Video Projects

 
C H E Q U A M E G O N   B O L L I N G E R
Unit 4 -Warm Up Video


Warm Up

This project explores the belief structures and motivations behind exercise regimes for women. Starting in the 1920’s strange exercises and machines were developed to help women stay soft, feminine, and curvaceous. Each era phase is show with a small image or sound bite of what was important in the beauty world at that time. I stopped in the late 1970’s but this project could continue to our current fitness culture.

I focused on learning new effects for this film. The smooth transition from frame to frame and clean sound editing was most important. Scaling was a big focus to zero in on one character or movement to promote their oddities.








Teresa Shannon

The idea for this video stems from my love of books and the way that a good book can make you feel melancholy, or ecstatic, heartbroken or hopeful.  I wanted to explore the love of books from other people’s perspectives.  Using videos I found on YouTube, Vimeo, and Ted Talks I composed a video that I hope will inspire a feeling of nostalgia and comfort that embodies books as a whole for me.  

Using keepvid and Premier I spliced together portions of 7 different videos.  I did a lot of cutting cropping and reordering the cuts into a pleasing visual format.  I slowed down many of the clips to evoke more emotion.  I choose to just use a one instrumental song with out an added voice over as I had first intended because I think the visual elements combined with the melody convey my idea better.  The last frame was created in Illustrator and inserted into Premier and the song called The Light by The Album Leaf was cut and cropped to fit into the video. I attempted to adjust the clips so that the frames changed.  

Since my first video was a complete failure I created a second video using personal videos all shot on cell phones.  These videos are of my nieces and are snippets of their lives so far.  They are videos that I have kept for years in some cases and never fail to bring a smile to my face.
As Kristina had suggested during my critique I thought back at what others in the class had done.  I felt more comfortable using my own footage, like Kristina but used the same song from my previous video as I had purchased it especially for this project and I was determined to use it!!!
I feel much happier with this product an my original.





Kristina Ricci

My video is a collection of footage I filmed over the summer in Ireland.  My concept was to take my existing footage and compliment it with the philosophies by Alan Watts.  I wanted the videos and the sound bites from the lecture to communicate a relationship between humans and nature in a system that works together.  I focused on up close views of water, plants, and animals and kept the presence of people minimal.  This reflects the views of zen believes that we are apart of nature but the world does not revolve around us. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk2mXQtMxwQ&feature=youtu.be


I started by editing out clips in the lecture and slowed the speed down to make his voice deeper.  From there I started to mix and match videos to line up with his spoken words.  I edited the video with a corresponding song to help with the flow of the video.  The music matched up perfectly with the video but in the end I chose to take it out because I wanted it to be more artistic and not an entertainment video.  Throughout the project I ran into a few problems, the first was that the sound wouldn’t match up with the videos after I rendered them.  I discovered that after exporting the video the problem disappeared.  I also had a problem with using the pen tool and overlapping videos, after I did this the videos would just restart or jump to other parts.  I never really found a way to fix this I just worked with it.


Krystal Aguilar "The Process to Graduation and then, Graduation"
http://youtu.be/3O8nNcBuSNA
I decided it would be proper and a great opportunity to create my own graduation speech since I will be graduating next Thursday. Although my motivation, enthusiasm and inspiration was there, the speech just did not illustrate the visual and audio aesthetics that I wanted to come across to the viewer. A classmate, Schwamagen, suggested writing in a poetic style. I agreed and gave it a go. I came across some struggles with recording since I could not find a quiet enough space and I never figured out how to get rid of the background “white noise” but overall I am satisfied with the outcome. I tried making it longer with repeating certain portions, using the reverse audio effect and more; however, the longer it was, the more the message became defragmented. The succinct video I believe delivers the message in a more impacting way. 

I wanted to get across what I felt and what many others do too, to do what it takes to get to the point of one's academic career where walking across the stage is around the corner, and what I personally learned. That although that graduation is closing a chapter of our lives, it was a journey in itself to gain lessons from, and it is the beginning of a new journey out in the “real world.” I chose sequences that were relatable, symbolic and show similar feelings within my journey from an academic and “success” focused freshman to a more grounded and worldly senior. In the beginning the title is accompanied with an extremely large textbook is giving a scholarly likeness. It is narrated just like the diploma at the end the collegiate career, playing with the contents of the poem. Graduation itself is a process (buying cap and gowns, inviting guests, registering) and the the pathway to get to graduation is a process that is sensed internally in so many levels including emotional, mental, physical and more.  In the beginning of the video you may find yourself feeling frantic with the visual and audio cacophony. I purposefully played with images that felt rushed and autonomous and anxious interpersonal voices. Then the breathe comes in. The breathe of realization, either after an enlightenment or after a time adversity. Then a tone, tempo and visuals will bring you to a a time-appreciating, slower-paced, and savorous  focused state of mind. There will still be remnants of the anxiety but after the breathe the process is not as much of a concern.
I played with the speed and placement of the videos and audio themselves, layered them where appropriate, and even had a cool title that was narrated - all this was done to convey the message. You may see themes of innocence, time, appreciation and life moments.


Reflecting back, I did learn a lot, about who I am and who I want to be.


Below is the poem I composed. I titled it with the word process, because, metamorphosis is a process.
The Process to Graduation and then, Graduation
Start : End : Start
Grow Grow Grow
Learn Fail
Down / Up
A / F
Stumble, Fall, Pick-up and Stand
Personal Journey
Professional Journey
Blink.
Priorities:
Family, God, Doing my best… survive.
Life.
Values and Virtues.
Advice: Find mentors, stay humble, care in what really matters.
Give.
Learn.
Be yourself.
Live now.
Savor each moment.
Laugh.


Krystal Aguilar


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