Because Sometimes You Win Without Actually Winning

View Assignment Details

This is the Sports Mashup video (worth 3 1/2 points) I created by taking video clips of some of my favorite moments in sports and splicing them together in iMovie. These aren’t the “typical” sports clips showing professional athletes making incredible catches, dunks, or touchdowns. Instead, these clips show amazing moments in sports where people put winning and pride aside in order to make something incredible happen for someone else with the very last clip being one in which my favorite athlete shows that he is really starting to understand what it truly means to be part of a team and that a game isn’t all about winning.

I began the process of making this video by downloading clips from You Tube of events that I recalled seeing in various news stories over the years. I then found pictures of different quotes that seemed related to the theme of the video and set them to the same background so that they would match the pictures and texts that would be at the front and end of the video. Once I put all of that together in the order I wanted in iMovie, I decided to add another tear jerking element. At the end of The Blind Side movie, a song played by Five for Fighting called “Chances”. I’ve seen The Blind Side at least 10 times but at the end of the movie when they have the slideshow of pictures playing to this song I find myself tearing up so it just seemed like the natural song to add to my video. Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it. I think I’m finally started to get the hang of this iMovie thing.

View Assignment Details

Song Visualization (Summer Breeze)

View Assignment Details

Original Assignment (3 stars)

For this assignment, we were asked to select a portion of a song, and find visuals that go along with the lyrics. I was feeling rather stressed and in a sh!tty mood at the time, and so I wanted to pick something soothing and laid back. “Summer Breeze”, by Seals & Crofts hit me instantly, so I was already locked in with that song. Audio wise, I ended up using the intro, first verse, and chorus for my video.

See the curtains hangin’ in the window
in the evenin’ on a Friday night
A little light a-shinin’ through the window
lets me know everything is alright

(chorus x 2)
Summer breeze
makes me feel fine
blowing through the jasmine in my mind
Summer breeze
makes me feel fine
blowing through the jasmine in my mind

After reviewing the lyrics a couple times, I began my hunt for images on Google. It was very time consuming trying to find the right images to fit the mood of the lyrics, and I wanted the images to be in high quality. Then I thought, “Why not add some video footage to balance it out”? A video with just images is pretty boring, so I decided to mix it up. The way the song starts off, I envisioned some type of beach view. I ended up finding the coolest video that fit perfectly with what I imagined in my head. Some guy had attached a GoPro to his RC plane and flew it over an Australian beach. So I ended up using portions of that video along with the still images.

Project window in iMovie.

As I stated many times, timing is everything. I made sure each image/video clip appeared at the right moment, flowing with the lyrics. A few tweaks were added (fade transitions, audio/video adjustments, and text) to give it my own flare. Overall, I am happy with the way it turned out. It took some time to find the right images and video clip, but it was worth it. Check out my final video below.

Credits

Lyrics from ELyrics

Photos from Google

Video from Youtube

Audio from Youtube

Audio/Video conversion from KeepVid

View Assignment Details

That Bleeping Censor

View Assignment Details

Original Assignment (5 stars)

The objective for this assignment was to censor a movie scene/clip, using a sound effect. I chose a scene from the movie Casino, where Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro meet up in the desert. That guy Pesci sure does have a foul mouth, lol. I counted 24 swear words, most of them F-bombs. Let the editing begin (I used iMovie). It took me a little while to carefully cut each swear word out of each clip (timing is everything). Half way through, I became more comfortable with the process, maybe even mastered it (haha).

Next, I had to go back and mute each individual clip that I cut. Pretty easy process, I just had to highlight each clip, and select “mute clip” from the drop down menu.

Muting a clip in iMovie.

Lastly, I had to add my bleep sound effect to each individual clip that was just muted. Again, timing is everything, so I messed around with the placement and time duration of the bleep to get it sounding just right. The bleep effect was much louder than the rest of the audio in the scene, so I had to manually change the volume on each one (from 100, i had to lower the sfx to 15). Following that last step, I played the entire clip over and over until I was satisfied. Title cards were placed at the beginning and end of the scene. One for introducing the title of the scene, and the other for credits.

