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  1. Week 5 Inspiration – Foley & Sound Design

    February 23, 2014 by Makare

    We’ve had a couple discussions around how to use sound design and the capturing of audio that can push a story forward so I thought I’d share a couple videos that highlight in an entertaining way how you can change the context of a video with audio.

    For the record, I really wish I had thought about doing my sound design projects in film school the same way. While I had a ton of fun redoing the audio in Jaws, I think cutting out the original audio of a music video and doing sound replacement to it is genius, and it really makes some drastic changes to the feeling of the video.

    These videos are shown for artistic and entertainment purposes, which can be in conflict with the ethical guidelines that we heard during Peter Laufer’s course recently. There is a definite fine line that we as journalists have to be cognizant of as we produce pieces. Should you ever have questions relating to whether or not you are pushing ethical boundaries with the way you use any of the media you produce you can always reference The Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics.

    My personal opinion is that sound design (the specific manipulation of sound) is bordering on breaking ethical guidelines, but that if the use of sound design, or foley does not change the context within the story, and provides a richer environment for the viewing public to learn from and engage with your story it can be used, provided there is some transparency in the way you tell your story to account for the use of the effects.

     

    Category Weekly Inspiration, Winter Week 5 | Tags: | No Comments

  2. Another Alternative to Animation_SummerHatfield

    February 21, 2014 by summerh@uoregon.edu

    I just found this very cool video that is made up mostly of someone illustrating what the narrator is talking about as she is talking. The illustrations are time-lapsed. This is yet another great alternative to animation, and I find it a very intriguing way to present a subject that, while very important, might otherwise lose some people. I especially like some of the more unique things the illustrator did, such as at about 2 minutes when she tore pieces of the paper away to reveal the picture underneath and create a new image. Also, at about 3 minutes when she started pulling out the pre-painted illustration. In addition to illustration, the filmmaker incorporated the use of sound to highlight some of the points.

    Category Weekly Inspiration, Winter Week 7 | Tags: | No Comments

  3. A Tear-jerker_SummerHatfield

    February 18, 2014 by summerh@uoregon.edu

    The Conditioned from Facebook Stories on Vimeo.

    This video made me cry. Not only is it beautifully shot, but the story is just amazing as well. These are the kinds of stories that I think a lot of people always hope to find. One that is gripping, and that has a happy ending, and one that you feel good about making. By taking the time to talk to this person and get his story, the filmmaker actually changed his life.

    There is a lot of great sequencing in this video as well as some interesting angles and camera movements. And the lighting on the subjects was really well done. But the thing I really love about this video from a technical standpoint is the way the translation was done. The handwriting that stands as if it is part of the landscape, then fades out as we move past it was really striking to me.

    Category Weekly Inspiration, Winter Week 6 | Tags: | 2 Comments

  4. Eckerson Week 7: Substance in the Age of Style

    February 17, 2014 by amandae@uoregon.edu

    Portland’s Cinema Project is bringing Skip Blumberg to town at the end of March, with the goal of looking at interviews from the inside and the outside. Skip is an old public access guy from Buffalo, NY, and he got known for doing a shotgun program called “Studio in the Streets” where he stood on city hall and interviewed people.  The experience and tactics he and his crew used to talk to strangers and get them to open up is fascinating to watch, if you can stand the old school style interviewing. This piece is him interviewing interviewers, and their discussion of the art of the interview–namely, to get the person to forget they’re being interviewed–is food for thought.

    Category Winter Week 7 | Tags: | No Comments

  5. Lighting the Poodle Trainer

    February 17, 2014 by awoodard@uoregon.edu

    I love the colors in this short! Particularly given my presentation last week, I enjoy the lighting choices: there are a lot of reds and greens, and often in subtle ways. Watching the opening shot where Markova is putting on makeup, it looks like the filmmakers chose to use the fluorescent lighting in her dressing room rather than bring in their own (or, they simulated that impression). Either way, they also didn’t correct the green tint with a white balance setting on the camera (like we would probably be tempted to do), and I love the result: it sets an appropriate tone for the viewer, and it also makes her red make-up and dress pop. Subtle choices, but I think they add a lot.

    I also enjoyed the film portraits we get, first of the dogs and later of Markova herself. This time the whites are balanced perfectly and we get some studio-type lighting styles which deliberately suggest a painting. I don’t think I would have thought to put the main light above the subjects, but again, it creates a sort of eerie, circus-y tone that  supports Markova’s interview beautifully. She’s a performer, and the lighting helps us to understand that.

    The Poodle Trainer from Vance Malone on Vimeo.

    Category Weekly Inspiration | Tags: | 1 Comment

  6. Video Supporting Audio in “Holy Cow Lisa”

    February 17, 2014 by jarrattt@uoregon.edu

    Holy Cow Lisa from Bianca Giaever on Vimeo.

