sound in terra nova's portrait

So far i have not added any outside sound. However I have leaned to take out sound I don't like by lowering the decibles in final cut express with the pen tool. When you lower this sound it leaves what I can only describe as a "void sound" which is very evident when watching the film. So what i did was take extra sound I had (sound with no one talking but just the waterfall and birds and other sounds) and put it in place of the "sound void" . if listened to closely you can here something like a churning or pumping. All in all is was improved greatly.

Now I have lots of film of terra talking about her experience and I am thinking what sound would go well with it? Maybe i can ask her about music she has been listening to latley?

RUN LOLA RUN!

This is a great movie which tells of a bank robbery gone wrong. It is also a love story and unfolds in a non-linear way. From watching it what immediately struck me was the sound track. Of course Lola is running to get to her destination in time and so the repetitive and steady techno music fits perfect. I like how they keep the techno sound track going over the characters while they speak their lines and then at other times stop the techno so we focus just on the characters lines. At times they vary the music to be low in volume with small techno booms and as the story unfolds and plot increases the volume rises with the booms. At one point in the film they have possession of the money and begin running with it. The sound changes to a slow jazz song with a woman's voice. The characters are seen running in slow motion. The parrellels of the various music in the film creates a wonderful mood. And boy can that Lola run!

Portrait of a person

The story I am trying to tell is about a woman who uses photagraphy to desensitize her social anxiety. My subject will be asked to speak about whatever she feel and will eventually get prompted with questions for more detail. The final result of this film is unknown as I am letting it unfold in a more organic process.

During the editing the greatest challange is using final cut express. It is very hard to remember all the steps and features. If I didn't have a job I would spend more time practicing it however I do have to feed myself. I wish the software was more intuitive. However I am happy to be learning it as it is a real professional tool and a good skill to have.

A technical question is: Why can't the text show up over my film?

communicating the passage of time

In this project I will take photo's that communicate the passage of time. I may do one series about my early morning meditation practice. Also I may follow a person around. I would like to incorporate it into a book. A great web site I saw showed a picture of a fan moving in a book as you quickly flipped the pages. Suddenly the hair of the woman flipping the pages began to blow. It was cool!

childhood memory

I am going to take 20 - 25 images that relates or serves as a visual time capsle. This will be to try to convey the essence of that memory. I am not sure what memory I will do. I am thinking of doing these possible memories: uncle bo bo's camp, getting lost the night of the 4th of july celebration with my mom and gram.

Light Study: A few notes

When doing these drawings I did my best to draw the light. I did 3 views out of 3 different windows from my apartment for a total of 9 views. One window shows a vie of a big white house across the street. It has a large yard and just beyond it are some condominiums. It was interesting drawing the light on this house at 8 a.m. in the morning. I was alert and refreshed from a nice sleep. The light in my opinion was most bright at this time. All the house and snow in the yard blended together. I enjoyed drawing the light at this time the most.

The nighttime drawings were the most difficult as I began to have to draw the outside and the inside at the same time. The reason for this has to do with the reflection from the artificial light from inside my apartment.

Literally the light was hitting the snow and the light made the place look fun and woodsy. The trees had nice shadows casting down in the snow.

The midday drawing at 4:00 made me become more aware of the shadows. The shadows at this point were very dark.

frame, Vantage Point, and Perspective

The book I choose is called Cross-town. It has photos of photographer Helen Levitt. The photo I am going to write about can be viewed below. In this photo one can see an older woman standing by a taxi. The frame is a single static image. The frame in this photo is medium in size and is perfect as it gives us information and leaves out other information to create mystery and intrigue. Through the frame it shows a fleeting moment in time. Levitt had to take this photo and had little time to think about it. I think this goes to show that sometimes art is done best when you don't think about what your doing.

The woman is wearing a checkered suit that matches the taxi's strip of checks. This frame tells me how much the taxi cost. The image was taken from a behind perspective and goes well this way as the woman is about to leave us in the taxi. The window half rolled down as the woman leans in to speak to someone we can't see. This type of perspective allows us to be more in the experience of the woman. She may be asking him if he can drive her the the lower east side? The box is shown clearly and you can even feel how the twine wraps around and holds the box. The frame communicates action and movement, as it is a fleeting moment in time.