Art of the Real – Reflection

Reflection sounds a lot better than Post-Mortem. Don’t know where I picked up that term for looking back at a project, but that is what was used at different places I’ve worked. I think I’ll stick with Reflection from now on. Some of my ideas may flow through different categories, so I’ll just see how it comes out. Here we go!

Process :: Not a lot of surprises when looking back on the previous steps. I knew that I wanted to profile Nina Paley. Setting up a single interview and putting it together wasn’t that difficult. The biggest thing that I was trying to do was to try something different than what I had done before.

Even though the first comment during feedback was that the video looked like a PBS piece, I know that it was far from what I would have done for that. I guess it does show how ingrained I am in that style. Even when I am trying to not do it, it shows through. My production techniques and interview style have been things that I have been working on for many years, so it makes sense that those previous projects would influence my work.

My interview style was the hardest thing to break. I am very laid back when I do an interview and try to get the subject comfortable so they feel free to talk in depth about themselves. Normally I am interested in listening to people talk about their lives and work, but when dealing with people in the creative arts I am even more curious. I’m a creative person myself, but there are a lot of things I don’t understand about it, so I am always trying to get as much insight as I can from other creative people I talk to. That style usually leads to longer answers and more introspection on their part. I tried to be more focused with my questions this time, but I got caught up in her answers and just wanted to know more. I kind of reverted to my older style. I think I got some great clips, but they might not have been the best for a short piece. I was also sad that I had to leave out so much good information, but I’ll talk about my solution to that in the Future section below.

Once I had the footage captured, I was hoping that I would be able to try something different when putting it together. I’ve always been on the lookout for new ways to put interviews together. One of the ideas that I had while brainstorming was to use the dinner table format like on Dinner for Five and Film Fellas. I was thinking that I might go this way for this project, and I even had a location, food and help with producing the event lined up. In the end, I tried for something different than that. Not sure if I will come back to that dinner style at some point later, but, for now, I am excited with the direction that the project is going.

For the last few years, I have been studying trends on the internet. A big on these days is the list article (5 ways to do this, 10 favorite thing, 25 best cat videos). This was in my mind when I was selecting soundbites. I was thinking that just picking the best five soundbites might be a good way to organize the video and at the same time keep it short. The problem was that there was a lot of background information that I needed to get across that didn’t fit in with the five question/answer format. That is when I had the idea of the five fast facts. This allowed me to introduce the subject and get the information out quickly at the beginning of the video. So that was how the structure came together; Five Fast Facts followed by Five Questions all in around five minutes.

Once I had an idea for the structure, I still had to make a few decisions to make about putting the piece together. I’ll talk more about my decision to include myself in the video in the Self Reflection section, but deciding that made everything come together. When I put all the pieces together, I was running around seven minutes, so I had to do a little more trimming. I had an on camera open introducing myself and the video and then I was going to have a series title with an episode name, but I got rid of all of that. I’ll talk more in the Future section about maybe bringing that back and making this segment a part of a bigger piece.

Looking back at the finished video there are definitely things that I would change. I definitely need to do a color correction pass on Nina’s video. I think she is a little dark, a touch red, and there is a little bit of a bright highlight on her forehead that I would probably bring down. I was pretty happy with the light ratio between the key and fill side of her face (just used single soft fill light and ambient as fill). I had to deal with her glasses when I set up the Key, so that it would be annoying. For the most part the reflection is out of her glasses, but she moved her head a lot so there are a couple of problem spots, but it isn’t too bad even at it’s worst. Not sure I could have found a better position. If I had been shooting this for a PBS show, I would have added a slight backlight to rim her hair and shoulders and had the background a little further away to throw it out of focus and make it a little darker. Audio sounded good, but I forgot to switch her mic from left side to right side when I change the shot during set up. Not a big deal since it sounded good, but I shouldn’t have missed it. There were a couple of points where she rubs the mic. I should go in a see if I can fix those. It was more noticeable during the screening, than it was on my laptop. I’m still not sure about the title stills for the questions. Might try something with motion or go for a different color scheme. They could have been a little more pastel and it would have worked out better I think.

I liked the black and white treatment for my on camera parts. I had myself in black and white during the first sentence project because I added a tungsten light to a sunlight scene and didn’t have a gel to balance them to the same color, so BW fixed the mix-matched color problem. I liked the look of it on the first project so I kept the look for this one, even though I didn’t have the same color issue. I think this turned out to be a happy accident that I will use on future projects.

Feedback :: I think I got good feedback from my piece. There were still questions about the film Sita Sings the Blues, so I could probably describe it better in the intro (fast five) section. I was a little worried that the clips were too long with no B-Roll to cover, but most people didn’t seem to mind. Adding B-Roll during the question section was a decision that took a long time to make. I think that adding it (especially during the conversations question), but I made the decision not to as a way of preparing for turning this into a series. I’ve produced a few series before and have found that it is important to make the process as streamlined as possible. It might only take a few minutes to do something on a single video, but if you want to do 50 of them that time adds up. I’d like to keep it as simple as possible, but I still want it to be good, so I’ll evaluate again if I do more of the series.

