CAP Hollywood Reflection #3
We are now at the finishing stages of our movie, thanks to some hard work and dedication this week from our group. Two of our group members came in on a Saturday to edit, and managed to actually almost finish our film. We have a tad more touching up to do, especially with the audio, but we're in good shape heading into the homestretch. Beyond the actual editing, our movie poster is printed out, and it looks so legit! I love how it came out, and I'm sure it will entice people to come see our movie, or at least have interest in it.
We had some issues with editing this week, however, but nothing that really could've been avoided. Our movie file got temporarily lost, but thanks to the help of Mr. Mayo, we managed to recover it and everything is back to normal. In the upcoming week, we should make sure all the audio for our film is at an appropriate level, and brush up anything that needs tweaking. We still need credits, although that should be easy enough to complete in the next week.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Sunday, May 12, 2013
CAP Hollywood Reflection #2
Hollywood Reflection #2
Our group is making very solid progress in the creation of our CAP Hollywood movie. This week went fairly smoothly overall, and I think we got some meaningful work done. We completed our movie poster, and filmed the final scene of the movie. However, we had to sort of adapt that scene on the fly. We originally intended to have it so the main character gives a homeless guy a significant amount of money, but we found it much more difficult to acquire a homeless person than we previously thought. Instead, we had the main character help out a guy short on money in a convenience store, and I think it serves as a decent replacement.
This week, I acted in that final scene, helped in making the movie poster, and started looking for music to have in our movie. I haven't found any specific track that I think is perfect, but I have bookmarked some interesting ones. In the next week, we should come up with a title, refine our rough cut, and create credits to insert at the end of the movie.
Our group is making very solid progress in the creation of our CAP Hollywood movie. This week went fairly smoothly overall, and I think we got some meaningful work done. We completed our movie poster, and filmed the final scene of the movie. However, we had to sort of adapt that scene on the fly. We originally intended to have it so the main character gives a homeless guy a significant amount of money, but we found it much more difficult to acquire a homeless person than we previously thought. Instead, we had the main character help out a guy short on money in a convenience store, and I think it serves as a decent replacement.
This week, I acted in that final scene, helped in making the movie poster, and started looking for music to have in our movie. I haven't found any specific track that I think is perfect, but I have bookmarked some interesting ones. In the next week, we should come up with a title, refine our rough cut, and create credits to insert at the end of the movie.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
CAP Hollywood Reflection #1
Hollywood Reflection #1
Our film for CAP Hollywood is progressing nicely. We got all of our "night" footage in Silver Spring about a week ago, and just yesterday, we got all of our "day" footage, minus one scene. That scene, however, should be very easy to film, so there's no worries there. We compiled our nighttime footage into a rough timeline, and plan on putting the newer footage in next class. One worry we had going into this assignment was lighting, because when filming at night, it can be difficult to make the video look high quality. But thanks to some streetlights, our film took on a sort of spooky tone, which is exactly what we wanted. But we did have difficulty transferring our footage onto the computer. Apparently, we filmed in some strange format, and had to get another teacher to fix it so that it was in the correct format. Luckily, this wasn't too large of a setback, and we could get some work done while waiting for that to happen.
This week, I went through our script, and wrote down any sounds or soundtracks that I thought we might need in our film. And then, I went on the various CC websites to find these sounds. I haven't found all of them quite yet, but a large chunk of them are ready to go. I also played the main character in our film, and I think I did a pretty good job. In the next week, I need to finish finding the sounds, act in the final scene, and help out with the movie poster. By the end of the week, we will hopefully have all of our footage filmed, have all the sounds ready to be plugged into our movie, and have a completed movie poster.
Our film for CAP Hollywood is progressing nicely. We got all of our "night" footage in Silver Spring about a week ago, and just yesterday, we got all of our "day" footage, minus one scene. That scene, however, should be very easy to film, so there's no worries there. We compiled our nighttime footage into a rough timeline, and plan on putting the newer footage in next class. One worry we had going into this assignment was lighting, because when filming at night, it can be difficult to make the video look high quality. But thanks to some streetlights, our film took on a sort of spooky tone, which is exactly what we wanted. But we did have difficulty transferring our footage onto the computer. Apparently, we filmed in some strange format, and had to get another teacher to fix it so that it was in the correct format. Luckily, this wasn't too large of a setback, and we could get some work done while waiting for that to happen.
This week, I went through our script, and wrote down any sounds or soundtracks that I thought we might need in our film. And then, I went on the various CC websites to find these sounds. I haven't found all of them quite yet, but a large chunk of them are ready to go. I also played the main character in our film, and I think I did a pretty good job. In the next week, I need to finish finding the sounds, act in the final scene, and help out with the movie poster. By the end of the week, we will hopefully have all of our footage filmed, have all the sounds ready to be plugged into our movie, and have a completed movie poster.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Seventh Woods
I was sitting at my computer, attempting to do my NSL essay, when a video from Bleacher Report popped up on my newsfeed. Desperate for anything to draw my attention away from the essay, I clicked on it and began watching. It was a hoops mix tape, which I've seen plenty of. But this particular one was special for 2 reasons: One, the guy in it is a freshman in high school who is currently dunking like a 20 year old man. Two, his name is Seventh Woods.
The athletic gifts he has are ridiculous, for sure. But what's insane is that he possesses them as a 14 year old. I'm currently 15, and while I consider myself a fairly athletic guy, touching rim is about the highest I can jump. Yet this kid is tomahawking and throwing it down with ease. But that's not the best part of the video.
His name is Seventh! I don't know who thought that up as a name, but props to them because that is true creativity. He was destined to be a baller from a young age, with a name like Seventh Woods. But it also brings up many questions. Is he the seventh child? Does he have a brother named Fifteenth? All things that I'm sure we'll find out later, as I fully expect to hear more from Seventh Woods.
The athletic gifts he has are ridiculous, for sure. But what's insane is that he possesses them as a 14 year old. I'm currently 15, and while I consider myself a fairly athletic guy, touching rim is about the highest I can jump. Yet this kid is tomahawking and throwing it down with ease. But that's not the best part of the video.
His name is Seventh! I don't know who thought that up as a name, but props to them because that is true creativity. He was destined to be a baller from a young age, with a name like Seventh Woods. But it also brings up many questions. Is he the seventh child? Does he have a brother named Fifteenth? All things that I'm sure we'll find out later, as I fully expect to hear more from Seventh Woods.
Monday, March 18, 2013
March Madness
March Madness
On Sunday, the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee released the bracket for this year's tourney. And on Tuesday, I have a math test. This is an extremely unfortunate coincidence, because undoubtedly, my mind will be more occupied with my bracket than actually studying for math. It's a shame, too, because if I studied hard enough, I could get an A on the test and the class. But March Madness is March Madness, and the days leading up the beginning of tournament play are reserved solely for bracketology.
I don't know what it is, but filling out a bracket is one of my favorite things to do. But that's not to say that I'm any good at it. I follow college basketball pretty steadily, and I'm a pretty educated guy in terms of sportz stuff. But for whatever reason, I am terrible at picking brackets. I think I tend to overthink it, and as everyone knows, you have to go with your gut.
At the moment, I have Michigan State over Miami in the finals. Will that happen? Probably not. Is my bracket going to suck? Almost definitely. But the great thing about the tournament is that every bracket is perfect until the first day of games. And those few days before play begins are prime debating hours. Is Gonzaga actually good? Could Davidson beat Marquette? I guess we'll find out in a few days time.
On Sunday, the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee released the bracket for this year's tourney. And on Tuesday, I have a math test. This is an extremely unfortunate coincidence, because undoubtedly, my mind will be more occupied with my bracket than actually studying for math. It's a shame, too, because if I studied hard enough, I could get an A on the test and the class. But March Madness is March Madness, and the days leading up the beginning of tournament play are reserved solely for bracketology.
I don't know what it is, but filling out a bracket is one of my favorite things to do. But that's not to say that I'm any good at it. I follow college basketball pretty steadily, and I'm a pretty educated guy in terms of sportz stuff. But for whatever reason, I am terrible at picking brackets. I think I tend to overthink it, and as everyone knows, you have to go with your gut.
At the moment, I have Michigan State over Miami in the finals. Will that happen? Probably not. Is my bracket going to suck? Almost definitely. But the great thing about the tournament is that every bracket is perfect until the first day of games. And those few days before play begins are prime debating hours. Is Gonzaga actually good? Could Davidson beat Marquette? I guess we'll find out in a few days time.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Documentary Reflection
Documentary
Reflection
When
Jesse, Wes, and I began brainstorming ideas for our documentary, the first idea
we fell in love with was a film on the “shoe game.” It was something that we
had each observed in our experiences at Blair, and a topic that we felt was
worthy of a documentary. But, unfortunately, another group also thought of it,
so we settled on a second idea: Athletics at Blair. In our documentary, we
focused on how sports here at Blair used to be a real source of pride, but that
in recent years, our teams have fallen on tough times. We analyzed the issue of
low school spirit and attendance at games, and interviewed a variety of
sources, including the athletic director, basketball coach, and football coach.
I learned a lot about the history of Blair sports, but something I want to
explore further is what really was the beginning of the demise. Topic selection
is very important in this film, because it allows the students to be
passionate and engaged. Having such freedom in picking was critical.
