January 2009
41 posts
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Sound Design Done!
Finally the sound design is done for “The Escape”. I have been working on this film since June last year. Now all that’s left to do is wrap up the music and titles. I have a few film festivals that I want to submit to. I don’t know what else is in store for the film but I’m glad that it is so close to finally being finished.
Yesterday went pretty much as planned...
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First Day of Class and Photo Shoot
Yesterday was my first day of class. This semester is my last a Columbia and I am ready to take it on. I went to school an hour before my class started to stop by the bookstore, but they didn’t have the book I needed. There were not even long lines waiting to check out like I had expected. I went to the film building to pick up my U-Pass and drop off the payroll paperwork for my job at the...
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Working to Catch Back Up Repeat
I did the same thing today as I did yesterday, except I captured as couple tapes too. I am about two thirds through all the footage. I had an idea to film myself working on the paper edit. I think it would be a cool video to post up on the Viva Documentary website. Not many people I know go through the trouble of making a paper edit, and I think the video might help show how much it helps when...
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Working to Catch Back Up
I had to edit “The Gentle Way” today. I told Mitch that I would have an assembly for him by the next time we meet. I basically was just scouring over the footage to better organize it and make sure I hadn’t missed anything to transcribe. Doing this took the whole day and I wasn’t even half way done. I guess this is why editors have assistants. Not that I would have the...
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Day Off
Megan had no school and no work today so we took advantage. We woke up and went up to the gym. We put in a load of laundry so it would be done by the time we got done with our workout. When we got back to the apartment I made some poached eggs in salsa. This is one of our favorite breakfasts. After relaxing for a bit we went to Whole Foods with a monster grocery list. Megan worked on some ebay...
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“What makes a film interesting and palatable to an audience, even though they may...”
– Interview with Geof Bartz in First Cut: Conversations with Film Editors By Gabriella Oldham
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Falling Behind
Mitch came over today to see the progress on “The Gentle Way”. I hadn’t done anything since the last time we met. I felt like a jerk, but we had planned to meet tomorrow not today. I guess that’s a lesson learned in procrastination and time management. We worked on transcribing some random clips that I skipped and we went over the transcriptions. He brought me six more...
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WatchGraham and Jessie made this Portugal. The Man video. It is an homage to Star Trek and still fun if you don’t pick up on the reference. You can see more here: http://www.kokakolapop.com
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Capturing Footage
Capturing footage can be some of the most boring times as an editor. You have just watched the tapes while logging them and now you have to watch them again as they capture. I usually find myself drinking a few beers during this process for a little bit of excitement. Today Graham and Jessie came over to capture more footage for their secret project. This wasn’t so boring because we...
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“The picture was special. I always felt responsible for my pictures. A good...”
– Interview with Harold F. Kress in First Cut: Conversations with Film Editors By Gabriella Oldham
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WatchCursive Performing “Driftwood” Live at Schubas Tavern Chicago 1/16/09
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WatchCursive Performing “Art is Hard” Live at Schubas Tavern Chicago 1/16/09
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Opportunity Snowballs
I think that opportunity builds off of other opportunity. It gains momentum the more you take advantage of opportunities that present themselves. This has happened to me in the past and after today I really believe it to be true.
The first opportunity of the day was an offering of free food while I was finishing up some paperwork my job at school. As I was filling it out a woman walked into the...
Learn the Basics about Earthships →
Michael Reynolds, this is the man himself when it comes to Earthships. The documentary “The Garbage Warrior” is what stirred our dreams to build a sustainable home. This is a link to his website. There is tons of great information.
Earthship Research
Megan and I have a dream of one day building an Earthship. Earthships are a form of sustainable housing that are made from recycled materials. The home we plan to build will provide heating, cooling, food, water, energy, and shelter with out any outside reliance. Heating and cooling are provided by thick walls of the structure as well as the sun. We plan to grow our food on the property and in a...
Is today the Super Bowl?
My neighbors above me have been yelling at something all day… I think it’s the television. I think they are having a Super Bowl party. For a time I thought they were making a porno and then my thoughts moved to murder, but I have concluded that today must be the Super Bowl.
I managed to do some reading on documentary film making and film editing while Megan was at work. When she got...
“Artists make visible what is only at the edge of societies consciousness.”
– Directing the Documentary by Michael Rabiger
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Schubas Tavern →
This is my favorite venue for live music in Chicago.
Catching Up
Here are some of the things I have done since my last post:
Continued to edit an interview with Tod Lending
Went to a meeting with my Documentary III class (the semester hasn’t even started yet)
Went to a VivaDoc meeting
Filed my work application with student employment
Finally picked up footage from the Flash Frame office at school
Met with Mitch to work on “The Gentle...
WatchI really wanted to post up the rough cut of “Self Doubt”, but I think it is best to hold off until it is complete. Instead this is the first part out of a short three part experimental documentary I am working. I have shot the second part and I’m still narrowing down what I want shoot for the third.
Slow Start Strong Finish
The motivation certainly carried over from yesterday. It just took me a while to get my gears turning. I started off the day dragging Megan out of bed for some exercise. We ran some errands and I did a little reading in a few old text books. It was a great decision to not sell my text books when my classes ended. I have looked back on them many times to refresh my memory. This time I was reading...
“You have to have faith that you’re going to recognize what is really good...”
– Interview with Carol Littleton in First Cut: Conversations with Film Editors By Gabriella Oldham
Sparks of Motivation
Today was a seemingly normal day, but right now I am motivated to get some editing done tomorrow.
Megan and I had a good workout this morning. We have been trying to get into the small gym in our apartment complex more often and it is paying off. We usually get into the gym about twice a week and when we started I could barely pedal the exercise bike five miles in twenty minutes. The gym (small...
WatchThis is a promotional video for An Empirical Design Bob and I made last winter. For some reason a lot of people have been watching it today on Vimeo. I thought I would put it up here too.
Magic Dreams
I couldn’t sleep last night. I woke up to after a strange dream of me playing magic. I was playing in Worlds and I had made it to the finals. There was a problem though. I was playing a combo deck that I somehow had never played and had no idea how to play. The decks my opponent and I were shuffling had half the cards missing. I ignored this. I thought it was just something that happened...
http://www.kokakolapop.com/ →
Today I helped Graham and Jessie capture some Portugal. The Man footage for a video they are making with the band. I have a lot of respect for these two and I think they are making some great video. Worth a look for sure.
Portugal.The Man →
One of my favorite bands, these guys are always on tour, and their live performances are among the best; check them out.
“You can waste good images if you come to them too quickly or in the wrong place....”
– Interview with Tom Haneke in First Cut: Conversations with Film Editors By Gabriella Oldham
Editing "The Gentle Way"
I have finally finished logging and capturing all the tapes for “The Gentle Way” (a short documentary about Judo). Today I am going to create transcripts and subclips. The next step is to create a paper edit from the transcripts and subclips. The goal is to have a solid rough cut pounded out of the 15 hours of footage by the end of the month.
“If you’re merely trying to practice, then winning is good. But if you’re trying...”
– Sullivan Library - Winning from Losing, by Adrian Sullivan
The goal of self documentation.
I want to try and document more of my life. I think that by doing so I will better understand myself, learn more, and not forget about the seeming unimportant. I want to take a photo of myself every day as well as catalogue what I did and ate.