What about the light?

The two biggest problems I have in my student productions are audio and lighting.  I am sure Bradley has many experiences with poor design or technical problems in production.  The only advantage I see theater has over video is that theater provides quicker feedback when something goes wrong (maybe).  All year I fight with students over the phrase "I can fix it in post".  Theater has no "post-production" to mask mistakes.  Video students fall back on this phrase like an old crutch.  When students put their work on display at the Utah High School Film Festival it can be very obvious who planned the production and who tried to "fix it in post".  I found this article about planning and lighting in the magazine called LIVE DESIGN.  I like this magazine because it is all about technology, real problems in production, and solutions to those problems.  This article at the end of January 2008 talks about the challenge of lighting the castle in Disneyland for the holidays.  The location prevented any experimenting, they needed to know what they were going to do and then do it.  The results are amazing, I wish I could have seen it.  The colors changed with the natural light and mood of the park.  The planning resulted in a finished product.  I want my students to think this way.  

Click Here To Read Article

Who needs a TIVO? (I do)

I would love a TiVo.  The only program I really watch and look forward to is LOST.  I usually record the program (on VHS) and then watch it late Thursday night.  The problem comes when I forget to record the show, like last Thursday.  I was not too disappointed in myself because I know that it is online and so I went downstairs and watched it on the computer.  This was not as genuine an experience.  The screen is smaller and cluttered with advertisements.  I have to watch what few commercials there were because they built into the timeline.  But looking back on the experience I was really excited.  All the big networks are posting full content online and this has opened up a lot of viewing opportunities.

In my class we discussed some of the issues that positing full online content of popular TV shows.  We talked about advertising issues with people skipping commercials/embedding commercials into the content.  We discussed how TV writers produced content that was seen once a week but now with Internet and DVDs we can watch episodes back-to-back.  The Internet can be more interactive with the audience and that the potential audience is massive. Watching online I noticed how many people have built communities around this show.  I thought I was a big fan but I never have posted like these people.  There are theories about everything in this show.  I could spend hours online.  But the Internet also provides more competition and right now the most popular videos online are user created content not ABC's LOST.  I personal opinion of online content is that soon the novelty will wear down.  We will become more and more Hungary for  strong content.  Content that makes no distinction between computer, Ipod, cell phone, or TV.

Finally there is video recap.

I love CBS Sunday morning. I know their average audiance age is not 28 year old males but there is something I love about this program. I like to study the content of the show. In my classroom I try and focus on techinique and content. Students think immediatly that because it is a news program that it will be boring. This show helps me prove to my students that news can be used as a format but content can vary. Until recently CBS didn't offer video recaps online. The only source of information about the segments was the traditional print jouranlism body of text. CBS was also experimenting with their own version of an online video player that required special downloads. But things have changed, they have now finally offered video recaps of the featured stories with an online video player similar to that of YouTube. I use this in my class every so often to discuss content and taking an audience though an issue while recognizing what is good about people and tallents. The traditional news has a bad rap for being so negative. This program touches the news and confronts issues but also explores the creative passions of people. As a production teacher in a high school I want my students to focus on that is good in the high school. Focus on what student tallents there are. I like to focus on the positive because it can be harder sometimes. Students can find things they don't like about school so easily that it sometimes scares me. I like this model as positive content in a traditional format.

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/sunday/main3445.shtml

Dismantling Geneva Steel

I attended the artist lecture by Chris Dunker for "Dismantling Geneva Steel" now on display in the Museum of Art here on campus. In class one night I described the image or symbol that might describe me as a smokestack. I was thinking of Geneva and where I grew up in Geneva Steels backyard. The plant was the geographic landmark in the valley for me. I knew where I lived no matter where I was in this valley because I could see the smokestacks. My dad's uncles worked there for 30 years and my best friend's dad worked there until he was disabled. I jumped trains coming in and out of the plant. Watched late at night when the sky would turn orange and know they were pouring a new batch of liquid steel into pressure molds. In some ways I was sad to see it close.

I was hoping that this exhibit would help reflect that sense of community that Geneva meant to me, it didn't. Don't get me wrong, this exhibit is amazing and I recommend it. The attention to photographic detail is amazing. I will continue to visit the museum to view again the quality of work. I just feel the exhibit was missing something. In the artist's lecture he was asked if he ever felt the presence of the people who had worked an died there. He said "yes, in the changing rooms, control rooms, and break rooms." The photo of the changing room was amazing and it was the only photo I really connected with. I looked at the audience when that photo was shown and think it was really the image with the most impact.