Although this was a 5 star assignment, it felt like a 3 star assignment because it was rather easy, but at the same time, time consuming (thanks to Joe Pesci and his swearing). Check out the classic scene below from the film, Casino.

Original Uncensored Version

Video from Youtube

MP4 conversion from KeepVid

Sound effect from SoundBible

View Assignment Details

The Complete Package (True Detective)

View Assignment Details

Original Assignment (4 stars)

For this assignment, we were asked to pick a TV series that has ended, and make a trailer using clips from various episodes. Many series came to mind, like The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, and Entourage to name a few. I decided to go with HBO’s original series, True Detective. This was an awesome series, starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. It’s been rumored that the mini-series is returning for another season with different characters. Rumor has it that Brad Pitt is supposed to join the cast.

There were so many great scenes to use, but I had to narrow them down accordingly. My trailer ended up being two minutes on the dot. I grabbed some HD video scenes and the HBO intro from Youtube and converted them to MP4 using KeepVid. Next, I knew I wanted to throw in an image representing the series towards the end. Thanks to Google, I found an HD image that worked beautifully.

Now I was ready to begin importing and editing. As I stated earlier, the most difficult part of this assignment was deciding which scenes to use. I did not put the scenes in any type of order because I did not want to spoil it for anyone who may want to consider watching it. Other than that, editing was a breeze (really starting to feel comfortable with it). Transitions (fade to black) were added at the beginning and end for a smooth intro/outro. Some of the clips were louder than others, so I had to tweak them to match the others as best as I could. Lastly, I added a “Credits” screen at the end to make it seem more authentic. Overall, I happy with my work, and can’t wait to tackle the next video assignment.

iMovie Project Window

If you have not had the chance to watch this series, please do so (highly recommended). Enjoy the Trailer!

View Assignment Details

Inglorious Basterds (Silent Film Trailer)

View Assignment Details

Original Assignment (4.5 stars)

The mission was to create a silent film, using a modern movie trailer. I viewed a couple other students submissions and was immediately inspired to take a stab at it. It took me quite a while to figure out which movie trailer to use. I began to get agitated, going through many trailers on youtube until it hit me. I thought to myself, “How about pick a Tarantino flick”? Last week, I analyzed Tarantino’s classic, Pulp Fiction, so it was only right to keep it going (definitely a fan of his work). I chose his 2009 film, Inglorious Basterds to complete this assignment.

I found the trailer on youtube, and then proceeded to find some silent film type music that would flow well with the content. It took me a while to find one that was fitting, but I decided on this tune from Dickie Wells (1920s). My last task before editing was to find a silent movie card for the dialogue. Thanks to google, I was able to find one to my liking.

Silent Film Card

Now it was time to load up iMovie and begin importing and editing. Once imported, I watched to trailer a couple more times and jotted down the dialogue I wanted to use for the cards. The slides themselves had to be made in Photoshop and then exported. Finding the right font to use was a hassle, so I searched online and found this old Nickelodeon font that was perfect.

Slide in Photoshop

Old Nickelodeon Font

In iMovie, I started to splice each separate scene of dialogue, then insert the appropriate slide immediately after. Take a look at the screenshot below to get a better idea of the process.

iMovie Project Window

Once all the slides were in their proper space, I muted the clips, converted each clip to black and white, added my chosen audio, and then added fade transitions at the beginning and end of the trailer. For some reason I had issues with the audio quality when exporting (it looked like sh!t on youtube). So I played around with the settings until I was satisfied (it was pretty time consuming, and frustrating). Nonetheless, it was a fun assignment and good video editing practice. Hope you all enjoy my silent film version of the trailer.

Credits:

Youtube for the audio and trailer.

KeepVid for converting the video to MP4.

VidtoMP3 for convering the audio to MP3.

