ways people use their cameras and how we choose to make media.
as an audience member: I think there were a lot of different films that I enjoyed, but I didn’t really take anything back with me from the videos. I feel that we all have different taste and that we are very separate in the ways we choose to portray things. I don’t really know how to choose what to put in my film, but the classmate’s films are very inspiring, but they only help me to include a hint of what they did with their films. I think the audience is important depending on the film and for this video it was really important, but I don’t think that the audience is too important for my films because I am really critical of my own work.
distribute: I wouldn’t consider sharing my video on a larger scale because one of my subjects doesn’t want her music to be widespread.
reflection: I think the thing that inspired me the most to film this subject/subjects was that the subject matter was something that I was interested in because it is something that is very far from what I can do. It was something that I don’t know how to do or even where to begin. I didn’t really know anything about how to make music or even how to start and I have very little experience when it comes to music and having a music background. I think the thing that I have the most hesitation about is being able to put together all the pieces of the film since I don’t have a music background it will be harder for me to piece together the different music shots. I want to combine the interview with the musicians song in the background, showing the composition of the music with how the musician developed the piece helps to integrate the form and the content all into one piece. I know really little if nothing about the art of making music, but I do know the musicians and I know that they make music, but I know nothing about how they create each song and how they put together all the different parts that make up of song.
research: I don’t really have to do any research for the subject matter. All information will come from the interviews and what the musicians have to say about how they make music. Everything that I want to learn will come from the questions that I will be asking each subject.
preparation: I plan on filming the people at the same location so that I can get the best lighting on both and so that it makes it easier for me because I won’t have to set-up in two places. I think the potential obstacles that I may encounter are that the sound of the guitar may be loud and it may set of the loudness of the singing. Also I think that the lighting may be the hardest part of the shoot. I think I have very little experience with lighting and it may not be the best. I think my idea will be able to be met, but it may be difficult to put the videos together, splicing them and fitting them together with the program I have to edit.
2) production process__________________________________________________
shot list: For most of my shots I wanted it to be on the fly, but I wanted to have one head on shot for the interviews with a guitar somewhere in there. I also wanted to be creative with what angle I wanted to shoot the musician playing the guitar. I don’t really have any idea of what shots I want. I just want to take a bunch of shots so that I have a variety of shots to choose from.
script: I didn’t have any script for this video. I decided to just put together the videos as I saw fit based on all the footage I had.
storyboard: See below
interview questions:
How do you make your music?
What are the ways in which you determine what you write about?
Do you usually have a theme when creating your music?
Do you ever create more than one song at a time?
How do you put together your music?
Do you create random lyrics and put them together or do you create one whole song at a time?
How do you put chords/notes to your music?
When you write do you want people to get a certain message out of your music?
Do you write for someone/something, or do you write for yourself?
location - setting - props - lighting etc: I will be doing the shooting in their respective rooms so that it is the most natural place that makes them the most comfortable for the interviews. I also want to do it where they are most natural for their inspiration of making music. I also want to do it in the afternoon where they are most alive and where they can be the most passionate about their music. I think people are able to answer more naturally when they are in a place that is most comfortable to them, it allows for more natural feeling from the musician.
in the field: I think that the thing that was the most difficult was how hard it was to find the right lighting. The first shoot was really bad lighting with the sun being blocked by the clouds and the sun showing made the camera change it’s white balance and really made the shot darker and lighter at random times throughout the shot. I think that the sound was really good, but the shotgun microphone was really sensitive to movement and it also caught sounds like the closing of doors from the other people in the dorm rooms. I wish there was a place where I could have gone to have no outside noises besides the background room hum. I also would have liked to have more cameras so that I could have one focused on the musician as a whole and the other focusing on different parts of the guitar playing so that it would have been easier to synchronize the music with the shots. I also think that the interview part was the hardest part of whole filming because I couldn’t judge what the interviewee was going to say or how long they were going to talk. I had to come up with questions that would help to get them to say more, not leading them, but making them more explanative so that I portray a bigger picture of who they are and a complete picture of who they are. I also think that I could have left more space in-between the interview questions and the interview answers so that I would have more freedom with the splicing and the movement of the shots and I also would have been able to remove my voice and questions to have a more continuous interview.
reflect: I like this stage the most because it allows for my creative juices to really flow. When I have a camera in my hands I am able to see new shots and really get a good picture for an overall good film. I really like going with the flow and filming whatever comes into the frame of the video camera. Although it doesn’t make for the most productive production at times I feel that this is my best method of filming and creating a good video in my eyes.
