The Walden Pond Theory

I read somewhere that Thoreau believed the 20 square miles around your home is enough territory to explore to last a lifetime.

I have also read a book that states anywhere in the United States, you are never further than 20 miles from the nearest road.

And the Boyscouts handbook, and other trailblazers state if you are ever lost head downhill until you find a stream or river or other body of water and follow it, as this will eventually lead you back to civilization.

I am finding as I drive around the local countryside that we have an amazing amount of resources, and stories right here, right in my own backyard.

If you look to see the signs you find these resources.

Signs are an interesting thing. They come in many forms, and can be viewed from many directions, some of which make the sign invisible, and some of which make it hard to read, and if you see the sign hopefully it makes you think about what it means, and what it is trying to tell you.

Some signs, like a path into the woods, or down an alley, are not so obvious about their meaning. This is the problem with signs. What does it mean? And then what is it NOT telling you?

These thoughts came to me because I recently saw a sign that only stated that a festival was going to happen on a given date. It did say where it is, but you have to know where that location is. It didn't give much direction on where it really is, it does not tell you what state the village is in, and it doesn't state how to get there, and if it costs anything once you are there. Nor any times. Only the date, the village, the name, and the picture of the event. The rest is up to you to figure out.

So I've been on the internet to try and find out the where. And now I am going there to make sure I am right.

Which means I am going for a drive today with a destination and purpose in mind. To answer the questions above.

Which begs the following question, what am I going to learn today?

Would you like to know?

Post pre-amble to a rockumentary music video.

In an interesting way some of the energy I am up against in wanting to produce this "rockumentary" music video is starting to dispel.

In the earlier post on this topic I had two concerns. One of needing a second video camera. Hopefully, it looks like that issue has fallen to the wayside as I have found an online rental store that carries exactly what I am looking for. I like this site because I searched for what I wanted and the user interface returned pricing, insurance, and told me other technical details I need to know, plus it states it is currently in stock, which brightens my hopes to have it for my desired dates. And... the pricing is reasonable. All that remains is to secure the rental for the desired length of time.

Additionally this brings back to mind what my college professor of Radio and Television Arts once told me, use other peoples money to create projects, if you use your own you really are an artist, (and) never buy the equipment if you don't have to (again if you do you are an artist and feel the need outweighs the business aspect).

For myself what this does for me is buy me time. I do want one of these cameras for myself because I have started to enjoy photography, and these are top flight cameras, that generate wonderful results. But the important aspect is that they are capable of acquiring motion video at film quality. It really is a wonderful time to be a producer, if you have a decent story to tell. More on this at the end of this post.

Before that can happen though another issue has crept into the creation of this video. The band that will be the subject matter is being asked as of this writing if they'd like to do this. So I put the horse before the cart on this point. It wasn't my idea to "bloom" this into a music rockumentary, it was the idea of the lead singer of the band, whom I have contact with via Facebook.

And my production assistant has gotten back to me at least once via email that he is interested.

On both of these points I now have some other thoughts. One is that the price of the rental is reasonable enough that I may in fact rent two units. This will allow me to lock down a single video camera, and then have two people on the move with these other two rentals. This is known as triple camera format, you can see this on display in many sit-coms. A camera left, right and center. In the case of this live event the two non-center cameras will be able to be on the move. 

Additionally what is desirable about these two cameras is that they have amazing zoom. The advantage here is the two camera ops won't have to encroach on the scene in order to shoot close-ups. It does mean limiting certain artistic aspects, like maybe a shot down the length of a guitar neck, but in my humble opinion, we aren't shooting a million dollar video, although my hope is by the end of the production line, it may end up looking like one.

And as an aside it has occurred to me that the tools for the creation of art have become plentiful and reasonably priced. And concurrently it does seem like industry may be stepping back and re-evaluating the de-valuing of the impact art and artistic design can have on product. More on this later.

-CRB

Postscript:

I mentioned above I'd have more to say about having a story to tell and the end of this post. I have over the last few years been struggling with trying to find a story to tell in video, and one that is worth telling. There have been a lot of wannabees but I think my search is finally over.

I have found two, one by accident, one by asking around and having been in the right place at the right time. 

A few years ago I spent time making rounds with one of our church members who runs a thing called the Mattress Ministry. He essentially carries mattresses he finds at Salvation Army or Goodwill and takes them to the needy out the rural areas around town. He started to bore me to tears after a while because he kept telling old stories about wars, and then repeated the telling of them. But out of this came a story about a man that was on the run to save his own life here in the Steuben County area. Wrongly accused and taking place over 4 years, he was eventually hunted down and hanged. The first man hanged in Steuben County. A story that took place I believe over 2 hundred years ago. I hope to be able to properly present it in video.

The other story has come about only because I have kept a somewhat dormant connection alive. I did a doc video a few years ago for an independent film producer about the making of one of her films. I've kept in touch with her via Facebook and email. She has recently announced a call for entries for a show about what animals face from the encroachment of humans on the animal kingdom.

I suggested that I shoot stills of all the roadkill I see as I drive. And perhaps will title this group of images as "Prints of Death".

Wish me luck. Thanks.

-CRB

Pre-amble to a music video documentary.

In some ways I am a little reluctant to write this because I am always sketchy about video projects. If you miss a classic shot there is a producer around who will probably wish that you'd never been born.

I have volunteered to shoot a local live music coming up in about 3 weeks and am up against some interesting odds. The first thing is, I am not going to make any money off this, I am doing it because I love the particular band that will be the main draw to this event and I also have a serious love of doing music justice in video.

Ultimately what will happen is I will shoot a lot of video. In nearly any video project more is best, so long as it is good footage, because then you have lots to choose from, and it makes it possible to cover up mistakes along the way by having available "cut away" footage to use as a kind of band aid over any bad video.

I have some issues though, I am alone in this endeavor at the moment, and I only have one video camera to work with.

I have however addressed both issues. I possibly have found someone to be a production assistant, PA, and the need for the PA is so I can man two cameras.

The other issue is coming up with a second video camera. I am hoping I can rent one for the needed time frame, if not I hope I can find some way to find a HiDEF camera that will serve the purpose.

More on all of this as it progresses.

Stay tuned...

-CB