View Assignment Details

Eberts Reading Movies

View Assignment Details

When just watch the clip without sound:

Noticed camera follows movement
It focuses on who’s talking from the opposite person’s viewpoint
Sometimes in POV style
Camera zooms in on actions that would go unnoticed otherwise

When just sound:

Used lots of narration to explain story
Excerpts of short diologue
Music matches the mood

When together:

The music stops at awkward parts
Exaggerated sound effects
Lots of motion going on in scenes

I learned from this exercise that there’s a lot you miss when you are watching the video purely for content. Spreading out the aspects of the video allows you to see why certain effects are chosen and how when they are together it creates a even better effect. I would have never noticed camera angles before or the background music. I really like how the music effects the mood. In terms of Ebert, I definitely saw how a POV from below the character makes him seem bigger and thus more important. The constant movement I saw probably was to bring the attention of the viewer. In terms of camera angles the clip liked to use zooming and one point perspective.

View Assignment Details

Video Assignments: Pre-Production

View Assignment Details

Return to the Silent Era

Keeping with my theme this week, for my addition to the video assignment Return to the Silent Era I plan to use a clip from the film The Dark Knight. The clip I plan to use is the final scene that features the Joker, where the Batman and the Joker battle it out on top of a massive skyscraper.

To edit this clip, I plan to use Movie Maker to strip the audio and add the old-timey black and white effect to the clip. I also intend to speed up the clip. Movie Maker is simple and easy to use, and is more than capable of doing the basic editing required to return this movie clip to the Silent Era. If necessary, I may switch to MPEG Streamclip or Adobe After Effects. I have chosen a silent movie theme to apply to the background, though I may choose a different one if I find something that I like better.

Play-by-Play

For my Play-by-Play video assignment, I plan to give a play-by-play of my morning routine, starting with waking up in bed, and ending with walking out the door to class. I plan to use my iPhone to record the video, and then record my commentary with Audacity. Finally, I am going combine the voice-over with the morning routine footage in either Movie Maker of After Effects.

Reviewing Past Video Assignments

As I was browsing the DS106 assignment page for Return to the Silent Era, I came across Terminator 2: Silent Film. The Terminator movies are great, and this silent film adaption of the trailer is no exception. The music used fit perfectly into the theme of suspense and desperation that is felt by the characters throughout the film. The visual effects are very well done, and the dialogue panels that are interjected throughout really bring the trailer together.

The other video assignment that caught my eye was an assignment titled “I’m Bored As Hell And…”, which was created for the Redub the Audio video assignment. I could not find the original blog post that this assignment was posted in, but here is the video:

I have never seen the move that this clip is from, so I have no idea what this scene is actually about. To me this could have been the actual audio and I would have never known. Very well done redub. The expressions on the faces of some of the actor makes it all the better!

View Assignment Details

Genres of Youtube: Funny/Entertaining Politics!

View Assignment Details

While browsing through the Examples of Youtube Genres Google Document, I came across the “Funny/Entertaining Politics” Genre, and immediately knew which video I wanted to add. Back in high school, one of my teachers showed the class a video of U.S. Representative Hank Johnson of Georgia. In the video, Johnson is trying to explain to a U.S. Admiral during a House hearing that sending a large amount of U.S. Marines and their families to the island of Guam would cause the island to capsize. The video is absolutely hilarious due to the ridiculousness of the Congressman’s assertion.

Other Good Genres

Other genres that I found unique or useful include the “Animals Doing Human Things” genre, as well as the “Pranks” genre. Youtube is FILLED with prank videos to the point where the website is over-saturated with these types of videos. Giving them their own category would help to weed out this huge sub-genre and make finding other types of comedy easier.

The “Animals Doing Human Things” genre seems like a perfect sub-genre to turn into a full genre. There are tons of instances of animals doing human like things (like being mean or just being downright stupid) and having its own genre would make these types of videos so much easier to find!

Not-So-Good Genres

A couple of the genres created were a little odd in my opinion, or could fit into other genres that already existed. The “Fish Slap” genre seems a little too specific to be a genre, and could probably fit under the “Animals Doing Human Things” genre.

Another genre that could fit into a pre-existing genre would be the “Coning” genre. If you are not aware, “coning” is when a person grabs the ice cream part of an ice cream cone rather than the cone itself. This action is intended to be a prank on fast food workers and could fit nicely into the “Pranks” genre.

View Assignment Details

Exploring “The Dark Knight”

View Assignment Details

This week, we were tasked with analyzing a movie of our choice. The movie that I chose to analyze was the 2008 film The Dark Knight.