3)post production/editing process__________________________________________
log: Look at storyboard. I also have a lot of audio of each musician playing their songs more than once for the best quality sound.
review: I have a bunch of shots of the musicians playing their guitars and also a bunch of different shots with different angles. I also have a variety of songs so that I can use any song depending on the length of it.
script and arrange: Look at storyboard.
re-shoots: I looked over my shots and realized that I needed more random angle guitar shots, and a shot with better lighting, but I wasn’t going to film the interview again because I didn’t want to manipulate the interviewee after they saw their respective interviews. I wanted better light, but instead I decided to take the best shots and cut out the bad ones and put in the filler guitar angle shots. I wasn’t able to synchronize all the music with the guitar cutaways because I didn’t have the right shots at all of the right times. I really wanted to synchronize it, but it was too difficult with the program that I had. It was too difficult to synchronize all the sounds. Instead of re-filming the interview I decided to re-shoot the guitar angle shots, the only problem with that is that there was different lighting for both shots. I think that this wasn’t as big of a problem, but it made the video a little more choppy than I wanted it to. I really wanted to have a smooth piece, but it was really hard with the times to shoot and making more time to re-shoot. If there was more time with the project I would have re-shot the interview, but without showing them the interview that was first shot so that there would be no bias when I asked them the questions for the second time.
reflect: I really didn’t like editing this project. It was really difficult to organize the shots and to synchronize the sound to make it match up so I decided to not match it up and put the guitar cut scenes wherever I felt would be the best place. I really wasn’t manipulating the material as much as I could and I think I portrayed the musicians as they were with no mutations to their real character. I think that the two stages are completely different in how I handle them because I really don’t like manipulating the film, but I always try to portray the truth in everything I do.
Do after Critque
4) distribution_______________________________________________________
reflect: I think I liked the responses and I agree with what most of them said. I felt that the criticism was appropriate and I feel that what most of them said I would have done myself if I had had more time to re-shoot and re-edit the material. I also think that the project could have been better if the program I was working with had more options and allowed for more flexibility. I think my strengths are my camera taking abilities and my weakness is not being able to work ahead of time, but I think I will try to work ahead of time, but with the limited time I won’t be able to work ahead of time. I think that I learned the most about re-shoots and how smooth the transitions need to be.
critical thinking: I think the things that came across my mind were the different ways that we can represent others and that we don’t necessarily need to show the people and to show what the subject is about. I also really thought about the different ways people use their cameras and how we choose to make media.
as an audience member: I think there were a lot of different films that I enjoyed, but I didn’t really take anything back with me from the videos. I feel that we all have different taste and that we are very separate in the ways we choose to portray things. I don’t really know how to choose what to put in my film, but the classmate’s films are very inspiring, but they only help me to include a hint of what they did with their films. I think the audience is important depending on the film and for this video it was really important, but I don’t think that the audience is too important for my films because I am really critical of my own work.
distribute: I wouldn’t consider sharing my video on a larger scale because one of my subjects doesn’t want her music to be widespread.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Representing Others 11_06_07
Removed Video because the person in the video doesn't want people to listen to her singing.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Weekly Journal 10_22_07
Reading Response to Hampe Documentary
I thought that this reading was a good way for me to get into this project. It really told me a lot about what are good and bad ways to interview people. It also really got me to think about thinking about all the little details before starting my interview. About purposeful shooting and what I need to do before I get into the process of shooting and talking with the interviewees. Also about how to shoot with the intention of a final product. I really think that I do this, but I don’t usually think about all the little details with this process. I also liked the last part with the two most important questions that should be asked to the interviewee at the end of the interview. I thought that this reading was a really purposeful piece.
Movie “Soldier’s Pay”
I thought it was a very interesting film and the content of the material was good, but that some of the shots were unnecessary. I thought some of the changes in the video were bad and the angles were inappropriate for the video. I thought that one of the interviewee’s shots were varied while the other soldier was very much the same in all of his shots. I thought that there could have been more consistency. I also thought that some parts of the film had very different audio in the different shots. I felt that there could have been more consistency in the film for the audio. I felt that there was such variations in everything that it wasn’t as smooth as it could have been, but maybe this was the intention of the filmmaker.
Brainstorming:
Chad - Delivery, following delivery people and seeing who they meet and what they experience. More well known buildings, beckman institute, memorial stadium, and finding a professor or people that know it and getting at the bottom of what it is all about.
Hatim - Rare book library
Kate - Dance performer and musician, how he got into music and originally wanted to ask him about autism. How to represent autism on film. Use autism as a characteristic of him, not who he is. Video as a representation of him, not a video about autism.
