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...

Light Painting

     Last night me and a friend went into my backyard to take some colorful and exciting photos. Earlier that day, I came across a very interesting video showing photos taken with a technique called "light painting." I had seen these types of images in TV commercials and ads before but I was never sure how they were made. In this video the photographer was showing how he was using light painting to advertise an alcohol brand. What I found interesting was that he said he made his own lights just to get the effect he wanted and focused on bringing out the amber color of the liquid with the light. His pictures came out incredible and this got me interested in seeing what else you could do with light painting.

(Don't drink alcohol)

    After watching a couple videos and looking at some examples online I decided that I was going to try this out myself that night. After the sun went down and the yard was near pitch black, we went out and played around with light painting. To do it, I set the camera's shutter speed to 13-30 seconds depending on the image and set the flash to first curtain. This means the flash goes off when you click the shutter button. When the flash goes off, this reveals the subject and the background. After the flash I went behind the subject and moved LED lights (flashlights and headlamps) to create streaks of color. Because there is never light shining directly on me, I don't show up in the picture. 

    Taking images of the chair was a little more complicated. To only reveal the chair and give an interesting lighting effect beneath it, I used a flashlight and lit the chair carefully. I then went behind and created the streaks by pointing the light directly at the lens of the camera.

    Although it was cold out and took several tries to get it right, I think the pictures came out great and we had a lot of fun. I think it is definitely a technique that I will use often in the future because there are so many ways to be creative with it. Here are some of the images I took.

(Click to see larger)

Basketball At TPMS

   This weekend me a some friends went to play basketball at Takoma Park Middle School and I was thinking that I hadn't taken pictures for fun in quite a while, so I decided to bring the camera along. I planned to take a couple specific pictures such as the one of John Ramsey dunking below, however I also just wanted to enjoy myself and capture some of our "intense" games we play most weekends. This was something I enjoyed doing because I can see myself being a sports photographer. I'm not saying that is my ultimate goal in life; however, I think it would be a career that I would really enjoy.

    I'm now going to explain how I shot and edited the picture John dunking. First I had him dunk while I took  a lot of pictures in high speed burst mode. In order to do this you need to keep the camera very  still and be careful not to let the background change behind the subject. I myself had trouble with this because I didn't bring a tripod. Using photoshop, I then pasted the images into separate layers and cut out everything except for John and the ball in each picture besides the last. I then flattened the image and played around with the background so that it look like one picture, not a stack of multiple. Postprocessing for this picture alone, took me about an hour. Here are some other shots I took this weekend that I thought came out well. (Click to view larger)

Cinematography Technique: Lens Whacking

    Today I was watching some youtube videos on cinematography techniques and came across one called "lens whacking." This is when you film with your lens detached from the camera and move the lens back and forth causing a blur and lighting affect. I thought this was an interesting idea and I had seen this look in movies before so I decide to take my camera into the yard and try it out on my own.
   With the little knowledge about the technique I have, I thought it went okay. I found that moving the lens in certain directions created different affects. Trying this actually lead to me better understanding how a lens works. The one thing I did have a little issue with was keeping it steady. Even when I wasn't moving the camera, the movement of the lens caused it to be shaky at times, although I could fix this in postprocessing. Also depending on the way I moved the lens the shot would be covered slightly by the side of the lens. You can see that happening in the last two shots of the short film I made, showing my attempt at lens whacking. One other slight issue I had was getting the focus I wanted but that will come with practice. I plan to use this technique more often and make more films like this one, showing  new techniques that I have learned about cinematography and photography.

Watch in HD if you can...

Nationals NLDS Game 4: Emotions Captured

         Recently my primary interests outside of school have been photography and baseball, so I immediately knew that I was going to document the Nationals playoffs through photography and film;  however, this was before I knew it would be such an incredible experience. 
         When I entered the stadium this Thursday for game 4 of the NLDS with camera in hand, I had a goal of capturing the emotions of the crowd and not the game itself. This is the first time the Nationals have made the playoffs in their not so long existence and they needed a win to stay alive, so naturally the crowd was dedicated to watching every pitch hit the catcher's mitt. 
        Instead of trying to take not so interesting shots of the players, I focused on the audience. Whether it would be a depressing or thrilling game, it was important for me to show that in my photos and video. I often used the technique of only focussing the lens on one fan, with the field in the background, instead of attempting to capture it all with one shot. This created a more dramatic effect and conveyed more feeling. 
        I am confident that I summed up the emotions and intensity of the game quite well, while capturing the greatest moment in Nationals baseball history on video. When Jayson Werth hit the walk off homerun in the bottom off the ninth, I and everyone else in the stadium went into hysteria. The only difference between me and everyone else, was that I had the moment caught on tape. I hope you enjoy seeing the game of baseball from a different perspective as I did tonight.

