Thursday, Sept. 30, 2010

REMINDER- QUIZ TOMORROW ALL CLASSES

Video:
Vocabulary:
Grip- lighting and rigging technician
Key Grip- head of the lighting and rigging technicians
-May specialize in the camera dept.
-May specialize in the lighting and electrical dept.
Grips are basically in charge of everything you don't see on camera (though what they do effects everything on camera)

Agenda:
1. notebook
2. LTV groups
3. LTV brainstorming
4. finish any editing
5. export to quicktime to turn in

Photo:
Space- the area between, around, above, below, or within things
Can be open, closed, negative, positive, flat, deep

 In this example of positive and negative space, the comb forms the positive space and the dark area is the negative space.

Agenda:
1. notebook
2. print banana (if you haven't already)
3. finish and print element photo
4. sign up for flickr

Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2010

Video:
Notebook:
Pre-Production- the beginning stage of making a film or TV show
-development-
  - brainstorming ideas
  - outline, treatment
  - storyboarding
-casting and hiring crew
-locations scouted
-scenes blocked
-shooting schedule made
-art dept.
  - sets built
  - costumes, props, hair and makeup
-equipment rentals

Agenda:
1. notebook
2. register for quizstar
3. finish editing interviews- due at the end of the day

Photo:
Notebook:
Value- the lightness or darkness or a color
-in science the word luminosity is used
Value Scale-

Agenda:
1. notebook
2. register for quizstar
3. finish bananas - due at the end of the day
4. choose and edit element photo
5. printing

Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2010

The end of the first grading period is approaching and so is a quiz.
Here are some things to review:

Video:
-interview techniques
-history of computers
-types of shots, camera angles, camera moves
-framing and composition
-editing
    -editing workflow
    -transcoding
    -bring files into Final Cut
    -organization
    -Final Cut tools and windows
-early history of film
-some careers in film


Photo:
-interview techniques
-history of computers
-framing and composition
-photoshop tools
    -making selections
    -using layers
    -resolution and image size
-elements of art
    -line
    -color
    -texture
    -form
    -shape
    -space
    -value

PhotoCine Expo

This last weekend I went to the PhotoCine Expo held at the L.A. Film School.  It was great.
Lots of gear, great guest speakers, and lots of good information and tips.  There were many people transitioning from still photography to video.

Some of the topics I went to include:
- information about cine lenses for DSLRs straight from the guys who make them and also mod them from regular lenses
-Audio recording in the field
-secrets of Final Cut
-tips for making short films by Roberta Munroe (author of How NOT to Make a Short Film)
-shooting timelapse

Plus, there were some great presentations.

An interview with Alex Buono, DP for Saturday Night Live film unit:



 Something from Ami Vitale, amazing photojournalist who is now also shooting video and a great presenter:




Here is something from one of the excellent keynote speakers, Vincent Laforet:





Check out their websites for stunning photographs and video.

Monday, Sept. 27, 2010

Video:
notebook- Cinematographer/ DP (Director of Photography)
-The person responsible for determining how the shot will look.- picks the lenses, film stock, light package, gels, diffusion, etc.  They work with the director to plan the blocking and camera angles.

Agenda:
1. notebook
2. editing
Interviews are due at the end of the day on Wed.

Photo:
notebook- Texture-
the surface quality or "feel" of an object  ex.- rough, smooth, sandy, bumpy, slick

Agenda:
1. notebook
2. finish bananas- they are due at the end of Wed.
3. elements of art photos - also due at the end of Wed.

Friday, Sept. 24, 2010

Video:
Notebook- (vocab)
Director - Responsible for overseeing the creative aspects of the film
             - Develops the vision for a film and carries it out
- What does it take to be a good director?
  (see comments for student responses)

Agenda:
1. notebook think-pair-share
2.editing in the lab

Photo:
Notebook-
Color- produced when light of various wavelengths strikes an object and reflects back to the eyes
Properties:
1. Hue-the name of the color, ex-blue, red, yellow-orange
2. Intensity- the purity and strength of the color (how much brown or grey is in the color)
3. Value- the lightness or darkness of the color, ex- yellow is naturally a lighter value color than purple

Notes for Video- Early Film History Sept. 23, 2010

c. 1877- Eadward Muybridge- "The Father of Film"
Muybridge is hired to settle a bet whether or not a galloping horse has all four feet off the ground.  He sets up 20 photograph cameras (like the Matrix) and shoots sequential photographs of a horse in motion.  They win the bet.

The zoetrope-

An optical toy to view "moving" pictures.  The viewer looks through the slits and spins the cylinder.  Each frame is slightly different and the image seems to move.

