A Night In Silver Spring

    For our most recent independent video assignment we were to create a 90 second movie showing what it's like to live in Silver Spring, Maryland. Because this will be shown to visting british students we wanted to make something that represented what we would actually do on a typical saturday night. I think it went extremely well and I atribute that to our planning.
    Even for the this short video I decided it would be smart to do some quick pre-production work. We had an idea but what would actually be filmed was not decided until we made a shot list. This made it easy once we began shooting because we both knew exactly what we wanted it to look like. Because we were organized, the final product was just what I was hoping for, maybe even better. When filming I used a few techniques such as the two time-lapses. What I like about them is they are both very different because one uses pictures and the other uses video but they both speed up time and create an energetic tone and pace. It was also fun for us to film because this represents what we like to do and all we really needed to do was have a camera with us. I hope you enjoy the video as much as we do.

Winter Photos

       Because I have recently come down with the flu I haven't had a chance to work on a video project that I was starting to think about and was hoping to post this weekend. Instead, I will share some photos that I took over winter break and go over what I think is interesting about each photo.
       Just before New Years, our family went to St. Michaels, which is in the Chesapeake. I was not thrilled about this trip and the fact that we would be staying at a bed & breakfast. I decided that the way I would pass the time would be to bring my camera and see what I can capture.

        This is a picture of a duck that was floating on perfectly still water. Because the water was so still, it looked as if the duck was floating in space. To  enhance this effect I used a filter that reduces reflection. This is my favorite all of the images.

       This is the steeple  of a church in St. Michaels. What I find cool about this picture is the tree in front of the church slightly blends into the steeple and makes it appear as if the branches were growing straight out of the church. I also like the faded blue sky in the background.

      This picture is of a large chain barrier next to the dock.  At first glance this image seems simple but then you notice the boats in the background and even further in the distance you notice the clouds. Although the focal length is short there is still a large amount of detail picked up in the distance.

       This picture was taken as the sun began to set which provided nice lighting. What is nice about this picture is how desaturated the image is except for the right side of his face where the sun hits. I also think his facial expression fits the image.

        These last two pictures were taken in the yard of another bed & breakfast on a point that sticks out into the bay. At the tip of the point was a massive cross which made for some interesting photos. It was also very foggy which made black and white images have an interesting look.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi Review

     I recently watched a documentary called Jiro Dreams of Sushi. This is a Japanese, expository documentary starring the world's greatest sushi chef Jiro Ono. His restaurant, Sukiyabashi Jiro is located in a Tokyo subway station and has only ten seats. To eat there, you must make a reservation at least one month in advance and the minimum cost per meal is $300. Because you eat sushi as soon as it is prepared, the average meal is only about 20 minutes. Jiro himself has recieved many awards from Japan and is the only sushi chef to ever receive three Michelin stars, one of the highest if not the highest honor a restaurant can recieve. This documentary captures his perpetual need to keep pushing the boundaries of what he can do with sushi.
   85 year old Jiro Ono works along side his oldest son and several apprentices. The apprentices must work for years and years to master the craft of sushi. It took one apprentice ten years before Jiro allowed him to cook egg sushi and even then it took him hundreds of tries until he could get it right. The film also explains Jiro's background of living on his own since the age of nine and working in sushi resturaunts ever since then. Because his parents weren't around, Jiro pushes his sons to be the independent and great chefs like he is. Although his sons work just as hard as Jiro, one person explains that they will never live up to Jiro as he has become such a legend in sushi culture. In addition to working hard, Jiro and his son explain, that it is also the constant preparation and choosing only the right ingredients that makes a great sushi chef. They will meticulously plan out every detail including where each guest sits and will even make smaller pieces of sushi for women so they can finish at the same time as the men. The film shows how Jiro has come so close to perfection yet will never retire because he is always working to become a better chef.
   An interesting cinematic aspect seen in this film is the use of time lapses and slowmotion in the making of sushi. This shows how long they work, as well as the detail that goes into crafting each piece.  One dramatic aspect of the film is when they staged some dimly lit scenes with just Jiro and his son evoking a dramatic mood.This is showing how Jiro truly is the master of sushi and his sons will do their best to carry on the legacy. Another interesting literary aspect is the point of view. The filmaker made it feel as if the viewer was part of the conversation by having the camera be at eye level and filming conversations between people. This became interesting when it showed Jiro's fish and rice dealers.
    I would highly recommend this film to a foodie or someone who is interested in different cultures. Just seeing how long these chefs have been working for one goal is truly remarkable. If these topics don't interest you as much, you may find some parts to be slow however it will still be very captivating.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi    81 minutes     PG

