Work Stories – Webisode 1

Finally, I got this compressed, and with a little re-editing (losing one part because horrible sound) I got a relatively good cut. I might still change it if I get ahold of a MAC during vacation. If not maybe later, oh well.

So here is Webisode 1 of “Work Stories”, I say webisode because I’d like to parlay this into a series. Let me know what you think of that idea and this piece. And thanks to all that helped!*

P.S:  I’m gonna put a self imposed rating on this one as PG-13 as there is one instance of a drug related story.  If there are youngin’s present, parents please use your own judgement.  You could view it first and then see if it is harmless in your opinion or not.  But by no means does this video support drug use, nor does it make it glamorous; it does however exploit the fact that doing drugs can have weird and often humorous outcomes!

*Beatles song used with love, please don’t sue, I’m not getting money for this whatsoever!

Noun Project Wrap Up:

**NEWS FLASH**  Technical difficulties?  Nope, just user difficulities… I logged into my Blog this morning and noticed this post hadn’t posted.  Why do you think that happened?  I’ll tell you why – because instead of publishing it, I accidentally saved it instead.  So I guess it keeps with the trend of the rest of this project, as it too can officially be labelled as ‘late’.  Oh well, sometimes technology fails me, and sometimes I fail technology.  Live and learn, c’est la vie.  So without further ado, here is my wrap up discussion of my noun project.

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Well, as you may have noticed, I got a little delayed with my project. At any rate, I’m just glad it got done! Although there was some setbacks I am really proud of the work I produced. As this is the first videos I have ever created, I think this is a promising and encouraging start. It makes me think I’m on the right path. Yet, with any path there are obstacles, and this project had a few. First off, I’ve been sick for like a month. Mono really kicks your butt, know what I mean? So I had to sleep more than film or edit. And even though everything turned out great with all the people that helped me, I realize that working around other people’s schedules can be a struggle. Actually, for these projects it was more that my schedule didn’t mesh well with their availability.

As for my ideas and how they changed or evolved throughout the production process, they really were quite fluid in the way I shaped the ideas into a visual output. Since I haven’t been working with Final Cut Pro very long (to which there were computer kinks that were otherwise overcome with some sage guidance), so I didn’t have a clear idea of how to edit my work. Basically, it came through trial and error, just seeing what felt right. I think finding music (which through much searching is completely usable as they hold Creative Commons Licenses of Attribution only from Archive.org) was the key for editting, as it allowed for a framework to be established that I could construct my video around. Overall, this project has been a great learningexerience from which despite it’s rocky start has finished well indeed.

Work Stories: A Proposal

A project that I’ve had in mind for quite some time may find an outlet within the confines of this project. Ever since my introduction into the workforce I have come across interesting anecdotes which I have either listened to or retold. These stories usually range from humorous to bizarre. Sometimes there may be just simple gossip, but digging through the many tales people have told me, I have found more than a handful that have been repeated time and again. However, I cannot always do justice to the way the story was originally told to me. Thus my idea began to form a long time ago, and only recently have I given some sort of name to to help describe it: Work Stories.

The title, though seemingly too simple, is the most accurate description I can come up with. My proposal is to interview a hand selected story tellers, those whose story is above and beyond the average daily work experience. I want to record these stories for all to enjoy, and let the people who experienced the tale first hand to describe it to the audience.

I think that the internet is a great place to distribute this kind of video. The stories I have so far found are mainly humorous; although some are just odd, they overall lean toward the comedic. I hope if this is successful to continue to record the work stories, as I ultimately have an endless supply of stories to choose from. Essentially, everyone has a story, and more often than not, they have more than one.

Being that my time is limited and my resources low, I would at first keep things simple. Choose a few friends with the best stories and interview them. With any luck I can get the shooting done in one or two days. I had another idea of creating a Twilight Zone/Unsolved Mysteries type webisode to dissect one of the more unusual of the stories, however, that would require more people and more time. Time is a resource I am in need of in great quantities these days, so I should not waste it. Maybe I’ll try that idea at a later time.

I think the style of the video should be that of a documentary, however, it doesn’t have to be very dry in style. One idea I have is to weave a few stories together, so that they unfold simultaneously and the conclusions given out at the end together. That may just get confusing, so I’m not sure exactly how to piece it together quite yet. The quality doesn’t have to be high, but not very low either. The tiny screen a computer allows for videos isn’t the greatest, so I will just try to make it acceptable. Overall, if this catches on, I’d like to create a series. A series would allow for expansion. For now starting small with a focused idea could draw people in by not being overly complicated.