The kinetoscope- Developed by Edison using a flexible film invented by George Eastman.  The strip of film winds around rollers and gears in front of a lens.  This was the next step to a projector.

The Black Maria-  The first film studio- built by Edison.  The building is on a turntable so it can be rotated for the best sunlight (coming in through a window in the roof).  The camera and operator are in the cubicle on the right and the performers would be in the bigger section near the wall.

The Lumiere brothers-  Made the first motion picture to be shown to a paying audience.  They commonly made films of everyday life.  They also made the first newsreels.

"The Kiss" 1896- released by Edison

Shocking to audiences used to seeing actors on a stage, this is one long medium shot.  Audiences also were shocked by the subject matter- a very long kiss.

 1902- Georges Melies- A Trip to the Moon
-The first film with a story
-The first sci-fi film
-First special effects and transitions- fade outs, dissolves, double exposures
-First time for film pirating

Thursday Sept. 23, 2010

Video:
Notebook question:
What is your vision for LTV?  Imagine that someone wants to start a new TV station and they want you to design their programming.  What do you want to show?  You are representing yourself, your school, your classmates.
    -Topic sentence- main idea
    -Supporting ideas and examples- How would you accomplish this?
    -Conclusion sentence- restate your main idea, tell us why this is important.

Agenda:
1. notebook question, think-pair-share
2. A bit of early film history (see notes in previous post)
3. Watch "Voyage to the Moon" by Georges Melies

Photo:
Vocabulary:  add to your list of Elements of Art
Line- a continous mark on a surface
-Defines a space
-May create an outline or a contour
-May create patterns or movement

Agenda:
1. notebook vocab
2. PowerPoint on Elements of Art in photography
3. written critique of one of the photographs from presentation
    -1.What do you see?
    -2. Describe the art elements you see in the image.
    -3.What is it about?  What is happening in the picture?
    -4. What is your opinion of it?  Why?

Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2010

Video:
Vocabulary:
Insert Edit- The new clip is inserted into the timeline.  The clips already in the sequence get moved over to make room for the new clip.

Overwrite Edit- The new clip will replace portions of the existing clip or clips in the sequence.  The overwritten portions will be the same duration as the new clip.

Agenda:
1. Notebook vocab.  Explanation of terms and tools.
2. Uploading and transcoding of yesterday's footage.
3. Begin editing.

Photo:
Vocabulary:
Resolution- The amount of detail in the image.  The higher the dpi/ppi (dots per inch/ pixels per inch) the more detail the image will have.

72 dpi- standard for web
150 dpi- for low res printing
300 dpi- for photo quality printing

Agenda:
1. Notebook vocab
2. upload photos from yesterday
3. choose and edit best photo representing your topic
4. work on bananas

Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2010

Video:
Vocabulary-
Non-linear editing- Any method of video editing which doesn't require all shots to be assembled in a linear fashion (they don't have to be done in order).

Photo:
The Elements of Art:
- Line
- Color
- Texture
- Space
- Value 
- Form
- Shape


Today we are not in the computer lab.  Video will continue shooting their interviews.  
Photo will first view the beginning of "The Perfect Picture", view a short PowerPoint about the Elements of Art, then have an Elements of Art scavenger hunt with the cameras.

Here are the photos from the PowerPoint:

LINE:
Karl Blossfeldt-

 

 Dorothea Lange 1938-

F. Bedrich Grunzweig, 1964

 COLOR

William Eggleston  -

David LaChapelle-

VALUE
Ansel Adams-

Lisette Model-

TEXTURE


Dorothea Lange-

Karl Blossfeldt-

SHAPE-


Josef Koudelka-

Gerda Taro-

Man Ray (Rayographs)-

FORM
Bill Brandt-

Edward Weston-

SPACE
Eugene Atget-

William Eggleston

William Klein-

Werner Mantz-

Editing workflow

When using the Sony Handicams:
1.Copy files to the computer
2. Transcode the .mpg files to .mov files using mpeg streamclip
         - Make sure you title the files with a consistent, useful file name
3. Save your project. Import your files to Final Cut Pro
4. Organize your files into bins (folders) in the browser.
    Make sure to title the bins with consistent, useful names
5. rough cut (assembly)
     -show to client
     -recut as necessary
     -possibly repeat as many times as necessary
6. final cut (picture cut)
7. audio mixing and sweetening
8. graphic (titles, etc.)
9. output and delivery

