Research Update: Getting the facts in place.

The time has come yet again to update you guys on the status of my project and I have some great news: Everything is going well!

I have been busy creating motion graphics for the intro, filming interviews, collecting more research and editing my studio footage. All in all, things are moving along very nicely. 

But to be a bit more in depth, I want to elaborate more on the research I am doing for this project. Due to the the lack of applicable information regarding the creation of ethnographies, that is the video documenting ideas and concepts with facts not playing as much of a roll. Not to say that they don't but they're not as critical to the idea.

The research I am doing for this project though relates to information regarding studies done by universities, software companies and doctors about the media and how it relates to the public on a personal and social level.

One of my sources for the medical side effects related to media.

 So pretty much that means that I'm looking up numbers regarding how many hours a week people spend online, health fallouts branching from an overexposure of media and also information on what kinds of mediums spend a lot of time on. As for the actual information I collected, well, you'll just have to wait and see it in the film which I will eventually provide a link to.

Other than that, there's not too much else I felt like I needed to research. As i stated, most of this project is mostly a collection of a group's ideas and concepts of what they think about my topics of discussion. 

Proof of Attendance: Artomatic Show

For the whole month of October, Jefferson County has it's own art spotlight with the opening of the Artomatic art gallery.  Located in Charles Town at the old Rock & Tile building, the gallery features local artists from around the area ranging from photographers, sculptors, painters and musicians and is open to the general public free of charge, which is why I decided to swing by. The Shepherd University art department also had a presence there with some pieces by students and professors so that was another reason to go.

I went to the Emerge art show earlier in the day so art was still on my mind and I was ready to see some local work and compare works and compare I did.

While I did enjoy some of the works at Artomatic, mostly the Universities' pieces, I felt a definite change in atmosphere in this art environment compared to Emerge and not on a finance level, but on a creative level. The art in Artomatic felt more like a hobby exhibition than an art gallery and Most of the pieces there failed to engage me as the day's earlier exhibition. It may have had something to do with me already have gone to a show, but in terms of concept, composition, creativity and execution, the works were a bit lacking.

Most of the artists were local and a bit older in years so the whole thing had that feeling of a social art hangout spot for them to meet, share their works and maybe, just maybe sell a piece to a casual art collector looking to spice up their place, which isn't a bad thing. It's just not what I was expecting from an art gallery.

Overall, I didn't have a bad time, but I would have loved to have seen some more interesting, contemporary work.

The show will be held every weekend until october ends, so If you want to experience some casual art or take the family out, then this is a great event and if you are a serious artist, don't pass it up because art is still art. It may not be next level, but where there is creative energy, there can be inspiration.
 

Proof of Attendance: Emerge Art Show

Once a year in Washington D.C. there is an art show called, "Emerge,"

and it features some of the nations finest contemporary independent and gallery artists.

I was able to attend this event along with fellow students a few weeks ago and it was truly a wonderful experience. The event was held at a hotel and from the parking garage to the restrooms on the 2nd floor almost every area of it was chalked wall to wall with work from different artists.  

In the brief 2 hours thatI was there I must have seen over hundreds of paintings, photographs, sculptures and installations from artists all across america. 

From chandeliers in the swimming pools, to beautiful paintings made from oil and silk, the amount of variety in the artist's creations were both fascinating, provoking, and inspiring.

As stated in an earlier blog, I mentioned that the more art I see the more inspired I am and that still rings true in this case. In fact, I saw so much great art that by the end of the day I had a bit of a headache from all the pieces and it took me the rest of the evening to process it all before I finally was able to rest my mind. 

Emerge was definitely worth the time and money to attend and I highly recommend that artists and art lovers attend this event next year and partake in the great joy of contemporary art.   

Film Progress: A few quick tests, mistakes and rain that wont go away.

Planning the film is complete and production has begun. So to start, I decided to run some microphone tests, white balance tests and focus tests. It's a good thing that I did all of these because they were all things that if I had just started filming could have ended disastrously. 