    Some of us have posted some great pieces that have relied on an audio recording that is then coupled with either archival photos or quirky graphics to visually illustrate the story. This video does something similar, but while taking things in a new direction. In “Holy Cow Lisa” the filmmaker has recorded a conversation between her professor and herself. As we saw in “The Gap,” the video is a chance to be playful and veer a little off course from audio we hear. The video is a place to be imaginative. We know that the filmmaker is experiencing a break up and we get her feeling of what it is like to talk to people about it and feel. We then get the deeper story of her professor’s experience. She again uses interesting and quirky ways to convey the details of his story. Sometimes she uses more straightforward methods with archival photos, but often she is keeping the viewer aroused with unexpected and humorous scenes or graphics. There is a lot of freedom and FUN possible in this kind of filmmaking. She takes this idea of relying solely on an audio bed upon which separately created visuals are placed even further in a piece she made after this video called “the scared is scared.” It’s hard not to love it because of there is a simplicity to it: Just show what the kid is saying. And yet it feels somehow like you are not just seeing word for word what he saying because the filmmaker has so many ways that what he is saying could be shown, so there feels like a big element of surprise. Yes, I know as a viewer that I am about to see exactly what this kid will say, but how will it be shown to me.

     

    the Scared is scared from Bianca Giaever on Vimeo.

    Category Winter Week 6 | Tags: , , , | 3 Comments

  7. Cinematography at it’s Finest

    February 17, 2014 by bjh@uoregon.edu

    I personally consider Top Gear to be the greatest cinematography that you will find on television today.  This is a combination of both fantastic camera work on the front end by the Top Gear camera men, but also on the back end with their editors.  What the cinematography does is take Jeremy Clarkson’s humorous car review and makes it something truly breathtaking.

    The shots of the car in motion from the angles they shoot from is something of beauty, and of course those are shot at much slower speeds when driving.  The shots that are really remarkable are the cars at high speeds.  With the high speed cameras stationed around their test track they are able to get these fantastic images of the car, in this case a Lamborghini, performing power slides throughout the the track.  But I also love their use of high speed shots to catch the wheels spinning, and if it happens to be wet on the track it’ll be kicking up water and look even more fantastic.

    One other thing I want to point out here is the active narration by Clarkson.  He is driving this nearly million pound car around the track at speeds over 100 mph and he is performing a car review as well.  One that is as I noted above is humorous, but is also pretty darn informative.  If your in the market for a super car there are no better reviews that Top Gear.

    As a parting I’ll leave you with a gif from the last years series of a Ferrari review and what was quite possibly the best shot in the film.

     

    Category Weekly Inspiration, Winter Week 6 | Tags: | No Comments

  8. Miss Representation

    February 17, 2014 by lpaters5@uoregon.edu

    I’ve found myself recommending this documentary to many of my peers, especially the ladies. Clocking in at 90 minutes in length, it’s available on Netflix and discusses the disparaging representation of women in the mainstream media, including news, TV, movies, advertisements, and more. I’ve been talking to many people lately about how few movies and shows feature females in lead roles, and I’ve noticed that when people stop and think about it, they’re usually a little shocked upon realizing how complacent we’ve all become with assuming that’s the norm. The documentarian behind this piece, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, interviews a range of women and men throughout the documentary including actors and actresses, newscasters, activists, high school students and many professors among others. Throughout the documentary statistics pop up showing women’s involvement in various aspects of the media industry as well as politics, and many really make you stop and think.

    What I found useful about this documentary besides the great voices making the film a worthy watch is the campaign behind it that has taken on a life of its own. Miss Representation has a Twitter account helping to launch their new campaign and app Not Buying It: “Let the media know: sexism won’t sell. Use #NotBuyingIt on Twitter to challenge the misrepresentation of women and girls.” I chose this as my example this week to show how documentary can go beyond challenging people to think about bigger concepts differently and actually propel action through the use of social media tools as well as app development. An interesting multimedia component that can help a project live on with a purpose. GO GIRLS!

    Miss Representation 8 min. Trailer 8/23/11 from The Representation Project on Vimeo.

    Category Winter Week 6 | Tags: , , , , , | No Comments

  9. Weekly Inspiration: Change the Mascot

    February 17, 2014 by Brian

     

    This week’s inspiration comes a little late for the Super Bowl, but is an advocacy piece put out by the organization Change the Mascot. Set over a progressive yet simple guitar and vocal instrumental piece, it features still and motion imagery of Native Americans in a variety of historical and contemporary settings, narrated by a (assumed to be) Native American voice who calls out  words that describe the Indian identity.

    The imagery and the descriptive words that accompany it illustrate the broad and diverse range that is the American Indian experience, all over the United States and Alaska. On a personal note, I spent nine months flying small planes for an air taxi service in Bethel, Alaska, in the heart of Yup’ik (Eskimo) territory, and it was one of the most incredible periods of my life.

    As the piece picks up the pace, the imagery becomes almost too fast for our conscious minds to process and transfers into the subconscious, until the final montage of images is just a blur (the last of which is a close up of eyes looking directly at the viewer). And then the narrator says, “Native Americans call themselves many things. The one thing they don’t . . . .” and the music stops with the imagery replaced by a still shot of a Washington Redskins helmet sitting on a football field. The narrator doesn’t need to finish the sentence, which makes the statement that much more powerful.

    Category Weekly Inspiration | Tags: | 3 Comments

  10. 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

     

     

     

    Category Weekly Inspiration, Winter Week 4 | Tags: | 3 Comments

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