Still Holds Up-City of Gold (1957)

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When my kids and I watch an older movie or show that we haven’t seen for a decade and it still looks good in terms of special effects and watchability…the go to term is to say “still holds up”.  Sometimes it applies to a movie we’ve never seen…or perhaps even an older video.

Video.  It’s a strange thing to dive into the world of video creation.  What most people share on their FB wall and on twitter and vine and other places are things that were simply recorded.  The intent is to entertain, to exasperate, to shock.  What we mostly see are the visual equivalents of cheap candy.  Sometimes I too suffer from a sweet tooth.  I am not knocking it…too much.

But what I really love about video is the challenge of making it meaningful.  What is your story saying?  Will it hold up?  When we watch it a decade from now or more, will a viewer be captured by what you captured?

Anyone can “make” a video.  But can you tell a visual story?

Recently I have been increasingly drawn to how effective a well taken photograph holds up.  I have been poring through the Leslie Jones archives.  I have been studying MC Escher’s prints.  I have also been thinking a lot about how parallax 2.5D enhanced with 3D realism via dimensional mapping can bring photos and prints to life in new ways.

What can video do differently, to enhance  one’s ability to share a moment in time that will leave a lasting impression upon a viewer that informs, educates and inspires.  It’s that last descriptor that is missing from nearly all video that is shared in this day and age.  Inspires?  Who makes a video with the intent to inspire?  Not enough, in my opinion.

What can video do that we haven’t even considered yet, that inspires others?

I have been reading a lot about Ken Burns, the famous documentarian, who is also apparently a self described Luddite.  If there is any style of storytelling I am drawn to most, it is his.  Long fascinated by his use of panning, scrolling and bringing history alive with various animation effects,  I read last night that he was first inspired to appropriate this style by watching City of Gold (1957).  I just woke up early today before work to watch it.  There it was, in the credits…Animation Photography-Douglas Roberts.

It’s over 50 years old.  Still holds up.


 

 

Artisans Kick Ass (or)…my latest video: Jeff Chelf-Woodworking

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First…the video…

Jeff Chelf: Woodworking from Charles Morris on Vimeo.

 

I used to daydream in photographs.  All day long my Nikon D200 was imagined in my hands.  I would see something and imagine just how to capture it.  I’d dream about trips I could take, with my camera riding shotgun like a best friend in the seat next to me.  I kept an eye on the sun’s progression at all times, noting when the washout hours were.  For those that don’t know…during the apex hours of the sun’s path across the sky, colors are washed out to a large degree. What many consider “well lit”, to a photographer is “washed out”.

But somewhere along the way I just began daydreaming in video.  I don’t know why or how it happened.  For years I had made throw away videos for my various small businesses I always seemed to have simmering on the backburners.  Art was definitely not part of the equation.  It was informational only.  I definitely wasn’t daydreaming then.

I just began to notice that I was spending an inordinate amount of time thinking about how I would film something.  What angles?  What location?  What’s the message?  And that’s what caught me the most.  Beyond how a video I might create may look…what would I want it to say?  I have been a poet for years…and a writer as well.  Both of my kids are writers.  There are a lot of words flying around in my house…

I realized that just as I strove to say something well with written words, I wanted to help people say something well with video.  Today video is mostly used to display something that happened.  What’s being missed is what a video CAN say.  That is what matters to me the most.  Second is how it visually appeals or looks.  What use is something that is visually stunning but says nothing?  And in this day and age, someone with something valuable to share will unfortunately be ignored if the context in which it is presented isn’t visually appealing.

I realized I wanted to help people out with both.  I wanted to work with people who did things that I felt offered a true value proposition…and help them present it in a way that would allow that valuable thing to be noticed and heard.

What I want more of in the world is the natural….the non machine made.  I am not all anti tech. After all, I can’t make a video without a computer.  But why are we making so much crap by machine when the people…the Artisans-around us, can make it more beautifully and with more meaning to it?  So, I decided I wanted to represent artisans.  So, that brings me to Jeff.  Jeff is an artisan.  I knew him from before, when we worked together in retail.  I ran into him after my whole “artisan” epiphany and asked him if he’d like to work on a video together to help promote his work.

It was a fantastic shoot.  I couldn’t list all of the great things that I learned through the process of working with Jeff.  Too many.  Mostly though what stands forth is that I fricking love working with artisans.

Artisans kick ass.

They help us not forget the values that make us human.  Hand made objects.  Things that people spend hours making matter to us…and change our lives when we interact with them.  By extension, owning things made by or hiring an artisan  to make something for you connects you to that person and their lineage of craftmanship.  Imagine if everything we owned was made by machines…if everything we touched or viewed was machined by robot or assembly line.

