Warm Snow - Final

This is the finalized version of my Trek 03 clips, stills, and sounds, which is entitled Warm Snow.

Rough Cut 3

This rough cut shows some blurred stills that will be used as an introduction.

Rough Cut 2

This second rough cut exemplifies a slow shot that is broken down into timed frame lengths, and then sped up to have a tempo.

Rough Cut 1

This rough cut contains two unrelated shots, but hopefully after editing, these can be combined.

Production Strategy

First of all, with the exception of filming a set of stoplights and traffic, most of the filming will be done near the 2400 block of North Humboldt Boulevard. However, production will not take place in the street, but between some of the alley's between Weil and Humboldt, as well as off of Meinecke. This area in Riverwest is teeming with detailed path's, houses, garages, lights, and most importantly, many qualities of ambient sound.

Opposite of my second trek, this video will consist of all lowlight imagery, which will be shot at dusk and late night. Also, I will be searching for sources of light to illuminate dark spaces, as well as lights that do not seem strong enough to illuminate much of an area. Finally, I am planning on using stoplights and traffic for a sense of low-light fast movement, faster than normally perceived.

The sound will be limited to a few ambient recordings, as well as some sort of pulsing tone, depending on what can be found.

Ten Questions

1. What color pallet can be achieved while shooting light in the dark?
2. How can contrast isolate light?
3. Can still imagery still give a "moving" feel or effect?
4. What type of sound is required for imagery that is in motion?
5. Can ambient sound provide an exciting enough background effect for active imagery?
6. How does weather affect focus and grain?
7. Does an image always have to be well lit to be effective?
8. What effect can a change in color have?
9. Does rapid light change have an effect on the camera?
10. How does height and angle change the effect of a given shot?

Trek Assessment 4

The most enjoyable experience of my trek's definitely occurred while outside in the snow. While recording the video clips for my final video, I was able to shoot a very short "scene" in which the camera is looking up from a very low angle and a light in the background showed the grain of the snow coming down, which at the time, was falling quite quickly. In that same spot, I was also able to record a light fixture that was blowing in the wind, which I was able to turn into the spot of light on a black background (through editing the still version). Finding this location, which I had used in earlier trek's, was great because I was able to get so much material from it, since I had also used it as part of an earlier trek in which I filmed a small garden. I was able to turn this same spot from a garden, into a semi-claustrophobic space that was under attack by a snowstorm.

Trek Assessment 3

While on my trek I found that I was studying the environment, instead of making a "movie" or an ambient recording. While in a snowstorm for my final video, I noticed that I had a lot more freedom to work since the only other people outside were busying plowing or shoveling, or trying to catch a bus or unbury their car. I seemed to be invisible as I walked through the alleys near my home. This was different than when I decided to overexpose all of my material on a sunny day, when people would stare either at me, or more often, at the subject of which I was recording or filming.

Trek Assessment 2

For my first few trek's, it was difficult to find a location where I could peacefully study my surroundings to find material that would be best for my final clip. I found myself within construction sites, in the middle of a road, and outside in a snowstorm.

However, the lack of a "peaceful" environment forced me to make quick decisions with limited foresight as to how they would work once edited. Instead of a concentrated effort in a controlled environment, I found myself at ease while standing 30 feet from a crane or standing in a foot of snow. This type of unpredictable environment forced me to think differently, and while recording, if things began to become to simple or easy to do, I felt that my trek may have come to an end.

Trek Assessment 1

During my first trek with the recorder only, I had an immediate first concern, that we had even been warned about in class. As soon as I took a step outside with my microphone on and recording, it seemed that traffic was going to be the only sound I could find. I was lucky, on my first trek I went out in the rain, and was able to record some interesting drain's and puddles, but all of my recordings still seemed to be full of cars going by, and even more "boring," busses seemed to ramble past me at every street corner.

So, for my final trek, I took on a challenge, and attempted to use the traffic hum and busses for my own good. I recorded from within the bus so that the sound would be isolated, and then lowered the volume and pitch so that it sounded in the distance instead of surrounding my microphones. This can be heard in the final seconds of my final video.