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‘Winter Week 4’ Category

  1. Week 4 Inspiration – The Changing Lightscape

    February 16, 2014 by Makare

     

    Los Angeles and several other cities are moving away from sodium lights in favor of low cost, and energy efficient LED lighting. An article on Gizmodo from Geoff Manaugh about this was posted in early February, and I’ve been chewing on it in my head for a little while, and here are my thoughts related to the changing lightscape.

    Originally I went to film school for a better understanding of screenwriting, and while at the school I found that like Brick Tamland, I love lamp. The act of manipulating the scenery, the mood, the character, and the depth of a scene through the use of lighting drove me to spend hours studying the way lighting plays within the framing of a shot. Even now I spend time when watching a movie or TV show analyzing the lighting set ups that are being used to light the scene, though I don’t keep a journal of shots like I used to.

    I mentioned it in class briefly the other night, but I feel the need to reiterate it. As with all of the things that we aim to learn observation is incredibly beneficial, and can help you produce some amazing works. Next time you are out in the evening, take time to look at the role lighting plays in your surroundings. Observe the differences in LED, fluorescent, halogen, tungsten and neon. Try to learn their color temperatures, and see how those colors blend and change, and look at the shadows that the lights throw.

    Take a moment to observe the lights outside and inside of people’s homes. Notice the differences from one house to the next. Notice how the different colors of lights affect the overall appearance of the house. What lights do you prefer when you observe them, and does/will knowing the types of lights you like affect your work or the way you will light a scene?

    It is only with the absence of light that we can truly appreciate how lighting has shaped our perceptions of the places we live.

    New York City Blackout – Vincent Laforet

     

     

     


  2. My Favorite Picture of You

    February 4, 2014 by kblack7@uoregon.edu

    My Favorite Picture of You from Furlined on Vimeo.

    Since we are doing a lot of research on archival material, I thought that this video was a visually stunning way to show how old photographs and home movies can be reworked into a beautiful storytelling piece. I love how the filmmaker chose to speed through a vast amount of pictures, and then stop on one to get the audiences attention on that one particular image. Often times they would zoom in on that particular image to get the viewer to really LOOK at the lady as she and her husband are retelling their past through the photographs. I also like the use of post-production here to add to the visuals, as they did with the different sun spots and color distortions. These made for good transitions. Another powerful moment was at 3:07, where he tells her he is going to kiss her before she rests, and the video is archival footage of him giving her a big kiss on the cheek. I think this is a great example of how much you can do just with archived footage and an audio interview of the elderly couple reminiscing about their lives together.


  3. Film at the Axis Point of Merging Sub-Cultures

    February 3, 2014 by abk@uoregon.edu

    wilson

    I’m not sure how many of you guys may have seen this already, but this video has been in constant rotation on my Facebook feed for the past month. The reason for that being that I’m friends with a ton of Phish fans, and also a solid amount of Seattle Seahawks fans – this video shows where their two paths cross.

    So there’s a few things I’ve taken from this video – one is how different 8 minutes is compared to 5 minutes. Those quick blurby moments can be extended to full scenes, and the ability to give a piece room to breathe is quite clear. This is something to think about as we prepare for next semster’s Producing Story class. I also think this piece does a great job of flowing background sound and music from one section to the next. That use of flowing audio is essential for connecting clips that could feel potentially non-sequitor otherwise.

    The biggest thing I’ve taken from this video however is the idea of having a subject being relevant to two seemingly unrelated audiences. It seems like a huge thing to think about when you’re trying to connect to as large of an audience as possible. There’s plenty of Seahawks fans that don’t watch every video about their team. But when they have friends that are into Phish turn them onto the video, it creates this additional connection to the piece that makes them want to pay attention.  The same situation occurs vice versa – not every Phish fan watches every video about their favorite band, but when their Dad tells them he saw a piece on ESPN about them, then again a different path of connection is created. It’s almost like luring in your audience. And again, this piece is a solid inspriation for what I’m trying to do with my Grateful Dead bowling piece – rope in bowlers to watch Deadheads, and rope in Deadheads to watch bowling.

    What’s really interesting in this piece is that it seems there were two edits done – one is more heavy on the Seahawks footage and one is heavier on the Phish footage.

    Seahawks Heavy:

    http://www.seahawks.com/videos-photos/videos/NFL-Films-Presents-Phish-and-Russell-Wilson/95655374-d349-4fb4-906a-ef74974a7847

    Phish Heavy:

    http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-films-presents/0ap2000000307716/NFL-Films-Presents-The-Wilson-chant


  4. Multimedia Journalism in Action

    February 3, 2014 by bjh@uoregon.edu

    I’m sure you all noticed the rather large game that occurred in northern New Jersey Sunday night.  With the Super Bowl being covered from every angle that is imaginable.  It lends itself to being perfectly covered with all forms of media.

    In this article from the Newark Star-Ledger by Andre Malok he uses primarily the written word to pass on the story but also using all of the tools that are available to him to tell the richest and deepest story possible.

    We are all looking to use multimedia to it’s fullest in our careers, I personally look at an article like this and see the future of journalism.  Using social media, smart phones, and the general knowledge that we possess as journalists we can tell a fuller story that has ever been possible.  we can now crowd source information, and get our own sources to flesh it out and make it as complete as possible.


  5. Pond Hockey: Sports Shooting

    February 2, 2014 by bjh@uoregon.edu

    Legends of the Isles from Tony Franklin on Vimeo.

