Final Cut...My experience in a poem

i once wanted to be a film maker

planned on days at emerson

dreams once got shattered

visions broken

so i decided to become a writer

sad to say this did not stick

for editing was not my forte

so i taught myself to draw some

this one's gotten me far

brought me into college

but now my love is piano

incorporating the writer

finally making sense

but i'll never forgot my love

my love of the camera

so now taking this here

required foundation studio

now using a camera again

my eye feels right

for i'm still at home

behind the lense cap.

ultimately leading me to a gay old time

in the world of final cut

for editing is tedious

and once turned me off

but now with understanding

and practice

and patience

i think i get the hang of it

oh, art

how you fill me

And so the plot thickens...

After taking my source through imagery, artist book, sound, and video, I have now created a two minute short bring my 5 videos clips together. It’s amazing having seen these ideas and thoughts that I once jumbled around my head unfold into so much more than imagined. I really love also seeing the life that my song Paperclips has taken on over the course of the course.

For the video I use my clip of my hands playing the song---and messing the song up---as my straight constant at minute clip. Halfway through the minute I messed with the opacity of the night driving clip and blended the two together until the hands hit a minute and the drive comes in full force.

For the second minute I continue to use my underlying shots of my hands and my driving but slice in clips of my grandmothers praying hands, my hands being washed in the sink, and Mr. Lexington (cat) sleeping.

The original intent of my video was for an entire nearly six minute long video using all the clips plus a few others for the song Paperclips as well. After successfully editing 3 minutes of it, I learned the assignment only called for a two minute video. I tried to just cut it down to 2 minutes but it just wasn’t the same without the other minutes to let it finish unfolding. So, I decided to create an assignment pleasing trailer version until I can finish the real one.

And so the plot thickens.

Video Sources

So upon further filming and 32 minutes of footage that somewhere contain my 5 one minute clips (gulp) I have further developed my ideas to film.


5 aspects

1. being with someone being a good thing --- grandmother praying moving shot around her 180 and going from long to close shot focusing on her hands --- something about my grandmother praying holding the rosary wearing her wedding ring while she is loosing her partner is something to me. More than words. 0:26:31:00 - 0:30:45:00

2. being with someone being a bad thing ---washing hands continuous shot scene --- the infamous washing away of the bad, this is one of the easier shots to figure out I feel 0:30:45:00 - 0:32:00:00

3. being alone being a good thing --- night shot moving hand footage --- the idea behind the night shot of the road is the idea of independence, freedom, and personal choice. To me the open road also is where I do a lot of thinking and have some of my best artist visions as well. 0:23:18:00 - 0:26:31:00

4. being alone being a bad thing --- cat sleeping medium shot to close up to medium hand held still --- my thought behind this is laziness and the negative affects of not having someone there to help you through, loosing your track, etc. 0:20:37:00 - 0:22:48:00

5. narration through music --- my hands playing paperclips steady shot continuous and narrative medium shot --- I work in music...this will become a video for my song in someway 0:05:55:00 - 0:11:34:00




and my logged footage:

0:00:00:00 - 0:05:55:00 paperclips longer view still shot
*0:05:55:00 - 0:11:34:00 paperclips hand view still shot*
0:11:34:00 - 0:12:34:00 piano as mountain range sliding shot
0:12:34:00 - 0:13:39:00 wall art work tour hand shot
0:13:39:00 - 0:15:19:00 me in mirror art hand shot
0:15:19:00 - 0:17:07:00 in the beginning drawing zooming
<0:17:07:00 - 0:18:06:00 pure unadulterated crap>
0:18:06:00 - 0:19:08:00 paperclip zooming moving footage
<0:19:08:00 - 0:20:05:00 foot petal still shot>
<0:20:05:00 - 0:20:37:00 walking outside continuos moving shot>
*0:20:37:00 - 0:22:48:00 cat sleeping hand held zooming*
<0:22:48:00 - 0:23:18:00 drink still hand held shot>
*0:23:18:00 - 0:26:31:00 night shot moving hand footage*
*0:26:31:00 - 0:30:45:00 grandmother praying moving zooming shot*
*0:30:45:00 - 0:32:00:00 hand washing still shot*

< > under a minute
* selected footage

Thus far...

I have thirty minutes of footage...ahhhhhhh....so not 5 one minute clips.....ahhhhhhh....well, here's some ideas as to the five that I somewhere have inside of this thirty minutes of maddnessssssss!

5 aspects

being with someone being a good thing---having someone to hold you---

being with someone being a bad thing---loosing them---grandma praying with rosary---continuos motion from her back to her from zooming into hands and rosary

being alone being a good thing---strength through artwork

being alone being a bad thing---

me and my piano---narrative in the sense of the music





My 5 clips

washing hands natural sunlight at lauras steady shot

drink going to empty continuous shot

cat sleeping meduim shot to close up to meduim hand held still

grandmother praying moving shot around her 180 and going from long to close shot

my hands playing paperclips steady shot continuous and narrative medium shot




hhhmmmmmmmm........

Some Sourcin'

So my source. Hm, what to say on it. I’ve spent weeks defining my source with lyrics I had written to a song called Paperclips. I took my initial source images of the comparison of the pros and cons of being with someone vs. being by yourself. I then through my lyrics in the mix and came up with a three dimensional paperclip/image/lyric hanging structure. Though somewhat purposeful in cohesiveness, it definitely took the concept of artist book to an extreme place.

So now sound is being entered into the mix. My first idea was naturally my source is already a song, fantastic! With the allowance of one voice clip, I immediately went to the piano. I took two clips, the introduction to the song which is lyric and wordless and the ending to the song which is with lyrics. Naturally, I took the opportunity to record the entire song as well as others, but they won’t be showing up here now.

Thinking further, past my song, trying to really hear my source, I found 6 other great sounds that I have directly related to my source. The first sound clip is called shakin’. I had a dual idea for this clip. The first being the notion of on the rocks, where the sound is ice shaking back and forth. The second is the idea of what is being mixed. The loneliness that can come with such sounds if drinking by yourself as well as the enjoyment that can come with drinking with friends.

My second sound clip is called lockin’, Lockin’ was recorded on the idea of isolation, the negative side to being by yourself. Something about the sound just sounded very lonely to me. The next clip is called glassin’. Glassin’ was my most enjoyable sound clip. For some strange reason at the bottom of my porch is a ton of broken glass. I love the sound of broken glass and new it had to be part of this. I also feel broken glass connects the best to my source. I feel this is my most successful sound clip as well, although, when listening to it more, I realize that shattering glass to start the clip could have been a great idea. Oh well.

The fourth and fifth clips are based on the same idea. Swirlin’ and blowin’ both represent storms to me, leading to my source of the negativity of being with someone. I really was examining the negative it seems. Hmm. The sixth sound clip is called doorin’. Doorin’ is a clip of a screen door opening and closing, representing the inevitability of being by yourself as well as the idea of closing and opening doors.

I am really starting to love where my source is heading and I can’t wait to start putting these sounds with images!!!

The Artist Book!

The Pages!!!