Sound & Interview & my "Progress"

Well, let me begin by saying that my progress concerning the projects is limited to many, many minutes of B-roll video content, and a lot of thinking. I have been thinking a lot, and those thoughts are starting to form mental storyboard that will eventually make there way onto paper.

As I was thinking about the personal video, and I've limited my theme for the video to be about getting around the cities and internationally without a car. I will use the rule of thirds often to frame scenes around the cities, metro stops, airplane terminals, etc. If I include short interviews with friends about travel, I will use the advice from the videos in the lectures (for instance: diffuse glow lighting, nose room, watching out for hands, and not cutting off the chin). I am actually kind of excited to interview/feature people in my projects, just for the fun of frame composition. Hopefully I will not have to add too many sound effects and be able to use the ambient sounds of the city. I plan on having a montage of travel mediums, and in that case I'll have to do some searching for the right-paced song.

I have a lot of work to do, but it's going to be excited to finish!

Tropos of Videography

For this delayed assignment, I'll bestow a nugget of awesome videography upon thee. It's an action-packed Swiss Alps thrill ride! Enjoy.

*Credits to Freeplay Music, for the song titled "Turning Point".*

So, I might have lied a little bit. It's not action-packed, per say. It's got a few scraggily bits of adventure though. To make this composition of small shots convey the initial sense of waiting and boredom, and then the out-of-nowhere fun in the mountains, a lot of exclusion had to occur. While it was important to include everything awesome, like the landscape, helicopter, and my rented skis, this video would lose its effect if I had either cut the clips shorter or left them too long.

Let's bullet point the big Tropos questions:
What? It's a vacation in the Swiss Alps.
When? During a bright, sunny day--the best conditions for a day on the slopes.
Where? The expanse mountain landscape.
Why? To excite, entertain, and inspire!

My Journey to becoming a Famous Director

Let me start by saying that the video from Presentation Zen was truly interesting and informing about Walt Disney--and the fantastic movies that filled my childhood. Storyboarding seems fun, so I can't wait to fill my next sketchbook with frames for my upcoming videos. Here are my ideas for the assignments:

Personal Video

My time in the host culture of Spain has been a time of personal growth and increasing independence. Besides being caught in an entirely new infrastructure that is the big, foreign city of Barcelona, I have had to do more independent travels which have required a great deal of planning and preparation. I would like to include these different aspects of the new lifestyle (including the routinely used public transport, excessive walking, ignoring the plethora of cat-callers) and the experiences outside of the city which have brought me to the point that I am at in this moment.

Professional Video

For this video, I would like to discuss the densification of the city and the loss of public space. Urban planning is an important factor to the history of Barcelona, ever since the destruction of the old medieval wall--which brought the rise to the utopian "Grid" by Cerdá.

Social Issue Video

For this particular assignment, I feel it could be important to shed light on issues of urban densification and its resulting displacement of populations--some of which may have lived in their respective homes for decades. The neighborhood of Bon Pastor, a residential area of Barcelona, is in the process of tearing down homes where the residents had lived there for over 20 years. The single floor homes, with their own yards and good community interaction, are systematically replaced by blocky high rises. The worst part is that the current residents have no idea where they are going to go.

Tropos of BCN: 4 Different Perspectives

I've learned thus far into my semester that there are more, even opposing, sides to this city than my first impression ever led me to believe. Honestly, first impression: dog dung in the streets, vendors yelling at you to eat their doner kebab, and the buskers begging for money on the metros. That is all that I saw for the first couple of weeks. However, after venturing out to different parts of town, I saw new beauties and things I could appreciate about the city and their culture. Hopefully my images capture and convey the meaning I saw in them:

The composition of this photo was intended to emphasize the natural grass and it's seemingly wild nature blowing the wind, and to minimize the impact of the city on the landscape. The city is Barcelona, albeit the very outskirts of the dense city. The photo was taken at a low angle, so that the grass takes up most of the frame. The contrast between what is expected to be seen of Barcelona, and what is actually in Barcelona is an interesting twist to the idea of how we normally perceive it. I believe this image tells a story of change and growth, a battle between the built and natural environment.

This image, again, was composed to focus on the natural elements of the city, with the striking verticality of the tree being the focal point (the image was taken using a wide frame option in order to emphasize this). This time it was taken within a public plaza. Public spaces are integral to the culture of Barcelona, as well as other European cities. The scope and range of the public spaces vary, but this particular one exuded peace and tranquility, which is something rarely found in one of the most dense cities of Europe. The photo tells a story of how the people appreciate shared spaces and natural flora.

This image was intended to show the change of the urban fabric over time, with the overlay of old factory facade and contemporary museum structure, with the strings of electric lights in the foreground. The picture was taken at dusk, which I believe is suiting to the theme. The shot was taken at an upward angle, in order to enhance the apparent height of the modern architectural elements. As one age of Barcelona ends (the industrial period), a new one awakens and gives rise to new articulations in terms of technology and architecture.

Finally, this last image was composed to focus on the heart of the city, where the density of people gives rise to tall buildings and bustling streets. It shows the many modes of transportation used throughout the city, including public bus transport, cars, mopeds, and walking. The roads seems infinitely long, giving the impression that the city may go on forever. However, we know this is not true based on my former images...