Shera - Radio, but turned to Midwest landscape, visual representation of the midwest.
James - White people who think they are really hot, but are not. Chiropractor and how some people think it’s a junk science, what is it about.
I thought that this reading was a good way for me to get into this project. It really told me a lot about what are good and bad ways to interview people. It also really got me to think about thinking about all the little details before starting my interview. About purposeful shooting and what I need to do before I get into the process of shooting and talking with the interviewees. Also about how to shoot with the intention of a final product. I really think that I do this, but I don’t usually think about all the little details with this process. I also liked the last part with the two most important questions that should be asked to the interviewee at the end of the interview. I thought that this reading was a really purposeful piece.
Movie “Soldier’s Pay”
I thought it was a very interesting film and the content of the material was good, but that some of the shots were unnecessary. I thought some of the changes in the video were bad and the angles were inappropriate for the video. I thought that one of the interviewee’s shots were varied while the other soldier was very much the same in all of his shots. I thought that there could have been more consistency. I also thought that some parts of the film had very different audio in the different shots. I felt that there could have been more consistency in the film for the audio. I felt that there was such variations in everything that it wasn’t as smooth as it could have been, but maybe this was the intention of the filmmaker.
Brainstorming:
Chad - Delivery, following delivery people and seeing who they meet and what they experience. More well known buildings, beckman institute, memorial stadium, and finding a professor or people that know it and getting at the bottom of what it is all about.
Hatim - Rare book library
Kate - Dance performer and musician, how he got into music and originally wanted to ask him about autism. How to represent autism on film. Use autism as a characteristic of him, not who he is. Video as a representation of him, not a video about autism.
Shera - Radio, but turned to Midwest landscape, visual representation of the midwest.
James - White people who think they are really hot, but are not. Chiropractor and how some people think it’s a junk science, what is it about.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Sunday, October 14, 2007
10_14_07 Weekly Journal
A documentary for me is representing people in a non-bias way. It should be looking from an outside perspective without altercation of the subject. Questions towards the subject should be non-leading and should be clearly stated with the intent to be informed and not with the intent of persuasion. Documentaries should also inform the public about the subject in a manner that the subject wants to be displayed, so in a sense bias from the subject, but I feel that the subject should have complete control over how one is to be displayed by the public. Also another way a documentary should be made is through collaboration of many different sources so that it forms a non-bias complete idea. If it takes many different perspectives it makes for a more sound story.
The video “Stranger in her own city” was a really well made documentary. It portrays a young girl and how her actions and thoughts are outside of her town. I think that the film maker chooses to be non-bias in the making of the documentary. I feel that although the film maker was very active in the life of the child, she was also very distant. The film makers words were not leading and she only asked to get the feelings and opinions of the subject. She would follow the girl in all kinds of ways, the night life, the afternoon, the school, and everywhere the girl when the film maker when also. I think that the film maker was very effective in making it a non-bias film, the film maker was able to be very informative about the subject and about how she lived and how people felt about the way she was living. The film maker made a very informative and non-bias film about the girl, by being “behind the lens.”
Journal/Brainstorm for Representing Others Project
How to Survive in the Wild - How to use the stars to get places, the wind flow and directionality, and good nature tricks to surviving in the wild. The basic survival skills necessary to make it in the wild, with somethings, and also if we had nothing.
Cooking - how to create a meal from random foods and make it appealing to the eye while at the same time appealing to the senses. How spices go together and what makes a spice go with or not go with another spice.
A girls mind - what a girl thinks about on a daily basis, how a girl’s thought process is like.
Price difference in clothes - why some clothes with the exact same material, but with a different brand can vary so much in price. How much of the material and craftsmanship go into the determination of the price of the final product. What brands are higher and why?
Music - Understanding why people write the way they do, what inspires lyrics, what makes people write?
The video “Stranger in her own city” was a really well made documentary. It portrays a young girl and how her actions and thoughts are outside of her town. I think that the film maker chooses to be non-bias in the making of the documentary. I feel that although the film maker was very active in the life of the child, she was also very distant. The film makers words were not leading and she only asked to get the feelings and opinions of the subject. She would follow the girl in all kinds of ways, the night life, the afternoon, the school, and everywhere the girl when the film maker when also. I think that the film maker was very effective in making it a non-bias film, the film maker was able to be very informative about the subject and about how she lived and how people felt about the way she was living. The film maker made a very informative and non-bias film about the girl, by being “behind the lens.”
