Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Verbal Landscapes

JohnsL_ReTime from Kapaa Middle School MEDIA on Vimeo.
So. Hi. What is up. I am here, apparently. And also we have another project. (Surprise Surprise) You know, basically the same into I've done for the past 3 years except this time is DIFFERENT this time I'm a little less enthuseasti- wait the all caps different probably ruined that. Anyway! The new project is called..... dun dun DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN RETIME Nature poem thing. Basically a nature poem with royalty free music, time lapses, and slow mos. Nature is a very big impact on my life for various reasons. First of all, our backyard is a forest. So that's a big part of my life that is entirely nature. Secondly, I can't see out my windows because there's a big bamboo patch in the way, so that's another big thing. And finally, I love nature. All except mosquitos, I love to run into the backyard and garden and mess around, climbing trees, rolling in grass, and generally having a good time.

As said before, the project requires time lapses and slow-mos. Now, I am here to tell you how they're made! And before you ask, no. We're not clicking the button on the camera that takes a photo every 30 seconds or so, and compiles them into a time lapse. We're doing it a little bit differently. To take THESE time lapses, you just click the record button on a camera that's on a tripod, (our requirements needed 2/3 sky and 1/3 ground.) and leave it there for at least 5 minutes or more. Then, you take the video to Final Cut Pro, or a similar video editing program, put the clip into your timeline, click the "Re-Time" button, and set it to fast. I personally like to make it 20X faster, but that's just my preference.  For slow-mos, you just simply take a 3-5 second clip (it can be longer, but it will become longer as well) of some kind of action. Then, like before, bring it into FCP and click "Re-Time" This time, go to slow, and choose whatever percent you want it to be slower. Boom! You just slowed down your clip to make it a slow-mo. Better slow-mos can be taken using a camera that shoots at a much higher FPS, but any old camera should work. Although it does get weird if you slow it down too much with an ordinary camera...

This project was, in total, pretty fun. I mean, there was nature, poetry, chickens, what's not to like? (Unless you despise writing for some reason...) But the hardest part was probably getting the time lapses. I had a lot of trouble with this for a variety of reasons. First of all, it was difficult to get the camera at an angle of 2/3 sky and 1/3 ground without a tripod. Some pretty creative arrangements were made using game boards, binders, textbooks, and chairs. Not to mention getting to a spot that didn't have telephone wires or cars strewn all over it was a little challenging. But my favorite part about it was probably the editing. Heh, those chickens look so silly when slowed down... and that time lapse looks really cool in it's entirety... It was quite fun to mess around with the Re-time function. Quite fun indeed.

Well, I guess I'll post again when there's another G.T. project. (as always...)
-Linden
Plan for the poem. Didn't quite go according to plan.
BONUS! Here is the results for the critique. Personally, I mainly agree, except for that 2. In fact, because I was so opposed to it, I asked the person who voted "2" and asked what was wrong with my video, and he said that he thought he voted a 4. So, other than that, I basically agree with the results. I did good, but not super exceptional.

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