Person: On The Mark

My person video focuses on my sister’s boyfriend Mark Hubing. I really enjoy talking to Mark and learning about his many complexities. He’s always been an intruiging character, mainly because of his wit and sense of humor, but I also have learned as he became a part of our family about the other layers of his personality. This video examinies a little of these depths.

Noun: Place – Cedarburg Coffee Roastery

**UPDATE**

YouTube’s version of my video was rather poor on the image/sound sync, so to help correct that a bit I uploaded my video to Revver. Follow this link to my videos, and click on the one entitled “The Roastery”. For now it’s the only video I have on that site, but I’m sure I’ll upload my other videos there too!

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So yes my second video is up (sadly still delayed for the last one– don’t worry, it’s on the way!). My place of choice was the Cedarburg Coffee Roastery. I think I captured the essence of the place quite well. I hope the people who’ve actually been there agree with me.

My Idea Noun: Home

This video is about people’s idea of home and what it means to them. I tried to find a range of ages that would cover the spectrum of life. I appreciate the fact that I found people I know who actually agreed to be interviewed on camera. Without them this video would not exist. So many thanks once again! I wanted to get honest answers from the people, and I think I succeeded. I tried not to have a long “pre-interview” so that for this video felt natural.

Were I’m At: Project Status Report

So, yeah, this week was terribly busy, which means I’ve got no footage yet. However, it did give me time to get into contact with people, so at least I know I have subjects to film. For the Person video, I talked with Mark… still no definitive “hook”, I gues I really don’t like that term… it seems to cheapen what I was after with Mark’s video. I wanted to talk with him about his personal life and feelings about the world and his place in it (that’s what I’ve narrowed down to at least for now). See, Mark is the second youngest of his family. His younger brother and himself all have much older siblings. Maybe Mark and his family are the hook… his father died when he was young (which is one thing Mark and my sister identified with eachother when they first met, be fore they started dating as our dad had recently passed away). So Mark has his mom and his step dad now. But I’ve noticed, in comparison to what I know about his older siblings, Mark is struggling to find direction in his life… he has deep struggles with religion (his family is very devout Christians, his brother’s even a minister) and his place in the world. This is what I’ve been thinking about for Mark’s video… something introspective, the class clown opes up kinda viewpoint.

Secondly, the Place video, just need to talk with the owner and Steve to set up some times to film. The idea video, I have a list of people I’m going to talk to: My friend Toni (she recently had to sell her father’s home since he passed away last year), my friend Malina who lives in Las Vegas (I’ll do phone interview), and my friend Becki, who has moved a number of times in the last year due to new jobs and a new fiance, and she’s moving again… possibly to her childhood home.

That’s where I’m at.

Noun’s The Word

Ok so this assignment should be rather interesting- three videos based on the description of a noun (a person, place, thing or idea).  So here’s what I’m thinking so far, and hopefully these ideas are cool cuz like I said before, my brain’s a little tired lately and it would rather sleep than think.  So here goes nothing.

Person:

I was going to do a video for my Basic Video class but my other idea was accepted (through a lot of option weighing since both ideas were well received by my instructor) so I was thinking that I could do a small version of that video for this class, like a prologue of sorts.  The person whom I find to be very interesting is Mark Hubing, my sister’s boyfriend.  Mark has a very unique personality which would show no fear of the camera, thus would convey well through this medium.  I think it may best to go about this documentary style and film snippets of Mark’s daily life.

My original idea was to focus on both Mark and his best friend Joe, because of the strong friendship that the two have, but I think with the time constraints of three minutes I will only focus on Mark.  He is a musician so some of the sounds I can incorporate would be of his original work.  I think scheduling may be the only possibility for problems to arise, but Mark is usually around enough that hopefully this would work out.

Place:

The place I think would be interesting to record would be this coffee shop I sometimes go to in Cedarburg called the Cedarburg Roastery.  Cedarburg in general is an interesting place to focus on because of the strange mix of conservative small town residents with the mingling of other more liberal minded residents (which are usually former out-of-towners).  The Roastery offers  a view of this life as people drink coffee at the tables outside while passersby take walks with their kids and dogs.

Besides this angle, the Roastery is very picturesque and quaint and offers the unique experience of being able to see coffee actually being roasted in a large roaster in the middle of the cafe itself.  I can incorporate the daily sounds of the the normal goings on and conversations that occur at the Roastery, and also the sounds of the roaster itself, which can be very loud at times (something which can be distracting at a coffee house, but  I guess it’s part of it’s charm).  The only obstacle I can think of is getting permission from the owners, but I am friends with someone who know the owner fairly well, so it shouldn’t be too big of a deal.

