final project ideas April 5, 2011

At first I thought that I didn’t want to do anything more about horses so I was brainstorming different ideas such as; school budget cuts, texting while driving and new cell phone laws. I threw out those ideas at the conference and none of them really stuck with me. I really do love my horses but with my accident and being at a new barn I thought it would be too difficult. But nothing is too difficult if you’re passionate about it. So after watching Emily’s videos I got inspired to ask one major question “Do you think horseback riding is a sport?” I’ve had plenty of friends laugh at me because they don’t believe me that I’m an athlete. Well time to prove them wrong.

• What are the important elements, facets/components of this project?

The most important part of this whole project is trying to prove to people that riders really are athletes. I want to use my friends who both ride and don’t ride, and people that I can find and ask them they’re opinion on it. I think getting peoples opinion then hopefully being able to prove them wrong will help.

• What are the central questions you’re hoping to explore?

The main question is “is it REALLY a sport?” and also “doesn’t the horse do all the work?” I hope to be able to show that both are not true by using my riding and maybe even other people’s riding to show that.

• What forms of research will you conduct?

Obviously I will ask people but also I’d like to use some youtube videos, some books that I have on riding and maybe some articles on the different kind of riding styles that I don’t do.

• Who do you imagine as your audience for your film?

I can only hope that people who are curious about riding and people that do ride would be interested in this, as well as people who don’t believe it’s a sport (although it’s in the Olympics).

• How are you going to provide a context for your project

Good question. I hope to show an athlete in progress as well as talking to people that have been riding for longer than I have. I hope the visual element of riding will help explain more than the voice.

• Why does this project matter to you, but even more importantly why should it matter to others?

It matters to me because I get this question all the time! I want to show people what it’s really like to be a rider and to maybe interest them in wanting to learn more. I would hope it would matter to other people because it’s an interesting video and I hope to make it witty and interesting.

• After your experience with the 60 second auto-video, what have you discovered about technique, style, approach, as tone? (What worked and what didn’t? How will this knowledge inform this next film? Be as specific as possible.)

I discovered how hard it is to depend on other people to film you. So I hope to use less of me riding and more of other people so I know exacly what I’m filming and what I can use. My style will be way different because I will be using other people besides myself on this project. I want to get more peoples opinions and I think I can achieve that by going more outside of the barn and into the world.

Midterm blog March 4, 2011

My big vision was trying to introduce people who know nothing about horseback riding into my world. I wanted to show that I do know what I’m talking about and why it is that I’m so passionate about what I do. It’s hard to explain in words so I was hoping that showing me riding and taking care of my horse would show the love I have for both him and the sport. Ironically because of this sport I had a bad injury that led me to miss class for quite a while, thus constraining me more.

What I discovered most was that filming horses is hard! Also being put on camera is very daunting when you’re riding, because that distracts you. Sometimes I was more concerned whether my friend got a good shot of me than how I was riding (needless to say that didn’t go over well with my riding instructor). But piecing bits and pieces of a couple of days of filming was probably the hardest thing. I needed to be really picky when it came to what I did and didn’t use in my video, mostly because of the time constraint. Also I found a lot of my film was very repetitive, but at the same time the repetition helped me pick out certain little snippets of what I wanted to use.

If I had more time I would have taken a lot more footage, added some voiceover and maybe overall just done a better job. I think I may have also taken a few images from my Facebook and from my personal life and used it. Also I thought to film my friend riding her horse because she has far more experience than I do and it would be interesting to compare the two.

I want to hopefully continue with this same topic. I don’t think one minute gave this topic enough justice. The only problem is the fact that I am injured and my barn is dissolving as we speak. Hopefully by the time I need to take more footage I will be able to ride again. I want to stay with it because this is my passion in life and what I want to be doing all of my life. Riding is something that will never go away for me, and it’s my subculture that I love teaching people about. I want to add a ton more footage of me riding or of someone else riding. I want people to see different styles and techniques and to give them a taste of what I love to do.

I used a lot of printed words in the snippets of film I have. I thought it was the best way to get my point across and to explain what it is that I was doing. It was easier than a voiceover and it can even give a bit of a sense of my humor in with it. I used different fonts and styles of words. I used some scrolling words and some stagnant words, depending on what I was talking about. It was the best thing I could come up with in a pinch. Overall I’m pretty happy with it though.

My autovideo March 3, 2011

Supersize who? February 28, 2011

Spurlock took on something that I know I wouldn’t have done. He works closely with the camera. The camera was always right with him when he was eating, or at the doctors. This was a very controlled experiment, with having a full physical at the beginning and throughout the movie.

With the close proximity of the camera he made you feel like you were literally right next to him during the whole movie. The use of the maps and interviews made the documentary more interesting as well. Showing how many McDonald’s there were just in the proximity of New York City, let alone the world, was eye-opening. One even delivered!! That to me was crazy. Spurlock ate everything on the menu and after a while he seemed to get burned out. With the physical’s throughout the movie it showed the steady progression of health problems that McDonald’s was causing.

I think the best part was talking to the school lunch people because that hopefully spurred some of the schools to change how they feed their kids. Sometimes school lunches are the only thing kids eat all day, so maybe they could be more healthy. Including that made the movie more three dimensional and made it not all about Spurlock. Also the use of his vegan girlfriend and having her comment on the things he does makes some of the parts comical. She also makes Spurlock look like a real person because he has a significant other and someone to help him along the way.

Spurlock really brings you into his life during these 30 days and shows you everything and anything about this. He shows you what he eats (sometimes a bit digested) and shows you how it’s really affecting him. It’s a no holds barred, in your face kind of documentary and it’s something that has awaked a world to something that they weren’t aware of. It also got rid of the “super size” option, who knew something so small could be so powerful.

