Posts Tagged ‘haakon’

First week, First Descent

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

A raging torrent of water rushed passed us as we tromped through the arid desert of Chile. The thrill of the hunt was in the air as we neared our destination, a seemingly ancient irrigation pipe that crossed the tiny creek we were planning on running.  A first descent! The idea was passed around, building on our excitement.  We all knew that, logically, this run had been paddled before, but there was no evidence, so we staked our claim.  After crossing the rusted iron culvert, we plunged into the icy melt water.  Oh! the feeling of freshly melted water after trudging through the desert is euphoric!  We rejoiced to our full extent as we climbed into our boats.  Off we charged down the boney little creek, dodging as many rocks as possible and boofing any pour over that stood in our way.  Finally! We were in Chile!

All right, so the creek we ran has probably been run before, but it was a first descent for New River Academy, just as this whole trip is a first descent for our group.  The unique mountain scape surrounding our camp site is a blissful backdrop to the dazzling rivers teeming past. Every where you look there is another creek, another drop, just waiting for the colorful lumps of plastic to float down its surface.  There are not enough words in our language to describe how marvelous this place is, so, and I believe I speak for all of the students here when I say, thank you parents for sending us to such an enchanting land!  We could have never done this without you!

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

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!

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Fayetteville, WV 25484
(304)- 574-0403
Fax: (304) 513-2247
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