Monday, Sept. 20, 2010

Video:
Notebooks- Brainstorm ideas for LTV.  Think-Pair-Share

Agenda:
1. notebook, think-pair-share
2. notebook check
3. Final Cut Pro basics

Photo:
Vocabulary: Floating Selection-
  any selection that has been dragged by moving or cloning creating a temporary layer.
       -it can be added to a new layer (double click in the layers palette)
       -it can be added to a current layer (Selcet: none)

Agenda:
1. notebook vocabulary
2. notebook check
3. Photoshop tools and layers
4. Bananas!
     - You can find your starting banana at: http://yfrog.com/2cbananasamplehoukj

Friday, Sept. 17 2010

Video:
-take survey
-notebook check
-uploading and transcoding footage from yesterday

Photo:
-take survey
-notebook check
-draw three thumbnail sketches for your design layout
-working in Photoshop
       -getting to know the tools

Thursday Sept. 16

Vocabulary:
Ambient light: light that already exists in a scene, can be natural (from a window or sunlight) or man made.

Video:
video shooting logs:
at top- date, location, camera operator, other staff
first row- time, take, description, comments

Every group should have a shooting log.

When naming your files on the computer use a convention to keep it organized.  Be consistent.
For example if Shondra Smith was interviewing Marie James you could title the file: smith_mj
You might also want information about what the question was for example, if the question was "What inspires you?" the file might look like: smith_mj_inspiration
You will probably have more than one for each interview- smith_mj_inspiration1, smith_mj_inspiration2, etc.

Photo:
Power Point presentation of design layouts for articles using different sized fonts, color, multiple photos
Draw three thumbnail sketches of possible designs.

Wednesday

Vocabulary:
Rule of Thirds
-The points of interest in the frame are at the intersections of imaginary lines that split the picture into thirds.  The points of interest end up off center.

Agenda-film
-Vocabulary
-Notebook sections
-transcode files to pro res - continue shooting

Agenda- photo
-Vocabulary
-Notebook sections
-seamonster in photoshop, learning to use the selection tools

Tuesday cameras

Tuesday

Vocabulary-

Head room-
The space between the top of the subject's head and the top of the frame.

Nose room (Lead room)-
The space between the front of the subject and the edge of the frame.


Photo: Camera angles and distance between camera and subject.  Use of the camera, check out procedures.

Video: Camera angles scavenger hunt

Monday Vocabulary

Close Up (CU)- A framing shot that shows very little of the background.  The focus is usually on a face or a detail.  The object is magnified and shows the importance of things- writing on paper, an expression, etc.

Video:
Camera angles and moves sheet.  Students label the pictures.
Parts of the camera and tripod and how they work.
Camera angles and moves scavenger hunt in groups.

Photo:
Conduct student interviews.  Make sure you ask follow-up questions!

Friday

After reading the article on 13 interview techniques, finish the following statement:

What I found most (useful/interesting/surprising) about this article was... because ...

-Video examples of interviews

-Look for attributes of a good interviewer/interviewee
-Things that could have been done better
-Camera angles
-Types of shots- how many people are in the shot?
                        - how close is the camera to the subject?
-What is the tone of the interview?
       -How do you know?
-What are we (the viewers) supposed to learn from the interview?
-Was there additional visual information- B-roll, stills, props, examples?
-How does the background/setting of the interview influence the story?

Thursday Notebook

What if there were no computers?

-Write a short paragraph.  There are no right or wrong answers.  You may choose to interpret the question as either: computers were never invented or suddenly computers no longer work.

Modern Marvels- History of the computer:
Answer the questions as you watch the video.

Standards: 4.0 Technology
4.1 Understand past, present, and future technological advances as they relate to a chosen pathway.

Wednesday

Notebook entry:
List what attributes a good interviewer has.  List what attributes a good interviewee has.

steps:

• Students learn to conduct an interview using appropriate techniques.
  
• maintain a clear focus in writing an interview article.
  
• revise and edit for publication.
  
• plan and take a photograph/video of an interview subject.
  
• complete a project integrating writing and photography/video.
• present the results of the project to a class group.

Standards:
Media- 2.4 Listening and Speaking
(2.3) Apply appropriate interview techniques
VAPA- 2.0 Creative Expression
(2.3) Develop and refine skill in the manipulation of digital imagery (either still or video).

Objectives:
- Prepare and ask relevant questions
- Make notes of responses
- Use language that conveys maturity, sensitivity, and respect.
- Respond correctly and effectively to questions.

Tuesday Notebook

Notebook quickwrite: Why should we have rules and procedures in the class?


Imagine that a reporter is interviewing you about your life.  Brainstorm what you wouldn't want to happen in the interview.  Brainstorm what you would want to happen.  Make a list of each.

Question

Think-Pair-Share question:

Why is a picture worth a thousand words?