Thing/Idea:

I want to explore the idea of “home” in this last video.  One way I was thinking that could be done is with a series of small interviews with people about what they think “home” means, and what is “home” to them personally.  I would need to get some people that are willing to be filmed, which can be difficult when people get shy, but I think I know enough people that I could have enough material for a three minute video.  I might also then juxtapose the places people call home with their individual interview clip to help bring the idea out into the tangible world more.

Techno Speak Makes My Head Hurt

Maybe it’s just me and the fact that I’ve been perpetually sick (with the cause of my woes now having a more dark and sinister name- “mono”, damn you Epstein Barr virus, damn you to hell!), so my head may just be a little fuzzier than normal, but in reading John Hoem’s Videoblogs as “Collective Documentary”I kept getting snagged by his descriptions of the technical aspects of posting blogs, moblogs and vogs.  After wading through the reading I think I have a descent grasp on his points, but we’ll see come Friday morning’s discussion.

 From what I gathered, Mr. Hoem was describing the ways in which the posted media like video can be altered and expanded upon within a digital Internet environment.  And with each altering the original source would essentially remain unaltered because of how things are set up on the Internet.  With each new addition by a new vogger or blogger a new work comes into being because of all the work put into it from the current and past contributors.  So even if they had not expected to work together to create this output, they essential have created a collective work.

The collective process also goes beyond the work itself and extends into the texts and video made in response to the original.  Even the comments left expressing what the reader or viewer felt about each original material become part of the collective, and then in turn the comments about others comments would also be included leaving the collective to grow endlessly in all directions.  Who knows we are probably in someway already linked to something on the Internet through this fashion, and thus I think we have become part of the creative collective.

The idea of using other’s work, however, can get fuzzy when people start to get very possessive about ownership and copyrights infringement laws.  But it doesn’t seem to have stopped people from being creative with their new interpretations.  Though we have seen the law pop up here and there and make things more difficult for people.  In dealing with art, can that line be crossed without consequence?  Or do artists need to be wary of the material they use in their own creations, lest they be punished for working with that material.  Can we justify copyrights at all anymore?  Do people truly own something once it’s out of their heads and into the world at large?  I think the Internet says no to that question more often than naught.  Which is probably a very good thing for those who create through the collective.

Where Have You Gone Guerrilla Television?

The “Epilogue” from Deirdre Boyle’s Subject to Change: Guerrilla Television Revisited ends on hopeful note; that even though “the future of guerrilla television remains to be seen” there is still a chance for it to survive into the new millenium. Written nearly ten years ago in 1997, the new millenium may have brought unexpected evolutions for “revolutionary alternative to a monolythic system”. In reading about the history of these television evolutions that my generation (post Gen-X, but yet not exactly Gen-Y) took (or still take) for granted as being an established constant of our daily lives, was incredibly revealing.

I feel excited and riled up to take action, I want to carry the torch handed off by guerrilla television even further into the future. But at the same time I can’t help but realize the enormous pressure weighing down on this progress by its heavy-handed opponents. In the “Epilogue” Boyle paints a vivid picture of the sorted history of the development of cable (and cable-access) tv and public tv and the struggle for an alternative voice to be heard and seen among the broadcast and cable giants. This struggle, she informs us has been further complicated by the interventions (interference?) of the government and other political forces.

Although I grew up knowing a little about cable tv, I only have had cable in my household for a small period of time when I was about 4 years old, so the only thing I wanted to watch was Fraggle Rock on Nickelodeon. I wasn’t really interested in the news media or documentaries that may have been on there also at that time. So with cable being something still foreign to me in some respects (like I don’t see it as a necessity as many Americans do, to me it is definitely a luxury or even a novelty at times) I began to think about how public television rates in my mind as offering a balanced spectrum of information and shows.

I think that there is an interesting change occurring in public tv that I can’t recall occurring when I was younger. Although there may be more shows that counter a conservative opinion (for instance “In The Life” the only nationally televised LGBT news magazine) there seems to be more corporate sponsorship popping up as well. It may be seemingly harmless as “Juicy Juice” sponsoring “Maya & Miguel” or “Arthur”. But Masterpiece Theatre in now sponsored by Exxon Mobil. I think this is a disturbing trend that should be investigated further. Guerrilla TV is probably still around but I think it’s being mutated, if we’re lucky maybe it’s just hiding from the public until the environment improves.