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‘Week 4’ Category

  1. Go Pro Crazy

    January 22, 2014 by bjh@uoregon.edu

     

    This video took this kid over a year to complete and is shot from various locations from all over Poland as well as the rest of Europe.  Now he did this with a GoPro, my guess since it is small and hand held and easy to transport, but it could have just as easily been done with a normal camera as well, much like the dancing around the world video we watched in class last term.

    I chose this because of the use of GoPro, the last time we were all together we did talk quite a bit about the use of the GoPro, and although I do think that it’s use may be starting to get over used that is not the point right now.  What I wanted to point out here was the editing of the video.

    It is just a bunch of different clips all put together to be able to get all of the clips and then edit them into the video is still an impressive feat that results into what becomes a pretty cool video.  The creator was smart in that always had himself turning the same way so he never abruptly changed directions.  In the end a pretty short, but neat video.


  2. Tifo: Inside the Timbers Army

    November 5, 2013 by bjh@uoregon.edu


    This week for my inspiration I go to my roots as a sports reporter.  It is a story about what goes into the creation of the massive and spectacular tifos created for Portland Timbers games by the supporters group the Timbers Army.  What I loved about this video is that it is a spectuliar use of so many different techniques that we have been learning about.  The framing of the cameras, the outdoor shots, the use of timelapse to show passage of time during the creation of the tifo.  During the sit down interviews the used such interesting dramatic two camera shots, one from the extreme side and one from straight on. The use of natural sound and the sounds of the game as well were fantasticlly used as well, giving the sense of the game being played during the whole video.

    What was also fantastic was that all of the transitions felt natural and unforced.  You could feel yourself flowing along with the video as it went on feeling yourself sucked in wondering how they get these things done.  The story telling within is layered as well putting the story of the creation of the tifo as the main story with the games between the Timbers and Sounders in the background as a secondary story.

    This is the type of thing that I hope to create myself someday.


  3. The POV of a Paralyzed Person

    October 31, 2013 by oaldakhe@uoregon.edu

    Hey guys! I don’t know how many of you saw “The diving Bell and the Butterfly”, but it’s the best foreign film you can ever watch! There are many artistic choices in this movie. The main one is showing us the POV of the subject who’s is a completely paralyzed person except for his left eye. Now, i don’t know how the director managed to do this technique perfectly, but may be one of you knows and lets us know! (Hint: Jarratt!)


  4. The Face of a Disaster

    October 31, 2013 by emcdona2@uoregon.edu

    The Rider And The Storm from RYOT on Vimeo.

    As I looked around for a piece with a high percentage of close ups to delve into this weeks theme, I stumbled upon this. While this piece doesn’t have that many close up, I found the close ups used very effective and that they were uniquely crafted.

    This piece played a lot with depth of field. Most close ups where framed with an item in the foreground, which was either the focus point at the beginning or the end of the shot. I found this to be impactful and direct the viewer well. Also, the choice to focus in on a view items made them that much more memorable. For example, the shot of the Raggedy Anne doll stuck with me.

    Other shots I enjoyed included: the shots from the front of the surf board; the character entering the scene from above the camera with a boot directly in front of the camera; the shot when the camera is still and they walk straight through the shot with the board, and the similar setup shot in the water when he is on the board and enters and exits the shot while paddling.

    Overall this piece made me think about depth of field, framing and the use of close ups.

     

     


  5. Good camera movement_Summer Hatfield

    October 31, 2013 by summerh@uoregon.edu

    STUKENBORG from Order & Other on Vimeo.

    My inspiration this week has some good examples of camera movement. You can tell that the filmmakers were definitely using tracks and dollies. One of my favorite instances of movement happens at 1:22 when the camera moves around the end of the press as it is moving to make a print. The movement in this video helps keeps shots from being static. They also didn’t over use camera movement, and did a nice job of sequencing the shots together with close ups. This video also really illustrates the idea of not just showing us the donut, but showing the donut hole. They get in close and show details, which is important for their subject since it has a lot of small details and mechanical parts. Another thing this video is a good example of is lighting. Everything has this sort of misty look to it, which I think heightens the point of the video because they are talking about something that has been called a dying art, and trying to show how people are sort of keeping it alive in an underground way.