    When you usually think of sports photography and production you think of it in the grandious stature that you see most professional games in.  The Collosiums to sport often times the game taken so far away from it’s roots that it sometimes that it truly does feel like the corporations and sponsors really control the game.

    That is what makes pod hockey so special, it is the game of hockey at it’s root, just a bunch of guys strapping on skates and going out to play a game that they love.  That is what the Legends of the Isles captures, the feeling of just playing the game that you love.

    What is great about this video though from a technical aspect is that it shows that you can get great sports footage without a 50+ person crew.  My guess would be that at the most this was a two or three camera team, but yet they still get fantastic shots and angles of the guys on and off the ice.  From the puck hitting the netting of the goal to the ratty and torn up skates the other guys was wearing.  These are great extreme close up shots that really give the detail of the piece.  I also liked at the beginning and near the end of the film the use of old time looking footage, to show that this has been something that they have been doing for years on end.

    One other thing I loved about this is how rarely are any of the guys identified as to who they are, much like their interactions with each other their real lives are unknown to us, as are their real names, just their nicknames like Plaid and John the Baptist.

    Finally hiding the big payoff of the story of memorializing their lost friend, bringing the whole story of comradeary and brotherhood back around full circle.


  6. T Rex

    January 31, 2014 by jarrattt@uoregon.edu

    T-REX (teaser) from California is a place. on Vimeo.

    Though it was hard to do, I was able to tear myself away from the NYT Op-Docs this week. While talking with Wes about my project for class I was reminded of the film that California is a place was making about a 17 year old boxer from Flint, MI. She went on to win the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

    This teaser is very similar in theme and style to what I hope to achieve in my project about Aileen, a West African immigrant who wrestles at Roosevelt High School. While I am not entirely sure my piece will entail capturing everything that is hinted at in the teaser, I do like the idea of conveying a character who has set out to achieve a goal while negotiating all of the other day to day experiences and tasks. As T Rex trains, she carries all of her other responsibilities in her head: School, Church, Friends, Competitions. Still, she carries on.


  7. Eckerson Week 4: Slow Motion for Ya

    January 30, 2014 by amandae@uoregon.edu

    “The Sound of Taste” is a slow motion video that incorporates some of the ideas we learned while learning about the slow mo camera last week.  The cameras shows three different elements of using the power of slow motion. First, it depicts a medium shot of multiple colors of spices exploding, which focuses attention on the explosion itself, note the bags in particular.  Second, there are some great air shots of the spices interacting. I particularly enjoyed the small bits of clove that are perfectly in focus, which I wonder how they were able to do considering all the other elements in the air at the same time.  I also particularly love how the visuals are linked to sound, which emphasizes the dynamism of the slow mo.


  8. Show Soundtracks – The next big thing?

    January 28, 2014 by lpaters5@uoregon.edu

    I’m sure at this point most of us have seen or heard of GIRLS on HBO. Since the individuals involved in a large portion of the writing and production of the show are of the Millennial generation, it seems to me that they are taking on some interesting experiments with what it means to have a show and what it takes to achieve a sort of “cult following” in the 21st century.

    First of all, GIRLS is on Twitter. I have been following them since day one and they’re one of the shows that’s all about live-tweeting during the episode, tossing out random quotes from characters, re-tweeting follower shout-outs, etc. American Horror Story does this too, among many others, and I think it’s an interesting idea as a multimedia component to producing because you are essentially having a live discussion with the Internet while getting immediate feedback about your work. Now I have noticed they’re on to something else: a show soundtrack.

    If you click here, you’ll notice via iTunes that Girls has what seems to be its second soundtrack for its show, featuring songs from the episodes. (The show has 3 seasons, but I’m guessing they came up with the idea for this in season 2.) The third season debuted at the beginning of this month, and as the season progresses it seems as though after you’ve purchased the album you “unlock” songs in the soundtrack for downloading as the show goes along. I was really skeptical at first but after looking through the song list, I realized that even though I have the new Vampire Weekend album (and all their albums), I don’t have the song from this album, meaning they are partnering with artists to get special tracks either before they’re released by the artist or composed specifically for the show, which is kind of cool. I have only unlocked the Jenny Lewis song so far, but it’s totally rad.

    Just wanted to showcase this interesting multimedia component to get us thinking about creative ways to showcase our work as well as garner involvement from fellow artists. What do you think? And in case you’re not familiar with the show, there’s a preview below.


  9. The Unknown Known

    January 26, 2014 by kblack7@uoregon.edu

    Just wanted to share this trailer for the new Errol Morris Documentary coming out this year. Looks incredible!

     


  10. Week4_Summer Hatfield

    January 24, 2014 by summerh@uoregon.edu

    Evolution of the Dolly Zoom from Vashi Nedomansky on Vimeo.

    This weeks inspiration comes to us from No Film School. Its about a popular camera movement technique called the dolly zoom, also known as the vertigo effect. Since I am really interested in learning more about some different camera movements, I thought I’d post it. You can see more about it in the No Film School article as well, posted here.

    http://nofilmschool.com/2014/01/everything-need-know-dolly-zoom/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nofilmschool+%28nofilmschool%29

    Basically, the technique involves moving the camera in or out using a dolly, while at the same time the zoom on the lens is pulled in the opposite direction. When timed correctly, the effect of this technique is one in which the characters in the frame remain the same size while the foreground and background become compressed or de-compressed, depending on which direction the camera is traveling.

    A brief tutorial on how to do this technique is also available here.


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