I am a huge fan of Wild Nothing. I feel like videos like this have been popping up all over the internet since the accessibility to low-cost HD cameras and high bandwidth internet connections.
I saw Wild Nothing play at Vera Project last weekend. It was an amazing show! I wonder why Paris and Vienna must have all the fun, shooting indie bands on street sidewalks? Why can't Seattle share in the street performance indie documentary fun?
Maybe they're worried about swarms of hipsters? Or night life hating cops?
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Hermes Festival of Crafts
This is my first published fashion video. I hope it to be the first of many. I shot it with William Brody as my cinematographer at The Bravern in Bellevue for Seattle Met Magazine.
It was important for me to get good audio. I wanted to hear the man scraping the dye from the screen, for example. In my other video you can hear stretching leather and folding canvas and such.
There is a lost clip where the silk printers tell the crowd that after the event, they will throw away their labors of the day. The reason being, the silk was not printed in the preferred conditions, at the workshop in France. I think that was amazing. Too bad I left it back on the cutting room floor!
It was important for me to get good audio. I wanted to hear the man scraping the dye from the screen, for example. In my other video you can hear stretching leather and folding canvas and such.
There is a lost clip where the silk printers tell the crowd that after the event, they will throw away their labors of the day. The reason being, the silk was not printed in the preferred conditions, at the workshop in France. I think that was amazing. Too bad I left it back on the cutting room floor!
Friday, February 25, 2011
Women Behind Bars
I shot this video series for Seattle Met called Women Behind Bars and meeting all the bartenders at the most trendy bars around town.
I wish I was a more confident shooter. I love shooting and I love watching my footage come together in the edit room but I think I could save a lot of time and avoid a lot of pain if I would just slow down and pace out my shots. Yes, there is a lot to look at but if you try to capture it all, you'll probably miss it all too.
For technical issues, I would discourage anybody from using the 5D for documentary style shoots. The image sensor is too big. Yes, everybody likes to see less depth of field but at the end of the day, you want a clean crisp image and you don't want to be scrambling around wasting time trying to get your subject in focus. Go for the 7D or 6DD. And slap on a fast lens.
In the video above, I asked Chelsea to make the same cocktail twice. If I was smart, I would have used the Zeiss 50mm prime lens (normal on a 5D) I had in my bag or a 80mm prime lens for the first time through where she gives a little narrative with the cocktail and I'd focus on her face. Second time through, I'd pull out a 90mm or longer for the closeups on the hands and the booze.
Editing this piece I learned something about editing interviews. Normally, you should avoid cutting audio of an interview with an image of a person that is not in sync with the audio. That is, if you see lips moving that fail to connect with the voice, it looks weird. Also, if the lips aren't moving, it still looks weird. But if you post an image where your eye is distracted by other movement in the frame, your brain doesn't seem to mind the disconnect. Do you see what I mean?
Personality profiles are great opportunities for video. You get so much more understanding about a person from a video that you can't get from a written article. Also, personality profiles are relatively timeless. If the bartender writes a blog, she can post a link or embed this video into her bio.
I wish I was a more confident shooter. I love shooting and I love watching my footage come together in the edit room but I think I could save a lot of time and avoid a lot of pain if I would just slow down and pace out my shots. Yes, there is a lot to look at but if you try to capture it all, you'll probably miss it all too.
For technical issues, I would discourage anybody from using the 5D for documentary style shoots. The image sensor is too big. Yes, everybody likes to see less depth of field but at the end of the day, you want a clean crisp image and you don't want to be scrambling around wasting time trying to get your subject in focus. Go for the 7D or 6DD. And slap on a fast lens.
In the video above, I asked Chelsea to make the same cocktail twice. If I was smart, I would have used the Zeiss 50mm prime lens (normal on a 5D) I had in my bag or a 80mm prime lens for the first time through where she gives a little narrative with the cocktail and I'd focus on her face. Second time through, I'd pull out a 90mm or longer for the closeups on the hands and the booze.
Editing this piece I learned something about editing interviews. Normally, you should avoid cutting audio of an interview with an image of a person that is not in sync with the audio. That is, if you see lips moving that fail to connect with the voice, it looks weird. Also, if the lips aren't moving, it still looks weird. But if you post an image where your eye is distracted by other movement in the frame, your brain doesn't seem to mind the disconnect. Do you see what I mean?
Personality profiles are great opportunities for video. You get so much more understanding about a person from a video that you can't get from a written article. Also, personality profiles are relatively timeless. If the bartender writes a blog, she can post a link or embed this video into her bio.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Preliminary treatment for an untitled film
It is a dusty dawn. No people are walking the beach. It’s too foggy. Long stretches of grass like the unkempt hair of balding hobos spill out against curtains of grey. Lifeguard towers guard the unutilized sandy space against further emptiness. Everything is movement but we are not arriving.
