Art of the Real

Here is my very near final draft! Yippie!

I added a ton of music, transitions with sweet title scenes, and some great credits. I especially love near the end, the montage of album covers that the show likes to play. I feel the new title scenes definately help direct the video and make it more coherent and flowing.

I really did my research this time around and ALL songs and albums encorporated in the video are all played on the station. I really thought this would give the video an authentic feel that it deserved. Brent was a great interviewee and I wanted to get the essence of the interview.

Post-Production

POST-PRODUCTION JOURNAL:

Logging Shots: 

* i have some really great B roll footage. I really like the shots of the equipment I have especially the ones of the cartoons on the walls and the slow moving shots of the equipment. I thin k i am going to use these shots, especially the mike and sound board shots of him playing and speaking, during the time when he is saying something thougthful or reflecting on his time as a host. I think this will communicate in pictures what he is actually doing and the medium he is doing it on. 

Scripting + Paper Editing: 

*

Reshoots

* i think since i took my video in a whole different direction (a much more serious and focused on his thoughts about his future and goals) I have some really great footage. I also think I am going to add in some word transitions to help communicate what he is really talking about. I want to keep it pretty focused in on his WORDS and want the B  roll, which i have, to effectively shown that (as i described above)

I want to get some really good footage of the station from the outside on Green street. i think the class really hinted towards it and I love the idea. 

Reflection (1st time around): 

*i hated this run. i guess it really dos something when i see my work up on a larger screen. i think this entire first run is way to choppy. the whole thing is random and it seems like i put a lot less effort into it than i actually did. things i dont like:

1. transitions are random and cover up errors

2. sound is loud at points and soft at others

3. there is no story line

4. there are too many visual effects

Improvisation (1st time around):

*looking at the footage for the first time, i think i improvised a little too much. i didnt take the proper time to review the footage in its entirety to extract the good parts. i just picked what i rememberd i thought was "cool" and imported it into HD. this was a big mistake. i should have not been so concieded about how good i am in improvising and just looked at the footage before i began to shove things together. 

Reflection AND Rehearsal (2nd time around): 

When i had my video from last class, i really did not feel good about it. I was feeling really amature and I actually felt like i digressed in my work and outcome of my video. I thought it was too choppy and I had aweful transitions and sound consistancy. The entire movie was just NOT going smoothly and I knew I needed to scrap it. 

Now that I had my new video complete, i feel so much better about it. My video is much more flowing and I really got what I want to convey out of it: I wanted to show that this guy we always here on the radio is pretty much just like us, he goes here, he is in a student run organization, and he has serious aspirations. 

Improvisation (2nd time around):

* I learned a lot from my paper edit: I realized that it is OKAY to scrap an entire project and just rework the whole thing. I realized from my extensive paper edit really needs me to think on my feet and just go ahead, be brave and just start the project over again really sticking to what I wanted to initially envision. I had to play around with iMovieHD a lot before i realized how to really get the transitions and fluidity working. I really enjoyed this learning experience because I am so much more confident iMovieHD for the future projects. 

Art of the Real.::. Rough Draft of Video

Here is my first attempt at making the Art of the Real! It is definately a work in progress. I think I am going to make a lot of changes to it including:

1. less visual effects

2. better sound consistancy

3. better transitions

4. a more coherent plot line 

Production Journal

PRODUCTION JOURNAL 

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:

i created a list of questions to direct the interview. i made this list a couple of times on my blog last week. i want to elicit the radio host's point of view on public communication. i want to ask him how and why he got into this medium. i want to know a little about his background so the listener can understand where he has come from and allow some inherent knowledge of what is going on. 

SHOT LIST:

i want shots of him:

speaking from atleast 3 different angles

taking calls

using the equipment

the equipment on its own

microphones

the room 

any notes or posts to himself on the equipment or in the room

STYLE + ELEMENTS:

the lighting in the room is pretty blah. i was thinking...i am really excited about this, maybe turning the shots into a purplish hue. kind of getting this magical feel. if this could work i want to get drawings of stars and microphones, like scribbles and things to come on the empty space in the shots. i want this to be as 'artisitc' as possible in order to get a funky feel, to go with the personality of the radio host and communication medium. 