As a result of the show I have decided to have my Orem High students create a podcast/video about what Orem High means to them individually. The school will begin a reconstruction this spring. I want to start on the individual level and then have them go into the community and find other perspectives. I hope that this will result in documents that people in the community can relate to.

Looking closer

"Dance Dance" by FALLOUT BOY. I really think fallout boy "Dance Dance" is really fun. As a class we can analyze the stereotypes in the video with nerds, jocks, punks, teachers and administration being clueless. My favorite line is in the bathroom when the coach breaks up the discussion with, "allright ladies! break it up. What are you looking at Powder Puff?! Ask students, why? Why did they make this video this way? Why do most videos that look back on high school focus on stereotypes? Is this anything like your experience? Do you think you will look back on high school like this? I don't know that I look back on my high school experience and think of images like the video. If you were do make a video using the same song, what do you do differently? Is there something missing in the video you think would be important to include? Who made this video? Who is the target audience? How are the boys/girls represented? Why do people who are in their late 20's and early 30's look like they are in high school? Who do you relate with? If you were at this dance where are you standing? If this dance happened in our high school, what would be different? I watch this video and think more of scenes from movies. I wonder if images from movies over time replace actual memories that have long since been forgotten?

http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1571033&vid=63257

Stupid Kids and SPYGATE.

The first major lecture my students have that first day or two of class is what I call "stupid kids". It comes at the end of the disclosure document when we discuss camera checkout. I try and cover all the possible ideas students might have when I put a camera in their hands. Burning couches, exploding fruit, your own version of cops, imitating an officer, water skiing behind a car in a canal, donkey punches to the face, horror movies with regular people who don't know what is real, hidden camera, anything with nudity, more explosions, riding-flying-driving off any jump, water ballooning, and anything that will get them arrested. I also remind them that if they think they won't get caught they will, because they will forget to take the tape out when they return my camera. That tape will be turned in to the police and used against them in court.

This discussion is filled with the phrase, "stupid kids". It gets a lot of laughs and I can identify what students need the lecture a second time. So far I have one broken ankle, one water ballooning, three stitches, and imitating a park ranger.

The NFL is now investigating what exactly the New England Patriots did to cheat. There is speculation that they have altered the outcomes of regular season games, playoff games, and Superbowls. This is huge and the key piece of evidence is the video camera and the videographer. If this proves true that the Patriots video taped opponents practices and used that to win, the NFL has a huge image problem. There will be lawsuits from advertisers, players, and Las Vegas gamblers. I have followed this story as a fan but also as a videographer. What ethical questions can we discuss in class. The power of the camera can make kids and adults do stupid things.

Save the________. (Fill in the blank.)

Mormon Scene-IT

This month I was responsible for the Young Men / Young Women activity in my ward. Knowing that I would be sitting in Amy's class the night of the activity I had to plan something someone else could take care of. I decided to do "Mormon Scene-IT" I watched quite a few Mormon movies and riped parts of others. My quorum of young men came up with 30 movie clips and 60 questions. I authored a DVD and will find out how it went on Wednesday.

Watching all these old movies I kept thinking of post-war Europe and all the French movie fans watching the flood of American films. Looking at all the films at once thy were able to see patterns in the films and developed Auteur theory. I watched many Mormon films in a short period of time and developed the Death-ure theory. There is a time period in Mormon cinema when death was the motivator / threat / moment to teach in all films.
"The Mailbox" - old lady dies
"Build you a Rainbow" - Mom Dies
"Gold-fish for show-n-tell" - little boy dies
"The bridge" - Dad watched son die.
"Uncle Ben" - Ben's sister dies.
"The well" - man drinks bottle of water and dies.
"Sypher in the snow" - Boy dies because no one loves him.
"That which was lost" - Hippie girl wigs out on drugs and almost dies.

There are more but I don't have my list with me right now. The church has certainly changed the tone and feeling of their productions. I actually fear that the church might try and remove some of these movies because it is not in line with their current image. I hope I can track some of these films for my personal collection. Despite these films focusing on death they did teach some gospel principles very effectively, and some of today's productions are just plain terrible.

Application: I guess this would be more for my practice and skill development. There are opportunities to discuss Mormon cinema in class but watching these films in class could cause some disruption. I like Bradley's suggestion of looking at some films and using the written film analysis to add to the students' experiences.