Category: Inspiration

Skate Art

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I am by no means a “skater”.  I think I’ve been on a skateboard once in my life and I felt like I was going to fall off and end up with a completely scraped and bruised body.  Yes, I know that it has a similar feel to a surfboard in the way that you steer etc, but there is something about coming in contact with concrete that scares me.  I prefer to go plunging into water even if there are hidden rocks and the possibility of carnivorous predators lurking below.

However I enjoy the artwork.  Not necessarily the graffiti look that is often associated with skating and urban jungles (although I do like some of it), but what I really is the combination of materials and the simplicity of the shapes such as in the work of Geoff McFetridge:

MONSTER CHILDREN

Yes, I enjoy the art but more importantly I like the way that the film was made.  An interview of this kind could be considered rather dry but with the quick camera movements, which admittedly I usually don’t like too much, and the movement around the studio, it actually works.  And on another level, it gives me confidence that there is a future for artists, even with everything moving into a digital culture.

Thank goodness for some things that just work better off the screen sometimes.

Coawabunga – from the air

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Something very strange is happening here in the Pacific Northwest.  We’re actually having summer weather and have been for several weeks now.  So much so that several people I’ve talked to are already prepared for Fall weather and the land is definitely ready for some rain – these wild fires are just plain scary. I don’t think that will be happening any time soon so for now I’m trying to enjoy it as much as I can.

As anything in water sounds fabulous right now:

Steven Briand

I love all of the moving arial shots in this video – it almost makes me feel cooler even if I am sitting in 90 ºF weather.

Grilling everything in site

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With Summer officially here – and having been here for a while, it seems that grilling every food in site seems to be the thing to do.  For one thing, it keeps the heat out of the kitchen and it means more time outside and soaking up every last summer ray possible.

To get us all into the mood for this weekend, the Grilling Everything Burger:

Claire Thomas

Happy Weekend!

Time Speeding By…

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Growing up, I was warned that time would speed up as I got older.  Now that I’ve been out of school for a while and making my way in the world this warning is all too true.  I wish it weren’t the case.  For instance, it’s already the end of June and I have no set plans for the July 4th holiday – mostly because I thought I still had plenty of time to figure out my weekend.  I can’t quite figure out how it snuck up on me so stealthily.

Thinking about this the other day made me think back to my days when I was able to travel frequently for pleasure and the days seemed to stretch on forever.  You might say that the long days had something to do with me sitting on a bus for 19 hours to get to my next destination but I don’t think that was the only thing.

Then I came across this little beauty:

Kenny Laubbacher

Could Jed’s theory be exactly the reason for the time warp that I’m sure I’m stuck in?!

Statistics – Motion Graphics Style

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It’s been a while since I posted something that inspires me.  I’ve been swept up in a whirlwind of film screenings and getting other projects underway, and thus, had little time to share some of my findings.

So during a break the other day,  I came across this little beauty:

Neil Halloran

Now it may not be the most uplifting of topics but it’s informative, visually interesting and even better, the visuals enhance the message.  Sharing such devastating statistics and making it interesting would have had me puzzling over how I would even begin to tackle this project for all of eternity.  Well probably not, but because I’m tired as it’s the end of the week, it would seem like all of eternity if I attempted it right now.  It certainly wouldn’t turn out as cool.

I have always had an appreciation for good motion graphics but have become even more enamored by the really good stuff since having to do my own for my last project, A Raincoat by Sonja Silver.  I doubt that I’ll be moving towards using motion graphics exclusively in documentary projects in the near future, but I’d sure love to include something like this.

Happy Friday!

Taking it to the mat

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In recent weeks I feel like I’ve been swept up by a tornado and been whirling around in a haze of projects from mundane daily paperwork to creative projects that only months ago were something I was merely hoping would come to fruition.  Well my wishes certainly came true and even though I’m constantly “on,” I couldn’t be happier with how things are going at the moment.

BUT, with the ever growing to-do list and never seeming to be able to cross anything off, I find myself overwhelmed at times.  I’ve found that I have a somewhat constant need to center myself and refocus and that doesn’t come easily while sitting at my desk.  Enter my yoga mat.  I don’t know if I’ve rolled it up at all lately, other than to tote it along to an actual yoga class.  Most of the time I take a quick break while video files are rendering and head to the mat to stretch out and hope to return to some sort of mental sanity.  Sometimes having a well loved older and slower computer is a god send… well sometimes.

I hope that in the next few weeks I will be able to share some of what has been keeping me so incredibly busy, but until then I’ll be taking quick breaks to breath…

prana

And dreaming of my next vacation that hopefully looks something like scenes from this video.

Around the Corner?