Fun Facts About The Dark Knight

A lot of speculation arose about Heath Ledger’s preparation for his role as the Joker after his untimely death before the film’s release. It was revealed that Ledger hid himself away in a hotel room for weeks at a time in order to really become one with his character. Ledger essentially drove himself insane by trying to literally become the Joker, which likely contributed to his drug abuse and death. Source

Heath Ledger actually designed the Joker makeup himself, and after it was approved the makeup team was tasked with replicating it every day for filming. Source

Christian Bale (Batman) stated in an interview that Ledger had wanted him to actually beat him rather than fake it during the interrogation scene between Batman and the Joker. Source

The Genre(s) of The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight is listed on IMDb as an action/adventure movie. I would agree that the movie definitely features action in the way of intense fights and confrontations, as well as epic police battles and car chases. I would have to argue, however, that the film lacks any elements that would put it in the adventure category. Instead of placing The Dark Knight in the adventure category, I would instead place it in the thriller category. The film has countless intense moments that really draw in and immerse the viewer, such as the final battle between the Joker and the Batman near the end of the film, as well as the interrogation scene between Batman and the Joker. The fact that it was incredibly difficult to predict what was going to happen next makes this film a true thriller.

Action and Thrill in the Dark Knight

There are countless scenes that feature both action and thrills in The Dark Knight, however, I chose to narrow my examples down to two scenes. I trimmed specific clips out of the Joker party crash scene, as well as the Joker’s interrogation scene.

In the first clip, the Joker grabs Rachel before giving her one of several explanations for his scars that he gives throughout the film. The scene is incredibly tense as all the focus in the room is on the Joker and Rachel. The audience is not sure what is going to happen to her. Is he going to kill her, or worse, give her scars like his? The lack of knowledge of the outcome, combined with the increasing pace of the background music makes the scene incredibly tense and thrilling.

In the second clip, the Batman has had enough of Joker’s shenanigans and proceeds to beat the location of Harvey Dent out of him. This scene is probably the most intense of the movie and is the one where the Batman is the most violent, as he shows no hesitation to beat the Joker within an inch of his life when he discovers that Rachel is threatened as well.

View Assignment Details

Looking, Listening, and Analyzing: The Joker in The Dark Knight

View Assignment Details

Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight is one of the greatest movies of the last decade, and is my favorite superhero movie of all time. The most captivating character in the film is The Joker, portrayed by the late Heath Ledger. The particular Joker scene that I decided to do the “3 time” review on is the “Pencil Trick” scene where the Joker is attempting to convince the mob bosses of Gotham to help him take down the Batman.

This scene did not have any particularly amazing camerawork or sound effects, but there are a few things that I noticed that are worth mentioning. On my first run-through of the clip, I muted the sound and simply watched the characters. One of the first things that I noticed was the 180 Degree rule, which was closely followed for the majority of the clip. The only exception to the rule was when the Joker’s face was shown. The camera placement also put a lot focus on the Joker, as the camera’s point of view was constantly switching between the faces of the mob bosses and the Joker, with the Joker being the center of attention of course. The third camera effect that I noticed was that whenever the Joker was speaking, the camera would occasionally switch between the three mob bosses, and slowly zoom towards their faces. I interpreted this as the characters being drawn in by what the Joker was saying, and that camera movement was meant to mimic that. This, combined with the fact that the Joker is seated at the head of the table-which is normally reserved for the most respected individuals-means that the mobsters spend the entire scene in a subservient position to the Joker.

For my second run-through of the clip, I listened to the audio alone, without watching the video. In this scene, there was a very subtle instrumental beat that pulsated in the background. The beat increased gradually in speed and intensity as the scene progressed, before culminating with a low, ominous “boom” when one of the mob bosses confronts the Joker and he reveals that his jacket is filled with explosives. The subtle background beat really personified the tension in the room between the mobsters and the Joker. After the explosives are revealed,the music stops for the rest of the scene as the intensity of the scene had reached its climax.

Watching the scene and paying close attention to both the video and audio effects lets the viewer truly appreciate the complexity of this seemingly simplistic and vanilla scene. I urge you to watch the scene with the sound, and see how well the elements I mentioned above work together. Perhaps you will notice something I missed!