I want my video work to promote a world that is the opposite of that.

Musicians, painters, sculptors, writers, woodworkers…feel free to write to me any time.

Here is what Jeff has to say about it on his site…
“My work stands in sharp contrast to the endless cycles of modern consumerism, purposely reaching back into our most rooted traditions to make furniture that is both pleasing to the modern aesthetic and lasting. Having ventured into the ancient worlds of maritime construction and blacksmithing my work now reflects these varied traditions and takes from them the elements most lacking in our modern lives.”

People like Jeff are exactly who I want to make videos and stories about.  They keep us more real, and should have our support.  And honestly, many of these artsy folks are off the grid, not internet savvy, camera shy and not the best promoters of their work.  Video editing is NOT their strong suit.  I hope to work with many more to help them get their art out into the open.

Anyway…I hope you enjoy the video about Jeff that I made.  It was a very positive collaboration and needless to say…if you need something done with video, let me know, but refer all woodworking questions to JeffChelf.com.

The Asheville Wedding

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If you remember nothing else from this posting, remember this: Premiere Pro isn’t backwards compatible.

I was asked to assist with a wedding video on the editing side of things.  All content was shot with handheld cams, not a tripod in sight.  The family had rented out a pretty fancy place for the bridesmaids and bride to hang out and get ready for the big event.  There were three cams roving around and were all shot by staff of Sidewalk Digital Media.  I know the owner there, which is how we made the connect and ended up chatting about me helping out.  He was busy doing the Reception…the Second Reception (yep, there were two!) and the Ceremony.

My task was to take 53 minutes of some pretty shaky footage from the pre ceremony preparations and turn it into something pretty to watch.  It was actually a lot of fun to do.  I noted that the colors are heavy in the reds and yellows in some scenes but try as I might, they just wouldn’t wash out.  It was also interesting to see how the footage from each camera varied in terms of “feel”.

The only real snag we hit was that I am on P Pro CC.  The guys at Sidewalk Digital are on P Pro 6.  He is also on a Mac and I am on a PC.  Have you ever tried to read Japanese when you can’t actually read Japanese?  Did it work?  So that’s the take home message here.  No matter how many articles you might read about how you can save files in a certain way or export them as whatevers…just for goodness sakes, stop right there.  Get on the same page or hire people who are on your same version of software.  Or…give the person who doesn’t have the same version a chunk to edit that can stand alone and be shared as is…and doesn’t need to go into a sequence anywhere along the way to join other footage.

And from a video editing perspective…it’s tricky when you also love shooting.  Because when you get footage that you never would have stylistically shot, it’s hard to glean how to edit it.  My ideal is definitely to shoot what I edit.  But that definitely isn’t always going to happen.  I personally do not enjoy handheld looking footage.  Not ever.

My motto is: Have the subject move, not the camera.

But hey, we all have our own ways of doing things.  Overall though I have to say that style not withstanding, I enjoyed what Sidewalk Digital captured.  Some of the footage is really gorgeous and striking.

The Asheville Wedding from Charles Morris on Vimeo.

 

The Friendly World of Video Editing?

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I had the chance to recently speak at length with Christopher Meurer.  He is a photography director and…well just check out his site HERE.  He’s been doing this for a while.  The conversation brought me to many realizations about the world of video creation.

Namely that knowing people is key.  Networking and bouncing ideas around are so much better than working alone in a vacuum.  Since speaking with Chris I have been networking a lot and asking people with a lot of years under their belt how they got their start…or why they edited a certain scene a certain way.

There is so much specialization out there that it is sort of staggering really.   There are a lot of metaphors that I keep coming up with.  One that comes to mind is of homeschooling.  I was a stay at home, homeschooling father for my two children for many years.  But when meeting other “homeschoolers” I would quickly discover that just because they called themselves, what I called myself…did not mean we were doing the same thing.  Some schooled at home for religious reasons.  Some let their kids swing from the rafters like wild monkeys, while others did “school-at-home”, adhering strictly to a curriculum.  Schooling at home develops as unique within each home.  No two were the same.

It’s taken me a while to realize how video creating and editing is exactly the same.  You can’t just say “I make video” and have it mean that you do the same as another editor.  Just like you can’t say “I am a photographer” and expect that your photos will have the same aesthetic as another photographer’s pics.

So basically it’s fascinating as hell out here.  I find that what I am good at is storytelling.  Taking video and turning it into a visual context that people will enjoy watching is what I love to do.  I have seen that someone can be very skilled at how to use the software, and that person can be paid well.  Technically speaking…it’s accurate and presentable.  But you might fall asleep while watching it.

