I know I haven't blogged in a bit, but that is only due to real world issues getting in the way, such as me applying to become a PCT (Police Communications Technician). Ironically, I made a video a while back poking fun at being a PCT, which became pretty popular.
Seeing that I will be working for the NYPD, they need to do a thorough investigation of my background and records, which will mean if I even sneeze close to an officer, they would know all about me, which I don't feel too comfortable with, but the job does supply benefits, so my complaining can only go so far.
Meanwhile, I've been trying to keep busy with other video related work, such as working close with the R&B artist Tanya T6 during a recent music video shoot, where I shot some behind the scenes action.
Keeping up the relationship with this artist has been good because she makes sure to compensate me for my time, as well as I can hook her up with great looking footage and content; a win-win relationship which I know will last until I possibly start working. Other than that, there is nothing too much to report other than working on the "Video Dictionary" series, which is coming along slowly, but surely. I may not be producing as much content as I use to, but I'm proud of what I've done and what I will do in the near future. Until then, I will continue to work hard and find inspiration around me, like these images I saw at a museum recently.
This weekend, I had the delightful pleasure of seeing "The Avengers" in theaters; no 3D, no IMAX, just a regular movie experience. Here are my 5 reasons this movie was amazing...
1) There was 6 MAJOR superheroes, ALL on one screen.
You have Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk all one one screen together, and they all worked well together. The story line of the movie made each character have their shine (though it wasn't equal, it was enough for one character not to be out-shined by the other). Even Hawkeye and Black Widow were integral parts to the team, not just extra characters who filled up screen space.
2) The story and action/fighting scenes were great.
Whether it was between Iron Man versus Thor, or Thor versus The Hulk, the fighting scenes in the movie were choreographed well. Probably the best fight to me was Thor vs. The Hulk, which was actually made into an animated film. The plot of the movie wasn't bad as well. I'm sure most die hard comic nerds would have wanted a more deeper villian, but Loki did well, to me.
3) The HULK. Period.
Now, I didn't agree with the actor change of The Hulk from Edward Norton to Matt Ruffalo at first, but he did a good job as Bruce Banner, and this movie reinforced the fact that The Hulk is the sh*t!. He owned everything in his path and was unstoppable.
4) The "After Credit" Goodies
I recently saw a picture meme which stated, "One doesn't simply leave a Marvel movie before the end of the credits." For those who did leave before the end (which I don't know why, but for some, "the credits" mean the end of the movie"), they missed out on some cool Avenger 2 hints.
5) The movie made you FEEL good.
The fact that this movie was playing out in front of your eyes made me extremely happy. This is my main reason for liking superheroes in general; the feeling of overcoming the odds is what we, as a society, need i order to survive these dark times that we seem to be living in sometimes. The Avengers leaves you with the feeling that we can all become heroes and succeed.
If I had to give some critique about this movie, I would say that I would have liked to see Red Skull make an appearance or at least some mention of Ant Man (Dr Pym) or another known Avenger that would have raised some eyebrows. Nonetheless, this movie did a great job of delivering an all out cast of super-powered beings on one screen (X-Men did the same, but not to this caliber).
On the technical end, as of now, The Avengers pulled in over $200M at the box offices this weekend in the U.S. alone, not to include the overseas sales, which grossed over $400M. Marvel does a great job of branding their movies, not to mention that Disney is behind Marvel, which always gives them a boost in reputability. I would love to see this movie over and over again, plus I can't wait for it to come out on DVD, so I can add it to my superhero movie collection.
As I continue on with my short film series, #VideoDictionary, I come across many challenges and learn some things about being a director. For my next short film, I've come across the challenge of making a space look like something completely different; to some, this is known as set design.
For my next short film, I require an apartment setting. The problem is that I don't have access to an actual apartment. I've asked some friends if they know of some places to keep in mind, when I was suggested that I should use my own house to create the scene. Now, I've used areas in my house for many of my previous videos, and worked with what I had, but for this particular situation, my home doesn't exactly resemble a one bedroom space. I decided that the only way to know for sure would be to experiment and do some furniture moving to try and create a believable apartment scene.
First, I moved the main couch from the shot, just to free up some space...
Then, looking at the wall, I didn't like the decor, so I removed everything within the shot.
With the empty space available, I needed to include the main focus of the scene, a laptop on a table. I also played around with the furniture again to see what would make more sense.
Noticing the moved furniture in the background, I needed to find a way to dismiss it, considering it couldn't move anywhere else. Solution: change angle of shot.
After some more changes and shooting from another angle, I think I managed to design something not perfect, but reasonable.
It wasn't easy, but I may just use my house for the apartment scene yet, but just in case my space isn't available (due to sound issues and the fact that may parents would be moving around the house), I'm still keeping my friends in mind to have an eye out for potential apartment spaces. I also considered an office-like space instead to use in the story just to have a "Plan B." I just wanted to share my video making process with you all and hopefully, I can get started with shooting soon.
During my beginnings in video production, I've always had the urge to play around with special effects. The ideas that I would come up with in my mind for super-powered action scenes were endless. Watching special effect heavy movies didn't subside my urge any more. In college, I tried experimenting with some, but Windows Movie Maker wasn't made for special FX back then (or ever). Nonetheless, I was still determined to create something mind-blowing for my young audience. That's when I learned about the powerful special effects/motion graphics program, ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS.
At first, I thought that it would be easy just to get the program, learn how to use it and I would be flying and running at super speed in no time. But when I actually looked at the interface of the program for the first time, it was absolutely overwhelming; multiple windows, numerous buttons and a whole bunch of functions I was not familiar with. From then, I decided that it would be better to leave it to the pros to create the surreal effects that I've always dreamed of including in my videos.
Years after, as I got more involved with making videos, I rediscovered the passion to play around with special FX/motion graphics. Though I was still avoiding After Effects, I felt that I had enough skills in my arsenal to pull off something realistic with what I had to work with. Finally, last year, after gathering some motion graphic elements from the Internet and applying my home-grown production knowledge, I made my first special FX/motion graphic video, Fast Forward.
Though I felt like I did a good job with what I had, I knew in the back of my mind that if I really wanted to be serious about this, I would have to tackle the beast which was After Effects. After getting the program, I finally had the courage to open AE and start playing around with it. Thanks to sites such as Video CoPilot and Youtube, I was able to create a new intro sequence for my vlogs and create an idea for a new "Video Reborn" intro sequence. After watching multiple basic AE videos and taking in all the motion graphic knowledge, I once again made an idea into a reality.
It's not long, but it's exactly what I wanted it to be. Of course, there is much more for me to learn, but I can say that I did that; I accomplished something that I never thought I would be able to all those years ago. The moral of this story is with determination and persistence, anyone can overcome a challenge that they may see as difficult. I had to learn this after the fact.
![Video Vix[o]n](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AN6zvLLjRGo/Tv09RSO_46I/AAAAAAAAAcc/TjQYB_zb1H0/s900/VV%2Bblog%2Bheader.jpg)
