Final Edit 48 Hour Film
This is the final edit of our 48hour film. Time to move on to another project. We shot a few scenes this weekend to help clarify a couple of plot points. I also used some music under the creative commons license.
Obviously, the original film is the one that got turned in. This is just the edit that I wanted to do so that I felt the project was done.
This is the one to watch. It is coherent, moody, and complete.
Mark
Casting Day, 48hour film project.
Casting for the 48 hour film project was tonite. These are photos that I captured.
48 Hour Film Festival Hits Des Moines (and me)
Times are busy, busy, busy. A good group of folks and myself have entered the 48 hour film contest in Des Moines. Starting at 6:30 on Friday July 23 and running until 6:30 Sunday July 25, (48hours), our team, (and about 40 other teams in DSM) will write, shoot, and edit an 8-10 minute short film. For the next ten days we will be practicing writing, filming, lighting, and editing so that when the 23rd comes, we will be ready. None of our practice stuff will make it into the film in any way, (that is the whole idea of everything happening in 48 hours). However, these two clips are from a practice session last weekend. ENJOY!
-Mark-
48 Hour Film Festival Hits Des Moines Practice Clip 2
To re-iterate, these are practice sessions for acting, and camera angles and sound. We have no idea what our genre or film will end up being.
HDR Video Grays Lake
HDR for photography is fantastic. With it you can get anything from a subtle enhancement of an already great photo to a hyped up surreal acid-trip version of the real world.
Video is just moving photography. I took the Grays lake video and changed it all to still photos in a directroy (45oo stills in fact) I then converted them to HDR in Mediachances’s software Dynamic Photo HDR. I set up a batch to do the same thing to all 4500 pictures. I then imported them back into my editing software and made them back into a movie. I edited out some parts of the original video because it did not all take well to the process. This post represents the effort.
My next step is to shoot a video from the beginning with the idea that I am going to make it HDR. There are just some subjects and shooting styles that will work very well with this technique.
The music for this video is Mellissa Hyman’s “Let Me Keep You”.
-Mark-
Grays Lake Video
This is the first draft of a video shot at Grays Lake park in Des Moines. Feel free to leave comments/notes.
Videography is much harder than photography. In photography things only have to be good for the split second that the shutter is open. In video every thing has to be good for the duration of the clip. I am also much better at advanced photoshop stuff than I am at advanced video editing. I will learn more…..
The music for the video is Justin Ewart’s “In My Dream”.
-Mark-
Photos Photos Photos……..
Somebody, New Orleans, LA, Mardi Gras,
Over the last several years I have taken A LOT of photos. I have made many albums, usually realated to a certain trip, time, city, or event. They have been scattered far and wide. Today, I made it a project to collect all of these into one spot. Over to the right of my site there is now a link to photography collections. People in the pictures have come and gone, but all have been part of my life.
Putting them all in one place has really made me reflect on the last year of my life. It has been a transforming experience and like every year of my life it has gone by very quickly. I will say that it is the first year in over ten years that I felt like I got a years’ worth of life out of the year that it cost me.
Feel free to look around…..
Mark
Early Evening, Grays Lake, Des Moines
Last evening was beautiful and a great time to hit Grays lake. During the spring summer and fall Gray’s lake is busy with people enjoying the beautiful park in the heart of the city. I brought my camera and got a few photos that I like. Obviously I am a fan of HDR, although I usually do not like that grainy over-the-top-look of HDR done poorly. With that said, I really like one of the pictures of Ryan that I took while I was out and I like this photo with the over-the-top-look.
Grays Lake Des Moines, Early Evening
Ryan Carney, Des Moines, Grays Lake
Random Folks, Grays Lake Des Moines
Des Moines, April 30, 2009
Pictures from a short Thursday night out in Des Moines. Is this great or what?
(by the way, total cost of tonight’s night out….. $6)
Zombies in Des Moines April 30th, 2009
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Hott Ryan Hamm'n it up!
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Real HDR
Here are a couple of pictures done officially with HDR. Three exposures in each one, combined for great effect. Notice the difference between this and Psuedo HDR in the post above.
Mark
Kirkwood Hotel Lobby, Des Moines
Alley between Vaudeville Muse and Royal Mile, Des Moines
April 2-4, Fun Times Downtown
Zac Couture from weareourselves
Fun times!
