Sort by category: Videos
One of the most rewarding parts of getting involved in collaborative video making is the breadth of new experiences that opens up to you.
There are not many jobs or hobbies that can equal the opportunity to follow a subject up to the iconic rooftops of Melbourne to gain an up close appreciation for the oft misunderstood honey bee. I got that opportunity with this shoot on Melbourne City Rooftop Honey (otherwise known as Rooftop Bees).
While the end product is an incredibly condensed view of the experience, the real motivation and enjoyment for me is bound up in everything that happens around and behind the camera.
We spend a considerable amount of time with each subject to produce the above 2 minutes 38 seconds. Our hope is that during that time, we (being the team behind the video) are able to capture and present a sincere portrait of the subject.
As this team learns and takes on new projects, we hope to continually lift our game so that people can better experience what we see each time we lift the camera.
Hope you enjoy. As always, feedback welcome.
Check out the rest of the video series at Milk Bar Mag.
The extraordinary amount of time, effort and human resource required to bring about one book.
A reminder of that many other things may die with the printed word, including the intersection of craft and art, and the beautiful things humans can produce when working together.
A couple of months ago I teamed up with Angela Meyer (of LiteraryMinded) to brainstorm a new video series based around author interviews.
When thinking about the right platform, I did the rounds of what people were doing with author interviews around the web. I found most videos fell into one of two buckets:
1. Video recordings of festival appearances
2. Face to camera QA sessions filmed in a dark room
Both methods have their pros and cons, but overall most of the videos I looked at were recordings of other events and hence the delivery of the material leveraged first the set up of the event and second the video format.
One of the main opportunities to ‘see’ an author comes at festivals, which are financed by people who read books. For those of us switching over to electronic formats, festivals are often inaccessible – both by geography and by area of interest (ie going to a festival to see the one author you like) – and hence the opportunity to visually interact with authors (even in a one way format) become limited.
I feel also that an author’s public persona can be quite under-serviced by festivals, and by the quality of online QA videos. Many writers shine on stage, but many don’t, particularly when in a group or when forced… Read more
After far too long the first Milk Bar Mag video came online last week, giving a glimpse into the sweet mastery of Burch and Purchese Sweet Studio here in Melbourne.
The video was shot on a Canon 5d Mk2 and Canon 600D, with a host of Canon prime lenses. For the dolly shots we hired a motorised Kessler Cineslider (which works like a dream by the way).
Being only the third talking heads piece any of us had ever done, some parts of the production are still a bit rough. It seems like the deeper you get into video production, the more you learn just how green you really are.
Audio for example, which started off as ‘which mic should I get?’, has quickly become which ‘mics’ (emphasis on the plural) for which situation, recorded in what format, onto which device, cleaned up in which piece of software, and sync’d up using what method?
It sounds like a drag, but learning each piece of the puzzle – or at least jamming in each piece until it fits – is an incredibly rewarding process, particularly when the results show up in the final product.… Read more
So far 2012 has seen much of my creative time dedicated to video projects as I try to make the most of a number of new opportunities open to me, as well as relish the experience of hooking up with creative people to do creative things.
The teaser above is a first taste of a project I’ve been working on for Milk Bar Mag.
More coming very soon.
Gil Scott-Heron’s “Where did the night go’” from the album “I’m New Here”. An animation by Steffen Knoesgaard.
A recent 99 percent article examined the relationship between achievement and a quality of self control called ‘grit’.
The article highlights a number of studies looking at the divide between talent (or intelligence) and the qualities that assist us in unlocking and delivering talent. So, looking at a large number of people, from Einstein to Darwin, right through to West Point graduates, musicians and finance bankers, and exploring what enabled those at the top of their field to unlock their talent, and in some cases, to succeed even where talent isn’t immediately obvious (apparently Darwin never considered himself an intelligence powerhouse).
One of the researches, psychologist Angela Duckworth, isolated those qualities that might serve as a predictor of outstanding talent:
- The tendency not to abandon tasks from mere changeability. Not seeking something because of novelty. Not “looking for a change.”
- The tendency not to abandon tasks in the face of obstacles. Perseverance, tenacity, doggedness.
Which Duckworth boils down to the quality of ‘grit’.
People who accomplished great things, [Duckworth] noticed, often combined a passion for a single mission with an unswerving dedication to achieve that mission, whatever the obstacles and however long it might take.
Seems some of… Read more
Some choice words on professionalism, personal development and facing failure from legendary designer Milton Glaser.
From woe to go Gaspar Noe’s (director of Irreversible) new film Enter the Void is a brutal filmic assault.
The title sequence (shown above) is a kind of sober up ‘slap in the face’ before the visually torturous (at times) 161 minute journey through neon soaked Tokyo begins.
The story is told/seen through the disembodied spirit of a deceased drug dealer who watches over his grieving sister, and the unique perspective allows Noe to frequent all sorts of places where cinema rarely dares go, including the inside of an abortion operating room, horrific car accidents and plenty of other traumatic landscapes.
The vision Noe has presented is completely deranged, occasionally awe inspiring, and almost impossible to watch. The frequent use of strobing neon light combined with thumping beats lulls you into an almost hallucinatory viewing experience. Or at least that’s what’s intended; more often than not I had my hand in front of the screen to shield my eyes from the painful blinking lights. If you’re at all susceptible to flickering lights, do not watch this film.
Although an incredibly difficult and confronting film to watch, its construction reminded me a lot of the short… Read more
Some choice words from Ira Glass on the gap between a writer’s perceived skill and ambition. How to keep ever increasing expectations at bay and focus instead on improving through perspiration, slowly constructing a step ladder to the work you aspire to create.