Tag Archives: video production

Challenging the Limits

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It’s a new year. 2013 is here already.

A new year brings a youthful hope of accomplishing dreams and leaving behind bad habits.

Just as the film makers in the video below challenged the limits of the camera, I dare you to challenge the limits of whatever is holding you back: lack of mental toughness, lack of faith, your boss, a few pounds gained, a family member lost, frustation with the world… leave it in the dust and make this the best year yet.

Don’t make a resolution, make a life change. Use your past to make you better, not bitter.

I am going to test the limits of my career and my education. I will stop blaming others and challenge myself this year to train in various areas to become more valuable in my project management role, and dominate my video production classes to create films that will make a difference in the world.

Change is powerful. Inspire others to do the same.

Overcommitting vs. Reaching Your Goals

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Stress.  It is not foreign to any of us.  The giant knot in your stomach or tension in your throat that just won’t go away.  Stress is a reaction to an immeasurable amount of causes, but for me it is from overcommitting.

It wasn’t until I laid down my commitments on paper until I realized why my brain couldn’t shut off even when I tried to sleep at night…

1) My daytime job as a Government Contractor.  We all know by now that this is not my dream career because even though the pay is good, I feel more unsatisfied with my role as the days go on…which is why I could not be happier they approved me to work 80% part-time, down from a full time position (which really isn’t all that different).

2) My part-time night job as a Videographer and Social Media Marketer for a cycling studio.  This evolved from a need to use my inner creativity and find somewhere to build my film portfolio.  Creating and directing videos for the studio to place on YouTube, and finding materials for Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr takes up more time than one would initially think!

3) School.  This is the initial reason why I went part-time at my Contracting firm.  A little thing called class and filming projects takes more than a couple hours of my day as I pursue a Video Production degree.

4) Coaching.  I am obsessed with being a soccer coach to little kids, but I am somewhat relieved there is a break during the winter holidays so I don’t have to constantly rush to the fields right after work.

5) Playing soccer.  I. Will. Never. Give. This. Up.  Until my knees and back finally give out.

6) Volunteering.  In my free time (ha) I am putting together a large fundraiser for a nonprofit dedicated to helping young adults in foster care find adoptive families.  This doesn’t feel like work at all, but involves meeting with the founders, vendors, food/drink donators, and writing a million emails to coordinate the bands, 5 artists, and 2 former NFL players to attract a large crowd and raise a significant amount of money.

7) Attending studio filmings/building my portfolio…blogging…my social life…boyfriend.

I am sure there are a few things I left out…but I have now realized I do not know how to simply say “No” to people.  You have heard of a little saying called Quantity vs. Quality.  I am too proud to say that my quality isn’t affected in all of these activities, but I could probably score another goal or two in my games if I got an extra hour of sleep…

I am in the middle of switching careers so I feel the pressure to say yes to everything.  A small opportunity could lead to something big.  At least that’s what they say, right?  I have found that networking is invaluable.  Yes, I have heard it a thousand times, but honestly one conversation has opened multiple doors for me.  It is all about just making one phone call – reaching out to a peer when it may be slightly uncomfortable.  Comfort never got me anywhere, except in trouble with an entire bag of Famous Amos.

How much is too much?  A multitude of new opportunities…does it lead to stomach ulcers or finally landing that dream job?  Hard to tell. 

I have promised myself I would not take on another activity until I have crossed off a few from my list.  I need to find some time to sit down, drink a cup of tea, listen to some amazing 80s music (or terrible 90s music), and watch some football and futbol.  Luckily I haven’t committed to taking my crazy amount of activities and piecing them together into some sort of life direction – I can leave that up to the Big Guy.

Dragon Baby

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I hope everyone has seen this masterpiece already.  If not, be prepared to witness an extremely talented Montreal filmmaker, Patrick Boivin, turn his son into a dragon-slaying baby.  The short film is a parody of both Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” series and “Enter the Dragon” with his son starring as Bruce Lee.  I hope one day I am fortunate enough to collaborate with him on a short film or commercial because his animation is first class.

 

And for those of you that didn’t know there was a prequel video featuring his daughter (Dragon Baby’s older sister) as Iron Baby….you. are. welcome.  Another parody, this video is based on the movie “Iron Man”, one of my favorite imaginative films.

 

Coca Cola’s Energy Blast Leaks into the Film Industry

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There are many different ways to add energy/excitement/craziness into film.

1) Jump cuts (two sequential shots of the same subject that vary ever so slightly) can give an effect of skipping through time because the subjects aren’t shown moving from Point A to Point B but somehow appear in a different position/location like a ninja.

2) Quick camera movements.  These allow the audience to feel like they are literally running around in the scenes.  It could be a fast pan of the landscape to give a wide horizontal view, or a fleeting zoom in or out to show many different objects.  With either or these it gives the audience a sense of urgency to pay close attention because they may miss something of grande importance with one blink of an eye!

3) Fast-forwarding.  Simple as that – there are so many important items to cover that the audience isn’t even given the liberty of experiencing it in real time.

4) And the opposite – slow motion.  It builds up the audience’s anticipation for an explosion of awesomeness.

5) Crazy, excitable audio.  Whether there is a song with drums playing an insane beat, a voice-over in a high pitched voice, or an actor who talks quickly like a New Yorker…any little audio detail can keep the audience’s eyes glued to their screen.  Screaming, yelling, clapping, cheering also work here.

6) Many separate flashes of different shots.  The camera isn’t just sitting on one object for a long time like a boring soap opera – it is flying around filming many different subject on the set like a bunch of pop rocks that have just been submerged in soda.

The Coca Cola video shown above has both fantastic camera and editing work behind the scenes.  It is similar to the wedding video in one of my earlier posts as they both require watching more than one time to fully capture all the details and magic.  Energetic productions are my favorite type of filming (ehhh well it is a close tie with the very teary-eyed sentimental videos).