Journal/Brainstorm for Representing Others Project
How to Survive in the Wild - How to use the stars to get places, the wind flow and directionality, and good nature tricks to surviving in the wild. The basic survival skills necessary to make it in the wild, with somethings, and also if we had nothing.
Cooking - how to create a meal from random foods and make it appealing to the eye while at the same time appealing to the senses. How spices go together and what makes a spice go with or not go with another spice.
A girls mind - what a girl thinks about on a daily basis, how a girl’s thought process is like.
Price difference in clothes - why some clothes with the exact same material, but with a different brand can vary so much in price. How much of the material and craftsmanship go into the determination of the price of the final product. What brands are higher and why?
Music - Understanding why people write the way they do, what inspires lyrics, what makes people write?
Monday, October 8, 2007
Friday, September 28, 2007
Weekly Journal 9_28_07
Overview of Online Source Group Critique
For our videos we watched “Queensbridge Wind Power” and “Funk Plastic”. For the Queensbridge video I really enjoyed the architectural design shots of the bridge being manipulated or shown as a blue print on the computer. Overall the length of the video was a little lengthy and at the end it felt like it dragged on. It wasn’t as thought out as it could have been, with the diverging of the topic from the bridge to a global view of pollution and environmental responsibility starting with the individual. Although I thought that the shots were interesting, I felt that there wasn’t a glue that held together the shots and made it seem very jumpy and random. The second video was “Funk Plastic”. I enjoyed the shots and felt that most of them were well done. I liked the contrast between the person’s interview shots and the drumming shots. I liked how the interviews were shot/made in black & white, it gave me a more relaxed feeling. And in comparison to the drumming shots that were in color and contained numerous special effects, which gave a more energetic feeling. However I didn’t like the middle of the video with the explanations of physics and it’s relation to drumming, I felt that it was overdone. Lastly, the plug at the end was very off from the rest of the video. I felt that the drummer at first really had a passion for what he was doing and although it’s alright to want to achieve more, I feel like it wasn’t the right place or time to include a plug at the end of the video.
Response to Sans Soliel
I thought that this movie was really interesting. To be honest I feel asleep for like 15-20 minutes during the movie, sometime in the middle of it. I didn’t really know where the video was going or what it was trying to show or prove or if anything at all. I did however like how it ended by making a complete circles back to the emus. It also had some good phases that caught me attention, but overall I felt that all the information at once was too much to absorb. I felt like the movie was trying to go deep, but instead it just went over my head. It would jump from one culture to another and somehow try to relate the two and then it would just end and jump to another scene/topic. I have a bunch of random notes I wrote down for the film and that’s exactly how I feel the movie was, random. I have things about the Japanese rituals, and then I also have notes about PacMan, Alfred Hitchcock, lighthouses, the island people, prayer, etc. I didn’t feel that the video or film was planned out, like there was no ending and that the movie could go on and on and on. As far as the shots went I did enjoy some of the close up shots, the shots that would really show someone’s face and them starring back at the camera. But the movie was just not entertaining enough to me, whether or not that was the purpose, it just didn’t make me interested or spark a thought or provoke me to think further.Journal Aesthetic Writing Assignment
One of my memories from my childhood that I can vividly remember would be the time I learned to ride a bike. It was on a Saturday mid afternoon. The weather was perfect, there were absolutely no clouds in the sky, it was a pure sky blue. There was a light cooling breeze with the sun shinning just right. I stepped out of my garage and onto my circular cul de sac with three trees in the middle positioned around a circular garden. The flowers were in there annual blossom with yellow, pink, orange, and purple flowers all opening to the sun. I could see the asphalt half white-half gray, from the wear and tear of the cars driving past it day-in and day-out. I got my blue and white bike, with little beads on the tires that move when the white wheel rotates. And of course I had my bell that sounded like the chirping of a bird with every pulling of the lever. I get on my bike with the soft cushion of the seat and I start to pedal down the slanted driveway. I am flying, but then I fall. I get up and try again, but I fall again. With every fall I feel the hard bumpy sharp rocks against my skin. But after every fall I get up, once again to try my hand at mastering the skill of the bicycle. After many many tries I finally get the hang of it. I am able to go around and around without a single fall. I feel the wind against my face, the sweat of my body is being slowly evaporating with every revolution of the cul de sac. I am gliding along the ground as if there were no ground. I feel light, I feel free. I am not seeing anything, everything around me is a blur. I can’t focus on anything, I can’t see a single person, it’s just me and the bike amongst the open refreshing air. The smell of pine is filling my nose with every breath, with every inhalation of more strength to ride my bike.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
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