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Posts Tagged ‘weekly inspiration’

  1. Adventure without Words

    October 15, 2013 by bjh@uoregon.edu

    Adventure Is Calling from Shane Black on Vimeo.

    For this week I went back to the Viemo staff picks page, now mind you that was not my intention, I was planning on going on a search for something but one of the first videos there caught my eye and my imagination.  The video “Adventure is Calling” is a five minute long piece of several time lapse shots by Shane Black.  Now this is would normally be something that isn’t that inspiring until you read the story behind it.  Black and two of his friends left their jobs of six years to travel around the country in a truck, camping out and basically seeing what this world has to offer.  Now don’t tell me no one of us have ever had dreams of packing everything up and going on an adventure.  I maybe dream of it once a year myself, and that is what is so inspiring about this these guys just did it, and these images of the mountains, deserts, and forests are what they have to show for it.

    Look i’m a sucker for good timelapse photography.  I love being able to watch the world fly by in a matter of seconds in what takes hours.  Putting the camera on a dolly to move it while the sky moved around as well added an extra dimension to the piece and the shot itself.  The scenery is of course what makes the video as it is all scenery, just the beauty and the backdrop of the great outdoors.

    The other reason this video grabbed me was because there was no talking in the video, all of the images are set to a rock song that perfectly captures the majesty of the environment.  Since we are focusing on our stories without words this week and next I thought this would be an interesting video to share and talk about.   It really does tell a story of travel and discovery, the protagonist is the environment, and how it is vastly different across the country and world.  I hope you watch this and feel as good as I did when I watched, now if you’ll  excuse me I have a sudden urge to go for a hike.


  2. Awesome Music Video/Doc_Summer Hatfield

    October 12, 2013 by summerh@uoregon.edu

    Django Django – WOR from Jim Demuth on Vimeo.

    This is a really well done short documentary/music video. It is very original and is a great example of how to tell a good story in a short amount of time. We get a good sense of the people and characters by the way they have been captured. The filmmakers begin with some dialogue from the characters before they are ever shown, and this establishes what the video is about. Then they introduce each character by showing a shot of them in front of their bikes, which really establishes who they are and what the environment is. It is important when trying to really capture something to really get in there, show perspective shots, establishing shots, close-ups, shots where the characters are being really candid. This video is a great example of all of that. It also shows how extreme close ups make nice transitions and help avoid jump cuts. And sometimes music over a video can be too much, or kill the natural sounds. But this is a good example of where the music really works for the piece, and the natural sounds are allowed to come through.


  3. “Brighton” Hybrid Documentary/Music Video

    October 11, 2013 by jarrattt@uoregon.edu

    Brighton from Public Record on Vimeo.

    This piece uses the energy and excitement associated with music videos to bring an urgency to the story, but it uses the techniques of storytelling associated with documentary to expand the meaning in the music video. Often in music videos there is “music video logic” which kinda means that unexplainable happenings and non sequiturs work whether or not they really work. There is a general progression of events, but if random stuff happens along the way it will still “make sense.” In “Brighton” we find a short documentary that has adapted itself to a song while holding onto a the techniques and aesthetic associated with its genre of origin. The filmmaker notes that this is a hybrid in the description and it truly feels like it. Sometimes you can mask bad filmmaking by slapping a song down under the visuals. The song will then distract from the potentially bad storytelling, but in this video it does feel like the two genres are working together. While you may enjoy the song I don’t think you will ever be distracted from the power of the story being told.


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