Ventura is a funny little college town without a college. The downtown strip is lined with thrift stores and restaurants that don’t serve lunch. Blue parking meters stand out front of the closed businesses like modern art sculptures. Sex shops put on vulgar window displays under self-consciously ambiguous business names. Everything is layered in a false sense of modesty and exaggerated humility.
Vagrants bang on guitars and hold up accusing signs, assuming a moral superiority over their guilted patrons. They hang around the grocery stores and take turns begging for money at the edge of parking lots. Sometimes they have dogs with them. Sometimes they have children. Sometimes they yell at each other and stick out their chests.
California builds their highways so wide and it is difficult to imagine them congested with traffic because at times, they are empty. When it is sixty degrees, people think it is cold out and they hide away indoors in their beds with their lovers.
Our film settles into the claustrophobic safety nest of a young couple, spending a lazy mid-afternoon lying on top of the sheets and looking at each other. We are the voyeurs of this intimate setting, watching the young couple kiss and run their fingers through the other’s hair. And touching at the hips. And crossed over at the thigh. And moving the other’s elbow.
He brings out a rolled cigarette, lights it, and passes it to her.
In the Goddard fashion, we arrive at the conversation mid-conversation. The couple talks about their frustrations of not fitting in and trying to rise above their insincere and mundane surroundings.
He is frustrated with friends and people who are pretending to be people they are not. She picks up on the irony and explains to him that he too, is pretending to be someone he is not. He says she is right to a point, but he is only acting in hopes that one day he can fill new shoes.
She laments that there is no authenticity in the world and that everything is just dust anyway.
He says she has a lousy attitude. Her nihilism is so unfashionable.
She insists she is right. Truth is classic and immune to trends. It is not cliché but a commonly accepted truth.
He disguises his indigence by praising her for her sweet submissive qualities.
She dodges his phony kisses. He doesn’t realize that his kisses are fake. She says she does not judge him. All people say one thing and mean something different.
As it becomes apparent that our young couple would much prefer to use their lips for kissing than for talking, we turn to look at the window, half out of reverence but mostly we are bored with our voyeurism.
Abruptly, we are thrust into the drunken small town bar scene of downtown Ventura. Sound is abrasive and video is choppy and we blink to black.
Ventura is a funny little college town without a college. The downtown strip is lined with thrift stores and restaurants that don’t serve lunch. Blue parking meters stand out front of the closed businesses like modern art sculptures. Sex shops put on vulgar window displays under self-consciously ambiguous business names. Everything is layered in a false sense of modesty and exaggerated humility.Vagrants bang on guitars and hold up accusing signs, assuming a moral superiority over their guilted patrons. They hang around the grocery stores and take turns begging for money at the edge of parking lots. Sometimes they have dogs with them. Sometimes they have children. Sometimes they yell at each other and stick out their chests.
California builds their highways so wide and it is difficult to imagine them congested with traffic because at times, they are empty. When it is sixty degrees, people think it is cold out and they hide away indoors in their beds with their lovers.
Our film settles into the claustrophobic safety nest of a young couple, spending a lazy mid-afternoon lying on top of the sheets and looking at each other. We are the voyeurs of this intimate setting, watching the young couple kiss and run their fingers through the other’s hair. And touching at the hips. And crossed over at the thigh. And moving the other’s elbow.
He brings out a rolled cigarette, lights it, and passes it to her.
In the Goddard fashion, we arrive at the conversation mid-conversation. The couple talks about their frustrations of not fitting in and trying to rise above their insincere and mundane surroundings.
He is frustrated with friends and people who are pretending to be people they are not. She picks up on the irony and explains to him that he too, is pretending to be someone he is not. He says she is right to a point, but he is only acting in hopes that one day he can fill new shoes.
She laments that there is no authenticity in the world and that everything is just dust anyway.
He says she has a lousy attitude. Her nihilism is so unfashionable.
She insists she is right. Truth is classic and immune to trends. It is not cliché but a commonly accepted truth.
He disguises his indigence by praising her for her sweet submissive qualities.
She dodges his phony kisses. He doesn’t realize that his kisses are fake. She says she does not judge him. All people say one thing and mean something different.
As it becomes apparent that our young couple would much prefer to use their lips for kissing than for talking, we turn to look at the window, half out of reverence but mostly we are bored with our voyeurism.
Abruptly, we are thrust into the drunken small town bar scene of downtown Ventura. Sound is abrasive and video is choppy and we blink to black.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Meet the people behind Noble Rot
As a local Northwest film maker, I would like to see more videos like this. I love the idea of small businesses encouraging community through video. Also, I like to see larger companies who care to distribute this hyper local media.
Noble Rot is a great place in Portland to hang out. Its close to the Doug Fir and Juniper Inn. Its a great area for music shows and eating great food.
Seed to Plate: A Garden Story from Riley Hooper on Vimeo.
Noble Rot is a great place in Portland to hang out. Its close to the Doug Fir and Juniper Inn. Its a great area for music shows and eating great food.
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