  6. Tim and Eric – Ooh Mama

    October 30, 2013 by abk@uoregon.edu

    If you guys aren’t familiar with Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job!, it’s basically some of the most absurd, psychedelic sketch comedy of all time. They’re kind of like licorice – you either love em’ or you hate em’, there’s no grey space in between. I for one, am a massively geeky fan of the show, and there’s a number of different skits that I could post and try to convince you are all completely genius. “Ooh Mama” is one of my favorites.

    First off – no, you’re not missing anything. There’s no precursor to this skit, and there’s nothing that comes after. This is the entire bit. In a way, you’re meant to craft you’re own significance and story line to it. It’s sort of like Shepard Fairey’s “Andre the Giant Has a Posse” stickers – the meaning behind it is trying to attribute some meaning to it. Anyway, what I feel makes Tim and Eric so fantastic is their incredible editing skills. As is the game-plan for most of their productions, they shoot completely insignificant scenes, and then create a story out of them through editing and post-production. In “Ooh Mama,” they use a repeating audio sequence to craft a song. Sure it’s a somewhat demented song, but it still is crafted simply from the process of editing. This clip is massively inspiring to me, but it may be complete nonsense to you.


  7. Flying Eagle Point of View (ACE 4)

    October 30, 2013 by amandae@uoregon.edu

    It’s all about perspective…and sometimes, ethics.  This is a video of a go pro strapped to an eagle, and shows what it’s like to fly like an eagle.  It’s powerful to see flight directly through the eagle’s eyes. It’s also slightly problematic to think about how they got the camera on the eagle. He seems to be shaking midway through it, perhaps trying to get it off.  In general, I think gopro’s have revolutionized the sort of action shots we can get to make people feel immersed in a scene or a story, but I think it’s also important to think about the ethics of what we do to get the shots we want.


  8. A Unique Approach to Subtitles

    October 29, 2013 by kblack7@uoregon.edu

    A Good Life, Too: Alonzo Clemons from The Good Line on Vimeo.

    This is the story of a man that was institutionalized for 10 years after suffering a brain injury as a child. He began to make sculptures as a way to express himself. “When they wouldn’t give him clay, he would scrape warm tar from the parking lot.”

    This is an example of a character profile that a filmmaker might stray away from due to fear of not being able to understanding the character and their message. However, the people that put together this video short thought outside of the normal realm of creativity to be able to help Alonzo Clemons tell his story. They used text as a tool to help the audience understand his message. Also, I thought that this was also a good example of Wes’s point that video is over 50% close-up shots. The detail shots of Alonzo’s face and hands as he was molding the clay figure were very powerful and effective.

     


  9. Meet the Superhumans

    October 29, 2013 by lpaters5@uoregon.edu

    While the Special Olympics is an international athletic and fitness competition for children and adults with cognitive disabilities, the Paralympics is an international competition for physically disabled athletes. This week, my inspiration is an ad for the London 2012 Paralympic Games for Channel 4, Britain’s public service television broadcaster.

    I found this video inspiring for many reasons. It’s extremely well shot with great lighting, especially considering that much of the footage involves following moving subjects. I think the music works really well, the text is minimal and well placed, and they have even inserted footage showing accidents or other ways people may become physically disabled, which I thought was interesting and well done. It’s also an amazing showcase of human strength in overcoming obstacles with powerful emotional resonance, or at least I think so. What do you think? Meet the superhumans.


  10. Moves of Steel

    October 29, 2013 by awoodard@uoregon.edu

    So, when we were talking about camera movement and how long to run a shot, the first image that popped into my head was one from this scene of Fitzcarraldo. Myself, I usually find Werner Herzog’s films mildly boring until one specific camera shot, when suddenly I realize I’m weeping and the world is very beautiful. How does he do that.

    I originally went back and found the scene after class for the last minute of this YouTube selection, which is one solid, static shot of a ship climbing a hill (for the entire minute…a little more than 3-10 seconds!). As a bit of background: the extras are actually pulling the ship up the hill. I don’t think you could get away with such a long clip if this were special effects, and I think the only reason it works is that the event we’re witnessing is Insane. Maybe it takes a minute for that to sink in.

    The reason I’m posting this clip, though, is that once I went back I started noticing other camera-movement decisions. For the long shots you want the camera to be still–and you need the clip to be long–because the ship’s motion is almost imperceptible otherwise. But in the closeups there’s almost always some sort of unmotivated (or ultra-slightly motivated) camera movement. Also I have a question: at 2:20, do you think that’s 100% the ship moving, or is it emphasized by deliberately-shaky camera movement?


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