Archive for September, 2009

New River Exlclusive | Professional Interview Techniques

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

this should be what you are picturing in your mind to create your shot

this should be what you are picturing in your mind to create your shot

If you wish to film an interview in a professional manner, there are a few points that you need to focus on to make you video worth watching. Screen composition is a major part of all good interviews. Quality questions also contribute to expert videos, as well as the interviewee’s knowledge of their lines. Another important point to focus on is the interviewee’s position relative to the camera frame. These details all come into play when filming an interview, and they must be mastered to create skillful interviews.

The composition of your interview should include a hand full of major points. The most important tip to remember is the rule of thirds. To tell where to place the objects in the shot, draw a mental 3×3 grid on the shot. Humans eyes are naturally drawn to the cross points of those lines, so your focus point should be centered on one of those cross points. Another important one is the background. The interview should be filmed in a location with relevance to your topic. If you film an interview for biking in McDonalds, it would be confusing. Another important part of the scenery is to choose somewhere quiet. If there is major traffic or a roaring river in the background, the interview would have too much distracting noise.

The interviewees body positioning is important as well. The talker should be facing the open space in the screen; this gives the shot a friendly appearance, and makes the shot more interesting. The final tip you should follow is the foot positioning of the interviewee. They should have the foot closest to the camera at a parallel line with the camera angle. The rear foot should be perpendicular angle to the front foot. This foot positioning make the talker stand still, keeping them from accidently swaying out of the scene. It also helps their legs from falling asleep.

Your questions should be well thought out and concise. If you choose questions that are too wordy, then your interviewee will have a hard time remembering what to say, and, in turn, will take more time to get the right shot and waste more film. The questions you ask should be relevant to your video’s topic as well. Having questions that veer off topic will make the interview feel rambling and uninteresting. Unique questions help to make the interview stand out from others. Your questions need to be worth listening to.

Follow these tips and you are on your way to creating a professional interview. Perfect your scene composition. Make sure that your interviewee positioned correctly, and ask the right questions. If you develop these skills, you will be making professional quality interviews in no time.

this should be what you are picturing in your mind to create your shot

this should be what you are picturing in your mind to create your shot

Two New Scholarships for Spring Semester

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

ChileRivers.org is now offering two new scholarships for spring semester. ChileRivers.org is a website currently under development that is an ongoing service learning project with the mission to promote eco-tourism to the rivers of Chile. The goals are to provide the whitewater community with best river resources including data on rapids, directions to rivers, videos, photos, job opportunities, and best destinations.

$3,000 Chile Rivers Photo Scholarship
Photo contest hints:
• Make a photo essay consisting of 4 to 6 photos illustrating one of your favorite rivers.
• Describe the rapids, character, danger, and or play of the river.
• Describe directions of put-ins and takeouts of the run.
• Photo documentary must be submitted to New River Academy Facebook page.
Deadline: 10/15/9

$3,000 Chile Rivers Video Scholarship
Video contest hints:
• Make a video illustrating one of your favorite local rivers.
• Describe some favorite features within the video.
• Photo documentary must be submitted to New River Academy Facebook page.
Deadline: 10/15/9

Email David Hughes to learn more, hugeh2o@yahoo.com.

Student Report #2

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

It seems I have been given the honor of writing the second student report which I have no problem with at all. It has been such an exciting jam packed couple of weeks. So, I have a pretty fun and easy job because I get to talk about all the cool things we’ve done in these past few weeks.