Autovideo February 15, 2011

So far all I’ve been able to get for my autovideo is shots of my barn, some shots of my horse in the field and of me free lunging him and I got a good between the ears shot. What I really want is some shot of either me riding or of my instructor (who actually owns him) riding him. But because my battery ran out and I don’t have the right charger for it yet, I’m having a hard time with that. If I can’t get any good shots of the that I could use it for my longer video.

The most surprising thing I’ve found so far is how hard it is to get a good shot of a moving animal. I don’t know how the shots went and I know my horse could tell I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to him because he stopped listening to me and that’s when I had to put the camera down and pay attention. I liked the shot I got of the between the ears and of some of the other horses.

I don’t really have an inspiration per say, I’m just trying to go along with what I think looks alright and what I like. I’m trying to get good shots in but it’s hard when you can only go to the barn on weekends because of time constraints and work.

I think that’s going to be my biggest challenge, trying to find the time to get some good shots in. Hopefully with the camera working again I’ll be able to pop up there randomly and try to get some shots in.

video project February 14, 2011

After thinking about all the things that I could possibly do for my project, such as my jobs at directbuy or subway, I decided on doing it on horseback riding. It’s the one constant in my life and something that I could get good footage of.

I’ve been riding for 10 years now on and off. It’s been my passion and something that I’ve always loved. It’s also something that people don’t know a lot about. I think I would be a good person to shed some light on the subject and maybe even teach someone something.

The only problem is that I don’t know what I could focus on. There’s so much I could do but for a minute, it’s just such a short amount of time. I got some good shots of my barn and me working with my horse, but besides that I don’t have much. Any thoughts? Suggestions are welcome!

Dogtown and Z-Boys February 8, 2011

This was a great film overall and I really enjoyed it. The way the director put together all of the shots from the skating magazines and from when they used to skate in empty pools were the most interesting parts.

If the film did not have the photos and film from back when all the crew were teenagers I don’t think that this film would’ve been half as interesting. It was awesome to see how they looked and skated back then and how the birth of the modern skateboard competition came about. The juxtaposition of the person talking about the event taking place and the film or photo of it made their words more powerful. Instead of having to imagine what he’s talking about you can see it right there. Even the fact that the director choose to use jump cuts when it came to the photos was something to keep your attention. If it was a fluid motion I think I would not have paid so much attention to it because it would all just blend into one.

The beginning and ending being almost the same was a great way to tie up the movie. Showing the crews photos when they were teenagers then now made you realize how much time has really passed. It also made the film into one solid piece. The best part about that was the ending where they told you what each person was doing now, or in one instance they have no idea where he is. It gave you some closure on the film knowing that most of the people had lives outside of this film and that almost all of them are doing well.

“halving the bones” January 28, 2011

Ruth Ozeki’s film “Halving the Bones” Ruth makes a film about traveling to Connecticut to return her Grandmothers bones. The way that Ruth films this movie is very unique because it makes you the viewer feel like a part of the film, you feel like she is only talking to you.

The way that Ruth sets up the narrator for the film is the most interesting and unique part of this film. Ruth breaks up the film into sections, mostly categorized into her story and her grandmothers story. That’s not the interesting part of course, but the fact that she used a japanese narrator for her grandmothers story and she narrates her own. With using the japanese narrator it makes the viewer think that her grandmother is actually narrating the story. It breaks up the monotony of the single narrator and makes it a more effective narrator.

Another technical thing that Ruth does is using the objects that she is describing as she narrates the story. Such as the grammar school geography book and the box containing her grandmothers and grandfathers things. The way that Ruth does that makes the viewer more engaged in her life and makes them care about what it is that she is describing.

The last big thing that she did was when she was talking to her mother about the things that were left from her grandmother’s room she took a quote and a picture of either the object or her grandmother/grandfather between shots. It foreshadowed what it was that she was going to find and it gave the viewer something to look forward to when Ruth’s mother opened up the box. The way that her grandmother was going through her things, it seemed that she was very disconnected from her mothers things. But the way that Ruth tried to portray her mother was someone who cared about what was in the box.

What Ruth did was a really unique film in aspects. The way that Ruth set up not only the narrator, but the film in general was something that not everyone could do. Although I didn’t really get too much out of the movie, it was something that is very unique and powerful in its own way.

This American Life ep. 4 January 25, 2011

This show in itself seems so raw and so real. But at the same time I wouldn’t consider it a documentary. From what I saw in the episode, the camera makes people act differently. The whole beginning of it helped set up the episode, with the fake cameras. The narrator was right and that cameras make people act the way they wouldn’t normally act. But seeing someone all hopped up on pills is something that I never thought I would see on camera. Most people would try to at least be a little sober for this “documentary”. His whole premise with going places that they use to live was something that could have made a good film. It helped that he interrupted the action with commentary and himself just being on camera. I think that hearing his thoughts off camera really did help me to understand what he was trying to accomplish. The other ma asking him questions just helped fuel the commentary. With the Nichols essay I think that it helped me a little bit to think about camera angles and why he did what he did with the camera. Just knowing more technical things about film helps a viewer to understand what the director is trying to accomplish. Although documentaries seek to make people feel something, I don’t know if I would really call this a documentary. I know he was trying to engage the viewer in a way, but it seems like this film was more for his own healing than anything else. I know that not all people who drink, pop pills and smoke act like this, but I’m sure there are some similarities between them. But I think that he wanted to prove to the word that they’re not bad people, and this was his journey to forgiving them for everything that they’ve done.