You can’t tell me your heart rate didn’t rise while watching that video due to all the hype created from the camera movement and the speedy talent…or maybe from the Coke you are now drinking.  (If it didn’t then I will just blame it on drinking an afternoon coffee which, for me, is very out of character.)

Living in the Moment

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“It’s only temporary.”

How many times have I said this to persuade myself that something better is right around the corner?  Way. Too. Many.

I am the biggest offender of not living in the here and now.  First I was looking forward to becoming a teenager, then I thought it would be amazing to finally be the Senior in high school, then on to a college student, then finally someone who could support myself and live in the big city…it continues to go on no matter what stage of life I am in.  There will always be the next step to look forward to whether it is finding the career I love, or getting married, or having children, or traveling, or becoming a millionaire (ha), etc.  But always looking to the next step reduces my ability to be spontaneous and live life to the fullest.

A friend and I were discussing our apartments and how we constantly feel like our homes and the city we live in are just a temporary solution to where our jobs and friends are located at this point in our lives.  (Moving 10 times in 10 years doesn’t help.)  I then realized that there have been many instances where I have put off buying a nice piece of furniture for my apartment because I didn’t know if it would fit the design of my future house – practical thinking, yet at the same time very impractical.  Who knows if I will ever have the opportunity to buy a house?  The furniture would allow me to feel like I am not always in a temporary state and would improve my living situation, and yet I choose to go without.  I have noticed this has leaked into my commitments and relationships as well.  There is the penetrating thought of possibly moving cities/switching careers and this inhibits my ability to form deeper relationships with the people I interact with every day and commit to courses to further my current career.

The fact is…none of us know how much time we have on this earth.  I have to keep reinforcing this in my head because it is often forgotten.  I am challenging myself to treat my apartment, this city, and my environment as permanent so that I can stop saving all the best colors for the future and fully utilize all the crayons in the box.  Yes, I may move and have a completely different situation in a few months or years, but it is impossible to find true happiness without giving my full love and attention to the task at hand.

This is my life.  Right here, right now.  I need to stop being a bystander in my story and start being the main character.  Yesterday is dead.  Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed and it hasn’t arrived yet.  Tackle today.

“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.” – Henry David Thoreau
 
After my day job I am going to buy a piece of art I have wanted forever, and then dominate my Video Production class.  What will you do with today?
 

It Is All About Perspective

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I was recently talking with a friend about how quickly life was passing us by.  Wasn’t it just yesterday that I was ecstatic for my first day of college?  After thoroughly bumming ourselves out that we were no longer in our glory days, I read a quote that completely changed my perspective: 

“Do not regret getting older, it is a privilege denied to many.” – Anonymous

Quotes always seem to have impeccable timing.  They are oftentimes so insightful that I regret how I reacted to my previous situation.  Perspective is key in life.  The glass half empty versus glass half full argument – it determines whether you remain parched or finally quench your thirst. 

The other night my roommate laid out all the paint sample cards she had leftover from Home Depot to create a collage for the living room wall.  “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”  Again: perspective.  Artists not only paint different perspectives on canvas, but they also look at the world in a unique way.  They have the ingenuity to ask a local newspaper for extra scrap paper/cardboard so they can continue to create amazing works of art.

My father was gifted with the brilliant ability to see life from this unique angle.  In witnessing my determination to pursue video production, he asked me if I realized what a film truly was.  He then went on to enlighten me that a video is just a play/musical/opera from a different perspective.  Instead of moving the actors around on stage, you have the ability to move the camera audience.  Video has the unique ability to see life from any perspective whether it is a view from the helmet of a skydiver, an underwater angle, or a normal street shot.  The video below shows life from the perspective of a hula hoop.  Very inventive filming, but a quick warning…you may get dizzy.

 

Musical Nostalgia

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There is something about music.  It has the ability to touch your heart in the most direct manner.  It has the power to bring back a memory so vivid that you can smell the grass and feel the breeze on the first day you played it on your boombox or heard it with a million other fans in concert.  It also has the power to create a memory for the rest of your life.  From that instance forward, every time the song is heard in the distance you seem to enter another world.  Closing your eyes you are surrounded by the melody which allows you to transform into a specific moment that can bring upon tears, laughter, or both.

Music is beyond my comprehension.  What makes it so influential and motivational?  Something inside of me connects to a lyric, or a simple note, or a voice…and the amazing part about it is that every person connects in a different way.  What is even more surreal is that it is always the song I least expect that becomes revered.  Many times I have heard a new song outside of my usual genre and thought, “if I could play this song on repeat for the rest of my life I would be happy”.  I guarantee every one of you have a song in mind that can conjure up that same feeling.

Combine musical nostalgia with a well thought-out video and it is unstoppable.  Even with the capability for consumers to fast-forward with the DVR, companies still rely on video for commercials and movie trailers because they know how potent and commanding it can be.  Including a ridiculously cute child or a heart-wrenching solider’s story is almost unfair - I become immediately immersed, unable to pull my eyes away.

The video below strikes my heart in multiple areas.  It is produced flawlessly with a very creative and personal spin on the every day wedding video.  The music is absolutely perfect and although it is around 15 minutes long I have watched it over 10 times, crying every time.  It is so enthralling that I promise once you press play, you will wish it never had an end.  The song Stars by Dead Hearts begins to play with the lyrics repeating, “they had lights inside their eyes”, and I can feel the tears start to build up.  It makes me want to jump in the film and become a part of the celebration.  This video was the last push I needed to enter a video production program.  Hopefully one day my films will be this touching.  A heartfelt thank you to one of my best friends for sending it to me (you know who you are).  Let me know what song or video brings back your favorite moments.