Video Site:
http://ayw.hindsightproject.com
Google Video:
Watch it via Google Video
Download and watch the video through these links:
Large (37mb, 480 x 360 @ 30fps) - RECOMMENDED
Medium (15mb, 320 x 240 @ 15fps)
Small (5mb, 160 x 120 @ 10fps)
(QuickTime 7 is required). Download it here.
Many hours and 12 pages later, a full log list of three miniDV tapes is completed. I can now begin batch capture on 95 percent of my next video.
Though this may seem like old news to some, it’s a practice I took up in a linear video production class back when I was attending college. That is, the process of logging: writing down all the cuts on a videotape based on timecode. Some say it saves time and money in the long run, and it’s probably true. For digital video editing, I would consider it a must.
Sure, it takes a long time. But it would take much longer if, say, you didn’t save the timecode/shots on paper and had to re import your footage to computer. Importing the entire tape is just wasted space, additionally.
In any case, what seems to be the most tedious part of the process is (more or less) done. And I can move forward from here.
I’ve had time off work since last Tuesday. Our project has more or less wrapped up and I’ve been granted seven days to not be at work, which is a privilege.
The last few months, as previously mentioned, haven’t amounted to much outside of work. I was working some nights until the following 3am morning. It wasn’t new to get those kinds of hours worked in during crunch time - I think I’ve just gotten tired of it and that’s why things are going to change.
Milestones. My project Statement of Agreement was selected for exhibition at the Jutro Filmu (Future of Film) 2005 festival in Warsaw, Poland. This was an extremely pleasant surprise.
I spent my first day or two of my break redesigning the Hindsight Project. This doesn’t signify any new videos, unfortunately (I just started on my days off). But it was something I’d been meaning to get to for quite some time. Its completion also signalled the need to create once again….
I finished my first solid draft of a videoscript. It’s refreshing to be writing again, and even more so when the right [musical] inspiration comes along to ignite it. Of three videos I’ve mapped out, two will be themed about Japan. Yes, I am going to Japan for the entire month of May. Very, very excited about this. But also very scared about the unknown that awaits when I return.
For no reason, here is a picture of a PlayStation2 labeled George Foreman grill that was at my friend’s house.
Statement of Agreement
view Quicktime .mov (25mb)
download .zip (20mb)
The subject of this post is the song used in the video I finally completed this evening. After going over it several times and tweaking things here and there, it’s done. “Killing All The Flies” is by Mogwai, from their album “Happy Songs for Happy People“. I have listened to it so much this week that I am surprised I have not died tired from it. It has staying power.
I have spent most of my days in my room. I started getting into the project last Monday, so I’ve spent each day working on my video to some capacity.
The piece contains a bit of everything: things I received from my students while in Japan, digital stills and video from both my digital still and miniDV cameras. It was very frustrating at times to get things just to work, but I knew enough to workaround any problems with using the different formats. With all said and done, I’m happy with the final edit.
It’s got very little “video” considering, but it’s something I was meaning to work on since I got back. I spent a good amount of time this week working on it for output to miniDV video, so now I have a work that looks fantastic on a TV screen. In the future, I hope to put the video onto a DVD once I have the means.
If you watch it, please leave comments/feedback either here or at The Hindsight Project. I hope you enjoy it.
My current desktop scheme. Going for the minimal approach, I suppose. Pictured is Cecilia Cheung in a scene from “Failan” (Korea).
I started work on my next video just the other day. I won’t say much until I get it done, there’s still a bit of work to do but the wheel is in motion. No stopping it now.
It’s only messy because it’s actually functional right now.
***
Two years ago today the first thing I did in the morning was wake up and check my e-mail. My cousin from Thailand, Nuay, e-mailed me asking if I was alright. He asked because he had heard of a “war in America”.
I checked News.com at the time and saw a picture of the twin towers. There was smoke billowing from it.
At first I had thought it was some hacker’s joke. I walked to the TV room and turned on the TV. I didn’t know what to make of it. It seemed very surreal.
I was foolish - I got in my car to start driving for work. Everyone else seemed to be doing so. My cel rang and Mari called me, telling me that most people were called to stay home. Some several miles out I got off the 91 and headed home.
One of the darkest days of the year, naturally. I was trying to get in touch with people I assumed were still in New York. One turned out to be way out in Indiana (I hadn’t heard from her in years despite numerous attempts - finally got her because of such an event, frustratingly). My other friend was fine but stuck in the chaos all day into the night.
I remember going through quite a bit at the time also, personally. It was just a mess.
