Chapter 10 Review

How To Project Rationale

 For this project, I wanted to steer away from a traditional how to instructional video. Instead, I chose to do something perhaps a little sarcastic. Funny at times, scary and gore filled and using a few elements from typical horror films I created a narrated walkthrough of scenes that I felt were in ways similar in approach to typical thriller films from the past.

 To achieve my effects, I used my old stand by, my best friend and really the star of the video, Mr. Adobe After Effects. I spent at least 80 hours of keyframing, masking, tracking and adding 3d elements to frames. I shot the majority of the scenes on Vassar College campus, along with my house and driveway. I set up my greenscreen and did a lot of chroma key work on this project, especially the vampire narration which was almost all done in front of the screen. I also brought the screen on location for the car hitting vamp scene as well as the ring parody where my daughter climbs from the well ( rock wall ). The twins are creepy scene was shot at the old psychiatric center which is mostly abandoned now and is rumored to be haunted. I would love to get in one of the old buildings with my camera one day for sure!

 Like with my other projects, I called upon my trusty family for actors. My sons girlfriend also played a few roles and my daughter did all of the makeup. I shot and edited the project over the past 2 weeks and the only real problems I had were with uploading to youtube and then once uploaded, the file could not be seen on mobile devices so for some reason would not stream from my blog, which is why I added the link.

 In all, this project was a blast. I am a die hard horror film buff and loved poking fun at the insane stereotypes associated with these films.

How To Video

 For some reason the video will not post as an embedded video. With the 3 days I have spent compressing and recompressing just to get the video to upload, I have now waved my white flag and provided the link. Sorry for the inconvenience!

How To Video

Chapter 9 review

Movie Trailer

Chapter 8 review

Commercial rationale- script

 For this project, I chose to create a commercial that would be interesting yet humorous for a product that in time I am sure some scientist would think is a great idea. For all shots, I used a green screen. The shots of the scientist, who is played by my wife, were keyed over a science lab background image that I sourced online. I took the original image and tweaked it in photoshop. Once I had the separated layers, I imported into after effects to add lighting and logo’s on the computer screen. The shots of my son, who played the guinea pig for this experimental chip gone wrong were simply keyed over a solid white. This is the first project in which I used my new digital still camera for video. It shot in full 1080, so I wanted to give it a go. For this project I also ordered a much needed full lighting kit, unfortunately it did not arrive in time and actually because of the snow we received this past week is still m.i.a. So I set up the green screen in my dining room which has a large row of windows to allow natural lighting. I have a wireless sennheiser body mic that I planned to use as well, however for some reason it would not work so I had to use the built in camera mic, which is lousy. In final cut pro I edited the narration that was recorded via the camera and used the waves plug ins that I have to clean up some of the hiss. I also mixed in the foley sounds, which I sourced at freesound.org.

For the cgi work, I used after effects to make the holograms as well as particle playground to create the swarming alpha and numeric symbols. The shattering glass is actually a movie file that came with one of the Video Co-Pilot packs that I bought a few years back. I edited all of my clips in Final Cut Pro and exported to youtube.

I forgot to mention, the scene where the chip is installed was done using a still shot of my son. I imported into photoshop, created the "door" in the neck and saved as separate layers to be animated in after effects. The circuit board was an image I found online which I placed a photo of the ic chip that I bought at Radio Shack for the project. I added the lighting, glows and movement in After Effects. 

 The script-

Scientist female narration

Everyday life is boring.

That’s why the scientists at Futura industries have designed

the technology to bring the future into the present .

With the futura chip, you are the computer.

Once the chip is installed into the host, the 42 gigabyte processor overrides the major systems in the human body.

That’s not all, the chip also provides on demand web surfing for checking email or even online schooling and other technological features like the future callendar.

Test Guy

Time For My Date!

This process um… this um…. Process. ( Blank Stare. Then look horrified.)

 Oh My God!!!

RUN!!!!!!

 Scientist runs past camera

ECU of Test Guy. Smoke coming from head and neck area. Acting erratic. Eyes glowing. Charges camera.

Futura Industries……. Stop Being Boring!

Commercial

 For this assignment, I wanted to do a parody of a technical product. Somewhat like the Terminator meets one of those late night infomercials. It has cheese as well as a few After Effects tricks mixed in.

Semiotics in Film

 The whole semiotics talk has me a bit confused. I took a class on signs in art so I understand the signifier and signified some but at first was lost on how this translated into film.

 Initially I was immediately reminded of the silent film era and how without sound, the film spoke to the viewer. Then I thought about signs and how certain things that we know, when shown on film would not need an explanation. I envisioned a street scene, where cars are stopped at a traffic light. The red light prompts the cars to step on the brakes and hold tight until they see the green change. This to me is an example of how signs could work in film. The meanings are implied by what we know about the colors red and green. 

Another example could be sound in a film. With the film series Jaws, sound is a crucial part in triggering the audiences sense of danger. 

 In the film Halloween, the theme song is played whenever Michael Myers is near, symbolizing the danger and ultimately a whole lot of knife slashing is about to come up. Cover your eye's kids!

