Reflectiino

well.

Our film has been coming along nicely, as we have a nice assembly of clips to utilize to construct the rough cut, as well as a strong idea for how we are going to use the footage we have to the best of our ability. Some concerns we have are that the audio we have in the footage currently isn't going to translate well when we add music and other audio effect to the film. So we'll see. Successes? We have a lot of footage. Hooray

This week I started assembling shots to get a rough idea of how the film will progress. Also, I started gathering music that I and the group thought fit the mood we were trying to convey within the film.

Next week I am going to start linking music together via Audacity or the program I use at home in order to give it a more cinematic feel so it's not just song then another song. That'd be pretty ugly. So that's that.

i had a boring weekend

http://vimeo.com/couchmode/staffpicks/sort:date/61813841

This is actually so hip. Anyway I haven't really got any insight about life this week. Just feeling kind of dull. Cold weather does that to me. I like being outside and moving. I'm buying a long board next week. That's always exciting. Going to be a bit of a hobby of mine this summer. Once I've got the basics down I'm going to hit up Rock Creek Park with a few friends and perhaps make a very pretty video. One that I can brag about to samuel.




A bit of a preview I suppose. Those are my boos. I'm starting to prefer longboarding to skateboarding because it has a significant purpose and function; rather than just doing kickflips and other tricks of the sort, you longboard to go somewhere, perhaps less on a literal level and more on a metaphorical one. That's it. night.

h.h. gregg

I will start this essay by expressly stating that our project was by no means ambitious. As such, I can only delve into the details of the documentary so much.  
The topic of which we documented was excitement surrounding Europa, one of Jupiter’s 67 moons. As exciting as it seems, the moon was chosen due to its potential to harbor life, which would mark a significant advancement in the understanding of our solar system. I feel as though we covered a substantial amount of information in our project and there really is not much left to explore. I suppose I’m still interested in it because it is a rather exciting frontier that is left to be explored by humanity. Topic selection within the parameters of the project is especially important, as students must work with the topic for nearly two months. Therefore it is easy to imagine that students who are dissatisfied with their topic find it difficult to actually complete the project. The amount of freedom we enjoyed during the project was greatly appreciated, as is usually by students completing a project of this nature. It seems as though if students were assigned topics, they would’ve completed the project with significantly less enthusiasm.

As a result of the intensive research completed on the study of Europa, of course many exciting facts concerning the nature of the moon, as well as a possibility of life on the moon itself were discovered. This, of course, led to an inherent interest in more details of the moon, marking an increase in my knowledge of the topic at the beginning and the end of the project. It’s a rather efficient cycle in terms of how research and work sort of interplay each other. You begin with research in order to develop a heightened understanding of the topic which allows you to begin the documentation process. Then, while creating the documentary, you are likely to discover holes in your knowledge that would add to the documentary as a whole, so you head back to research more in-depthly. That was an enjoyable element to the process of this documentary.

To be quite frank, our group did not face many obstacles during the completion of the

documentary. If there were indeed anything, it would be the organization of the documentary itself, merely because there were so many angles on which to address our main points. Other than that, the process made itself rather easy for us because of the particular style we were trying to emulate. We simply had to script the voice over, record it, lay down the images that correspond with the voice over, then select an appropriate song that nicely complements the tone of the documentary. If I were to change the documentary, I would spend more time elaborating on its technical aspects, namely animation, which would in turn give it more flair and allow the audience to be more engaged in the documentary.

In all honesty Mr. Mayo, I thought you did a grand job with this project. Perhaps because the layout of our documentary was so straightforward, we did not need as much assistance as other groups, leading to the foundation of my opinion. So perhaps I could not ask of much from you, but in from the perspective of other students, you could devote a few classes discussing the principles of a good documentary, perhaps showing a few exemplary films to the class and identifying the elements that make the documentary either good or bad. Just a suggestion.

The documentary project as a whole was well worth the effort as my group and I were happy to see the final result. I hope for more projects like this in the future in an effort to increase my knowledge of film and its many complexities.  

     





^^^Really good match.