So after an hour or two of film tests, I was confident the quality of the shots I was getting. But then it started to rain. Now I'm glad I wasn't outside filming today, but it still managed to disrupt my filming schedule by raining just loud enough to where it could be heard on my audio.  

Normally rain is cool. Not today.

  

While I could deal with that later on in post, I want to make sure that my audio has great quality because having a clean sound is just as important as having great shots. With luck, I can get a lot of filming done over these next few days to bring me back on track with my schedule.

I do recognize that I’m producing this work on a fairly short time base (a little more than two weeks) but I am very determined and I plan on working very hard during this time to produce something to the best of my abilities and hopefully everyone who watches it will agree with me! 

Proof of Attendance: La Vie en Rose showing

Usually french films are not something I am too interested in, but with some persuasion and the possibility of some snacks, I decided to attend the showing of, "La Vie en Rose," a movie about a french girl who who went from a hard life on the street to becoming a famous singer riddled with drug abuse problems, illness and marital affairs.

 The french class at shepherd was hosting this showing above the rams den and was giving their students credit for attending. So including myself, Zachary Waters and people from that class, there was a huge crowd of about 12 people watching this film.

After a 2 hour run time, the movie finally ended. If you haven't guessed already, my opinion of the movie was not one of positivity. While it did have a few elements I liked such as the story and the acting, I had a lot of issues with the technical executions within the film like shaky footage, confusing flash forwards and flashbacks and just an overall long run time that I feel could have been condensed.
So while this experience was not the most amazing, I still got the chance to try something new and kept an open mind about so it wasn't a bad time after all.

The time has come. Get out the camera.

The time has finally come.

After weeks of pre-production, obstacles, other projects and long nights thinking, I can finally begin shooting some footage!

Since this is my first time filming a documentary, I am definitely a bit nervous about the whole project. I will be filming, editing, interviewing and finalizing this whole project on my won in less than a month so I feel I am justified in feeling this way. But even though there have been moments where I feel a bit discouraged and wanted to do something easier, I keep reminding myself that if I don't try new things and challenge myself, I can't get better at what I do.

So I figured that the best way to learn is by doing so over these next few weeks I'm going to take what I've learned from all my classes and apply them as best as I can to this project and with hard work and maybe a bit if luck, I can make something thats well made, informative and inspiring. With this in mind I am confident that I can do this and that the fear of failure is nothing but an obstacle that keeps us from reaching our goals.

 

Proof of Attendance: Slant Factory Freak Show

A few weeks ago, I gathered with fellow Shepherd University students and art lovers alike in The Slant Factory art gallery for an event called, "Freak Show."

The exhibition showed great paintings, prints and sculptures created by University artists and was a total blast. As the name implies, the show had a very weird and circus-like theme to it as all of the art was definitely odd and freak-showy. But that was right up my ally, so I enjoyed it very much.

Going to this event was not only a great time but it was also an inspiration for me and the weird things I like to produce. I have noticed that the more art shows I go to, the more ideas I get from seeing other people's artwork.

Hopefully I can continue to go to more shows and have more opportunities to learn more about art, artists and all the different ways it can be applied to my own work in the future.

Proof of Attendance: Contemporary Art Show

A week or two ago I had the pleasure of going to a contemporary art show hosted by the university.

It featured art by the Shepherd University professors and was hosted in the library and in the gallery of the new art building.

Having the opportunity to see some of a professors work is a great experience and it allows you to get a glimpse of how they approached art and it also gives you a chance to see how talented they and that next time they make an art suggestion, it's probably a good suggestion and you should probably consider it. 

The gallery showed wonderful pieces by Robert Farmer, Rhonda Smith, Peter Bella, Sonya Evanisko and David Modler and covered a range of art styles from painting to graphic design and even included some printmade pieces along with some photography. 

A beautiful piece by Robert Farmer

Going to this event gave me a boost of appreciation for good art and also inspired me to work at becoming not just a better artist, but a better content creator and I'm very glad I went! 

Next time there is a show in your area, be sure to come on down because seeing good art up close is truly a great treat!