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I’m sure that most of the Northern Hemisphere is ready for Spring to arrive – especially those living in places that have had extremely cold and snowy weather that started last Autumn.  I have a friend in Boston who has given up on finding her car for now.  She knows that it’s under a snow bank, but there isn’t much good digging it out because the next time the snow ploughs come by, it will be wedged in by a new snow bank.  Yuck!  Even those of us with extremely mild winters are ready for Spring to arrive (in full).  The PNW has had plenty of blooming plants for a while now but leaves on the trees would also be nice.

So to encourage that spring foliage to blossom out, here is a little something to entice you:

KINFOLK

 

Short and sweet, this has spring written all over it.  You might still have to wear a coat when out of doors, but the sun is shining and everything is coming to life.

Hang in there.  Spring is almost here!

House Key

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Filmmaking is about stories and I feel like I have forgotten that in the last few months.  When you work behind the scenes, one film takes months, if not years to plan, produce, edit and finally get it out into the world for people to see. When you’re worrying about the minute details, like I often have to, it’s hard to remember the bigger picture – that you are telling a story.  Stories are what caught my attention in the first place, and so I’m trying to go back to the base element of what I do.  I tell stories.  Or at least I try to.

In trying to keep up with a posting schedule that I made for myself for this blog, I’ve found that I’ve moved away from finding work that inspires me and that makes me want to tell stories in new and different ways.  Instead, I’m sharing whatever I can find to fill the space, and that’s not what I want this to be about.

This shift has exhausted me (like so many other bloggers out there) and I find that I’m struggling to find content that I feel goes with what I am about.  To be blunt, I’ve started to resent the pressure that I’m putting on myself.  Stupid, I know.  The good news is that I’m not going to stop posting, but I am going to stop with my monthly themes.  I may even stop with the weekly posts.  I’m not going away.  Just getting more picky about content but NOT about what month each item fits into.

So with this new freedom that I give myself, I’m sharing whatever I find when I want to.  And, I won’t have the pressure to find weekly content when I’m at my busiest with other work.  Yahoo!

So for my first week of my new found freedom, here is something that I found a while ago, but had never found a good time to share it:

Mackenzie Sheppard

I love the camera movement, and the sentimentality of what so many of us consider an everyday object.  I myself have so many keys on my keyring, that I tend to only think of it as another thing not to forget as I run out the door.  This little short reminds me to stop and appreciate even the seemingly mundane objects in my life.

Until next time…

Championship :: Film Awards

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In two days, it’s the finale of the film awards season.  I don’t think I’ve seen many new films this year, not to mention I haven’t had much of a chance to see any films that have won or been nominated at various award ceremonies. Yet the Oscars are only two days away.

One of the films that I did manage to see: The Imitation Game

I loved it.  I was initially drawn to the story because being a film about WWII and that being a topic that I’m extremely interested in, it seemed like a no brainer for me.  But that aside, I thought the story was beautifully told, one that has only surfaces in the last few decades.  The acting and the filmmaking were also breathtaking and I’m interested to see how many awards it takes home.  It’s not easy to make the story about the first computer’s creation during a desperate time appealing for the masses, but I think this film has done that.

This is a tough year to be nominated for film awards.  There are a lot of good ones (or from what I hear) that came out in 2014 and it’s too bad that there aren’t more awards to go around.

So here’s to those champion films that have even been acknowledged by the masses.  Wishing those films that have inspired us, brought us to tears and made us laugh out loud the best during this last competition of the season; bringing home an Oscar.

Rejuvenation :: Putting it on Paper

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There are two things that I’ve found that help when I’m stressed.  1) Working out any frustration with rigorous exercise and 2) writing it down.  Just getting whatever is bothering me off my chest and taking a few minutes for myself makes all the difference.

Now this is going to sounds silly, but the notebook or journal that I write in makes all the difference as to how much I like to write and how it makes me feel when I do it.  Paper quality is a huge thing.  No one likes to write on rough paper that makes the process even more difficult than it needs to be – because if you’re like me, I can’t seem to write fast enough sometimes.  I need smooth paper for quick pen action.

Another thing is if the paper has lines on the page versus a plain sheet.  If the lines are spaced too far apart of too close together, I have no desire to read write on that kind of page.  The page color, the pocket in the back for storing small moments and even the  cover changes the way that I write and the inspiration can be gone in a second if I don’t like my notebook.

My favorite notebook in a long time has smooth plain pages, perfect for sketches, notes and a nice big pocket on the back cover.  It even has a nice elastic band for keeping the pages together when the additional pieces of paper get too much for the spine.  Recently, it’s been something like these notebooks:

Enrico Mazzanti

I love the diversity of locations that people take these notebooks and that the can inspire so much creativity.  They say that Hemingway used these notebooks when penning his latest work.  This video inspires me to go somewhere new and note my observations.  Perhaps the whole point of Moleskine notebooks?

What inspires you to get your stresses out?