Well, first off, leaving the Ottawa River sure brought a tear to everyone’s eye;  all those amazing play spots and our own little village. But, we didn’t despair for long becauseeee……..we were going to visit the world famous Niagara Falls! The whole group was certainly excited for this and that 7 hour car ride was just helping build up our anticipation. The whole van was chattering away at the first sighting of the Niagara Falls exit on the highway. As we entered the city all our eyes were glued to the window and we probably looked like a bunch of kids in a candy shop oogling at everything. The Canadian streets were lined with every touristy shop and museum you could think of. According to Matt Hill, our resident Canadian, Niagara Falls is like our Las Vegas. After we reached the lovely hotel we would be staying at, Dave gave us our curfew and then we were set free. While he, Melina, Tino and Tracy went to go have dinner with a family whose daughter might be attending NRA next semester, everyone else wandered down to the falls. Oh, they were a sight to behold! They were absolutely magical. You can definitely tell we were kayakers though. While everyone there was having there photos taken we were talking about what line would be the best to take off the falls. Afterwards, we went back up to the main street and started wandering around looking at all the places, discussing which one would be the best to explore. It seemed we could never decide because when we made one decision an even cooler place to go look at would pop up and start the whole process over again. When it was about time for our curfew we all meandered back and just collapsed, tired from the driving and eventful evening.

The next day we were able to visit the place where they give helicopter rides over Niagara. Apparently the company is owned by the parents of Jessica, the girl who will hopefully be able to be with us the second semester. How cool! It was like every little boy’s dream being that close up to those big machines. Her family also was so kind to us, they even made it possible for us all as a school group to visit many of the museums, including Ripley’s Believe It or Not.  Leaving there that day, we all breathed a sigh of contentment, all worn out and ready to make the last leg of  the journey back to our home base. The drive back wasn’t that bad, everyone in the car had at least one school assignment they needed to get done for the next school day.

The next week of school consisted of 1 hour and 30 minute classes. I know, I know sounds like a lot of school but do not fear- it was for good reason. The extra long classes enabled us to have time to paddle the Gauley River where the famous “Gauley Fest” is held every year. So sticking out that difficult bit of school for some of the week would allow us have an amazing weekend filled with big water.

Our week ended with us having Friday off to paddle the Gauley River. We had Matt Smink and Dave as our trusty guides showing us down the safe, fun lines. The Gauley has to be one of my favorite rivers to paddle because it has one of my favorite things in whitewater kayaking, big waves! So many people threw or attempted kickflips, wave wheels, and macho moves off these monstrous beauties. Everyone had the time of their lives and there was not one frowning face by the end of the day, or even the whole weekend I might add. Probably because those trips to “Fat Eddys” at the end of our river runs also had something to do with it. I mean who could keep a frown when your slurping up one of West Virginia’s finest milkshakes.

So as you can see quite an eventful couple of weeks. Everyone is still working hard, first as students, then as paddlers. We still have a little bit more to go until our first break, and I’m definitely excited to see what these next few weeks will hold.

Kayak School| How To Add Transitions To Your Video

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

A transition is a really cool effect that will let you go in between two clips of footage without having a jumpy outcome.  To add transitions using Final Cut Pro is simple.

If I have two clips of video and I want to blend the two clips together I:

1.  Select the spot between the two clips on the timeline that I want to add the transition to

2.  Click command T

3.  If that doesn’t work click effects on the tool bar at the top of  the screen and select “default cross dissolve”

4.  There will be a gray line in between the two clips that you wanted to insert a transition.  The two video clips have now been faded together and are now considered one clip.

5.  You have successfully inserted a transition.

Going Huge on Sunday Dinner

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

New River Academy students after a huge meal experience

New River Academy students after a huge meal experience

It took 7.5 hours to create. It took 14.4 minutes to devour.

Mashed potatoes. Biscuits. Cooked carrots. Corn. Applesauce. Gravy.  And a 20 pound turkey. And,  it was 100%  homemade. We even made the buttermilk that we used in the biscuits. Believe it or not, this meal was part of Tracy d’Arbeloff’s creative project for AP English.  Each element of this meal was taken directly from Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath.

