Rough Clip #3

Rough Clip #3

Rough Clip #2

Rough Clip #1

Production Strategy

I've discovered that every aspect of the park is individual in it's own way, but I feel as though I've covered a good chunk of the terrain already, so I'd like to make my third trek less about visual content, and more about visual quality. There were a few really good spots, but my favorite was the treeline at sunset. If you were on the easternmost hiking trail, there's a hill about 2 and a half miles in where you only see the treeline but not beyond the lake. There's a road that runs in front of it.

I wanted the images to resemble falling, like gravity. The sun going down and the moon coming up. I know for a fact that the images won't be gathered untill sundown or not soon before. I also want to expand some of the Trek area to include a church nearby, because it's very old and almost looks like a part of nature.

As far as sound is concerned, I'm thinking I'll only record things after sundown to follow suit, and I'll grab some things that are easily identified to lay over some back ground.

10 Questions to Consider...

I'm putting these ten questions out there with the hope of answering them in the experience of my third trek.
1) Do the natural sounds become louder or softer as it gets darker?
2) Are the images more interesting with a flash as opposed to natural light?
3) What (specifically) is responsible for what I hear?
4) Are there any points along the path that give a discernable, original atmosphere?
5) Do people enhance the sound recordings or detract from them?
6) Where is the most open area in the park (other than the parking lot)?
7) Where is the highest point in the park?
8) Are there any scenic views along the perimeter of the park?
9) What is the most abstract or un-natural looking item in the park?
10) Are there any fully enclosed buildings in the park that have greater or equal aesthetic qualities than the outdoors?

Trek Assessment #4

I suppose the best part of having gone on these treks is not only a feeling of accomplishment, but also the knowledge I’ve gained about sound. Not that I ignored it before, but it certainly wouldn’t be a priority. Using a process similar to the one that I demonstrated in my first trek, sound becomes a much more real AND tangible thing. There was a specific recording I took that had these birds in it, and it’s so much more real to me because I was there. Anyways the feeling of capturing something like that is really inspiring, and should make any type of artist feel very powerful.

Trek Assessment #3

Everything taken into account, there were at least three sort of revelations or surprises that came about throughout the course of the treks. For one thing, a good portion of the material I wound up using was that material that I originally didn’t see having a lot of potential; granted I collected a lot of sounds and images, respectively, but I had an idea going into it that ended up totally changing.

Another surprise I encountered was in the editing process. I expected to use primarily movie clips, but I found that, to me anyways, putting the stills together was much more interesting and made it more dramatic.

Thirdly, I was also surprised to find that the pictures showed so much better when I looked back at them days after the actual photography was done. Most specifically, there were a few pictures I took of some dried reeds from a low angle so the sky filled the background. At the time it didn’t seem like anything special, but once I looked at it later, the colors were so vibrant and it was really crisp and clean, I had to use it.

Trek Assessment #2

There were two specific instances on my treks that were also very serene, where it felt really great to be in that moment. I was trying to snap some images of the lake for Trek 2, and there was this huge group of ducks in the middle of the water. I tried to take some video of them swimming- and actually having them move on the screen, but they were much too slow. The still images that I tried to take of them were out of focus, so it looked like logs or something floating on the water unless the viewer were to look very closely. So I ended up hanging out on the beach just watching the ducks waiting for them to get into focus, and even though they never did it was really pleasant.

There was also an instance, again on Trek 2, while I was taking pictures along the hiking trail in the woods. I stopped to take some video, and while I was looking down fiddling with the camera, (keeping very still, naturally) a deer walked across the path in front of me. Granted it was a ways away, and as I started to pull up the camera it was gone, but it felt kind of surreal. It was really neat.

Trek Assessment #1

There were two specific situations during my first two treks that caused some issues, coincidentally one from each. On my first trek, I successfully received two parking tickets from the ranger on my car. Initially I parked near the beach, figuring that would be where I would collect most of my sounds. However my permit expired after 5:00 pm, so I received my first ticket. Then, wanting to gather some ambience sounds from in the woods at sundown, I parked near the campground where my permit expired at 7:00 and I didn’t return until 8:00. Actually it was kind of creepy, I had to pick up the pace because it started getting dark out so fast.

On my second trek, the purpose being to gather images, I wanted things that were very specific and did NOT include people. This was much more difficult than I thought it would be, especially when fulfilling my second strategy, which was to take a shot every fifty steps or so in the park, I had to do a lot of waiting for people to pass.