STORYBOARD:

i am going to make a story board on regular paper

COMPOSITION + FORM:

i wrote about this in my previous entry. i want to get shots of the equipment and of him using the equipment as he is talking about what public communication is to him. i think this will get the content of the subject and the form of overlapping communication with its medium a really interesting angle. 

IN THE FIELD:

what worked well: going in with an open mind, not being to strict with the questions, let the person talk as much as he or she wants (never know what kind of interesting tidbits are going to pop out). 

what worked not as well: coming in with specific knowledge and trying to get the person to move in a specific direction, i almost never got good footage when i forced the interview. happy accidents happened when i interviewed him and he had to cut out becuase he needed to take a call or go back on the radio. I also am excited about a wall shot B-roll footage of notes and pictures on the wall of the studio. i am nervouse about putting this all together!

REFLECTION:

i am nervouse about the lighting in the studio. i had a vision of a darker studio and i came in and it was lights on and really bright. the mad did not look as eclectic as i thought he was going to look. I have learned not to be so specific. 

IMPROVISATION:

my entire process of shooting was improved. I was so nervous going into the interview and so i just left my questions on the side and went with it!

Form and Content

How do I see form and content interacting in my piece thus far?

Well, as of now I finished getting all my footage during my interview with the Mad Hatter. I am still going to review the tape and see what the gist of everything leans towards.

 I think the content of my footage is mainly getting the views of who the person is behind the voice. I shot a lot of the Mad Hatter (Brent) talking about his view on public communication and what it means to be on the radio. i have some footage of him explaining the workings of his equipment, as if to say "and this is how I get the medium of public communication." 

As for the form, I think i am going to get a lot of shots of the equipment moving through the piece as Brent is describing what public communication is to him. I want to show the medium as he is explaining. I will have a lot of angles of him speaking (from behind the equipment, next to it, speaking into it) to show that medium of how he is communication. 

Big Mistake...Just for the record everyone...

Insight TidBit #372:

Before you return the camera...make sure you take the video out of the camera. 

Video Production Template : Pre-Production

"THE MAD HATTER"

.::.WPGU RADIO HOST.::.

.::.PERSONAL INSPIRATION.::.
A: Well, i wanted to document something that had a large moving living being object. When i saw the documentary of the piano tuner, i saw more than just the man being interviewed: I saw the piano and what it stood for. i understood why he did what he did and what he affected by doin ghis job.

I wanted to capture this. The radio host idea came from me walking up and down Green Street all the time. I usually look into the WPGU station window and wonder what the heck is going on: are they on air, are they off? How do they do what they do? Do they know how to use every single button on that huge sound board??? This was my large, moving, being object.

.::.WORKING STATEMENT/HYPOTHESIS.::.
What i wish to get across in this video goes along with my motiff video and my manifesto: I want to show what people do everyday, in their own context, in their own life. The best part of every day life is the smallest things can be so interesting. We listen to the radio. But have we given much thought to the person ON the radio? What is that person's every day like?

"A glimpse into the life..." That is probably going to be my main motive. I love that.

.::. RESEARCH.::.
I know that this is a student run organization. That is it.

I dont know who these students are, why they are doing it, how they got the job, their motives, their show schedules and routines....

I have been invited into the station to interview the Mad Hatter, a radio host with a popular time slot and show. The location will be the station, during his time on the air. I will catch him in between calls and speaking. Also, I will stay after to get some less hectice shots. Secondary sources are the other radio hosts and students who listen to the station and show in specific.

.::. ANXIETIES.::.
I am anxious to get my first interview done. I have NO CLUE how to work the cameras, let alone interview people and work a camera at the same time! I am afraid i will waste time getting some things set up, or that the camera will not work. My idea is very realisitc. I have been told about the "Mad Hatter" that he is an outgoing, character, cheesy guy, so I am not too worried about feeling too awkward.

