Category: Uncategorized

The American Dream

For my visual poem I plan to explore the idea of the American Dream; what it used to mean to me and the way that I still see it today.

I plan on shooting in both New York and Los Angels. I want to focus on different aspects of the dream, from career to personal points of view. I will incorporate black and white aesthetic, as well as soft colors, airy visuals and blurred still images to fully capture the feeling of a dream.

I have few friends that are musicians and I received their permission to use their music for this project, in addition to everyday, natural sounds such as waves, trains, street sounds and more.

I would like to do something that is a bit of a love letter to winter in New York City. I would like to shoot in various locations/landmarks including The Met, The Chinese New Year festival this coming Sunday, ect. set to Miles Davis’ “So What” from the album “Kind of Blue”.

If I need something a bit more focused, some friends of mine are playing a show at Ottos Shrunken Head on the 23rd, I think it would be interesting to document it in chronological order, in black and white, set to a jazz or classical backdrop, since that is very far from the music they play.

I also want to document an evening at Bill’s Place, a legendary jazz speakeasy in Harlem, but I’m waiting on hearing back from them if it would even be o.k. to film.

For my visual poem, I want to capture the feeling of hope, hard work, and success by conveying my friend Ryan’s story. This year he has finally made the decision to go to culinary school to become a chef. So although he still has a long journey ahead to reach his goal, I want to film him cook something at his house to show the possible struggle and hope that comes with doing something you are passionate about. While filming I will be using the natural sound of the food cooking, maybe him chopping stuff up and mixing in some uplifting/classical music as well as maybe some soulful blues to show the pressure or doubt that may come when trying your best to succeed.

 

For my visual poem, I would like to film an art therapy coach going from deep meditation to a process of creating a painting that reflects her feeling about a client who needs more balance and confidence in his life. I would film this sacred process mixing dreamy/slow-motion and dynamic effects. I imagine dim lights while she is meditating and as opposed to it — sun rays on a canvas while she is painting.

The visual poem that I am envisioning is a video story of the transition of a Transvestite from man to woman or vise versa. The video will be to the song Danse Macabre – Camille Saint-Saëns which is a very dramatically composed song; it has a very soft and short introduction to the song and quickly goes into a very dramatic tune. I would like to shoot in a manor with a dramatic presentation. I think I will experiment with the more dreamy film setting to see if I could achieve the look that I want.

I want the lighting to be very dim and selective. I envision a a very dark toned video though with a lot of color. I think I will open the scene with a close up on his/her hands running through all the colorful dresses in the wardrobe and cut to a shot where it’s just an explosion of clothes (similar to the scene in the Gatsby where she’s throwing his shirts from the second floor). I will then do close up shots of the application of make up as if it were a dramatic painter dressing a canvas. I will hold off on revealing a face or a person for that matter and stick with close ups for the majority of the video.

The mission is to tell a story without (dialogue) with a dramatic presentation.

For my visual poem I plan on following my friend doing several activities and cutting each activity short, leaving the viewer guessing the ending of the sequence. For example, waiting for the train:

He’s seen waiting on the train platform at say Chambers street (I think that station has an interesting look, it’s kind of eerie) and shots would include the platform, maybe him walking down the stairs, a close up of him looking ahead or down the tunnel, and a shot of the train arriving in station. For sound I want to use a combination of natural sound and background for certain shots. This sequence for example might include the sounds of the station and during the close up you can overhear the music from his headphones.

For my visual poem I would like to shoot Darielle dancing around the city. However, the twist would be that we will be doing the assignment together, which allows her to experience both sides, production and acting. We would like to shoot the process of getting ready to dance until the end, which would be shown as the starting of the day and the ending, at night. We would be shooting at places like the Brooklyn Bridge, a dance studio, the subway, among other places. We would also have the permission to use the song that she will be dancing!

For my visual poem I plan to shoot a duel story comparing aquatic life to city life with humans.  I want to get shots of families walking on the street and compare with schools of fish if possible, shots of the fish doing something interesting (not sure yet) compared to a human doing something weird or interesting and so forth showing comparisons between the two. I plan of shooting at the aquarium in Coney Island and the streets of NYC.  I checked on the aquarium website and non-commercial video use is allowed at the aquarium and NYC streets shouldn’t pose too many problems. I’d don’t have exact shots planned out yet because I want to see happens at the aquatic exhibits and once I get those shots I’ll have a better plan for the rest of the video. I want to go back and forth with aquatic life and city life going tit for tat with similar moves and take long shots so they can be sped up in post production. I plan on using natural sounds, but playing human sound when aquatic life is on the screen and vice versa. My visual poem is purpose is to compare and show the similarities between two ecosystems: city life and aquatic.

For my visual poem, I plan on filming the process of a birthday cake being made, and the person being celebrated blowing the candles out. The goal is to tell the story of the thought that goes into making a birthday cake for a loved one. I plan on having close up and medium shots of the counter and mixing bowls as well as shots inside the oven, and maybe a wide shot of (my) family around the table saying happy birthday, because I don’t have the rights to the song. I plan on using a light, upbeat song between natural sounds like those from the beaters, the timer going off, along with other sounds from the kitchen like eggs being cracked on the side of a bowl.  

For my visual poem I plan on shooting a video of my friend, Tim, in Tribeca Skatepark. Rather than a typical compilation-style video, my visual poem would be a multiple shot sequence centered around a single skate-trick. There’s this five-stair at the park that comes to mind as a really good spot to shoot a kickflip at. I have a fisheye lens that attaches to my phone which I can use to shoot in slow-motion. I want the video to capture the persistent nature of skating and include multiple shots of Tim bailing, if he does so, leading up to him landing the trick. I want the video to capture what most skate videos shy away from and that is skating is a process of repeated errors. Since the skatepark is right on the edge of Hudson river it has pretty decent lighting if the weather is right. The environment also lends itself to some dynamic b-roll including maybe some waves, the sun and birds along with the city. I want my video to have a dramatic tone. A friend of mine from high school recently released a song that I think would really lends itself well to a dramatic build-up. He said I’m more than free to use it. I can imagine my visual poem ending with Tim landing his trick and riding off into the sunset in slow-motion. This is the song: https://brendanroche.bandcamp.com/track/garage