Take A Moment

     For this project, I intended to create a short film about taking a moment out of your busy schedule to just breathe and collect yourself because more could get done.  In the end it developed into (this!) the idea of taking a minute for yourself to relax, whether before, during, or after a busy day because it will just help.  This change happened because of editing and because it seemed to become overall stronger.  I was the subject of my film which caused some difficulties in filming.  The main drawback was no one was there for most of the shots to tell me to stop and re-shoot because I wasn't in frame or I had done something that just looked strange on camera.  Another minor drawback that I quickly worked my way around was leaving the camera while I drove off in a car.  I offered to take a friend shopping if she would let me set up the camera, hit the button, and make sure no one stole it while I drove away.  This was helpful because the camera guard was also able to follow the shot for a bit.  The only problem was they didn't know exactly what my vision was, so several re-shoots were required.  Another problem was camera placement.  I realized that a lot of different things go into shooting for a film.  You need to make sure the shot is set up properly and this is really hard if you are your own subject.  I managed most of my shots with the use of a tripod, which in one case was basically essential for getting the shot.
     Editing this video proved far better than the last (the computer cooperated for one thing).  I had all of my shots planned, so the only thing I had to do was sort through them for the part that I wanted, most of them I only had to cut out me turning on and off the camera.  The transitions in between the title and the end scene worked a lot better than normal cuts would have.  They caused it to flow much better than if they had just been cut in.  The editing of what I consider the memory sequence caused the film to have a different feel than when it was in color.  The color just made it look too busy, and although it was what I was going for, the "dreamy" effects made it more seem like a cup of tea was great after a long day.  I did wind up debating between diegetic and non-diegetic sound.  I finally decided upon non-diegetic sound  because it seemed to get the point across better and music didn't really seem to fit.
    The trickiest part of this project, was creating a film with meaning in 6 days.  It wasn't the easiest thing in the world and overall, I feel I could have done much better if I had even 12 days.  There is no easy way to film a lot of material and then have to go through it and cut it down in 6 days.  I tend to feel different every time I watch something, which caused me to change the plans I had for specific clips daily for 3 days.  I am happy with the final result because my idea really evolved from shooting to editing to finalizing.  I am looking forward to the future when I might have more time to make a video and can really have the ability to concentrate on it without the thought of finals looming overhead.

Take A Moment

A short film about taking the time to relax.

Tearing My Hair Out

  

Creating videos from existing videos, really brings to light how important paying attention to copy write law is.  It was something very interesting to explore, and caused me to watch a lot of videos and pick out specific parts before I really sat down to work.  This made the editing process a lot easier.
 One thing that confuses me about copy write law is that I'm not entirely sure why writing (about literature or science) allows so much "copying" but in commercial art it seems so taboo, I personally would be flattered if someone started copying my work.  
     When I first started on Saturday I was having problems with Final Cut Pro X, so I decided to give myself a break and come back to it on Sunday.  On Sunday, the video editing went very well and very quickly because I knew what I wanted to do.  The problems started when I tried to do anything fancy.  I couldn't add titles or effects.  Final Cut would stop responding and then it would basically crash.  The first few times I lost all my work.  Then I tried reformatting my external hard drive (I backed up the data of course)  If all had gone according to plan I would have been done at 10pm and comfortably in bed by 11, but here I am, in the lab at 2:13am trying to salvage yet another attempt at my project so I don't have to start entirely from scratch again.  You may ask, why didn't I save my project as I went along.  I did.  Several times in fact.  Turns out what I did save wasn't a good file (although when it finally would save and work, it was the same format). 
   For projects like this, technology can be incredibly useful and at other times, you just want to chuck things against a wall because they seem entirely hopeless.  It really puts a hamper on getting things done if technology decides not to cooperate.

Update: After finally convincing the computer to agree with me at about 4:30am, I produced this gem, uploaded it to Youtube, and now can finally go to bed.  The picture you see above is only one of many examples of absolute and utter frustration Final Cut Pro was providing. 

Unfortunately there are currently some errors in the gadgets available for viewing YouTube videos in your blog, but when they are working, expect to see an embedded video, otherwise for now, my video is here and on YouTube.

Mungo Thomson's [Copy Last Blog Title...Insert Here]

Photo Credit: http://mungothomson.com/project/silent-film-of-a-tree-falling-in-the-forest/

   

    I can think of no better title for this blog post and Mungo Thomson's work than The Art of Exhibition, which I've already used last time, so I thought I'd elaborate a bit on whose Art of Exhibition it was.  Thomson's artwork is very much on the art of exhibition, which when looking at his website is not very obvious from the projects he has posted.  In a lecture he gave in the HAMMER Lecture Sereis, an exhibition in his own right, he talked about how his work was exhibited.  His work, by nature, is very scarce online whereas some of the other artist's presented on, such as Ryan Trecartin, used the internet and more modern media to exhibit their works and even add meaning to them.

   Although Thomson's art is often distributed and  not available for viewing online, shows he wishes for the art of his exhibitions to remain in the exhibitions themselves.  His Coat Check Chimes 2008, installed in the Whitney Biennial Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York  really expresses that his exhibits are meant to be interacted with and it is all about the art of the exhibit.  Not only did he do this specifically for this area replacing all of the 1,200 wooden coat hangers with his own, but used it to bracket his exhibit and admitted, if you don't check a coat, you don't see it although you might hear it.

   His exhibition of Silent Film of a Tree Falling in the Forest, 2006 really had interesting contrast with our Watching exhibit.  He made the room dark while ours was white, he made it a little harder to see the main focus of the piece, while we made it accessible.  Thomson shows there is a huge art to exhibition, which people may not realize is present in the work of other artists.  Their exhibition decisions of, "Do I put it online?"  "I am putting it in a museum!"  "I want people to come and see it, I'll only put teasers online", really share something about their art and the way they want it viewed.  Thomson is really able to express this idea in his art.