Night.

look ma, parkour

In an effort to harness the spirit of Sam Howells. I did some hopping about on a fine, freezing Saturday morning. I even got a goon to come with me. I suppose I should talk about some film stuff while I'm at it. Well, firstly, I used a camera to film this. What camera? I'm not sure. What lens? Not sure either. Quality of video? Still a negative. Let's be honest I didn't really edit it either. I have plans to get better however. I just looked at Max's blog to see what he did for a post and there's this badass clip of Max Salzman. How will I ever compare. Oh well. I keep my hopes high. There isn't too much else to talk about seeing as I'm not exactly hip to video terminology. I could go on another metaphysical rant but I have neither the time nor the energy.

a for aardvark

I'm feeling kind of mopey today. I don't know. School is kind of depressing me. There's just too much superficiality surrounding how good my grades are. They're really just grades in reality. Letters on a piece of paper. They don't show much more about me than how well I can submit work that adheres to the requirements of a curriculum. And that just depresses me. I love knowledge. I love learning things. I love knowing things. I love knowing how things work. I love talking about how things work with other people. I want to know the nature of the universe. I want to know what we're meant to do. How we came here. So what I'm questioning is why I'm wasting my time sitting here stressing about homework that in reality, it going to have very little effect on the way my specific future plays out. Because what I want to do requires nothing except a positive attitude and an outgoing personality. It's an odd world we live in. Sometimes I enjoy musing about how different I'd be if I were born elsewhere. Perhaps into an indigenous tribe in central Africa.  I don't what to choose Africa because that sounds awfully stereotypical. But this is just hypothetical. I just feel like my time would be spent more productively. You know maybe I might not be given an education that renders me capable of an intellect equal to that of the "civilized" western world but I believe I'd be like a more fulfilling life than I am currently living. This is not to say I'm not grateful of the life I've been given. I fully appreciate it. I recognize that I am extremely privileged. I just wish I could do more with my life. But I'm restricted because of school. I'm restricted because I occupy nearly all my time in an educational system that hardly favors free, productive thought, but rather a system that favors thought that adheres to a preset schedule. And I hate that. I just hate it. I want to learn. But in my way and at my pace. I guess that's what I signed up for though. Public school and all. This is the most efficient and effective way to do it. I suppose my views are a bit naive but I believe there is some truth to them. When I get out of high school I know exactly what I'm going to do. I'm going to become certified as a personal trainer and go work at a gym and help people reach their goals regarding fitness and become an advocate for a healthy lifestyle. But most important of all, I'm never going to stop learning. I'm going to learn everything I want to. Philosophy, science, art, food, technology. All of it. And I'm going to love my life. I'm going to be happy. Because that's just where I want to be.

Multimedia Clip:




Cool trailer Samuel showed me.

Anyway I'm off.

Night night.

l

What to say. Usually I've got a really hip video for these occasions but quite frankly this time I've got nothing. Not too many things are happening right now. It's that transition period between winter and spring where nature doesn't really know what it's supposed to be doing. I guess I should take this time to mention the fact that I hate the winter. Everything is dead or dying. People get fat because no one wants to exercise and because we love to overeat during the holiday season. It's awfully depressing when you think about it. It's a very vicious cycle we maintain here in this lovely nation of ours. People eat when they're depressed then they become depressed after eating so they eat more. Wow. Don't you ever wonder how simplistic life was at the beginning of human life? When we were a budding race. No war, no money, no obesity. Odd. Intelligence is a real burden. Or a curse when you think about it. What you don't know can't hurt you it seems. I've done a lot of existential thinking lately. It really leads me to question the nature of our society. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Social hierarchy. All part of the system. It really makes me wonder what I want to do with my life. But you know what? All I really want is to be happy. I want to enjoy what I do. I want to be active. I want to immerse myself in new languages and cultures. Travel and explore. The world's a bigger place than we think. So I'm just going to work towards that goal. I think I've finally come to enjoy these blog posts. Nice to have my thoughts on paper. Maybe I'll start a diary.




Here's a multimedia clip so I get a 5/5.

Thanks and have a nice day.

I'm not talented so you should in no way expect much from me and give me an A for trying

Sorry mom.

them feels

I dunno, I feel like every time I don't post about something video related I'm going to get a 4/5. Tennis is interesting too you know. It's a lot more than just hitting a ball with a racket. I'm awfully fatigued at the moment, having just finished Freeman's hell of an essay. So excuse me if I'm a bit incoherent. I can't believe I'm expected to go to school tomorrow. BUT anyway, lets talk about the video at hand. It's by this cool guy named Dominic Faer or Fera. Not sure what prompted him to name his channel DomFear. But if you get the chance to watch this it's really neat for a plethora of reasons. It's got a really compelling story to start off. This main character in the film can see the future relationships between him and people he's never met. Not a very exciting power to have. I certainly wouldn't want it. He even quotes it as "spoiling the ending to a twist in a movie" at some point. And quite honestly who wants that. Second reason, it's a simple story with well done cinematographic elements that really draw you in. Excellent music selection, nicely set up shots, etc. It's a winning combination folks. So definitely check it out when you get the chance.