Two years…
DVD today: U.S. Marshals (Tommy Lee Jones, Wesley Snipes)
Despite having less sleep than usual, I woke up this morning at around 10 o’clock. As with other days, I had no major agendas. I did some laundry, ate lunch and watched “U.S. Marshals”, which had its moments but as a whole felt like just another summer formula. “The Fugitive” was much better and, of course, more dramatic. Irene Jacob looked out of place in the film. Still, I thought, if I was married to someone as beautiful as Irene Jacob I would probably be fairly happy.
Later in the day I completed R-Type Final on its easiest difficulty setting (no more time to get frustrated) and hooked up my Japanese PlayStation2 to the internet. It has a hard drive and broadband adapter already equipped.
After much trial and error I was able to test e-mail on the console (as pictured above). I think it took me a good five or ten minutes to figure out how to delete a message, as I did not know the kanji for “delete” nor any of the other functions on the menus.
The PlayStationBB software (currently at version 0.30) has a long way to go before coming stateside, but it’s definitely on the right track. I can see where it’s going - right into the PSX home entertainment console that they plan to release in 2004.
Two boxes. Video projects. Video8, Hi8, Digital8, VHS and miniDV. CD-ROM backups of almost every video project I’ve ever done (raw footage on the discs as well). I flipped through a few folders, sketchbooks and all else that I scribbled into while I was in college. There’s a lot to look back on, a lot to be done.
With some of the eBay funds that I won from my auctions this weekend I clicked over to Amazon.com to pick up a very good book on After Effects. I remember flipping through it while interning at Moviola in Hollywood.
I’ve started to map out ideas for my short project based on photos I took in Japan.
I think about Friday as “The Long Run”, the only day I can work a full 7 hours without any classes interrupting me. It’s like the one day I can zone in on work. The site I’m working on is almost done. I sort of stared at the index.html for awhile because I’d worked on the inner-contents first. With my video projects, I tend to work backwards. Think of the end first, then think about how to build up the story to that resolution.
The Blue Springs project was given to me about two weeks into the job. Blue Springs is a tiny furnishings store in Costa Mesa, bordering near Newport Beach. I’ve never been there, but I tried to create something that complemented the brochures that were provided by the people who ran the place. I’ve been pretty happy that I have the creative freedom to work on things there. Everyone at work is young and insane. I think that’s one of the reasons why I am working there as well.
It’s been about one year ago since I left the quality assurance department. During my time there I tested Playstation titles for a year and a half and worked at the company’s E3 booth during 1998 at Atlanta and again in 1999 at Los Angeles.
I’m reflecting because, in the one year since I’ve left, I’ve gone through a lot of ups and downs both personally and professionally. Have I changed in a year? I think so. Good in some ways and bad in others. Since I left, I put myself into another company that was beginning its downward spiral. I was there until the company itself shut down and fired everyone… a week before I could have worked my final week (I had given them a two-week notice that was voided since the company had suddenly canned everyone).
One of the things I never did, though, was return to despite friends telling me to “come back” since I wasn’t happy. I was often unhappy. And I still think I should have gone back. Everything would be different. It might not have been better than where I am now, but at least it would have been different.
The reason I am driven to sketch out future video projects or think about new web narratives stems from experience. It’s all about sublimation… it’s like my way of dealing with things. I channel my subconscious fears / desires / problems through something else.
Look at my “Untitled ( a music video )” project, for example. When I was storyboarding the thing out, shot by shot, and scripting the actions of all the characters, I honestly wasn’t thinking about what was going on with me at the time. I was just very happy to have a video production class where I could start continue to be creative. So I thought to myself, “I want to create this video about people and net chatting… and I want it to end bittersweetly… I don’t want to give people a happy ending, because that’s just sappy and that isn’t real life.”
It’s October now and, looking back from March, the video was in fact a very personal thing. Basically it was my way of telling people visually, “Okay, here’s a story about a girl and her boyfriend, and a total stranger who makes her happier than he does. Only, it doesn’t end with any bells and whistles and no one really ends up happy.” There are probably a lot of things I haven’t thought about that anyone will extract from the video. Also, I never recut the thing (there are shots in there I really, really hate, but can’t go back to with my current hardware setup). For what it’s worth, though, it’s definitely the first video project that was about problems and thoughts stirring inside me. I had to express it somehow.
It’s really nice to know that, in the now, I can pick up my Video8 camcorder, spend 5 bucks on a two hour blank videotape, come back to my computer and tell a story.
Listening to:
“Journey to the Line” (Hans Zimmer)
I have finished Deus Ex. With no more games in queue, life is slowing down just a few notches despite projects.
Work has begun on the 442nd trailer. At our current rate we will have it done in about two weeks (mind you, I have a job also, so I can’t work on this everyday). The redesign on the 442nd website is also in effect with the main navigation and template ready to go. It’ll be announced here when everything is online and ready to go.
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