Tag Archives: Sketch Videos

Wasabi and Mascara.

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This week’s topics were good, I liked them because I really felt like they were in tune with Adrian’s advice regarding making things for ourselves. This process of making sketch videos has been incredibly liberating for me, as I have felt more and more free to just create without the pressure of producing perfect, seamless totally planned out work.

I made this one when my friend came over for drinks and we were eating Wasabi peas – perfect accompaniment to any beverage.

This one is about perceptions, how we see, how others see, and what we think others notice…

A Family Affair.

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Make a video about your family without showing them. I think a lot of people will have approached this in a similar way that I have – by depicting the environments of the family members and overlaying sounds from the family home. I did this early on in the week, but now i’m kind of re-thinking different ways you can ‘show’ people.

- People are not defined only by where they exist or what they say

- We can portray thoughts by portraying situations/dreams/potential imaginings

- Someone could be defined as by their interest or even their lack of interest

- Someone could feel defined by their job.

Okay, i’ll stop making lists, but what I guess i’m saying is that this process of making videos is making me think, but often i’m realising things I could have done better AFTER I have made my work, I think I should start actually thinking less in terms of “okay what am I going to do” and more in terms of “HOW can I do this, what set of affordances am I working with and how I can best ‘make do’ with them.

Its kind of like what Adrian said in the Lecture this morning – Qualitative VS Quantitative knowledge/thought.

About Me.

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I thought a lot about this task, probably a bit too much. I tend to do with with a lot things, think about them so much that I actually inhibit the ‘doing’ process. I liked what Adrian said in the lecture this morning…

“Stop making things for other people, make things that matter to you, things that are important to you. You will find an audience that is interested in you, you build quality first and quantity later which in a way challenges traditional media. You are making these videos for yourself…”

This is something I know I need to do, I need to stop over complicating uncomplicated things and relax, it makes better work anyway…

Outside

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Wall PhotosI guess sometimes it’s hard to always be in your own head, sometimes you have to take a step outside, into the open and consider new things. I have recently started trying to meditate as a way of giving myself some space to be outside of my own head.

I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe.
Dalai Lama

I really like this quote, it makes me relaxed, like this video I made…

Outside from Zoe Annabel on Vimeo.

Inside.

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When I was thinking about this week’s tasks I focused on how I could make three distinctly different videos by brainstorming my initial thoughts about the words and what they immediately conjured for me. Inside for me is a word that can have connotations of confinement, entrapment and being imprisoned. This is something I have become more and more conscious of as I have grown up, I have become so aware of signs that surround us, arrows pointing in certain directions, signs telling us what to do, what to buy etc.

 

Inside from Zoe Annabel on Vimeo.

Best of?

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So, after Sunni linked to a post on my blog, I began to read through her blog, and came across her post which said:

…I just realised for the third time that I have to write blog posts on which video I like the most every week. Woooops..

 

My sentiments exactly…

Here we go! The nominees are… travelling towards something, away from something and being somewhere. And the winner is….BEING SOMEWHERE! Yay for being somewhere, it’s always life affirming.

Somewhere. from Zoe Annabel on Vimeo.

In this video, I took on the advice of doing something super informal, and to be honest, it was a slap dash effort, it literally took 30 seconds to film, one take on Photobooth. I grabbed a torch, waved it in the air like I just didn’t care, and shook my lap top up and down.

To add to the laziness of this, I decided to record my audio voice over in Photobooth (I have used this technique a lot when i’m looking for a tinny, echoey sound quality) but realised it actually worked really well with the grainy-ness and overall uneasiness of the short.

So, the reason I like this video is because I feel like it has an atmosphere, and a sense of dynamic in it’s message, it’s purposeful but not displaying a clear cut intention, it exists as it wishes too and doesn’t claim to be anything of importance or monumental significance. I like that it was easy to do, and kind of bowed to Adrians implorations to keep it simple and not overuse physical technology but focus on what we can do with what we have.

I feel like this is one of my more successful pieces both visually and in teaching me that things can turn out well that are off the cuff, experimental and not necessarily even that considered.

Im going to quote one of the most amazing women I think to have ever graced the earth…

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“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”

suitability.

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Taylah picked this quote out of the Michel de Certeau extract and it reminded me of something Adrian picked up on in class the other day – and that’s about making media which on an appropriate scale. Click here for Taylah’s full post, it’s awesome.

Michel de Certeau talks about changes in use and consumption of products, and the way we – creators and people - impose on spaces; use them and assimilate them to other practices.

Okay, i’ll explain. So the brief for our sketch videos is basic, they are 30 seconds and we can use whatever we like to film them, but they should be informal, not fancy, they should blend in with the everyday and don’t ask to be perfect or polished. The way I see it, they should ask more questions than they answer.

Anyway, we were showing our videos and a few of the class members put their videos in full screen, obviously habitually thinking it would make them easier to perceive. Adrian started to ask why we felt the need to put our work in fullscreen when it didn’t ask us too, and often, would distort the quality.

We have to start thinking less about ourselves in our work, and give more voice to the work and allow it to exist where it should, without the fear it is inferior or insignificant. Adrian sums up this point on the IM blog, we are not award winning directors, so why act like we are? Perhaps we all need to take a leaf out of Ned’s book and stop crafting these videos and just allow them to evolve as part of our day…

…de Certeau is emphasising the consumer of media as an active user where they ‘make do’ and take from what is presented. This is an empowering of the consumer away from what was thought to be more or less monolithic, one way media flows. They say, we listen. In this subject we shift this further. People still think you can only make and be heard if you are on the TV, the radio, the newspaper, if you use a Red camera, or whatever. Those days are gone. They are not coming back.

Stop Motion Animation.

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This is my first attempt at stop motion animation and it’s definitely something I would like to refine and continue to trial. I’m loving Erin’s work in stop motion & think using a more confined ‘set’ would produce a better, more refined result.

Travelling Somewhere… from Zoe Annabel on Vimeo.

 I found this stop motion tutorial really useful, but trial and error worked well for me.

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P.S – I wish I had plasticine skills this awesome.

Everybody is somewhere.

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Make a 30 second film about you being somewhere…

Somewhere. from Zoe Annabel on Vimeo

When I first read this, I thought, wow, easy, I will totally just film myself in room or at work or at uni or something. But then I thought again, and decided not to be so lazy. Last week I was thinking about ways I could experiment more with my videos and decided this week I wanted to try using sound more effectively, rather than just finding a semi appropriate royalty free number.

In this video I am attempting to convey the feeling of being lost even though you know exactly where you are, I used a voice over and weird sounds I recorded in my room at night. I did still use a creative commons loop but I think it highlighted the atmosphere of what I was trying to achieve…hopefully.

Next week I want to focus more on lighting after I was totally inspired by Ian and Cinzia’s yellow videos.