Tag: editing

Travel :: BiPoland

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A note from the filmmaker: Please wear headphones for the best sound experience.

Matty Brown

Traveling is just as much about learning about a new place as about learning about yourself.  Just watching the first few minutes of this film is enough to learn not only about a very dark period in our history, but how we react to the images of a place that tormented thousands of Jewish people in the early 1940s.

This film, BiPoland begins as a reminder of the Holocaust and surpasses the history lesson to go on to demonstrate the strength of the Polish people and their ability to move on even with such a dark history that remains solid and real within their borders.

Beyond the emotion that this video brings to me, I really, really love the editing.  I know I usually discuss the camera work and the light, which is something that I really do admire, but editing is actually more my forte.  Bringing images, music and graphics together to tell a story and to move the viewer through the video is what I really love to do.  I’m one of those dorky people that gets a rush when I finally get a sequence right and the music and the footage sync perfectly to get the desired effect.  That is what this film does for me.  It’s a perfect blend of beautiful cinematography, vintage recordings and powerful music.

Travel :: Ice Hotel

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I was twelve when I heard about the ice hotel.  My dad saw it in a travel magazine and I’ve wanted to stay in one since.  Most people that know me well would find this very ironic as I’m always cold, but there is something spectacular about staying in something that seems so strong and permanent, yet very fragile and dependent on frigid temperatures.  I would only want to stay a few days if that, but the experience itself is a once in a lifetime thing.  For now I will have to settle with the experience of having a drink in the Ice Bar in London.

HENNING SANDSTRÖM

I realize that this video is more about the river than the ice hotel itself, but if we are to appreciate the hotel and all the work that goes into its design and construction each year, we need to appreciate where it all comes from in the first place.

Travel :: Corsica

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David Babendryer

Filmed on the island or Corsica, I love how this film makes me unwind.  The slow and relaxed feel makes this film almost sensual.  The close ups and the wide landscape shots really makes me feel like I’m there experiencing all of the little nuances that you notice when you’re in a new place and trying to take it all in.  Plus, I like how the story is told through the woman and the dog’s wonderings of the island, but there is no need for anyone to speak.  It is just the viewer taking it all in just as the person behind the camera did.

Travel :: Rio de Janeiro

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by MOOV

Rio remains a mystery to me.  At least the inner depths of its culture.  I was there a few years ago for two days.  Yes, I know two days in one of the world’s most fascinating cities is not enough time and I realize that now that I’ve been there and saw basically nothing- not for lack of trying though.  In my defense, it was cloudy and wet the 48 hours I was there and to top it all off, the Christ Statue was covered in scaffolding.  I was told it was pointless in going up to see the view as all I would see was a thick fog.  Try as I might, I couldn’t see anything that I wanted to check off my “to see” list. I’m still trying to get back there to see what I missed.

Rio de Janeiro

See, lots of clouds

Despite the clouds and the damp I did get to experience a few things there like the Favela, also known the shanty town, and a few impromptu soccer games on the beach.  And through these small experiences I got a sense of the drastic opposites that make Rio culture what it is.

  • The laid back attitude mixed with intense energy and athleticism. Everyone in Brazil seems to be incredibly fit and I couldn’t find one unattractive person my whole time in the country (which amounted to about two weeks).  Brazilian people are just plain gorgeous.
  • It is also a place that never seems to sleep yet it seems almost tranquil at times.  There is always something going on, yet at the same time it just feels like any other city with its ebbs and flows.
  • The extremely wealthy and the extremely poor.  I spent a few hours in the Favela and witnessed how many of Rio’s inhabitance survives from day to day.  From the highest point, I looked down at the the housing for the wealthy and down at their expensive shopping and personal boats.  The contrast was staggering.

What I like most about this video is the color and the movement.  It really encapsulates everything that I had experienced and what I had had assumed about the place- not that any of my assumptions were proven correct after visiting.  It’s a place that still kind of scares me for its energy and the unknown that I have yet to discover.  Someday, I will return to experience it all again.

How to Tie a Scarf

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Sometimes you see a video and wonder how it’s made and then spend a while trying to figure out the method and either try it yourself or give up and move on.  Very rarely do you get a tutorial on how it was made.

I’m not one to go looking for “how-to” videos to do with clothes (in fact it never dawned on me that they existed), but this came up while I was searching for scarves for a gift the other day.  I’ve never been very original when it comes to how I wear a scarf so I figured, why not?

Wendy’s Lookbook

Yes, I got some great tips on how to tie a scarf other than the first option, which is my usual “go-to” but what I really liked was the whole composition of this video.  The editing was great and it was a fun way to make what could have been a very boring tutorial, exciting.  And, if I got bored of how to tie a scarf, there was plenty of other things for me to watch and amuse me.  The mark of any good video- it keeps your attention.

So of course after oohing and aahing over the video, I was intrigued by the way that it was put together and lo and behold, there was a link to how the director put this together (here).  It really isn’t as difficult as it appears, but it took a lot of planning and coordinating.  I can’t imagine how long it took to film all of the segments.  In documentary there isn’t quite as many planned shots, which is probably why I like it more than narrative film, so this boggled my mind.

I was so impressed by the scarf video that I watched a few other videos on the same account and loved this one too:

WENDY’S LOOKBOOK

Now that we are all up to date on women’s fashion for the season, I’m going to go and try to piece together how to do something similar to this last video.  Wish me luck!

Handmade :: Sourdough

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I love making bread.  I originally started because I thought was “fun” after reading Little House on the Prairie and American Girl’s Kirsten books.  Yes, I was one of those people who wanted to try out the “pioneer ways of life”.  I’ve come a long way since then.  Now I love trying out new combinations of grains, seeds and herbs – and the texture and density has improved significantly from when I first started.  I’m not saying that my bread is by any means anything like this

Image from TARTINE Bakery, SAN FRANCISCO

but it holds its own and actually tastes good.

The bread I aspire create to is pictured above and made by the good people of the Tartine Bakery in San Francisco.  The point of all this prattle about bread is that 4SP Films made a short documentary about the bakery and I would like to share it with you (click on the the sliced bread below to watch the film)

Image from Tartine Bakery, San Francisco

Why share a film about a bakery with you? Well there are several reasons

  1. The graphics in this film inspired the graphics that I created in “Out of Print,” so obviously I like the use of graphics.
  2. I like the use of light and the camera work.
  3. Although bread could seem like a dry subject, it’s actually brought to life as its own character in this film- almost like the live sourdough starter that creates this famous bread.

So now that I’ve made you hungry for artisan bread, go find a loaf you love and enjoy!

Runoff :: Downstream

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by NeymarcVisuals

Out of the rapids and into the current.

I have spent many, many hours in boats.  Training.  Rowing.  I rowed in high school, in college and when I was injured, I coached.  I even raced  the women’s counterpart of the team shown in this video.   This video makes me want to be back on the water.

This video shows everything that I love about the sport: the challenge, the camaraderie, the adrenaline and most of all, gliding through the water.  I don’t think there’s anything more wonderful than cutting through the smooth surface as the sun glimmers around.  Yes, the sport can be exhausting and the hours are not ideal, yet there are those of us who still do it- and this video encapsulates it all.