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.