FINALly DONE

For our final project for Digital Media Convergence, our only directions were to shoot a video.  It could have been anything from another time lapse to a music video, but I ultimately decided to shoot a documentary.  It took a ton of effort and a full night’s hours to complete, but I can honestly say that I am 100% happy with the final product.  I feel that this may be my strongest video yet and in making it I developed a fondness for documentary filming.  Perhaps a new career direction in the making…..?

There are few circumstances in which all the right pieces fall into place, and destiny places itself squarely in one’s hands. This short film documents such a moment. This is the story of Ben Soldate and Christian Binder, college roommates turned musical companions. Two total strangers. Two different stories. One common bond.

Potential Research?

If given the opportunity and resources to conduct research on any given topic, I would do so on the recent trends and behaviors of the music industry and how they have affected/reflected on society.  As an avid music lover, I would enjoy looking into the business of selling music, studying what goes into signing an artist and how an artist’s relationship with the business side of music changes over time.  I’m not entirely sure how this would work, but it is something that I would certainly investigate if given the opportunity.

Portrait Photography

These next ten photos were taken in-studio.  I decided to give myself some guidance and followed a musical theme from picture to picture.  Of all the photography assignments we have been given this semester, I feel this group is one of my strongest.  There is not much that I would change or redo in any of them, and the actual process of taking the photos was quite enjoyable.  Some people in these portraits include Kacey Stark, Leigh Burgess, Greg Gentile, and Dan Enders, as well as Ben Soldate, Christian Binder, and Phil Anderson of Shades of Gray.

Time Lapse

I had the great fortune of capturing Ben Soldate while he built the pickguard electronics on his Fender Stratocaster-to-be. The 45 minutes of footage have been condensed into this two minute film. Special thanks to Ben for helping me out with this project!

For those who are not well-versed in guitar, Ben is sautering the wires of the pickguard that make the electric guitar function.  Without these electronics, the guitar will not function when plugged into an amplifier.  Essentially, in a highly literal sense, Ben is making music!

New Photos – The Night

For this photography assignment, I was asked to prowl the darkness of night in search of interesting images.  This required the use of a tripod, high exposure, slow shutter speed, and a lot of patience.  I often found that I had to take a large number of pictures of the same image to get exactly what I wanted, and since these photos took an extra five to ten seconds each to take, my resolve was really put to the test.  Ultimately, I felt pleased with the majority of my pictures, especially those of the fountain and lake.

Interview

I sat down with Lauren Ramsdell to discuss her experiences so far in Digital Media Convergence.  I thouroughly enjoyed conducting the interview because I got to see into the perspective of a fellow student on a shared learning experience.

DENIED!!!

I experienced one of the more awkward moments of my winter semester yesterday.

I was meandering through Alamance Crossing searching for subjects for our street photography assignment.  I wandered into Barnes and Noble, hoping to find interesting shots of people perusing the shelves of the store.  I came across a woman who had a focused look on her face, her arms crossed, and her weight centered on her right leg.  I thought it would have been an interesting shot, so I asked her if I had her permission to take the picture.  She looked around suspiciously for a few seconds, then promptly refused.  AWKWARD!!

I guess that’s just part of the game.  And we were warned that this might happen.  So I guess I shouldn’t be too concerned, but that certainly didn’t make me feel any better about it.  Oh well, today is a new day, which means more street photos to take and more subjects to creep out!

Late Night, New Material

After a long, restless night of work and stress, the final Edward Hopper painting stories are complete!  In mine, I capture the story of Dennis, and older man who years to travel the world and experience its wonders.  He is held back, however, by his wife Annie, who is content with their current state of affairs and wants nothing of such experiences.  The video features the talented voice of David Gwynn as both Dennis and Annie.

Additionally, our pictures for the Elon University underground gallery have been completed.  Using photographs from earlier this semester, I focused on the theme of changing perspectives and how it leads to new ideas and approaches to everyday life.  You may recognize the background as the photo of my dorm room ceiling with the light and shadow inverted.  I felt that this was an appropriate manner in which to highlight the main message behind the image.  The remaining images are of my suite-mate Phil, who assisted me with several silhouette photos.

Is That REAL???

This assignment seriously pushed the limits of my Photoshop prowess and took a while to plan out, let alone execute.  I’d say that, for the most part, I am very pleased with how they turned out given my lack of experience in creating images like these.

This photo was taken outside my residence hall.  The image is grainy because I had the exposure set very high to get enough light to see what I was doing, but I think it actually helps accentuate the feel of the picture.  I took multiple images of Christian’s body from other photos and placed them around the scenery.  I also copied his bag to help the viewer realize that each figure is meant to be the same person.

This photo, unlike the previous one, was extremely easy to shoot and extremely difficult to edit.  I took a picture of my acoustic guitar laying on the carpet in my dorm, then copied the image, inverted it, rotated it 180 degrees, and positioned the two images so that they overlapped at the base of the guitar.  From there it was a matter of balancing the levels of the two photos so the wood lighting matched and using multiple layers of erasing and filling to create an illusion of the two guitars existing as one.

Sticking with the guitar theme, this is an up-close picture of my band’s lead guitarist wailing on his axe.  I took multiple shots like this, then copied his hand in one and repositioned it on the fret in the first picture.  The key to making this picture work was ensuring that there was enough space for the hand to fit appropriately on the fretboard.  Fortunately it turned out to be a near-perfect match!

This is my suite-mate and band drummer Phil going Danny Federici-style on his keyboard.  I originally wanted to put an entire third hand in the picture but this proved to be too difficult to make look realistic due to lighting imbalances.  Instead I simply copied Phil’s fingers and added them to free spaces on his hand.  Finally I adjusted the levels and blended the knuckles so that his new fingers they matched the rest of his hands.

My final surreal image is of one of the fountains at Elon University.  Though this image was not as difficult to produce, it took a very long time to copy the fountain and position all seventy layers!  I like how the shadow stretches evenly across the entire mega-fountain.

Underground Gallery Logo

All of the Communications Fellows have designed logos for Elon University’s underground gallery in the basement of the communications building. After careful deliberation, I believe Rachel Southmayd created the best logo. I found the picture as a whole visually appealing, especially the way the text was ordered around the stairs.  I also felt that the surrounding small frames provided color and detail to the logo without distracting the reader from the main text.  Good job, Rachel!