 Another way that semiotics can be portrayed on film is through the narrative. The writer/director can convey a message without stating the obvious. An example of this would be in Star Wars. Actually there are tons of examples in these films but lets focus on Darth Vader. 

His costume is black and cold metal looking. He is taller than most people in the film. He is powerful to the viewer’s eye without having to be told. We know from the first frame that he is the bad guy. 

Chapter 7 Review

7 Elements Of Digital Storytelling

 After watching the youtube video on the seven elements of digital storytelling, I searched the web and found a blog on the Richmond School of Arts & Sciences website.  While the protocol is fundamentally the same; POV, Dramatic Question, Emotional Content, Voice, Soundtrack, Economy and Pacing, the website gave a better explanation of the different elements.

http://blog.richmond.edu/digitalstory/2009/03/03/7-elements-of-digital-storytelling/

 Point Of View – This is the underlying theme in a story. Often the point of view lives on or takes a role of its own within the story.

 Dramatic Question – This is the meat and potatoes of the story. This is the main theme that the story revolves and is answered by the rolling credits.

 Emotional Content- This element adds depth, meaning and a connection with the viewer.

The Gift Of Voice – This element makes the story your own. The narration wins the audience over with the way his or her words flow out.

Soundtrack- The soundtrack is a great way to connect emotionally with the audience. To me, the soundtrack makes a film.

Economy – Being able to tell your story efficiently.

Pacing- This is one of the most important elements. Many times a great film will suffer when the pace is completely wrong. Sometimes the beginning is too slow and the story picks up after the audience has lost interest, or the ending drags on and on. Having a great pace and being able to get the story out is something that requires a tremendous amount of skill.

 After reading and researching these elements, I began evaluating my own work in the past. I started watching a couple of my old projects and started to critic them as if they were a classmates or any other video off of youtube. I came to a project that I did for a media arts class last summer. This project was something that I shot and did a few small 2d cartoon animations for based on an old world book that my family had when I was a kid. My voice, as narrator worked well for this project. I had a very emotional attachment to this book and the memories of childhood so the emotional content was there as well. My pacing I feel worked well, I flow through the story of my book without losing interest. Of all the elements that we learned about, the only ones that I feel were not met or for better words, lacked in my book project are soundtrack, and dramatic question. I am a bit puzzled by the question element in this project. While from the mentality of an outsider or first time viewer of the project, I understand the narrative. I just get caught up on the why? Portion of this element. Why the book? I mean I know the importance of it and it is special because of the past emotional direct connection with the narrator, but maybe that is what makes it all relevant. Perhaps the question doesn’t matter for this project? Perhaps the importance of the book and it’s emotional content are strong enough?

 Here is the video. What do you think?

More Movie Review

Poetry In Motion Video

 For this project I wanted to show the dangers of being distracted while driving. Funny thing is, I was all alone to do the shoot so I had to hold the camera on the dash while driving which is beyond hypocritical and dangerous. With that being said, everyone is safe and I was able to capture what I needed. I found a cover of the song "Drive", originally by The Cars, sung by a group called The Deftones who are signed to Maverick Records. The mood of the song is what inspired me to edit the way I did. I had other ideas on the crash scene and also wanted to shoot some footage of my family at the cemetery, however my wife out right refused, called me morbid and being as I am already behind in the class, I used a couple of stills to show the crash. To set the mood for the video I also desaturated the footage but using keyframes I wanted to fade the effect in the entire length prior to the crash scene. I also used a sped up and revered cut to bring the footage prior to the distraction of the radio scene to show how the end result would be different.

Chapter 3 and 4 review

Chapter 1 and 2 review

Camera options

I just bought a new digital slr camera which takes full hd video. Now I am all set for my photography class and if I need to shoot quick high quality digital footage, I can. I also have a sony vx1000 mini dv standard def 3 chip camera which I have used for many projects but it is very outdated. Speaking of outdated, perhaps if I can find a way to edit 8mm film locally, I can take this down off the wall of the editing room I put together in my house.

 When I worked at Vassar College, the students shot 16mm and they had editing stations that I would have access to. Problem is they only work on 16, not 8. I would love to try the camera out though, I bought it a few years back, still sealed in it's original packaging. Never used!

First Blog Assignment

 This blog will be my sketchpad for ideas for class as well as a useful tool that I can showcase my assignments and possibly other work I am doing.

 For starters, a brief introduction. My name is Dan, I am a father of 4 and love to work on video and sound. I worked for a local ivy league school as a media tech for years and also operated a small recording studio. Now I am attempting to shake the dust off and get back to the creative life I enjoyed what seems like a life time ago!

 In the past few semesters, I have been able to incorporate my love for video and editing with class projects which was very refreshing. In this blog I will continue to showcase not only current work for this class but also projects that I work on with my own time. I also have begun working on minor music projects again, mostly just creating beats which is something I did for years back in my late teens until about 30. I will probably post a soundcloud link or two in the near future as long as no one laughs at me!

 In the meantime, here is a video project I did last semester with my wife and 3 of my 4 kids.