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Spooksography (VideoAssignments1847 4 Stars)

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The long awaited Spooksography. I want to keep Spooksy a bit mysterious, so I kept this pretty light. From the beginning I had in mind a picture of a baby eating himself, because that’s just so Spooksy. I wanted to touch on some of the parts about Spooksy that I wrote up when I initially created him, but haven’t been able to do much with, so I wanted something in the video about the war he never fought. A few of the things I wrote about Spooksy haven’t been introduced in any of my other work because they don’t translate well into non-video formats, so it was nice to be able to touch on some of those. I wanted to show Spooksy, but this came with the challenge that I have no picture of him in my mind, so I just went with the creepiest dude I could find on google images (I searched for fat beared old man). This was also a good chance to touch on the mansion, which I’ve mentioned a few times, but never been able to visualize. My initial concept had some crayon drawings Spooksy did as a child, but I ended up cutting them, as I don’t want to give too much away. Let’s just say, they offered some great character exposition. I hope they get a chance to show up later.

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Toby: A Dogumentary

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Yes, yes you did just read that title correctly. I decided to think a little out of the box for this one. When I read the assignment I had one person on my mind that I thought would fit the description perfectly. Unfortunately, I would have had to go home to be able to do it. I didn’t have the opportunity to go home this week, I have too many dance things going on right now. So my next best option? One of my dance choreographers, Chelsea’s new dog Toby! She decided to adopt a dog from the Fredericksburg SPCA, not only to gain a companion but also to give a pup a new chance at life! If you want to hear a little more about Chelsea’s new dog and some adorable videos and pictures of Toby check it out here:

The making of this video really wasn’t all that hard! First, I compiled all of the videos and photos that I wanted to use onto my computer. Then I uploaded them all into iMovie. Next, I strung them all together in the order that I wanted. Next, I recorded Chelsea speaking her parts (she wasn’t interested in being on camera). I put the recordings where I wanted them, then I chose a song to use as the background music. I thought Happy Together by The Turtles was a perfect choice for the new bond between Chelsea and Toby! I hope you all enjoy my little dogumentary!

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Mini Documentary

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This weeks video assignments included a must do mini documentary. My video for this features Kyle Hvisdash telling us about his favorite band of all time. The mini documentary on The Sun City Girls is a story of an eclectic style band so to make my movie in keeping with this I used a movie maker feature to make Kyle look like a pencil character come to life. Kyle does a great job with his audio story and his body language. Kyle is so excited to tell us about he band that it is an interesting story. I filmed Kyle in the laundry room in the basement of my house and used Windows Live Movie Maker for editing. For edits I used a few album cover images for the band and I added a title and credits slide. I also added sound clips from the band which I recorded on Audacity. After all the edits are done you simply save the movie and that’s it. Once again in order to get the video to load into the blog I first uploaded it to my flickr.com account and then downloaded here for your viewing. Hope you like it. I have to admit after hearing Kyle tell his story I was interested to go listen to some of the bands music. No my taste really but it is an interesting story about how this band traveled to India and incorporated sounds they discovered there into the music.

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Submitted by: Bill Genereux

Create a mini-documentary about someone who is fascinating. Don’t pick your best friend or a close family member. Find someone from your community with a great story to tell. Make this your BEST POSSIBLE work; we’re talking broadcast quality (ok, maybe only broadcast on public access TV, but still you get the idea.)

Use the video medium to show us the essence of who that person is. Preferably, depict this person in their natural surroundings. Use an establishing shot to give us a sense of place. Use cutaway shots so we can get more information about how that person works and/or lives. Use good camera composition techniques to frame your shots. Use tight editing to keep things moving. The video should only be 2-3 minutes long, no more or no less. Your finished video should be compelling to watch from beginning to end, with no slow spots or down times. Use sound, type and transition effects wisely. Use appropriate music from a source like Freeplaymusic.com to help set the mood and tell the story. If possible, record audio separately from the video camera’s microphone. You can use a lavalier microphone, or an audio app on your phone strategically placed out of sight, but near the subject speaking for recording high quality audio. If you use a second recording device for audio, clap your hands to help synch your sound file to your video file. Take your time, and be thoughtful about how your story should unfold for the greatest dramatic impact.

For an example of what an excellent Mini Documentary looks like watch The Story of Gerald Hersch on YouTube. It is less than 2 minutes long, but it takes us through a complete story arc that makes us want to know the person being depicted, as well as experience strong feelings as we view the film. Your film should do the same.