13
2010
The focus of technology for the past decade has centered around San Francisco and a few other hot spots with the internet revolution and computers. But is that all technology is? Where’s the hardware? I’m not talking about computer chips and memory, I’m talking about flying cars, advanced transportation, the energy revolution. What happened? Why did my first car, a 1993 Saturn, have better gas mileage than a 2008 model car of similar price that I rented recently? The “engineering” community today is limited to San Francisco, and most of these self-proclaimed engineers only produce software. They aren’t real engineers. They are just young people who are riding this new wave of connectivity. You also have a large group of IT professionals who are also more in-demand these days than REAL engineers.
I don’t think this will last forever. I think it’s just a fad and will go away. I hope this next decade is the decade of hardware, REAL technology. Then maybe people will step out into the sunlight and actually live a real life. I drove by a newly built large 6 story apartment building last night, and couldn’t help but notice how many flat-screen TV’s were turned on, and how barren the sidewalks were/are of life always. My apartment is similar. This town is pretty desolate considering how dense it is. I can go out to any random suburb in America and it’s more lively than Atlanta. What’s the point of living here? More restaurants or shopping? Doesn’t that get old? I think it is old and people realize this now. I doubt that I’m the only person with this viewpoint in Atlanta or America.
There is created demand (silicon valley and technology), and real demand. It’s the real demand that is out there that needs to be filled this decade. The problem is that it’s easier for people to “ride the wave” of the internet and computer-based technology. You can live a sedentary life that way.
11
2010
This blog is called “documentary film ideas” as if it’s a place to discuss topics, possibly political or controversial. That’s not a productive way of blogging in my opinion.
The direction I want this blog to take is the more general aspects of documentary making, producing, editing, technicalities, etc…
08
2010
“The Garden” is a documentary about an urban garden in downtown Los Angeles, and the community’s fight to keep the garden from being redeveloped. This garden is special because it’s in an area that was once part of the 1991 LA riots, but has been transformed into something positive for the community. The documentary takes us through the community’s fight to keep the land for their garden, and keep it from the greedy owner/developer and the corrupt city government that did not have the constituent’s best interest at heart.
“The Garden” was nominated for the 2009 Academy Awards for best documentary. It of course lost to “Man on Wire”, but it deservedly was nominated because of its good documentary form. My first reaction when I started watching it was the poor camerawork and poor color. LA is best place in the US to shoot a film because of the amount of bright light they get 360 days a year, yet sky in this film had a blueish tint to it. Also there was shaky camera work, I think they were using prosumer and maybe consumer level cameras.
Yet it’s content that matters. Kudos to the editor for telling a story through visuals, interviews, and sound. The sound design was nice, although my TV’s speakers experienced some problems in parts of the film, which I thought was very weird considering how tiny my speakers are. Overall though I liked the film because there was a lot of passion involved and the story’s revealing is far reaching to other parts of the US, where land owners and community work for different goals.
06
2010
I use at least 2 video cameras for my weddings. Camera 1 is always in the back and points down the isle, and is usually stable on a tripod. I’m usually manning camera 2 on a monopod. I like to move around the outer perimeter of the ceremony, in such a way that I do not interrupt the guests’ experience. As the bride walks down the isle, I kneel down with camera 2 at the edge of the first row of seats to get a frontal shot of the bride and father approaching the alter. As she comes down, about 2/3 the way, I move off to the side and the camera 1 in the back will cut in and record for a few minutes. Then I position myself and camera 2 such that I’m up front but to the side, so that I can get a better facial shot of the bride and for a closeup as she says “I do” or makes the kiss.
02
2010
23
2010
I’m happy to report that I’ve been featured on the website atlantaweddingbliss.com.
Atlanta Wedding Bliss is Atlanta’s premier wedding resource. We are here to supply information on local wedding services. Whether you are looking for a wedding photographer, videographer, venue or wedding planner we have you covered.
22
2010
22
2010
I’m posting this in hopes that it will receive hits from google. I own a Sony Vaio VGN-FW190 laptop. The laptop was pre-installed with Vista. Since I do video editing, It was essential that I install Windows 7. Still, my computer is having problems and Sony support has stated “we don’t support your model”. I want to post this as a warning to anybody buying a laptop from Sony that you are stuck with the pre-installed operating system. I think that a lot of people with existing models will be affected and this will only fuel the anger and get more people to switch to macs. I would normally be sympathetic, if it weren’t for all the sony vaio product placements I see everyday in Windows 7 commercials.
Sony has really degraded as a company overall. They don’t lead the industry on any of their electronics categories, including audio players, computers, televisions, and cameras. When I’m ready to shell out $5000 for a professional camcorder, I won’t even look at a Sony. I will go with Canon or Panasonic.
27
2009
I have been absent from this blog for too long, and plan on making daily posts in 2010. 2009 brought great success to me. I have mainly been focused on wedding videography. I recently finished a wedding and the client seems pleased enough to give a copy to each of their parents for Christmas. It’s very rewarding to both improve my skills and also bring value to the world. Wedding Videography has been a great way for me to continue with my documentary making interest while also learning new things and improving my overall video production and DVD authoring skills, which I think will be beneficial for when I have a full feature documentary.
Stay tuned…
30
2009
What Remains is an artist documentary, about the photographer Sally Mann. This is one of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen. Sally Mann is a photographer in Virginia. Her focus is landscapes. She was ranked “The Best Photographer in America” one year, and she got recognition around the country and most notably among some circles in NY.
This is a very personal and honest documentary about this very humble artist living on a farm in rural Virginia. The documentary takes you through her career. This is much more than just a documentary with interviews, several events of Sally’s life are caught on camera in the moment as they occur. The documentary walks us through Sally’s interests and her subjects, and why she chooses her subjects. Her interest in the early half of the film is portraits and landscape photography. An interesting event occured on her farm where an escaped convict was murdered, and so she began to pursue the effects of human decay on the landscape in the later part of the film. She was allowed access onto the Univ. of TN crime lab, where several real corpses where laid about a field in order for students to study real human decay over time. Sally photographed corpses in several degrees of decay.
Her career took a turn for the worse, when a NYC show canceled her. However, she regained her spirits with an exhibit in Washington DC, where her family and friends could easily make the trip. The film takes you through these ups and downs in her career, in real time and in good documentary form.
The film was directed by Steve Cantor. At the 2008 Sundance Festival, the film was awarded Best Documentary of the Year.