Self Portrait (still a work in progress)

After a very efficient working period on last thursday’s class, the editing of the film is taking great shape.  All that remains is to add some minor scenes (including the final one) and the audio.  I know matching the narration to the video will take some time.  I do not expect the audio to flow perfectly over the footage and that some minor tweaking will be needed.  I also plan to work on it this week before the next class.

An interesting point I thought i would add is a source of inspiration for the editing.  Before beginning my editing in class, i took a 10 minute break to walk around the school to get into the “feel” of “walking”.  The walk around Dawson that included various hallways and stairs (settings that are also used in the video) was very useful.  Its hard to explain how exactly it helped the editing process, but it was after that “walk” that there was a flow of ideas.

Typography Example

A good typography example I have found recently is from an album of the industrial rock band “Nine Inch Nails”. “Year Zero Remixed” is an album of remixed songs from their “Year Zero” album.  I find the typography interesting because of it’s use of numbers and letters to spell out the title in a different way.  Not only have the songs been remixed, but so has the manner of spelling.

Self Portrait (Growing Progress)

The subtitle says it all.  Throughout the week, I have been looking over FCP video tutorials at lynda.com in order to have a good sense of this complex program.  Looking back to my past experiences with FCP and iMovie, I dont know how i was ever able to use this programs without lynda.com.  I will admitthat the best way to learn something is through discovering it yourself, but for FCP, i gave into tutorials. 

I have also began brainstorming some ideas to discuss during my “monologue” about myself.

Ideas include:

-my laid back lifestyle (how i feel theres very few things that matter to worry about) (similar to “the Dude” in “The Big Lebowski”.

-how I am not sure what I want my career to be, but that one day, I will go through some sort of experience that will cause me “know”

-(maybe) mention why I have a slight limp when I am walking throughout the video

-(maybe) how I find and many others find I sound like a “stoner”

-Last statement will explain that the most important thing to me is music. That is when I open the door to reveal that all this time I was walking to a band practice.

Self Portrait (inspiration)

I thought I should post one of the sources of inspirations for this project: the music video of Daft Punk’s Da Funk.  This video shows how much can happen or be said about someone during a “walk”.  

Self Portrait (software)

Last class, I had began uploading footage to iMovie, but after having the in-class discussion on iMovie and FCP (Final Cut Pro), I have decided to switch (to FCP).  The reason for this is FCP’s ability to work with multiple frames instantly opposed to iMovie clips which needs to be reworked with Quicktime.  I feel that seeing and working instantly with multiple frames will generally be more inspiring (by giving you a more precise idea of how your idea is looking and how the final product will look).  The problem I see with iMovie and Quicktime is once the editing of the clips is done and placed on quicktime, if the finals results are unsatisfactory, it will be a hassle to go back and edit the iMovie clips.  That is what I believe, but I am sure that for some, the opposite is more simple.  I have some experience with FCP(mostly frustrating), but thanks to Lynda.com, many of the solutions to my questions, complications and most of all FRUSTRATIONS will be answered.

Typography Example

Throughout the semester, we are supposed to blog interesting examples of typography that we encounter.

A recent one that I have discovered is for for the title Metallica’s most recent album “Death Magnetic”.  I was impressed by the use of the “horse shoe” shaped “D” and “C” to symbolize magnets.  

Self Portrait (Overview)

When first assigned this project, a concept immediately rushed to my head.  I imagined a documentary “feel” style because A) it is one of my favorite categories of film and B) I feel it would be the best way to tell my “story”.  The concept is based around my walk through a building(consisting mostly of stairs) and generally explaining who I am and my views on life. 

Aesthetically, I will be using several frames.  What will be showing in each will most probably be decided in the editing process.  The camera will be following my actions and I, while my voice is being heard over as I am “talking” to the camera.  As I keep walking up these series of stairs (which should appear to be endless), I want the viewer to wonder where I am and where I’m walking to.  Throughout the feature, my face will not be shown until the final scene.  The principle behind this is to make the viewer visualize how my face looks.  The last scene consists of finally reaching a door, opening it to see my band set up, (I) pick up a guitar and we play a note when suddenly the screen turns black(thanks to Mr. Boffa for that idea).

Typography

The purpose of the assignment was to get us understand typography (the art of text).  We each had to design a few logos for something that has meaning to us.  Music is the first thing that came to my mind.  I am currently the guitarist of a Progressive-Metal band named “Face the Fire”(and yes, it does have a meaning and was not chosen because we thought it sounded “cool”).  It has been months now that we have been trying to find someone to design a logo for us (because none of us had an idea how to do so), but we couldn’t find anyone willing to do it for less than $50.  Therefore, I thought this would be a great opportunity to get it done.  

The first concept that came to my head is to have the word “Fire” written largely engulfing “Face the”.  I used the most “metal-looking” font for “Face the” because we are a metal band and an edge is needed.  “Face” is a larger size than “the” because it is meant to be more emphasized.  With “Fire”, I tried to use a “smoke-like” text to work with the word itself.  

  After working with Photoshop for a few hours, I discovered several effects; the main one being drop shadow.  I was amazed by the enormous difference it had on my work.  It made the logo look so much better and gave it more character.  Unfortunately, Mr. Boffa told me we weren’t really allowed to use these effects for all our works, but he told me to blog about it here.  So here is the first work with a shadow and Mr. Boffa’s suggestion of reversing the colors.

 

The second concept that came to my head is a logo to put on promo posters.  I wanted the logo to direct the viewer’s eyes to a specific area.  For example, this logo would lead someone’s eyes to the bottom of the poster (towards the location of the concert and maybe a gimmick such as “Cheap beer!”).  I once again used the “smokey” font.  For short, we are “FTF”.  I emphasized on the first letter of each word in an attempt to make the viewer remember these 3 initials.  

The same logo with a shadow

 

For the last logo, we were allowed to go all out.  I chose a fire background for obvious reasons.  “Face the” are used for the same reasons as my first concept.  I once again wanted to emphasize on “Fire”.  I wanted to make it seem as if the word just finished burning.  That is why it is in a yellow, burnt font and the shadow around it representing ashes.

 

Remix Culture

       In my opinion, to “Remix” means to “reconstruct using the same concept”.  An example of this would be “remixing” a mid-tempo rock song into a fast-paced dance one (for example: the Red Hot Chili Peppers song “By the way”).  There are other techniques than can also be used such as sampling or quoting which is to use a part of an already existing piece of work.  Overall, remixing is so broad  that they are no exceptions to what and how work can be done.  

       There is a strong relationship between early forms such as collage and montage and newer forms such as electronic and computer tools.  Both forms are using the concept of Remixing.  The only difference is the medium that the remixing is done through.  

        The similarities between audio and visual remixes is that they are both using this concept of reconstructing with the creator’s twist to it, yet still having the original work’s influence.  The differences between the two are the media the work is done through and the fact that audio remixing is widely accepted, but visual remixing is sometimes considered plagiarizing.