Blown Away
A couple of my Video 1 students presented their project on Friday. They did a filmic presentation of the classic Civil War short story, "An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge." The first day of the semester these two slid into the back row and gave no clue about what they were capable of. I tried to think back to the first few weeks of classes and I have to admit that I missed any hint of what was to come. I warned the class to not try to bite off more than they could chew. One time an ambitious student had a battle scene from WWII in her script. I had to convice her that it would probably not be possible to pull this off in the parameters of her first project. Others have tried things for which they had to fudge a prop or location that just made the thing scream "WEAK STUDENT PROJECT!" I give a little speech re: projects encouraging them to take into account the resources they actually have available on our campus and in the vicinity and make their story work exploiting what they do have available instead of making excuses for what they do not.
The "Owl Creek" telling was amazing! Being in the South here, these guys were able to find some Civil War reenactors who loaned them some mighty authentic-looking costumes. They found a plantation house. They found a great abandoned railroad bridge over the river and even secured permission to use it legally. They desperately wanted to do some underwater shots and soon found that camera housings can cost thousands of dollars. So one of the guys did a bunch of research and then made one out of about twenty five dollars worth of materials. The footage is incredible! In so doing they have already managed to do something I've long wanted to try but have never accomplished: underwater photography. This was the most amazing fit of story into available low-dollar resources I've ever seen in a student project. The fact that it is a period piece underscores this even more.
I have to come clean and say that I really covered precious little in the way of anything beyond basic tips on camera angles and editorial technique this semester, but you would never know it from this project. There were a few technical glitches like a few hot exposures, but the artistic feel for placing the camera was spot on. (With the exception of one shot that included a second camera. Thankfully we now have After Effects for a magic fix.) And the editing, well, normally the first cuts I see from students are very rough. This one, the first edit they showed me, was so tight I really don't think I could have done any better. A couple key cuts were stellar, visual poetry.
The audio needs a bit of polishing and we need to erase out that non-period camera, and I have a few other ideas for polishing, but I smell festival winner all over this thing. I will definately be seeing to getting it entered in several contests. I am button-busting proud of these guys and of the rest of the class they pressed into service as actors and whatnot. But there is a part of me that is a little startled that they were able to do this amazing work coming right out of the gate. I wonder how much longer teaching video production on the college level is going to be viable. It may become strictly a high school or even grade school subject. We used to have a computer course everyone had to take: "... this is a mouse. This is a keyboard..." It was ridiculous and it finally went away. The changes in the field have been moving at an exponential rate and we are in a very steep part of the curve now. I used to be able to call myself an expert. I think I'm rapidly becoming just an ex. I have the strange sensation that it's all overtaking me and about to just pass right on by.
That sounds like a bit of a downer, but I really am tickled about this project and the students who made it. And should the field exceed my ability to keep up, that is nothing but good news for all the young filmmakers coming up. And I have no worries about finding something to do with myself.
Ability+Creativity+Energy+Work Ethic = Watch Out, Here They Come!
The Housing
The "Owl Creek" telling was amazing! Being in the South here, these guys were able to find some Civil War reenactors who loaned them some mighty authentic-looking costumes. They found a plantation house. They found a great abandoned railroad bridge over the river and even secured permission to use it legally. They desperately wanted to do some underwater shots and soon found that camera housings can cost thousands of dollars. So one of the guys did a bunch of research and then made one out of about twenty five dollars worth of materials. The footage is incredible! In so doing they have already managed to do something I've long wanted to try but have never accomplished: underwater photography. This was the most amazing fit of story into available low-dollar resources I've ever seen in a student project. The fact that it is a period piece underscores this even more.
I have to come clean and say that I really covered precious little in the way of anything beyond basic tips on camera angles and editorial technique this semester, but you would never know it from this project. There were a few technical glitches like a few hot exposures, but the artistic feel for placing the camera was spot on. (With the exception of one shot that included a second camera. Thankfully we now have After Effects for a magic fix.) And the editing, well, normally the first cuts I see from students are very rough. This one, the first edit they showed me, was so tight I really don't think I could have done any better. A couple key cuts were stellar, visual poetry.
The audio needs a bit of polishing and we need to erase out that non-period camera, and I have a few other ideas for polishing, but I smell festival winner all over this thing. I will definately be seeing to getting it entered in several contests. I am button-busting proud of these guys and of the rest of the class they pressed into service as actors and whatnot. But there is a part of me that is a little startled that they were able to do this amazing work coming right out of the gate. I wonder how much longer teaching video production on the college level is going to be viable. It may become strictly a high school or even grade school subject. We used to have a computer course everyone had to take: "... this is a mouse. This is a keyboard..." It was ridiculous and it finally went away. The changes in the field have been moving at an exponential rate and we are in a very steep part of the curve now. I used to be able to call myself an expert. I think I'm rapidly becoming just an ex. I have the strange sensation that it's all overtaking me and about to just pass right on by.
That sounds like a bit of a downer, but I really am tickled about this project and the students who made it. And should the field exceed my ability to keep up, that is nothing but good news for all the young filmmakers coming up. And I have no worries about finding something to do with myself.
Ability+Creativity+Energy+Work Ethic = Watch Out, Here They Come!
The Housing
posted by wingman at 1:00 AM
6 Comments:
can't wait to see it.
Watch out, here they are! Being an x highschool teacher myself I know the feeling that one could feel no longer with the current student population and technology, method one has been taught to teach. But once a teacher/guide/call us whatever, it does not go away just because our current setting may make us who've especially been around awhile make us feel off a bit. I find myself in a very interesting setting where my gifts and abilities are in full swing - did I ever invision all of this to this extent while doing my student teaching at 22? I hadn't a clue, and I still don't know exactly what colors my life will take on in 10 years - neither do your students. I look forward to seeing.
Yo, raiel!
I haven't bragged on your piece here yet as I haven't seen the whole in it's current more finished state yet. Please, please make sure I get it!
Yeah, these guys are doing good stuff! Hanging out in the studio all night during the edit was a blast. Awesome projects!
Interesting similarities and differences:
http://www.owlcreekproductions.com/
Ah, yet another production of this story! I didn't know of this one. I remember seeing one in b&w back when I was in college. It was more along the scale of what our guys just did.
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