As for the other classmate’s work, I think that the quality of the pieces went down from where they were on the first project. I don’t know if it was just because the first project was more freeform, or if there was just more time, but it seemed like everyone was putting together interesting pieces for the first project and this one had more rough areas that didn’t seem finished. I know a lot of people worked until the last minute, so that added to the difficulty. It is also hard to do anything the week before Spring break, and the classes that I had seemed to pile on with big projects. It is also harder to schedule with someone that you don’t know. I think a lot of my classmates took awhile to get started, so that put them behind. Even for me, it seemed like this module went by pretty quickly, so it was probably doubly difficult for people who were still learning the cameras and editing software.

The most helpful feedback that I noticed were the questions asked. That gave an indication of what was still unclear to the audience. Sometimes I know a subject so well that I forget to say the simple things that viewers need in order for the piece to make sense.

Self-reflection :: Last semester, when I was reviewing my old work in writing and photography, I noticed that I never put anything of myself into my work — no self portraits, not even events from my life. I was strictly focused on other people’s stories. While it is good to look at other people, I think that there needs to be some inward reflection to provide a truth that is specific to that artist. There needs to be a piece of the artist to make art real. After realizing that I don’t include that in my work, I have been trying to make a point of changing that. That is why I decided that I needed to appear on camera in the video. While introducing the video and voicing the questions isn’t going very deep into my internal truths that make me who I am, it is a big step for me. I think that I still need to get more comfortable reveling myself in these simple ways, so that deeper revelations will be possible in the future. I also need to let go a little. I hate seeing (and hearing) myself. I am very critical when I see myself and it is hard to not take it personally. I have become very good at evaluating my work when it doesn’t have me in it. I am detached enough to judge the work and not take anything personally. Can’t do it as well when I am a part of it. I think I need to no only get better at looking at myself from a distance but to also learn to stay attached and not let criticism stop me. There is a balance there that I have not yet achieved. Still working on it. I just need more practice.

I think that my biggest challenge is to move from being a craftsman to an artist. Art that looks pretty but doesn’t say anything about the artist doesn’t connect in the way that I want. I want to create great things that move people. I think that I need to become less detached from my work, and my thoughts and feelings. I need to work on letting that personal stuff come out. Instead of the Art of the Real, I need to get the Real of the Art.

I’d love to be able to just go for it all right now, but I am realistic about how I go about things, and know that it takes awhile for me to change. I am glad I am starting, and I am willing to keep taking the small steps that I can to get there. I like the idea of the This I Believe project coming up next. I am hoping that I can make something a little more personal, but I don’t know how far it will go.

Here is a film that one of my favorite photographers (Zack Arias) made about the issues that he was having as an artist. I am not feeling as bleak as he is, but I can relate the Mid-Life/Mid-Career moment that he is talking about. I hope to someday produce something like this that explores my truth.

Future :: I was very aware of the future when I was making this video. I have been training students for years about building their brand. The time where you could find a job and work at it until you retire has long past. Now, you have to think of yourself as a product that has value. The more people who know about you and your work, the more valuable you are. I need to start taking that advice for myself. I need to build my own brand. One way to do that is by producing content on a regular basis and putting it out there for people to see.

The thought behind my project is that it is a test pilot for a series that I can produce. I interview creative people and put together short profiles and put them out for free. By including myself in them, the audience will gradually get to know me. I like the idea of a series, because it is a lot easier to market a new episode than it is a completely new project. If I were to get 25-50 of these done, I think that it would be a good resource for people interested in the people I interview and also creative people who are looking at the process of creating. Another side benefit (or maybe the main benefit) is that I get to talk with people who interest me. Doors open a lot easier if you can give people examples of what you want to do. If I ask someone for an interview and they see that I have already talked to a dozen other people, it will be easier for them to agree to give me their time.

Like I mentioned earlier. It is very important to make a series as streamlined as possible. I think the format works well. I need to work on making my questions more succinct to get shorter soundbites. I also need to work on an animated open and branding.

One question that I need to think about is under what brand should I build this series. I can either put it online on my BrianParis site or maybe the nickname that some have used PapaParis. Both of these would be nice because they are more personal and would identify with me. I also have some other .com’s that I could use: SoundAndColors, UnordinaryVoices, UnordinaryPeople, or I could buy a name that has something to do with the fact that there are 5 questions asked. I’ll think about it.

In addition to the website, I think that I can probably get some distribution to PBS stations to use as interstitials (time between shows). They are always looking for fillers. Usually they need a minute or two, but there are some times when then need 5-10 minutes of filler to run between irregular length shows. Once I get a few profiles done, I can start sending out feelers to my contacts about getting distribution.

One last thing: I was fortunate that my first interview was with Nina Paley. She is a big advocate of putting things out with a creative commons (or public domain) license. I was disappointed that I could not include her whole interview in the video, but I am planning just releasing the raw video on Archive.org and on YouTube as a creative commons video. I like the idea of creating a repository of information that others can use for research or to create their own projects.

By giving all of this stuff away for free, I will be building awareness of who I am. I’ll also work on building a newsletter subscription base, along with YouTube subscribers and Twitter followers. Eventually, there will come a time when I need help producing my own creative projects, and I will have that fan base to draw from for help. I’ve always thought that the more people that I can help, the more that will be around when I need it.

Final Question :: If you have gotten this far, I don’t think that you will want to read anymore questions. Instead I will leave this video of Christopher Walken dancing as inspiration for my final project. Feel free to watch it if you need a break from reading: