1874
I had a look at Jingli's video project recently.
For someone who's new to all this, it's a pretty decent piece of work. Believe me, I've seen far worse. But still, I'm reminded of this undeniable fact about my industry. Telling a story visually isn't as easy as it seems. And telling that story well is pretty damn hard.
What I'm surprised about is how they seemed to be unaware of the tools that we use to tell these stories. It appeared as though they were simply given a camera, shown a few things on Final Cut Express, and told that they were now ready to make a video.
Things you take for granted, like the 180-line, cutting on action, match cuts, just basic stuff that's used to keep things flowing, they didn't appear to know. Not to say that it was awful, but there was quite a bit to fix. And luckily, most of them were fixable.
They should have been taught all these in class. If not, what the hell were they going to classes for? And speaking of which, a video plus a website seems a little over-the-top for their first semester in school, does it not?
When I was pointing out stuff to him in the lab, apparently some of his classmates noticed. When he got good reviews for it, someone started passing rumors that he'd had professional help. When asked what I thought about that, I replied, "Tell them if you'd had professional help, you wouldn't just be getting good reviews. It'd be fucking perfect."
Yeah, I'm an arrogant S.O.B.
I just find it demoralizing that he's having to deal with all this backstabbing bullshit even in school. It's bad enough that you find it in the workplace, but you're supposed to be given room to breathe and even fail sometimes in school. But how can you be free to be yourself when there are all these motherfuckers around?
One of the things I miss most about NU is the student film community, where you feel like you're part of something bigger than yourself, and everyone is so incredibly generous with their time and their knowledge. Or perhaps I'm just looking at it through rose-tinted glasses.
Irregardless, he's still mighty proud of his video, so do check it out. The website looks pretty slick. But I guess that might be because I know nothing of web design.
And not to be a wet blanket or anything, but enjoy the feeling while you can, young padawan. One day, you too will look back on your early projects, and cringe with embarrassment. Oh, how I have cringed. We all will, someday. Perhaps next time too, you'll be able to experience the wonderful things and see the great results that can come with a true collaboration.
But for now, enjoy it. Soak it up. You earned it.
For someone who's new to all this, it's a pretty decent piece of work. Believe me, I've seen far worse. But still, I'm reminded of this undeniable fact about my industry. Telling a story visually isn't as easy as it seems. And telling that story well is pretty damn hard.
What I'm surprised about is how they seemed to be unaware of the tools that we use to tell these stories. It appeared as though they were simply given a camera, shown a few things on Final Cut Express, and told that they were now ready to make a video.
Things you take for granted, like the 180-line, cutting on action, match cuts, just basic stuff that's used to keep things flowing, they didn't appear to know. Not to say that it was awful, but there was quite a bit to fix. And luckily, most of them were fixable.
They should have been taught all these in class. If not, what the hell were they going to classes for? And speaking of which, a video plus a website seems a little over-the-top for their first semester in school, does it not?
When I was pointing out stuff to him in the lab, apparently some of his classmates noticed. When he got good reviews for it, someone started passing rumors that he'd had professional help. When asked what I thought about that, I replied, "Tell them if you'd had professional help, you wouldn't just be getting good reviews. It'd be fucking perfect."
Yeah, I'm an arrogant S.O.B.
I just find it demoralizing that he's having to deal with all this backstabbing bullshit even in school. It's bad enough that you find it in the workplace, but you're supposed to be given room to breathe and even fail sometimes in school. But how can you be free to be yourself when there are all these motherfuckers around?
One of the things I miss most about NU is the student film community, where you feel like you're part of something bigger than yourself, and everyone is so incredibly generous with their time and their knowledge. Or perhaps I'm just looking at it through rose-tinted glasses.
Irregardless, he's still mighty proud of his video, so do check it out. The website looks pretty slick. But I guess that might be because I know nothing of web design.
And not to be a wet blanket or anything, but enjoy the feeling while you can, young padawan. One day, you too will look back on your early projects, and cringe with embarrassment. Oh, how I have cringed. We all will, someday. Perhaps next time too, you'll be able to experience the wonderful things and see the great results that can come with a true collaboration.
But for now, enjoy it. Soak it up. You earned it.
posted by cinewhore @ 12:59 PM
8 mindfucks
8 Comments:
i learned all that stuff about the 180 line and cut on action from reading books. so you're right. if they're not teaching them these things in school, then something is seriously wrong.
i just checked out the video. eh not bad leh. well shot, and it's got mood.
on the contrary! my 280 project (with martha, brian crotty, and some girl named yolanda) is perhaps my favorite thing ever, and it is SO BAD. perhaps you remember it. it's a black and white "murder mystery" with an all-star cast consisting of Nick Eyster, Max Brett, Kate Johnson, Martha herself, and Andy Donovan as The Dead Body. i mean... you can't beat that. directing projects and major grants? meh.
Cam: Yeah, that was pretty damn sweet.
But I'm sure you cringe at SOMETHING. 180, perhaps? Or maybe even 380...
just to clarify things a little, my project is essentially a video editing project. So it doesn't really cover much of what you've said. I'm beginning to hate my video after watching too much of it. But I'm not at the stage of cringing yet.
Perhaps a better way to teach editing would be to have the same footage for everybody to cut.
This will have several advantages.
1. There will be enough usable material (shot-reverse shots, cutaways, etc).
2. It will encourage people to experiment and really teach editing.
3. Students won't have to spend so much time.
And at the end of the day, it's really a lot of fun to see how different people can interpret the same footage and make entirely different stories out of it.
I dunno 'bout the NU film community. It was great through junior year (about when you graduated), but senior year was a fucking wasteland. Fucking Galassi ruled the roost and crewed up with his friends rather than qualified people. Because of him I didn't get to shoot anything that year and now consequently don't have anything to submit to get into grad school. Grrr.
That blows. I'm sorry.
gimme some mindfuckery
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