One
thing I’d never really contemplated prior to making this documentary was just
how much b-roll was needed. Our film, when we finished our initial cut, was
boring. So, we dug through archival footage and other footage we had taken and
inserted it. I didn’t think we were going to be able to use it all when we were
getting the b-roll, but having so much of it was extremely useful. The
biggest challenge our group faced was the difference in ability in terms of
editing. I am not very quick or good at editing, but I had a lot of ideas for
our film. The issue was, I couldn’t really put them in place. Luckily, my group
members were able to do an excellent job, and were able to put into motion some
of my suggestions. I would say we overcame this challenge, because we put
together a solid, well-edited film.
If
I had a chance to make another documentary, I would probably make sure that I
established a clearer plan beforehand. We had a vision for our film, but we
didn’t think through a lot of details. This forced us to make some last second
fixes during our actual editing time, and limited the depth of our documentary.
As a whole, I think you handled the project well. There was never really a
panicked feel when making it, and it was actually pretty fun to put together.
My only suggestion would be to make the brainstorming a bigger deal. We did
solid work in class, but I think that if we had to bring in three ideas as a
formative grade, or something like that, it would make us spend more time
looking for ideas that we really wanted to pursue.
Heading
into this project, I wasn’t so sure how much I would enjoy it. I like
documentaries, but they seemed like something that could be a tad boring to
actually make. But by finding a topic that I actually cared about, the project
transformed from an assignment into something that I was actually somewhat
attached to. I wanted to create a good final product, and had more motivation
to do so because it was an issue that I wanted to portray well. It gave me a
behind-the-scenes look into how documentaries are made, and that was certainly
a valuable experience.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Baseball v. Lacrosse: End the Hate
Baseball vs. Lacrosse: End the Hate
Friday afternoon kicked off the spring sports season at Blair. But what it also kicked off is the trash talking between baseball and lacrosse players. Last year, my first in high school, I was taught early on by the upperclassmen on the baseball team that I should hate lacrosse players and everything they stand for. I didn't really have an issue with lacrosse, and even had some friends on the team. But somehow, it became engrained within me that I should dislike the sport. The same thing happened to many of my teammates, and there's no doubt in my mind that the lacrosse kids developed a dislike for us, too.
The rivalry itself was usually limited to occasional trash talking in the locker room before practice, or just making fun of each other in the hallways. But then, this happened.
It's probably not very clear what's actually going on in this picture. Basically, at the beginning of the season, someone on the baseball team had the dumb idea to make a kid carry around this plant for a week if they made a mistake in a game. No one on the team actually cared about it, and it was rare that someone was actually assigned to carry it around. But the JV lacrosse team apparently thought they we liked the plant, or something, and stole it. Then, they took the picture above, with the caption: "YOLO! We stole it!" This was stupid for a multitude of reasons:
1) We didn't want the plant.
2) It was a punishment for us.
3) The caption said "yolo".
4) It's a potted plant.
But some kids on the baseball team took it as an act of war, and decided to get revenge. One guy on our team went over to the lacrosse field early in the morning one day, and tied their goals to the fence using zipties. The lacrosse team got understandably salty, and the relationship between the two sports only suffered more. But as this spring gets started, I was thinking about the rivalry. It's sort of dumb. I can understand some of the slights against baseball, and there's definitely some silly things about lacrosse. But they're both fairly difficult sports, and I think that instead of spreading the hate this spring, the two sports should come together. And instead of teaching the current freshmen to despise the other sport, like what happened to us, we should teach them to appreciate it. But some friendly teasing between the two sides is chill and natural.
After all, lacrosse still sort of sucks. <3
Friday afternoon kicked off the spring sports season at Blair. But what it also kicked off is the trash talking between baseball and lacrosse players. Last year, my first in high school, I was taught early on by the upperclassmen on the baseball team that I should hate lacrosse players and everything they stand for. I didn't really have an issue with lacrosse, and even had some friends on the team. But somehow, it became engrained within me that I should dislike the sport. The same thing happened to many of my teammates, and there's no doubt in my mind that the lacrosse kids developed a dislike for us, too.
The rivalry itself was usually limited to occasional trash talking in the locker room before practice, or just making fun of each other in the hallways. But then, this happened.
It's probably not very clear what's actually going on in this picture. Basically, at the beginning of the season, someone on the baseball team had the dumb idea to make a kid carry around this plant for a week if they made a mistake in a game. No one on the team actually cared about it, and it was rare that someone was actually assigned to carry it around. But the JV lacrosse team apparently thought they we liked the plant, or something, and stole it. Then, they took the picture above, with the caption: "YOLO! We stole it!" This was stupid for a multitude of reasons:
1) We didn't want the plant.
2) It was a punishment for us.
3) The caption said "yolo".
4) It's a potted plant.