.::.TOPIC.::.
The Mad Hatter is a popular radio host on the local student run radio station. I am sure we have all turned on WPGU at night at some point or another to listen to the music, but haveyou ever wondered about who is behind the music?

.::.STRUCTURE.::.
Culminating moment....hmmm i want to get across that this is just another form of communication, much the same way that we use talking, facebook, twitter, and blogs to communicate. This is just another every day activity, listening to the radio on our side, and getting the songs to you, on the host's side.

.::. STYLE.::.
I want the room to be dark, colors to be bright, personality to be bright, and have some wacky calls. I want to shoot the radio host in action, on the phone, playing music, working on the sound board. I want to observe his activities. Every so once in a while I will interject these clips into his footage of the interview. I would love to get a clip of the itnerview getting interupted by a call or something to do with his job...just to show that communication is happening all the time. I want to get some interesting camera shots. I do not want to many of them to be straight on the radio host, but instead I want some of the equipment to show in the background so that I am not focused on the interviewing but on the message of communication.

.::. RESOLUTION.::.
I would love to end the video with footage of him taking a call or doing his radio host "thing" fading out, as if to say "and it continues on even after this interview is done with."

One Day...

One day I hope to:

create somehting that captures the essense and pictures, objects and thoughts of what inspires me. Whether this is a blog or something, a movie, i dont know, but i want to create it

I want to cave dive and see what the other side of the world (the water side :)) is like

I want to live cab distance from the downtown neighborhood of the City

I want to live in New York for a time

I want to have a large dog

I want to have a job that is not all about the money, that I can just come home and have most of my life focused at home, not at the job

I want to experience life from a point of view i had no idea about

I want to learn how to play the guitar

I want to have a really amazing camera and take photography classes

100 Word Statement

I think the authors intentions were to connect this woman's intention of creating a better economic situation in Africa into the minds and aspirations of the viewing audience. The wanted to show that with one person's effort and idea, something as big as a country can begin to change for the better; from something as basic as empowering the lowest rung (women, most oppressed) of the population. Happiness, hope, community, and empowerment were prevalent. 

Beautiful women, with a beautiful idea. 

Art of the Reel

IDEA: Radio Host 

CONNECTION: we listen to you, we know when you are on, but who exactly are you, and why are you even doing this?

background?

how did you get into this?

begginings of radio?

radio as public communication?

does this tie into your major?

why are you doing this?

insight of the core of you doing this?Publish Post

what is your schedule here?

what is your typical show?

what do you think the listeners think of you, your personality?

what vibe view do you get of the students on campus as a radio host?

crazy calls?

FOOTAGE:

typical show

caller calling in 

talking on the radio

dark room 

sound board

kids coming up to the window 

Commenting on Hampe

10 Question Classroom Interview

Topic: Campus at Night...

1. What is your typical nightlife spending habits in one week?

2. How often do you go out to the bars?

3. Any favorites? Why?

4. What do you feel about friends who split up during the night?

5. Are you more inclined to go out with friends you already know, or want to get to know?

6. If you could, would you change your night habits?

7. Do you tend to get 4th meal? If so where?

8.  Do you laugh or yell at loud drunk people outside when your in bed at 2am???

9. Do you think U of I would be better rated if we werent such a party school?

10. What do you feel about the "Greeks"  that are out at the bars?

Hampe Advice

"Making Analogs of Reality"

I was really sick over the weekend so I was unable to do very much, in any of my classes. Here is the catchup of the assignment:

Talking Points:

1. How do you begin to show rather than just tell?? Is this more inherient in people to tell?? What if you get through part of your interview and realize your footage is mostly telling? Would you be inclined to re-take footage?

2. What happens if you dont have a person who talks a lot in the interview? As in to get them to talk about what they are excited about? Is there every a line that you shouldnt cross to get the person to open up?