Showing posts with label Post-production. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Post-production. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Just Do Something
OK! I have been collaborating on a project and I am waiting on audio, so I have become very bored. I finally decided to just do something. I didn't want to plan and shoot, then edit, so I decided to dig through the home video archive. I found some video from a trip Amber and I took to Hollywood and Santa Monica. I didn't shoot this video to ever be edited. Honestly I just kinda left the camera on while we did stuff and occasionally stopped to get a shot. None of it was framed or planned to be used for anything other than remembering our trip with raw footage. Not sure why I wanted to use this footage, but I think I wanted to see if I could make a decent edit with not-so-great footage. I wanted to have a montage of quick cuts mixed in, also. I also had to find a way to transition from day to night shots. I'm typing this as some video renders, so I will finish it and post it soon.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Making the Final Cut
I like to upload my first cut before deadline and share it with several people to get feedback. I always get good feedback on how to make it better. I make the changes and decide which cut I like best and then upload the final cut. Vimeo makes it easy to replace a first cut I uploaded with a final cut, without losing any comments or likes stats.
In My Life With Hemophilia: Brandston I scrapped my original outline after I filmed all the shots I wanted. When I reviewed my video, I decided that my son showed enough personality on film to carry a much more focused portrait of his infusion, rather than a collection of shots from many aspects of his life. I decided not to use the interview with Amber, his mom, and to let him narrate instead. The video and his narration added an emotional aspect that was far greater than anything I had planned, so I was very pleased and became excited about the project (see earlier post on Poop Project when I was frustrated).
After getting feedback on the first cut, I took some advice and ended the video with a close-up of my son saying the last line: "This is my life with hemophilia." Many people also asked questions about hemophilia after watching it, so I added a graphic at the end of the video pointing viewers to www.hemophilia.org for more information.
Although I have a process, sometimes the project takes its own course and it winds up better than I planned. It is important for me to be flexible and open to ideas, because ultimately it is the viewers' response that tells me if I achieved my objective. If I need to make changes to do so, it just makes my video more effective and me more successful.
In My Life With Hemophilia: Brandston I scrapped my original outline after I filmed all the shots I wanted. When I reviewed my video, I decided that my son showed enough personality on film to carry a much more focused portrait of his infusion, rather than a collection of shots from many aspects of his life. I decided not to use the interview with Amber, his mom, and to let him narrate instead. The video and his narration added an emotional aspect that was far greater than anything I had planned, so I was very pleased and became excited about the project (see earlier post on Poop Project when I was frustrated).
After getting feedback on the first cut, I took some advice and ended the video with a close-up of my son saying the last line: "This is my life with hemophilia." Many people also asked questions about hemophilia after watching it, so I added a graphic at the end of the video pointing viewers to www.hemophilia.org for more information.
Although I have a process, sometimes the project takes its own course and it winds up better than I planned. It is important for me to be flexible and open to ideas, because ultimately it is the viewers' response that tells me if I achieved my objective. If I need to make changes to do so, it just makes my video more effective and me more successful.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
My Life With Hemophilia Video
I uploaded a video portrait of my 5-year-old son, Brandston. He has severe hemophilia with inhibitors and receives infusions at least every other day. This past week he received an infusion every six hours. It was a rough week. Besides the stress associated with my kid going through all this and not being able to play, I got real sick and didn't get to do something special with my valentine, Amber. I had originally planned to tell a story from Amber's perspective as a caregiver, but when I reviewed my footage I didn't like the way the interview footage looked. It was typical and boring, so I decided to let Brandston tell his story about getting infusions.
My Life With Hemophilia: Brandston (Enhanced Audio) from Mark Kenny on Vimeo.
This is a video portrait of my 5-year-old son, Brandston. He has severe hemophilia A with inhibitors and this is just a glimpse of what life is like for him.
The music featured is "Ceremony" by New Order, and is available for download from iTunes.
The audio has been enhanced for the comfort of your ears.
I was inspired by the videos I watched for our silent film projects. I particularly wanted to use the Joelseph "interior POV" shot. I liked the way he put the camera in the luggage (and trunk) in his first video. I decided to do that in this video when Amber was pulling meds out of the drawer. I also liked the way Jake mixed up his shots in his video, so I used that as inspiration when shooting this project and I ended up with some good options. I couldn't resist the Rik Dubiel "over the coffee mug" shot that he showed the class in his coffee video, so I used it to look down over the drawer of meds. As I mentioned, I shot an interview with Amber, but decided that I wanted to depart from the interview-style video and just show Brandston's infusion and let him narrate it. It is a portrait of his life that gives a good overview of how having hemophilia impacts his life in his (every-other-) daily routine.
My Life With Hemophilia: Brandston (Enhanced Audio) from Mark Kenny on Vimeo.
This is a video portrait of my 5-year-old son, Brandston. He has severe hemophilia A with inhibitors and this is just a glimpse of what life is like for him.
The music featured is "Ceremony" by New Order, and is available for download from iTunes.
The audio has been enhanced for the comfort of your ears.
I was inspired by the videos I watched for our silent film projects. I particularly wanted to use the Joelseph "interior POV" shot. I liked the way he put the camera in the luggage (and trunk) in his first video. I decided to do that in this video when Amber was pulling meds out of the drawer. I also liked the way Jake mixed up his shots in his video, so I used that as inspiration when shooting this project and I ended up with some good options. I couldn't resist the Rik Dubiel "over the coffee mug" shot that he showed the class in his coffee video, so I used it to look down over the drawer of meds. As I mentioned, I shot an interview with Amber, but decided that I wanted to depart from the interview-style video and just show Brandston's infusion and let him narrate it. It is a portrait of his life that gives a good overview of how having hemophilia impacts his life in his (every-other-) daily routine.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Behind the Scenes of Triste
I wanted to tell a sad story. I also wanted to challenge myself to include the basic elements of a drama: a protagonist (a tree), an antagonist (a man), conflict (the tension between the tree and man, building to a climax) and resolution (however sad it may be).