But some kids on the baseball team took it as an act of war, and decided to get revenge. One guy on our team went over to the lacrosse field early in the morning one day, and tied their goals to the fence using zipties. The lacrosse team got understandably salty, and the relationship between the two sports only suffered more. But as this spring gets started, I was thinking about the rivalry. It's sort of dumb. I can understand some of the slights against baseball, and there's definitely some silly things about lacrosse. But they're both fairly difficult sports, and I think that instead of spreading the hate this spring, the two sports should come together. And instead of teaching the current freshmen to despise the other sport, like what happened to us, we should teach them to appreciate it. But some friendly teasing between the two sides is chill and natural.
After all, lacrosse still sort of sucks. <3
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Looking Back on the Harbowl/Beyonce Bowl/Blackout Bowl
Looking Back on the Harbowl/Beyonce Bowl/Blackout Bowl
1. The Harbaugh brothers
To understand how absolutely ridiculous and lucky it is that two brothers faced off as head coaches in the biggest sporting event of the year, all you need to do is think about it as a movie. If you were to watch a movie where this happened, not only would you find it unlikely, you would find it utterly implausible. Not only is it too good to be true, it's too crazy to be real. Math is not my strong suit, but I'm sure the chances of this happening ever again are something like, 3 gazillion to one. The number of things that had to go right for this to happen is stupendously high. What if an eight year old Jim decided he liked bocce more than football? What if he got hired by an AFC team instead of an NFC team? The list goes on, and the longer it goes on, the more mind-boggling their Super Bowl meeting gets.
2. The Blackout
The real loser in this game wasn't the 49ers, it was whoever was in charge of electricity. The biggest sports event of the year, millions of people tuning in, and... they lose power. It was almost surreal. Initially, when it happened, it felt like Bane was going to come out and proclaim that he was taking the stadium hostage. Luckily, (or unluckily, for the Batman fans), that didn't happen and power was restored within half an hour.
3. Beyonce
Beyonce was spectacular, and almost definitely won back any fans that were lost after the whole inauguration lip-syncing fiasco. She managed to captivate both males and females with her performance, although probably for different reasons, and was much more pleasing to the eye than a wrinkly Mick Jagger.
4. Ray Lewis
Lewis managed to somehow escape unscathed from the PED issue that was brought up earlier in the week, but was nothing special in the actual game. He recorded seven tackles, and didn't have any real significant moment in the game. But his team won, thus completing one of the more storybook-type endings to a career in history. Disappointingly enough, he did not ascend into the heavens after the game, as predicted by SNL's Kenan Thompson, but still gave us one last classic Ray lewis interview. It will be a little strange not seeing him stomp around on Sunday afternoons anymore, but he'll be back in the spotlight soon enough, whether it be on TV or at the Hall of Fame.
5. The commercials
Honestly, it was a weak year for commercials. The numerous wives who tuned in merely for the ads were almost surely disappointed, as well they should be. The Samsung one posted below was killer, and there were a few other gems scattered throughout. But what will remain most indelible in our memories is the Bar Rafaeli Go Daddy ad. Basically, the commercial is just the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model making out with a dorky looking guy for 30 seconds. If the goal was to make the audience uncomfortable, then mission accomplished. I would post it, but I don't want to make anyone cringe. Look it up if you must.
6. Karma
Earlier in the week, Chris Culliver made a series of homophobic statements in an interview with a comedian. He apologized profusely afterwards, and said that the words that "came out of his mouth weren't his beliefs". Not surprisingly, not many people went for that explanation. Nonetheless, he played the game, and all was going fairly normally, until a little before halftime. Flacco wound up, and delivered a deep ball to a wide open Jacoby Jones. Jones fell as he caught it, and when he got up, only Culliver was separating him from the endzone. In a supreme act of quickness, Jones spun left, leaving Culliver grasping at air. It was a spin move for the whole gay rights community, and only served as further evidence that karma is real and alive. Culliver, you had it coming.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Silver Spring
Silver Spring Video
Above is my completely self-shot and self-edited video showing what Silver Spring is like. Is it the best video in the world? No, but I'm proud of it anyway. Originally, I had hoped to perhaps partner up with someone else to do this project, but I took too long. By the time I had to start actually thinking about the video, everyone already had partners. So, it was up to me to make my own video and then edit it. I had to steal Peter Berger's camera to film it, because I don't own a video camera, and then went to downtown Silver Spring to get some footage. Basically, I wandered around and took video of things that looked Silver Spring-y to me. Maybe it wasn't the most ambitious of ideas, but I didn't want to get in over my head. After all, I am pretty terrible at editing things. I used Youtube Video Editor, mainly because it was easy, and completed the editing process in about 45 minutes. Then I plugged in some happy music I found that was CC approved, and I was done. Unfortunately, I had found some music on ccmixter that I was going to use, but I couldn't figure out how to put it in my video. I resorted to using a strange song that I found on Youtube's own list of approved audio tracks. It works though, I guess. Enjoy.
P.S. Here's a hoops mixtape.
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