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Posts Tagged ‘vimeo’

  1. Great Cinematography achieved in a day.

    January 22, 2014 by kblack7@uoregon.edu

    The Glint from Mathieumaury on Vimeo.

    There is something about this piece that struck a chord with me. Maybe because of the fact that the filmmaker shot this in one day (which doesn’t look impossible). But it goes to show that if you truly think out your shots and capture all of the details, then all you need is one shoot and you nailed it. Like this. Although I am aware that this is an advertisement, it is also a much deeper piece entirely. For those of you really looking to focus on lighting for this term, I think that this video does an impressive job of using  a low-light situation to their advantage. The lighting in the garage is very purposeful, so it doesn’t feel fake or forced, yet it adds a dramatic effect to all of the close ups. It also allows for the camera to pick up all of the sparks flying off of the metals, which I think added to the dreamy feel of the film.

    The above the action shots in this piece were really powerful to me. I like that the filmmaker chose to create frames that were a change from the typical break down of a scene. For example, when the motorcycle comes out of the garage at 1:00, I really liked the small moment that it created where the biker hesitates before he really takes off, as if deciding which path he will take.  I was also very impressed with all of the tracking shots on the motorcycle. I think that the filmmaker definitely used picturesque roads to his advantage (the tree lined lane and the rolling clouds behind the tall grass fields).

     


  2. The Record Breaker

    November 12, 2013 by kblack7@uoregon.edu

    The Record Breaker from Brian McGinn on Vimeo.

    Wow. Where do I even begin? First off, this is one of the funnier videos I have seen in a while. Secondly, this man seems like he lives one of the greatest life’s for one simple reason: he is doing exactly what he wants to do. Ashrita Furman has set almost 400 Guinness World Records and has become the man with the most world records of all time. This video, The Record Breaker is a documentary short of Ashrita’s life as he is training to set a new record for climbing Machu Picchu on stilts. This film has been the Winner of the Vimeo Audience Award at the 2013 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and Jury Prizes at the 2012 Palm Springs International ShortsFest and the 2013 New Orleans Film Festival.

    The reason that this film has won so much acclaim is rather easy to see. It is a simple story with a complex character. Filmmaker Brian McGinn has brought to the screen one of the funniest and light hearted documentary pieces I have seen in a while. The two-camera interview’s with the main character and his mother and father were lit very well, with the shadow side of their faces towards the cameras, and the close-up and extreme close-up shots were framed very similarly to how we chose to frame Allyson in our interview set-up. Also, the use of detail shots in this piece is what I think makes it so strong, which helps the viewers see the action up close. Here we have a really interesting character and the filmmaker did a wonderful job of letting the camera capture the moments that truly showed us how happy and content this man is with his life. I was curious after watching this, how much time did McGinn actually share with this man in order to get all of this footage?

     


  3. The Ultimate Sound Technician

    November 6, 2013 by kblack7@uoregon.edu

     

    Justin Boyd: Sound and Time from Walley Films on Vimeo.

    Since we will soon be having a discussion about sound and how we as storytellers can use it in dramatic ways, I thought that this documentary short was really interesting. This guy uses sound in ways that most of us haven’t even thought of! Cheesy enough, it’s true. This video is also just very beautifully captured, so that adds to the awe-inspiring way that this character is enthralled with sound. What works for me in this piece is the combination between sound design and the amount of matched-action sequences in this video.

    The scene where Justin goes to collect audio at the train tracks is one scene that really stood out for me, due to the combination of attention-getting tracking shot as he walks up to the tracks, action shot of him putting the recording strip on the tracks, and then the reaction shot of his face and hands with the recording device. To me, it really worked to bring me into the action of this guy actually going out and recording such a large amount of audio to archive. I also really like the scene of Justin inside (with beautiful lighting) where he is going through old recordings. The scene begins with a dolly shot moving across the bucket of tapes as he chooses one to listen to. The sequences goes into another great sequence of matched action editing while Justin puts in a recording he made of his grandfather and then cuts to a cinematic camera movement of a “sweeping across the floor” to the character as he listens intently to this recording of his grandfather. To me, that is a powerful moment that was captured and expressed.


  4. 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.

     


  5. Warning: Intense Video Footage

    October 23, 2013 by kblack7@uoregon.edu

    This video is by no means documentary, but I thought that it was still an excellent example of  dramatic storytelling. While studying the fundamentals of multimedia work, we understand that so many powerful stories are based around peoples emotions and how we as communicators evoke similar emotion in our audience. I thought that this piece was worth sharing because it makes use of many techniques we must master as digital storytellers:  presenting multiple characters and their backstory, match-action and intentional jump cut editing, choosing a supporting and powerful soundtrack, and evoking a strong response from the audience (I will admit, I shed a tear or two). Does this type of storytelling work for you?


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