dantampham

[insert pseudo inspirational quote here]

Month: January, 2012

Video | January 25, 2012

Turn or Burn

Model: Dominique Nghiem
(http://style2bones.blogspot.com)
(http://style2bones.tumblr.com)

Music: Ghost Kollective – Layla Jones
( http://ccmixter.org/people/Ghost_k )

The point of this video is to show-off/showcase my cousin’s outfit. I film for for her fashion blog (style2bones.blogspot) as my side project (www.youtube.com/user/stylefilmer)to give her an advantage and make her stand out amongst other fashion bloggers because fashion bloggers usually just have photos of their outfit. But as for my cousin she has BOTH photos AND film. It’s a side project of mine that I have a lot of fun doing! I have improved a lot ever since the first video I shot for her back in October/November 2011 too.

This time around though I’m not quite happy with the shots. I wasn’t in the mood to film because the area we were shooting in was just frustrating to work with (the backdrop kept on falling down).

My hands were also not very stable that day (thus the shakey shots).

But other than that I’m becoming better and more efficient at editing! It doesn’t take me very long anymore! It’s only been the second day too! I can’t wait to see how efficient and pro I will get on day 30! I’m super excited!

Also, I feel SO SO SO PRODUCTIVE with all of this filming and editing! This is the second day in the row and that is usually unheard of from me! The most I had ever edited in a week was 2 times! I will be breaking THAT record tomorrow, by filming/editing for the 3rd time this week! WOO HOO! I am very proud of myself and progress! ^___^

Today I learned:
- That I love shooting people a lot more than anything else I’ve tried so far….. There is just something so fascinating with human being interaction and movement and everything…
- To try out and move with the camera on the tripod whenever I do any kind of panning. I think it will help stabilize the camera and give me smoother less shaky shots.
- To invest in some good lighting. I hate working with fluorescent lights (normal light bulbs in households). It makes the shots all yellow and gross looking.
- To actually plan out how I would be doing the video so that I get more quality and detail down.
- To shoot earlier in the day so that we don’t have to shoot indoors. Indoor shots are annoying and I barely have any room to move around.
- To be more creative with my shots. I NEED to figure out less cliche/generic angles to use.
- To add in more movement around the subject not just panning up and down to make it look more interesting.

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Video | January 24, 2012

The Process of Microwaving Food

I filmed this early in January.

To start off the Chinese New Year’s I wanted to install some productive habits like filming and editing everyday and going to the gym every morning on the weekdays.

It’s said that whatever you do during the first 10 days of Chinese New Years will predict your habits and patterns for the rest of the year.

I’m not a very superficial person, but HEY, I might as well use that as an excuse to instill some healthy and productive habits! Perhaps, it will put some kind of placebo affect on my subconscious… I don’t know! But it certainly doesn’t hurt to try!

The plan was to film right after the gym in the morning. I got sidetracked and didn’t start filming until 7PM.

I learned to STICK with my plans rather than veer off, because when I veer off, it usually sets the momentum to continue on on veering away from my set schedule/goal. Tomorrow I’m going to learn how to strictly commit to a schedule and see how things go for me.

It took me almost an hour filming this since I shot it all by myself and had to keep on going back and forth adjusting the angles and focusing.

Now for editing.. I am still in the process of editing as I’m writing this actually. Rendering (waiting for each shot to convert) usually takes up 90% of the editing time. No joke.

NO MORE PROCRASTINATING.

Today I Learned:
- To do a trial of strictly sticking to a schedule to see how productive it will be for me
- To have some type of storyboard plan (pictures or words) of what I’m about to film because I forgot to do one vital shot of a close up of me pressing the timer [IT'S MADDENING]
- To pick a song way ahead of time BEFORE I film (I spent about 1 hour searching for the perfect royalty free song to fit to the rhythm of the video). I could’ve avoided wasting so much time if I found a song BEFOREHAND and shooting my footage in RHYTHM with the song (not sure if that makes any sense to you).
- ccmixter.org is a great place to find royalty free creative commons licensed music to use for my videos.
- It is a MUST to be completely thorough and detailed when filming a shot, it’s ALWAYS better to have more footage than less footage (more resources to pick from than less). It also makes transition from shot to shot a LOT smoother.
- To invest in a better and taller tripod.

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