Week 7 workshop and tutorial
There was a talk about careers in the creative industries before the class and presentations. I found it quite informative, especially as I haven’t investigated creative jobs much really. I already have a part-time chef job which I enjoy, and I would ideally like to make money from my running career in the future. If I don’t succeed in those routes, I feel this course will prepare me well for a range of jobs and I have always been tempted to do a master’s as some point.
Pecha workshop presentation. I prepared well for the workshop pitch. I managed to come up with a coherent idea for it and I made the presentation well. I made exactly 20 slides as requested and I used one of my own photographs for each one. Then for my script I wrote three lines to say for each 20 second slide and had the title of each slide on the screen. I obviously practised as well, to make sure that was the correct amount of speech. It did fall apart a bit in the actual presentation. Basically, I realised that when I was Infront of an audience, the number of words I could say was less than in practise. I then had to abridge my script on the spot as the slides kept changing when I wasn’t ready. Pecha Kucha’s are difficult as you don’t get a break at all, unless you are clever and have a short script.
https://www.pechakucha.com/presentations/janoss-pk
Proposal form submission. Like I said before, I did struggle a bit with the interim proposal form as I wasn’t nailed down on what my final film would look like. I never quite know how to sound both descriptive and punchy in a short 20-word statement for example. I got it all done in good time though. I find that I’m a lot better at talking about others work than my own, that goes for a lot of us though. I’m not sure what screenshots I should use for my final proposal form, as it is a film.
In my tutorial with Miranda, we talked about meaning and what I wanted to portray in my film. I want my film to show the body and what it is like to run and show how I feel and what it is like in an immersive way. The theme of time is so intertwined with running that it almost takes care of itself. I did say in the proposal form ‘documentational’, but I guess that it isn’t properly as it leaves a lot to the imagination. There was a suggestion of being in the room as part of the performance, but I just want myself to be on the screen and then have time to help in the exhibition and see things. I would like the viewing of the film to be immersive and intimate, so that is why I have been making the film to fit in the eye.
My project
What I have done:
I had fun with the GoPro. I was a bit confused at first though as I had never used one before. I downloaded the app which helped, as I could then see what I was filming live like view finder. I didn’t experiment with settings much, I just filmed in a similar style to how I did with my phone. It was a lovely and sunny day again, so that helped things look better. I just had a chest strap with me, so that was the only view I got. I did tilt up and down though, I tried looking straight forward and also looking at my feet more by tilting down. I did find it a bit annoying sometimes having the camera strapped to my chest, as when I was holding my phone and filming I had a bit more control. I think I found the phone camera was a bit more authentic.
Top video is with the GoPro, bottom with the phone.
Editing wise, I have been getting used to using iMovie and seeing if it will do all the things I want it to. I have stared using voice memos as well to record just sound. I will use Adobe premiere if I can’t use iMovie how I want to, as the controls are bit limited. I have ingested all my video files and tried to make some transitions and edits. I do like the idea of having multiple screens or a split screen with different parts playing. I am limited to using one screen though.
What next:
Sound recording and editing for sure. I just need to focus on the production now over Easter, as I have more than enough footage. As I would like people to view the film individually ideally, I don’t want it to be that long. I think around 3 to 4 minutes will be ok.
Research and context
Reading list: ‘Time’ by Amelia Groom.
I found it interesting reading about the more philosophical and abstract aspects of time. I did find it slightly difficult reading at times, as I do get a bit lost reading things and it goes off in tangents a bit.
This passage struck me in particular: “Because light has a finite speed, we can all see the past. In fact, in purely optical terms we can only see the past, since there is always duration between a visible event and the arrival of its image on our retina. Looking into the night sky, we see images that are extremely old – stars as they were billions of years ago, which may well by now no longer exist, though their scintillating image remains in our visual present.” I think about this a lot when I am running, looking at the world going past.
