THE CREATIVE VIDEOGRAPHER: For derguy
"I am racking my feeble brain trying to figure what fun applications I can use these cameras for."
--derguy
Derguy, you have come to the right place. I apologize for overlooking this part of your question: the most important part to me. Your header asking what videocam to use caused me to overlook what you really wanted to know.
I won't get deeply into it now, but I am a creative person x 10. This comes from my Dad's side of the family, which was full of crazy inventors, professional acrobats and charlatans. It all kind of blossomed in me.
By this I mean I've been writing, performing, producing and directing ever since I was a boy. Honestly, beyond my sport of bodysurfing, these are the only things I really do well at all.
So I'll type out something for you -- we'll return to the videos after this long post.
1. Collage
2. Home Videos
3. One-Person Shows
4. Ensemble Work
We already have all four types of videos posted to this Group, so I'll use what is here as my examples. Then I'll close with a section on how to develop creative ideas on the spot.
1. COLLAGE
Photomagic has graced us with a beautiful collage-video of Lake Tahoe: click on it to take a look.
Collage-video is made of nothing but still photos or other artwork, pieced together in a creative and pleasing way to make a video. We see many of these online: particularly if someone wants to pay tribute to a favorite song but can't post an actual vid of the artist or artists performing.
The Tahoe piece by photomagic is the most beautiful and professional collage I've seen to date, with perhaps the one exeption of Ken Burns' work on PBS.
I, too, have a slapdash collage here on the Group -- my own minor tribute to a Japanese Band called YMO. Just scroll through our four or five pages to find it.
Tripmaster has a collage video on this Group called "Scenic Wheel"...check that one out as well.
There is no actual video in *any* of these works. They are constructed using still images, which any decent DV editing program will let you pan, scan and zoom, among other effects.
So one thing you could do is go through your box of old color and b&w snapshots to construct this kind of collage via digital video editing.
Since three of our 20+ Members have already made and posted collage videos right here, this means you can do one too. If you want to.
2. HOME VIDEOS
What I like about a Group like this is that it helps to focus my mind on what I might want to try next.
Like everyone, when I bought my first GL1, I used it to shoot home movies...which is to say video of my family, often taken on vacation.
Tripshaft has already suggested what to do with this footage, which is to *eliminate* the scenes of the family, and use whatever remains to make a new piece.
That's exactly what I did with my video here called "Meditation."
Most of the original footage shows my partner, our son, our dog and some friends having fun out on the desert. That's where my brain was at the time...recording these activities.
Thankfully, I recall that I also wanted to show the quiet and peace one finds in the desert, so I also did some motionless landscape shots to try to capture that feeling.
Out of maybe 90 minutes of family video, EVERY SINGLE SHOT I took in montionless, total peace is included in "Meditation"...a little over three minutes worth.
I made "Meditation" just last week from this footage taken many years ago, by extracting these peaceful scenes from the family video I made back then.
Here's the thing: I had no idea I'd be making "Meditation" when I used my camera at that time. But the motionless, quiet shots of landscape turned out to be the most important fragments when the time came to use this footage to make a vid for the web.
I plan to make another vid like this -- this time from footage shot on our family trip to Yellowstone in 1992.
I don't really know what I'll find, or what I'll eventually put together. But the entire trip is already captured to my hard drive for editing, and I already have a title: "YELLOWSTONED."
3. ONE-PERSON SHOW
I'll type more below about how to engender creative ideas for your camera.
First, it means becoming a truly creative person...which means letting-go of your natural inhibitions and being willing to *put yourself out there* in a way no one else is willing or able to accomplish.
It's easy for me because I was born this way; I was trained all my life; I've actually earned my living by being a creative person.
Deep down inside I'm a humorist, derguy: as a young man I thought it would be cool to be Mark Twain.
Once one has made the decision to be a creative person, this means you can do a one-man show. In video, a one-person show basically means you set up the camera, turn it on, and then go perform in front of it while it rolls.
I used to have a one-man piece online called "How To Capture," using a particular character I sometimes play. I won't get into how to develop a character: it's a pretty deep process that can take some real work.
But I do have a one-man show right here which you can watch, if you wish.
One easy way to do a one-person show is using puppets...and that's what this one is...a puppet show.
It's called "Lobster Tale," it's a few pages back, so go take a look and tell me what you think.
4. ENSEMBLE WORK
This is the apex of video art: working with an ensemble of actors to produce a real movie.
When we look at the great directors, we find they develop a "stable" of actors (called "an ensemble") who appear in their movies over and over again.
For Martin Scorsese, it's Robert DeNiro et. al. For Werner Hertzog it's Claus Kinski. And so on.