Des Moines has a great feel, the buzz here is real. No matter your mood you can find a place to match it with so many great establishments….
Mark
HDR, The New Face of Photography
HDR Photo from Des Moines
HDR or High Dynamic Range photography will be crazy big in the next year.
Photographs have long lagged behind the human eye in recording a scene. When you stand on my deck and look at the sky, your eye adjusts for the brightness of the sky and you see the wonderful blue. When you look at the buildings, your eyes adjust to let in more light and you see the wonderful details of the bricks.
When you take a photograph, if the image is exposed for the buildings, the sky will end up too bright. If you set it to get the sky right then the buildings will be way too dark. The trick is to take DIFFERENT pictures, exposing once for the sky and once for the buildings and then combine them. This picture is a compilation of five images put together using the best exposed parts of each photograph. The merged image is a photo that hits the right exposure for every part of the scene.
Devotchka, what the Futka?
Fate? Hardly!
I do think that circumstances can come together in some rather odd ways though. About a week ago one of my partners at work was talking about a band that I should listen to, he lives in Cedar Rapids and I work there in the emergency room with him. He described the band Devotchka and said that they were sort of mellow and very good. I listened to a few you tube videos of them and thought they sounded good as well. At the same time one of our PA’s said that she had seen them four or five times live and they were excellent.
Fast forward ten days. I am wandering around downtown Des Moines on the day after St Patricks day and it is dead.
I am basically slouching towards home when I notice there are a lot of people in the third floor of a building with a trio of bars. I went upstairs to check it out, it was packed in there. “How much?” I asked and the said, “20″. Now I liked live bands, but this seemed a little expensive for cover. Then I asked, “who was playing?”, “Devotchka” ok so I shelled out $20!
Their music was surrealistically good
They played guitar, accordion, viola, tuba, and a theremin. The melodies were hauntingly beautiful and produced goosebumps many times during the concert. They whistled, played and plucked their violin, they hit the accordion like it was the newest instrument to make the musical scene.
Devotchka formed in 1997
They originally played as the background music for a burlesque show. Their breakout out CD was “SuperMelodrama” in 2000 and they have released five CD’s since. They also did the soundtrack for “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Everything is Illuminated”. They are currently on the road promoting their 2008 release “A mad and faithful telling”.
If you get a chance to see Devotchka, do it.
You will walk out of the show a different person.
Mark
My pics from Devotchka March 18, 2009
Enjoy “The Enemy Guns” by Devotchka!
St Patrick’s Day, Des Moines Style
I was faced with the choice going back to Cedar Rapids to celebrate St Patrick’s day with my friends, or staying in Des Moines and going out by myself.
I chose the latter in an attempt to learn a little bit more about my new city. Armed with a healthy scotch buzz and my trusty camera I took to the streets looking for a fun day.
First stop, Johnny’s Hall of Fame
Johnny’s Hall of Fame is a bar with a history dating back to 1962. It is definately a Court Ave landmark. This was a great spot with a huge window to watch the crazy people on the street. If you ever tire of watching the crazy people in the bar, there is always the window! (they also have Glenlivet!).
Next up, El Bait Shop and High Life Lounge
El Bait Shop has 107 beers on tap and is usually packed with people. I had a Northern Porter, yummy. It’s sister bar is the High Life Lounge (they are connected by a common entrance). The High Life Lounge is one of my favorites and has to be seen to be believed. It looks like a trashy neighborhood bar from the late 60′s early 70′s, with authentic signage, shag carpet, wood paneling, rotary dial pay phone, and small black and white tv that you would expect from the era. This place was filled with citizens as always. High Life is also a great place to go for cheap and tasty bar food.
I slid from this pair of fine establishments to Liar’s Club.
This place was crazy busy and had a live band that was fantastic. (Liar’s club also has the coolest website of the bars here.) (The song for their site is also in the movie Clay Pidgeons which is a dark comedy that you have never seen.)
St Pat’s Des Moines style was drunktastic.
I am sure that the folks in Cedar Rapids were doing it right too (they always do). If St Pats were tomorrow I would do it again!
Mark
See a larger collection of the pictures that I took on St Patrick’s day HERE.