Macro Photography

   For a Christmas gift my aunt gave me a book of Poplar Photography tips and advice. As I was browsing  through the book I came across many interesting ideas for projects and great suggestions I had never thought of before. One image that truly stood out to me was an image of an eye taken with cheap macro photo equipment. This image inspired me to look into getting or making macro equipment of my own. My first obstacle was that I didn't have a macro lens (a key part of taking macro photos). I went to look at prices of a macro lens online but found nothing in a reachable price range. During this search however, I came across another option called macro extension tubes. What these do is extend the lens off of the camera and give an extreme macro effect, allowing you to get centimeters away from your subject. The big plus with these are that they cost a fraction of the price of a decent macro lens. I purchased a set for only $12. When the package arrived I began shooting immediately.

   This first picture is my best attempt at taking a macro image of an eye. Although mine is not as detailed and generally remarkable as the one that inspired me to try this in the first place, it came out pretty well and I now know more about how to go about taking these types of images.

   Here are a few others I took:

  

Moonlit Photography

 
    On my typical bus ride to school I noticed the moon was still out. The reason, I noticed it almost immediately was because it was nearly full and very bright. I seemed to stare at it for the remainder of the bus ride and decided that I would photograph it that weekend.
    Saturday night I went out with a friend and took some photos of the moon and attempted to make a time lapse of clouds flying by the moon. I ended up taking almost 1,300 photos and spent hours uploading and moving these photos into a video. This was a test and really taught me a lot about making time lapses. As you could see in my Colors of Fall video I have made a lime lapse before; however, that was not done in the most professional way. For that clip I simply set my camera in the window and recorded video for about 15 minutes and sped it up. To make this moon time lapse, I used the more professional technique of using a remote and taking continuous pictures for a long period of time. I was probably taking photos for about 10 or 15 minutes and ended up taking almost 1,300 photos.
   During post processing I discovered how long it can take to put these films together and how it can go wrong. For me, I used iMovie which complicated things. Once I managed to get every image into the program, iMovie automatically puts a "Ken Burns" effect on every photo so I needed to fix that. Also iMovie does not let you make the pictures show up for less than .1 seconds. Because of this I needed to move the fastest version into a QuickTime file, then put it back into iMovie and speed it up even more. This sacrificed some picture quality and also made it slightly shaky. Now I know more about what to do next time I make a time lapse. Here is my video and one of my the most interesting time lapses I've seen.

My Video:


Another Great Time lapse (Not mine):

DIY Steadicam

    As my interest in video grows I have been in search of new equipment to use to make my films even better. One piece of gear that I had heard of is called a Steadicam (Name of a company that many people have copied). These are basically mounts that you attach your camera to, that off sets the weight of your camera and gives shot a very smooth look even when you are walking or even running. They come in all shapes and sizes and can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars. I thought to myself that I would never be able to afford one and I had heard of other people making their own so I thought I'd give it a shot. I went on youtube and came across a few tutorials but ended up going with one specific design because it seemed to be the simplest to construct. The next day I picked up the supplies from the hardware store and got to work.

Here is the video tutorial that I used:

    It ended up being trickier to build than I expected because of the exact measurements for the mount. If you make this be careful to think through the lengths of screws and the thickness of the wooden block unlike me. Along the way I made a few changes to the design. Instead of using weights at the bottom, I taped a hammer and to give the camera extra support I used rubberbands to strap it down. Even If it did take me quite a while to build, I feel that the outcome was worth it and it will be a useful piece of equipment. Also the fact that I am only spending a few dollars instead of hundreds doesn't hurt.

    Here is a quick video of my frist tests. Keep in mind that this is my first time using something like this and all of the shots are handheld:

Pictures of my version:

Capture The Fall Film

    For our most recent assignment we were to capture our interpretation of fall as best we could in a one minute film. When I think of fall, the first thing that comes to mind is color so that is what I went out to capture. Here is my attempt at capturing the fall:

(Watch in HD)

   To make this film I used a Canon 7D with a tripod and edited the film in iMovie. I used a variation of shots to capture the colors and overall theme of fall. First I used a time-lapse, which is a long film of a setting sped up to show change at a high speed. For me that was capturing the changes in light and clouds. I did this by setting the camera by the window and recording for over ten minutes. I then took long chunks of the clip and sped them up by 2000%. I also incorporated lens whacking, which I showed how to do in a previous post. Besides these techniques I mostly used rack focuses and boosted the saturation in most clips to make the colors of fall stand out. In addition to capturing colors I showed the theme of Halloween because I feel that it is a very important part of fall as well. 

P.S. The coughing sound is not me. All sounds are part of the music file.

More filming and photography techniques coming soon...