Believe it or not, there are at least two videos here on this Group that use an ensemble cast.
One is my own "Mondo Doggie," which I shot on silent 8mm film at the age of 17. It features my two best friends at the time, Jimmy and John, my sisters Laurie and Melinda, my Dad, and myself.
(The best ensemble directors *always* appear in their own films, i.e. Hitchcock, Tarentino, etc.)
The other ensemble piece found on this Group was made by Tripshaft. It's called "Sara's Scary Dream," and can be found on page 3 or 4...not sure which one after I post this long message.
Note that Tripshaft, too, appears in his own ensemble film.
* * *
These are the four basic types of video anyone can make if they have the will to do it: we have the four types already posted here.
Of course there are many other kinds: science films, documentaries -- I have a vid I made out of pieces of 1950's commercials which are now in public domain: another version of collage.
The key is to have the will to make something: no one can supply that for you. I've been around actors, directors, designers and filmmakers all my life and can tell you one thing: nobody does it for you. Ever. You have to do it yourself.
ABOUT CREATIVITY
I mentioned the creative person leaves inhibition behind and is willing to *put themselves out there* to make something others will want to experience in a vicarious way.
This doesn't just mean stripping off your clothes and running naked into the street: although at least one photographer has built a career on this idea.
Rather, it means freeing one's mind to experience the stimuli around us which we normally ignore in our daily routine. It also means being open to DOING IT at the moment an idea pops into your brain.
That's how I came to make Lobster Tale. I was "comped" to a huge lobster dinner at a fancy restaurant and there was so much on my plate I had to take this one lobster tail home.
Upon arrival home I saw that this particular tail was *so huge*...I thought: What can I do with this thing???
I know...I'll stick a skewer up its ass and use it as a puppet! So I set up the camera, turned it on, and shot what you see on the video in one take...no rehearsal. This is how crazy we creative people are: really.
It also helps to "focus down." Instead of taking-in the whole world as we normally do (with peripheral vision and all), the creative videographer will allow her attention to be drawn to something minor that no one else bothers to look at. This is a great technique to foment creative ideas: focus down.
For example, I'll be back on the desert soon, and I want to make something for this Group. I've got my tripod, I've got my camera, and I know where I'm going: I'm thinking of shooting ants.
* * *
Hope this has helped just a bit, derguy. Thanks for asking a question I actually know something about.
Best,
-Skeeter
--derguy
Derguy, you have come to the right place. I apologize for overlooking this part of your question: the most important part to me. Your header asking what videocam to use caused me to overlook what you really wanted to know.
I won't get deeply into it now, but I am a creative person x 10. This comes from my Dad's side of the family, which was full of crazy inventors, professional acrobats and charlatans. It all kind of blossomed in me.
By this I mean I've been writing, performing, producing and directing ever since I was a boy. Honestly, beyond my sport of bodysurfing, these are the only things I really do well at all.
So I'll type out something for you -- we'll return to the videos after this long post.
1. Collage
2. Home Videos
3. One-Person Shows
4. Ensemble Work
We already have all four types of videos posted to this Group, so I'll use what is here as my examples. Then I'll close with a section on how to develop creative ideas on the spot.
1. COLLAGE
Photomagic has graced us with a beautiful collage-video of Lake Tahoe: click on it to take a look.
Collage-video is made of nothing but still photos or other artwork, pieced together in a creative and pleasing way to make a video. We see many of these online: particularly if someone wants to pay tribute to a favorite song but can't post an actual vid of the artist or artists performing.
The Tahoe piece by photomagic is the most beautiful and professional collage I've seen to date, with perhaps the one exeption of Ken Burns' work on PBS.
I, too, have a slapdash collage here on the Group -- my own minor tribute to a Japanese Band called YMO. Just scroll through our four or five pages to find it.
Tripmaster has a collage video on this Group called "Scenic Wheel"...check that one out as well.
There is no actual video in *any* of these works. They are constructed using still images, which any decent DV editing program will let you pan, scan and zoom, among other effects.
So one thing you could do is go through your box of old color and b&w snapshots to construct this kind of collage via digital video editing.
Since three of our 20+ Members have already made and posted collage videos right here, this means you can do one too. If you want to.
2. HOME VIDEOS
What I like about a Group like this is that it helps to focus my mind on what I might want to try next.
Like everyone, when I bought my first GL1, I used it to shoot home movies...which is to say video of my family, often taken on vacation.
Tripshaft has already suggested what to do with this footage, which is to *eliminate* the scenes of the family, and use whatever remains to make a new piece.
That's exactly what I did with my video here called "Meditation."