My original idea was to tell a story of someone (representing many people) who had many dreams that never materialized, leaving him feeling rather unfulfilled and haunted by his sad reality. I visualized a man being tied to a post over a pyre, reflecting on his dreams from childhood on through adulthood... each one taking the form of the individual pieces of wood that comprise the pyre. The fire would burn him, but never destroy him... just cause endless suffering. Even death would fail to save him. In effect, his abandoned dreams were the source of his endless burning and suffering.
When nobody stepped up to be the star of that production, I tried to think of this story in more abstract terms. I began to envision this story from a tree's perspective. I used trees and objects to create an obvious link between visual elements: wood. I begin the story with a variety of shots of trees, then begin to show objects made of wood.
I shot this with a Sanyo FH1 in 1080i (although I thought I had set it to 1080p). I created a list of collection requirements (see earlier posts) based on a storyboard I sketched out. I collected my shots and found others "on location" that I liked. I only had troubles trying to collect a few shots chopping down a tree. I zoomed in on a piece of cut wood to get a shot of my axe striking the bark. I also had to get shots of the pieces burning in a fire, so I had to shoot a fireplace (which I don't have). I went to my in-laws' home (where I shot most of the other footage). First, I shot ashes... then the fire.
I had most of my footage early on, so I began placing shots in a sequence that I felt provided a variety of compositions, motions and vectors. In addition to the soundtrack, I used simple techniques to add texture and drama to the video. I used shots with cast shadows to add drama, zoom-ins to increase tension, slow-motion to build tension and jump cuts to jolt the viewer... all in hopes of building tension and reaching a climax (when the tree got axed). I also used my focus settings (although I could not adjust while I was recording) to add texture to some otherwise boring shots. I did a few different things, most of which I mention in the tips post from a few days ago.
My favorite sequence is the build-up when the camera shows 1st-person POV picking up the axe, then the tree's POV watching him approach. I wanted to use slow-motion to draw out the fear and jump cuts to jolt the viewer (and shorten the sequence). The axe swings in front of the camera as he walks by, then it returns to the 1st person POV (walking through the woods to a tree). I used slow motion again for the axe chop.
I ended with a POV shot of the man walking toward the fireplace to place cut wood onto the fire, shots of the fire burning (jump cuts to wider angle shots), burning embers and ashes. I used an audio clip (suspense accent) and black screen in the final shot to jolt the viewer one last time, making them both sad and uneasy at how life can play out so much uglier than we dream it will.
I hope the viewer understands the main concept and experiences a short emotional ride, ranging from relaxation and serenity to (minor) anxiety to sadness and uneasiness.
Click on the Vimeo button to the right to watch Triste in HD.
My original idea was to tell a story of someone (representing many people) who had many dreams that never materialized, leaving him feeling rather unfulfilled and haunted by his sad reality. I visualized a man being tied to a post over a pyre, reflecting on his dreams from childhood on through adulthood... each one taking the form of the individual pieces of wood that comprise the pyre. The fire would burn him, but never destroy him... just cause endless suffering. Even death would fail to save him. In effect, his abandoned dreams were the source of his endless burning and suffering.
When nobody stepped up to be the star of that production, I tried to think of this story in more abstract terms. I began to envision this story from a tree's perspective. I used trees and objects to create an obvious link between visual elements: wood. I begin the story with a variety of shots of trees, then begin to show objects made of wood.
I shot this with a Sanyo FH1 in 1080i (although I thought I had set it to 1080p). I created a list of collection requirements (see earlier posts) based on a storyboard I sketched out. I collected my shots and found others "on location" that I liked. I only had troubles trying to collect a few shots chopping down a tree. I zoomed in on a piece of cut wood to get a shot of my axe striking the bark. I also had to get shots of the pieces burning in a fire, so I had to shoot a fireplace (which I don't have). I went to my in-laws' home (where I shot most of the other footage). First, I shot ashes... then the fire.
I had most of my footage early on, so I began placing shots in a sequence that I felt provided a variety of compositions, motions and vectors. In addition to the soundtrack, I used simple techniques to add texture and drama to the video. I used shots with cast shadows to add drama, zoom-ins to increase tension, slow-motion to build tension and jump cuts to jolt the viewer... all in hopes of building tension and reaching a climax (when the tree got axed). I also used my focus settings (although I could not adjust while I was recording) to add texture to some otherwise boring shots. I did a few different things, most of which I mention in the tips post from a few days ago.
My favorite sequence is the build-up when the camera shows 1st-person POV picking up the axe, then the tree's POV watching him approach. I wanted to use slow-motion to draw out the fear and jump cuts to jolt the viewer (and shorten the sequence). The axe swings in front of the camera as he walks by, then it returns to the 1st person POV (walking through the woods to a tree). I used slow motion again for the axe chop.
I ended with a POV shot of the man walking toward the fireplace to place cut wood onto the fire, shots of the fire burning (jump cuts to wider angle shots), burning embers and ashes. I used an audio clip (suspense accent) and black screen in the final shot to jolt the viewer one last time, making them both sad and uneasy at how life can play out so much uglier than we dream it will.
I hope the viewer understands the main concept and experiences a short emotional ride, ranging from relaxation and serenity to (minor) anxiety to sadness and uneasiness.
Click on the Vimeo button to the right to watch Triste in HD.
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