It’s like academic poetry.  I am a poet and have been writing poetry for close to a decade.  Yet, I can’t even read academic poetry.  The structures that it clings to literally put me to sleep.  And the point is that to academics, my poetry will come dangerously close to looking like junk to them.

What I love about video editing is to think from the perspective of the viewer.  Is it an aesthetic that they appreciate?  Is it what they will want to watch over and over?  Can you tell a story that they will want to share with others?  Most can edit in a technically accurate fashion…but can their edits express the idea that you need it to express?

Chris has moved on from editing to mastering being a lighting expert.  He talked a lot about working in a team. Which is honestly something I had not considered.  A guy  just for audio?  Hmmm…never occurred to me.  I think that is because a lot of what I dream of shooting is of footage where spoken audio isn’t a part of the equation.   See?  Specialization.  I don’t know how to capture great audio yet, especially in an outdoor setting, like kayaking.  What Chris encouraged me to do was to find an audio guy…and a lighting guy..etc.  Again…hmmm…never thought about that.  I just imagined getting content sent my way that I’d mostly just sit and edit alone, in my den, while still wearing pj’s.  The team approach sounds way more interesting.

Mostly though he impressed upon me how friendly the world of video can be.  Find like minded people who do what drives your art and connect with them.  So, today I met up with a guy who is making a documentary that is right up my alley.  He is seeking a video editor.  I don’t know if I’ll be THE guy or just one of the guys, but it is nice to finally be in a place where know I can do the job, artistically speaking.

For the holidays Chris put out this pretty darn funny video, showing off some of his color grading skills and sense of humor.  If you ever need a lighting guy or colorist, definitely look this guy up.  He knows his biz and he’s a great guy.

Christmas Card 2015 from Christopher Meurer on Vimeo.

 

Short Clip! Talk by Ron Veitel

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I had this video turned to private on my Vimeo account for the last three months for many reasons.  The primary reason I wasn’t sharing it was that we were recording audio with a Snowball, which was situated close to him.  I was about 15 feet away or more though…and so we were to synch up the A/V later in post prod.  I believed that my mic on my Nikon was turned all the way off, but it turned out it was just turned way way down.  Ron’s life took an interesting turn and he got hired to do his dream job in Oregon and we never ended up creating the full length video…so I never got the Snowball audio file from him.  I didn’t want to release any of the video with such poor audio but for me it’s all about how good he looks on the video.  And if you turn your audio way up, you can hear him okay after all.

But I finally turned it to live today.  I really just like the quality of the image.  I mostly shoot outside scenes and it is so much harder to control for and account for how much happens “out there”…that I love the simplicity of the controlled circumstances of this video.  The subject of this video is Ron.  He is a wellspring of incredible information about how our food is grown, what the health supplement industry is really up to, and how we can consider “nutrition” in myriad ways.  I was helping him with marketing efforts for his business Earth Spirit Nutrition and offered to film this talk that he delivered at a popular local coffee shop.

I shot it with my D3200.  Inside the lighting was super low.  The lighting was all set high on the walls and there were plants in between the lights and the subject, which made for all kinds of contrasty leafy patterns on his clothing and face.  I had the ISO way up and then made a lot of adjustments in Pr to clean up the sharp leafy patterns.  This is just a short clip of Ron from the total 40 minutes, but I don’t know…I still like it enough to share it.  Oh, and you should really check out his work at http://www.earthspiritnutrition.com/

Sample Reel #1-Oasis Talk 9/22/15 (low volume!) from Charles Morris on Vimeo.

 

 

Foggy Night

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Night shooting is tricky stuff.  It’s also just about my favorite time to shoot video.  I don’t know why. I just like it.  Recently we experienced some very heavy fog in our area.  I ran up to the top of a parking deck and in between short spats of rain, ran in and out of my car capturing some snippets, hoping that the footage would have at least something worthwhile to mashup when I got home.

As always the balance with ISO noise is always an issue, at least with the lesser expensive cameras such as mine.

I had a fun time experimenting as well with blur effects on the lamp lights.  I also really appreciated my son’s help in choosing the music.  We are huge They Might Be Giants fans.  And they have so much eclectic music to select from.  The music on this is a short snippet from a little known podcast of theirs.  They are pretending to be translating a language for us into English.  Problem is…the language is completely made up.

Foggy Night from Charles Morris on Vimeo.

 

Moonrise

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Messing around with some time compression.

This is a video of the full moon rising shot through a tight network of fall branches without leaves.  Shot with Nikon D3200.  Using “find edges” in Premiere Pro and then blending the effect of that as the moon traverses, making it so that only at the end can you tell what the image is really.

MoonRise from Charles Morris on Vimeo.