Most of the original footage shows my partner, our son, our dog and some friends having fun out on the desert. That's where my brain was at the time...recording these activities.
Thankfully, I recall that I also wanted to show the quiet and peace one finds in the desert, so I also did some motionless landscape shots to try to capture that feeling.
Out of maybe 90 minutes of family video, EVERY SINGLE SHOT I took in montionless, total peace is included in "Meditation"...a little over three minutes worth.
I made "Meditation" just last week from this footage taken many years ago, by extracting these peaceful scenes from the family video I made back then.
Here's the thing: I had no idea I'd be making "Meditation" when I used my camera at that time. But the motionless, quiet shots of landscape turned out to be the most important fragments when the time came to use this footage to make a vid for the web.
I plan to make another vid like this -- this time from footage shot on our family trip to Yellowstone in 1992.
I don't really know what I'll find, or what I'll eventually put together. But the entire trip is already captured to my hard drive for editing, and I already have a title: "YELLOWSTONED."
3. ONE-PERSON SHOW
I'll type more below about how to engender creative ideas for your camera.
First, it means becoming a truly creative person...which means letting-go of your natural inhibitions and being willing to *put yourself out there* in a way no one else is willing or able to accomplish.
It's easy for me because I was born this way; I was trained all my life; I've actually earned my living by being a creative person.
Deep down inside I'm a humorist, derguy: as a young man I thought it would be cool to be Mark Twain.
Once one has made the decision to be a creative person, this means you can do a one-man show. In video, a one-person show basically means you set up the camera, turn it on, and then go perform in front of it while it rolls.
I used to have a one-man piece online called "How To Capture," using a particular character I sometimes play. I won't get into how to develop a character: it's a pretty deep process that can take some real work.
But I do have a one-man show right here which you can watch, if you wish.
One easy way to do a one-person show is using puppets...and that's what this one is...a puppet show.
It's called "Lobster Tale," it's a few pages back, so go take a look and tell me what you think.
4. ENSEMBLE WORK
This is the apex of video art: working with an ensemble of actors to produce a real movie.
When we look at the great directors, we find they develop a "stable" of actors (called "an ensemble") who appear in their movies over and over again.
For Martin Scorsese, it's Robert DeNiro et. al. For Werner Hertzog it's Claus Kinski. And so on.
Believe it or not, there are at least two videos here on this Group that use an ensemble cast.
One is my own "Mondo Doggie," which I shot on silent 8mm film at the age of 17. It features my two best friends at the time, Jimmy and John, my sisters Laurie and Melinda, my Dad, and myself.
(The best ensemble directors *always* appear in their own films, i.e. Hitchcock, Tarentino, etc.)
The other ensemble piece found on this Group was made by Tripshaft. It's called "Sara's Scary Dream," and can be found on page 3 or 4...not sure which one after I post this long message.
Note that Tripshaft, too, appears in his own ensemble film.
* * *
These are the four basic types of video anyone can make if they have the will to do it: we have the four types already posted here.
Of course there are many other kinds: science films, documentaries -- I have a vid I made out of pieces of 1950's commercials which are now in public domain: another version of collage.
The key is to have the will to make something: no one can supply that for you. I've been around actors, directors, designers and filmmakers all my life and can tell you one thing: nobody does it for you. Ever. You have to do it yourself.
ABOUT CREATIVITY
I mentioned the creative person leaves inhibition behind and is willing to *put themselves out there* to make something others will want to experience in a vicarious way.
This doesn't just mean stripping off your clothes and running naked into the street: although at least one photographer has built a career on this idea.
Rather, it means freeing one's mind to experience the stimuli around us which we normally ignore in our daily routine. It also means being open to DOING IT at the moment an idea pops into your brain.
That's how I came to make Lobster Tale. I was "comped" to a huge lobster dinner at a fancy restaurant and there was so much on my plate I had to take this one lobster tail home.
Upon arrival home I saw that this particular tail was *so huge*...I thought: What can I do with this thing???
I know...I'll stick a skewer up its ass and use it as a puppet! So I set up the camera, turned it on, and shot what you see on the video in one take...no rehearsal. This is how crazy we creative people are: really.
It also helps to "focus down." Instead of taking-in the whole world as we normally do (with peripheral vision and all), the creative videographer will allow her attention to be drawn to something minor that no one else bothers to look at. This is a great technique to foment creative ideas: focus down.
For example, I'll be back on the desert soon, and I want to make something for this Group. I've got my tripod, I've got my camera, and I know where I'm going: I'm thinking of shooting ants.
* * *
Hope this has helped just a bit, derguy. Thanks for asking a question I actually know something about.
Best,
-Skeeter