Dystopian Script Process

    As the script comes along I can start to picture the trailer in my mind. Although It still needs some work to build on detail, I feel that it has good potential and we will have a dramatic sequence of clips. We have set it up to initially explain the destruction of nuclear war. It then describes the society of the surviving land and how the dictator, Coltrane, keeps his power. Then the catalyst comes in and it slows down a bit. Once the catalyst is introduced the remainder of the trailer is very fast paced with quick cuts and text slides until the final scene where it slows again.
   The trailer has six scenes including both dialogue and voice overs. Dystopian elements can be seen through Coltrane's speech, the use of propaganda posters and the use of guards and surveillance throughout the scenes. The story line is clear as the premise is set up followed by the protagonists struggles, then action scenes showing how he will disrupt the system. Overall I feel that our script could use a tad more cleaning up but it is just about ready to be shot.

5x5

• Clip 1: Kitchen Sink 
• Clip 2: Bathtub 
• Clip 3: Garden Hose
• Clip 4: Shower
• Clip 5: Dripping Bathroom Sink

    I created my 5x5 by filming sounds and movement of water throughout my house. I filmed these clips using a Canon 7d and used iMovie to edit it. One issue I found while editing my clips was that the shot of the dripping faucet had background sounds of the camera. To fix this I lowered the sounds in-between the drips so you can't notice it as much. I like the way it came out and I feel that even though the shots are simple they were well done.

   For our next independent film challenge I  feel that we should do something similar except this time incorporate music. One idea is we could show a story in less than 15 or 20 seconds then use music to help tell the story.

Dystopian Trailer Review

Equilibrium . Kurt Wimmer . R . 2002
In a world where rights are a thing of the past and feelings are illegal, a role model member of society, John Preston (Christian Bale) comes to realize the horror of his society and decides he is the one who has to take down the system.

      This is an exemplary trailer because it clearly shows the premise, protagonist's change and the faults of the society they live in.  The premise is clearly shown through the use of cleverly picked dialogue and visible text that appears every few seconds to help the viewer understand their society. The director also chooses very emotional and high-impact scenes and clips that help the viewer understand the premise. The protagonists change is clearly seen as they show his wife being taken and his reaction. All clips after this, show his new goal to overthrow the system. The faults of the society can also be clearly seen in this trailer. In the text they describe the lack of rights and the over-controlling government. The use of force and armed guards is also evident and show one way they control the population.
     The director was clever with choosing his clips and setting the tone so we should use this as a way of coming up with ideas for our trailer. I feel that we should use a similar style of text that appears along with some dramatic music. Also like this trailer we should show the development of the protagonist in a clear way. For example we could show him going along with the system until he sees what is wrong. This along with many aspects of the Equilibrium trailer will help us with creating our own dystopian trailer.

Article Analysis

     Tonight I read the article, "Preparing Students to Learn Without Us" written by Will Richardson. This article discusses the topic of using technology to learn outside of the classroom through the use of blogs and other resources. He mostly focuses on the idea of students finding a passion and building upon that. The point I found interesting about this article was that he suggested using a non-academic passion or a passion that is not talked much about in class and digging deeper into that and relating it to a class topic. For me it would be interesting to learn more about cinematography because one of my hobbies is photography and I could find relations between the two. I think the use of our blogs to learn more about a topic we are interested in would be a good thing to do within CAP. This would allow for a more personalized and exciting way of learning.

Annotated article: http://diigo.com/0sy4n

     Today I read, "Review: 'The Bourne Legacy' Retroactively Poisons the Prior Trilogy" written by Scott Mendelson for the Huffington Post. This review of The Bourne Legacy seems to lack much structure and focuses much of it's energy on personal opinion. What I can say about the structure is that paragraphs typical started with plot descriptions then carried into a critique of the film and it's effect on the Bourne Trilogy. After plot descriptions he soon described some of the acting (but not much) and continued to throw in his opinions. This film review lacked cinematography and editing comments besides one saying he liked the choppiness of some editing sequences. This review was also written in a rude and sarcastic tone which did not help me sympathize with the writer. He did not even convey a real theme (besides it didn't have one).
    Because of seeing this lack of structure I feel this review was confusing, so to help me and the rest of the class there should be some form of structure when we are assigned to write a movie review of our own. This would help with making sure we cover everything. Also when writing our own reviews we should be allowed to choose the topic and movie itself. Besides that there should be guidelines on how we write it.

Link to my annotations: http://diigo.com/0sua5  

   

Introduction

      Hi I'm Peter. I have two dogs named Floyd and Bayley. I play baseball and one of my hobbies is photography. The component of film making that most interests me is cinematography. Since fifth grade I have enjoyed going out and making short films with my friends. We never wrote scripts but our films still ended up being decent. This is still something I like to do however with more organization and planning.

     The most I ever enjoyed making films was in sixth grade when I lived in Germany. Me and my friend would spend our weekends coming up with stories such as a robbery or someone who is in love with nutella and would make them into films using our apartment building as a setting. We would both act, direct and edit.

 I think we could use this blog to:

• Share images related to our class discussions.
• Share films we make outside of class.
• Suggest new projects.
• Continue class discussions online.
• Share completed school projects with everyone.

One of the pictures I have taken. Shot in Copenhagen from the water using a Canon 7D.