“human” and other information
April 01, 2009 by Dave
My documentary ‘human’ has evolved from day one, shifting focus slightly and refined each day that I’ve worked at it. I only have the footage of one of my subjects right now which leaves many holes in my rough cut. So to fill in…
Read more »Part I: Response to Heather
March 19, 2009 by Dave
“As I watched the film, I became even more enraged by soldiers who openly questioned why they were in Iraq…worse is they did it in uniform.”
To support and defend the constitution does not mean to blindly follow the political leaders that SERVE US but rather, to
Read more »A Sense of Space: Joes Garage
February 28, 2009 by Dave
I just complete my first short film called A Sense of Space: Joes Garage using the Sony PD170 DV camcorder and Apple Final Cut Pro. I embarked on this adventure with the notion that I would be spending many late evenings reading the user manual for both the camcorder and Final Cut to produce a 3 minute film. To my surprise, the process was not as daunting as I expected but did come with the usual quirks and hiccups. After only 20 minutes of shooting and an evening banging through the user manual, I had a finished product
Read more »The Walls We Build
February 26, 2009 by Dave
The podcast starts off the story of Sam Slavin describing the video montage that he and Usef participated in at Parkland College. I would have that video start the documentary with the voice over of our narrator. As we are told about how much he fears Muslims, video of Muslim students could be used as the backdrop of the narrative and then move into seeing Sam talk about Muslims. As he spoke about his time in Iraq, I couldn’t stop thinking about what he looked like while he was talking.
Read more »Signs: The Seed Is Planted By Sandi Austin
February 23, 2009 by Dave
In Sandi Austins clever little sarcastic narrative, she really sums up her unability to think past the tip of her nose when she recounts her trip through the airport. “Of course I’m thinking there is nothing in there besides the projector I had to carry for work. The agent reaches in and pulls out a bottle of Jason’s Deli water. I smile, laugh a little, and apologize. I’m sure she feels successful ... job well done. That is one less water bottle on the plane!”
Read more »Help: Thoughts Needed
February 17, 2009 by Dave
I need some feedback. I feel like I am on the right path with this idea but some outside comments/thoughts would help me put into words the theme I am visualizing in my mind.
Read more »Addition to Cinematography
February 15, 2009 by Dave
I want to add one thing from my photojournalism background that may help with building a scene. It is the understanding of the key moment that you want to capture and working out from that moment to develop the entire scene. A still photographer will anticipate what will happen and position themselves to nail a the moment that defines the situation. Take this photo from this past Veterans Day ceremony on campus.
Read more »Schoolhouse Rock
February 10, 2009 by Dave
When it comes down to it, sometimes you just have to go back to the basics. At times, you can over think and try to over achieve even the simplest task. As I started out this assignment of building 2 ideas as my starting blocks for my documentary, I had some very ambitious goals set for myself.
Read more »Bright Spots
January 27, 2009 by Dave
I never really like answering questions like these because one may try to be as objective as possible in answering, so as not to sound boastful, but they may indeed overlook qualities in themselves that are quite easy to see from the outside perspective yet not from within. It is also easy to start comparing whether the qualities one might possess with another person answering the same question. With this in mind, I thought I would try to explore this question using my parts of my resume as a guide. Could this help me to sell my qualities while maintaining the most accurate depiction? We’ll see.
Read more »STUDENT BLOGS
The course utilized a blog both to continue the discussion outside the classroom, and to provide training for the students in blogging, video compression, and video sharing.
Students used the blog to post reflections and ideas, to share and comment on the video assignments, and to respond to each other's posts.
Contributors
The film "Land of Confusion" was presented in class by the film's director, Jeremy Zerechak, a Penn State grad. A number of the students wrote responses to the film on the blog. Click here to see a trailer of the film.
A number of posts also reference a This American Life episode entitled "The Devil in Me." Students in the class were asked to listen to the veteran-related portion of this radio program and to write a post about how they would tell the story visually. You can hear the story by clicking here.