Tuesday, September 30, 2014

REAL WORLD NEWS

There's a lot of things going on in the world around us (other than you). This isn't some funny business, so hopefully, I wont act like it is. (Hopefully.) So recently, an Algerian extremist group from the Islamic state called Jund al-Khilafah abducted a innocent french civilian as hostage. They did this so France would end their airstrikes on Iraq. Within 24 hours, as promised by the Jund al-Khilafah, the man was decapitated... Kind of an extreme thing to do huh? Anyway, the victim, Herve Gourdel, was a 55 year-old mountaineering  guide and was taken in the mountains of northern Algeria. Hollande, a person speaking from New York along sidelines of the U.N. General assembly meeting states: "Herve Gourdel is dead because he is the representative of a people
-- ours --  that defends human dignity against barbarity. France will never cede to terrorism because it is our duty, and, more than that, because it is our honor."



My opinion on this issue is that France should not stop doing what it's doing, but should take more precaution for it's citizens and have more defence ready for terrorist attacks. Then again, I don't really know why France is bombing Iraq, so I woulden't know if what France is doing is right. But either way, Jund al-Khilafah (in my opinion) is still in the wrong. Decapitating an innocent mountianeering guide will probobly just make matters worse. I belive that because of this, stuff even worse than France bombing Iraq will happen. But I'm just speculating here.

We should care about this because even though it's happening in France, the U.S. could get involved. Maybe the U.S. will get attacked by these people. Who knows? People from all over the world could get involved. As said before, I'm just speculating here, but no one knows! This could turn into World War III! Probobly not that last one, but you get my point. Still, most important of all, show some support for this guy, his friends and his family. And please show respect for the people that are trying to end this kind of crazyness. I'm not an expert on this subject, but still... Well... thats all I have to say for now.

Link to story: Click Here

TTYL
-Linden

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Lessons Learned

Hello! I'm back with more updates on the HIKI NO news project. (WARNING the following is highly classified information that you may allow NO ONE to view.) (Except you.) (and your friend.) (and your family.) (and everyone you know.) (and everyone you've ever met/seen ever in the history of your life.) But anyway, this is going to be a long post, so hold on to your seat! (or something.)

This project has been very interesting. However, if I had to pick the most interesting thing that happened, it's probably been the first interview. Have you ever walked up to a complete and total stranger and ask them if you can ask them some questions and then ask the questions as if you were their best friend. Try it sometime! (P.S. you probably shouldn't do that...) Anyway, the interview went pretty smoothly, and it (for some reason) wasn't too awkward, and the interviewee was nice about the whole thing. So yeah, it was exiting. I personally thought we were on a roll! But there's waaaaaay more to do than that.

However, this project has also been very challenging. The biggest roadblock my team has had to face is really getting the B-roll sufficient to cover the interviews. This part was challenging. It's a little bit awkward to just show up at a store with a bunch of equipment, telling someone we made an appointment and asking them if we can film some stuff. But without the B-roll, we couldn't finish the project, so we had to do it. It was actually pretty fun, (after we got permission) because that place is big. And it's filled to the brim with interesting things. (who knew yoga was a sport???) So, in the end, we got all the B-roll that we needed, and all the interviews too, so we were almost done. But not quite! All that was left to do was the final editing.

Personally, I think the most valuable part of the film-making process is the quality of the equipment used. If you don't have good equipment, you don't have good film. It also matters if you have some equipment. Without a tripod, videos taken will be shaky and unbalanced. And without a proper microphone, sound quality is pretty much junk. However, how you use the equipment is almost as important as having it. If a camera isn't focused, people watching the film won't be able to see what's going on. And if the zoom on the camera is all the way out or all the way in, it can be confusing. That pretty much concludes what I learned from the film-making me and my team are doing.

Wish me luck on the project!
-Linden




Friday, September 5, 2014

Hiki No Behind The Scenes

 Hello, its Linden Johns reporting for HIKI NO news! Today we are visiting a new store in Lihue called Sports Authority. This brand-new store sells everything sports related from basketball to- Wait... Wait... What was that? We're supposed to be doing a behind the scenes post...? Oh, sorry, my bad.... 

As you saw from that  "fail", a group of me and three other classmates are doing a skit that may or may not be included in local news. (Or maybe you didn't pay attention to it, I don't care.) It depends on whether HIKI NO deems it worthy. Anyway... We're doing a story on the new store that opened up in Lihue, Sports Authority. The store is gianormous and sells almost anything sports related from basketball stuff to yoga suits. (Ps. we've never had a store like that on the island before so this is pretty big, I think...) So far the story's going pretty good, and we've already got AN ENTIRE INTERVIEW YAAAY! But seriously... We have several shots of the store, an entire interview with an employee, and... and... um... and stuff. Anyway, its actually a really cool (and by that I mean air-conditioned) store with a whole bunch of stuff, so if you need sports supplies, Just go down to Kukui Grove. Huge store. Big sign. Can't miss it.

When the camera's not filming,we're usually ether moving it to the next place we're going to film or setting it up. Sometimes we pause the whole operation (moving and filming with the camera) to just check out the store. Check out what they have, look around, and give ourselves a tour of the place we're filming. Most of the time, this gives us an opportunity to find more places to shoot B-roll, and have a little fun. (We're kids. what else can I say?) When we're not filming, we also communicate on what to do next, what effects to add to the next shot, etc.

As a contributor to my team, I have volunteered to be the narrator, and the interviewer. My voice won't be included as the interviewer, (Cause that's how it works) But it will be included as the narrator. I also plan to transcribe the interviews into words, and help the camera man with some techniques. So far, being the interviewer and talking to complete strangers as if we knew each other for years (and I'm about to ask you some questions) hasn't brought me out of my comfort zone, (that's why i volunteered). Still not sure if narrating will shove me out of that zone previously mentioned, but I've done that sort of thing in elementry school, so I doubt it will. But so far, the project's going great, and I'll try to keep it that way.

I'm not sure if I still need to do this part,
-Linden