Berthoud Foursquare Church

Over the past three weeks we have gone out and gotten video footage of our sites. Starting with part one in getting thirty-second constructional videos, and thirty-second analytical videos; then finishing with part two in catching a five minute interview/ process video with a focus on human subjects within the space. Through out this three week process I feel that I’ve done better in not only setting up my gear, but in reserving it sooner and getting all the equipment I need for the assignment; So, compared to the previous assignment’s frustrations, already there has been progress in the equipment aspect. As for my general skill in video recording and audio recording for this assignment, I didn’t really improve.

In the process of completing the part one portion of this assignment I found too late (during my editing process)that having continuous audio during an uncontrolled audio situation where you only have one camera to get multiple shots doesn’t really work in your favor. Initially I had wanted to get both video and sound for part one to get practice for part two, however because of this mishap I had to cut out all audio and make the film silent. For this reason, I had to go through all the random shots I thought would be helpful for my constructive and analytical shot’s and piece them together into something that would be somewhat interesting; a process that was somewhat similar to Harun Farocki’s concept of “When making films, you have to be ready to create something meaningful from a random sequence of images” ( Farocki 8). However, even those shots were not ideal since I had shot them: 1. Because that was the only class I was given permission to record that Sunday and 2. Because I had shot them based on the interest of what they were discussing and their interaction in that discussion. In the end, without audio, I pieced together a series of shots of the teacher’s and students expressions while interacting with one another in the classroom from different angels for my analytical video; and shots I had gotten on the people in the class that tended to talk with their hands.

In the process of completing part two of this assignment, I was able to prevent the problem that happened in part one by getting two cameras and two microphones; and to get a greater variety of shots for the interview/ process video thanks to the extra camera. However, though I synched the cameras in almost every aspect of the video besides wide and telephoto lens for the sake of getting a different shot of my interviewee, and though I watched many tutorials to setting up my interview, the lighting did not match up completely; so the interview looks a little off because of my poor ability to use lighting, but the interview in general I feel was really good. I strove for the interview to be as natural as possible in an effort to not only keep my interviewee comfortable, which is key in an interview, but to get the feel of the kind of documentary Harun Farocki talks about in “ A Magical Imitation of Reality”: “the documentary film is a magical imitation of reality. And what’s more, it’s something that has been found, not made” ( Farocki 16). I wanted to catch the Pastor of the church in his natural state, instead of having him stage certain things for the camera for the reality of it. This was really difficult though since he was very aware of the camera of course, and because it was harder to catch the shots I wanted, but in the end result I think I was able to represent him and his relation to the church properly, which is all I really wanted to do in choosing this site anyways.

In conclusion, there has definitely been improvement in my handling of the gear, and though I am still not up to par with my video and audio skills, I still have gotten far better at it then when I first started. Hopefully it is all up from this point with my skills, not that I don’t have control over improving them, but that it is something noticeable in comparison to what I’ve turned in for the past assignments. Overall though, I am making progress.

BHPhotoVideoProAudio. YouTube. YouTube, 27 Dec. 2015. Web. 11 Mar. 2017. .

Farocki, Harun, Hito Steyerl, and Joanna Fiduccia. A Magical Imitation of Reality. N.p.: Kaleidoscope Press, Feb. 2011. PDF.

This past fourth assignment has been both one of the simplest assignments I’ve had to do so far in the class, and one of the most challenging to complete due to circumstances that were out of my hands. I faced many technical issues with my gear, and timing problems with trying to work with the gear. However, even with all of the challenges, this past assignment has been one that I have greatly enjoyed producing and experimenting with, though my outcomes are still very amateur.

In the process of producing the first part of assignment four, the time lapse video, I was plagued with the majority of my challenges. I had intended to complete my time lapse early, for the sake of freeing up my break, but the first time I attempted my time lapse it took 30 minutes for me to set up since I had to reset all the settings the previous user had calibrated it at; and even after finally setting it up and standing there almost two hours, it only took 12 photos before deciding to start refocusing by itself though the aperture and all the settings on the camera were on manual. My second attempt ended the same way, so I ended up having to get a different camera and set up in a different spot. Though I was thoroughly frustrated with the fact that the last 200 photos were too under exposed to see my site, in the end, I still got all 700 or so of my time lapse photos with three experimental ones for myself. This first part was definitely a learning experience with the equipment and general timing, and though I wasn’t able to view the completed class version, the general experience of it made me take interest in time lapse photography outside of class to represent concepts such as the coming of spring.

While producing the second part of this assignment, the 360 video, the reading “The Precession of Simulacra”, by Jean Baudrillard started to make more sense to me. In my previous CMDP-1400 course we had a reading somewhat similar to the concept: is reality really reality if we simulate it all the time? With our Berger reading: is seeing something really seeing it if it is only a representation of the original in its initial setting? VR or 360 video fits both of these concepts since the device or “descriptive machine that offers all the signs of the real and short circuits all its vicissitudes” (Baudrillard 2) serves as the simulator that replaces our reality with virtual reality. In some cases, such as with VR movies, the “hyperrealism of simulation is translated by the hallucinatory resemblance of the real to itself” (Baudrillard 24). With the second part of assignment four my purpose wasn’t to create this hyper realistic experience for viewers to confuse their reality with the 360 video, if that were at all possible with my amateur footage, but to represent the reality to the best of my ability as a kind of tour through my site. While filming this part I tried to walk slowly and as steadily as I could for the sake of not causing my audience nausea, and I tried to set it up so that the shutter speed and aperture were how I wanted it. However, none of my settings were used in the video form, and I still walked around too quickly during the tour. I wanted to capture every part of the church for the audience, but it cost me the steadiness of the film.

After this past assignment, I am inspired by the results of assignment four to want to do more with VR/360 video and time lapse photography. Though these first tries have not ended too well with my under exposing of the time lapse and too fast of movement in the 360 video, I want to practice more with this equipment in the future and produce more interactive kind of videos.

Baudrillard, Jean. "Simulacra and Simulation." The Precession of Simulacra (1995): n. pag. Web.

Richardson, John Adkins, John Berger, and Eugene Goodheart. "Ways of Seeing." Journal of Aesthetic Education 8.4 (1974): 111. Web. Sept. 2016.