The 20 lb bird cooked by Tracy d'Arbeloff and Melina Coogan

The 20 lb bird cooked by Tracy d'Arbeloff and Melina Coogan

New River Academy students post-meal

New River Academy students post-meal

Tracy headed up this ambitious meal and Taylor Cote and I helped her out, allll day long. It was our very first turkey, we had no idea what we were doing, but after only 6 internet recipes, 4 calls to my dad and 4 1/2 hours in the oven, we had ourselves a beautiful bird.  We cleaned that sucker out, rubbed ‘er with lemon and salt and olive oil and spices, stuffed ‘er with onions and celery and carrots, roaster ‘er for a spell, basted her the whole while.  We fed the whole group at the ping-pong table and Tracy explained how important it is to eat together; that’s how Ma Joad kept her family together throughout their trials and torments on their migratory road.

The plate!

The plate!

The only trials and torments we had to overccome tonight was eating our fill…and then having to face dessert- home made apple pie and a huge bowl of homemade whipped cream- only minutes later. Thankfully, we all survived…although for some, it was a close call:

Tino Specht digests

Tino Specht digests

Loop Squad is Back

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

The NRA original series is back with its newest episode on how to vlean spin.

I hope you enjoy the video

New NRA Series Called “Don’t You Trust Me”

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Alex Anderson and I have just started a new nra junior series called don’t you trust me. This series helps describe different rapids that nra runs on a daily basis, enjoy

Kayak School| Haakon Samuelson Video Profile

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

This is a video profile made during Video class.  We used various interviewing and video production techniques to create this video, including shot configuration, music layover, transition slides, intros, and proper interviewee stance.

This is the final product of our work, enjoy!

Geography at New River Academy | More than just maps.

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

When this kayak school studies geography, it becomes an immersive experience. It wouldn’t be enough to simply look at maps all day and memorize countries and capitals. At the New River Academy your student will make their own maps that document their travels.

Matt Hill took the geography elective this year and he will be creating an interactive GIS (Geographic Information System) in order to provide other kayakers an exhaustive resource of the rivers we will paddle in Chile.

In order to prepare him for this arduous task, I have given Matt the assignment of mapping the Gauley River. He will be using the kayak schools own waterproof GPS to track the river, mark and label each major rapid, photograph the rapids, and finally write a description of every marked waypoint.

All of this data will be compiled using Google Earth, to create a tour with photos and descriptions, which correspond with every waypoint on the river.

After Matt has accomplished this, he will take these skills and apply them to the Rivers of Chile. Matt will create some of the most detailed online river guides to date, and make them available to paddlers all over the world. Eventually this database of Chile Rivers will be the number one online resource for traveling whitewater enthusiasts, and all thanks to Matt Hill and the amateur GIS team at NRA.

Canada Paddling Wrap Up

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

So we’ve been here for a week in West Virginia, and I am starting to realize just how different our time paddling in Canada was. The big water waves have been replaced by boof lines, Garberator for Geek’s hole and poutine for biscuits and gravy (I definitely miss the latter the most). The time spent on the Ottawa River was to say the least awesome, Corner Wave, Garberator, Coliseum, everything was tons of fun. Garberator was probably the most thrilling for me as I got to experience a little jewel in the kayaking world that only surfaces once in a little while (three years since the last time by my count).  The fast, dynamic wave was excellent for throwing all sorts of moves, and it was super sweet to watch pros like Joel Kowalski and Ben Marr throw huge, not to mention our own Stephen Forester and David Hughes. As well as Garberator, Corner Wave on McCoy’s rapid was also a treat to have. Its a nice wave that is pretty fast and great for clean spins, which you can check out some footage of me spinning away in the new Loop Squad movie over on Stephen’s blog. The picture opportunities on both waves were also pretty amazing, the lighting on Garberator was a little tricky, but it also gave me a nice opportunity to try out my polarizing filter. As well as the Ottawa we went to Lachine in Montreal, Quebec on a branch of the St. Lawrence, which was in one man’s opinion epic, however photo opportunities were non existent as the platform washed away and is yet to be replaced. I can’t wait to get back to my home land for 4th quarter! gap year abroad  go huge gap year program kayak scholarship

See you on the water!

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New River Academy
Rt. 2 Box 245
Fayetteville, WV 25484
(304)- 574-0403
Fax: (304) 513-2247
New River Academy

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