Here's an animated version I made of the pre-existing Carleton Cinema and Media Studies logo. It's the first chance I've had to integrate what I've been learning in Lightwave3D into a legitimate project. The awesome sound design was created by Sam Scherf.
I stumbled across this little poem by my favorite poet, Sam Walter Foss, in the preface of one of his books. It's a breath of fresh air after watching endless streams of art films for class:
'Tis not the greatest singer,
Who tries the loftiest themes,
He is the true joy bringer,
Who tells the simplest dreams.
He is the greatest poet,
Who will renounce all art,
And take his heart and show it
To every other heart;
Who writes no learned riddle,
But sings his simplest rune,
Takes his heart strings for a fiddle,
And plays his easiest tune.
What now, Godard?!!
Hey everybody!
It's been quite a long time since my last post, so I'll try to get you all up to speed on what I've been up to. A week ago, I wrapped shooting on a short film I've been working on since the middle of this past summer. The film is called "Nova Roma," and it's set in an alternate history where the Roman Empire never fell.
It was a big departure from anything I've ever directed before, for no greater reason than the sheer scale of the thing. I owe the success of the production to Max Silver, another CAMS major here at Carleton, as well as Meghan Hafner and countless others who slaved away for days to make this thing run smoothly. In addition to recruiting help from Carleton College, Max was also able to put together a fantastic crew of professional twin cities filmmakers who volunteered their time and talent to make this movie a reality.
I owe so much to so many people, namely my production designer, Vanessa Miles, and her art team who spent a month of their lives building and designing sets that I didn't think were imaginable on our budget. Also my Director of Photography, Eli Ljung, and his Camera/Lighting team who managed to achieve unbelievable images despite our breakneck shooting schedule. Sheila Heil, Kristen Asp, and my wonderful family toiled away on the amazing costumes and all kinds of people turned out from Northfield to spend a day as extras on set.
But alas, I've started on a slippery slope and I'd better jump off now before I have to name everybody who helped! You know who are and you have my eternal gratitude.
Without further ado, here are some pictures from the set!
My latest batch of photos, fresh from the Appian way and random city streets. Today featured the most beautiful weather and sights I've ever seen in my entire life.
I am now in the land of Romans! Here are a few shots from my first week.
This morning we went to what we thought was going to be an Italian Independence parade. What we found, however, was much more hilarious and photogenic. Apparently by "Independence parade" they meant "Communist Rally."
And here's my favorite slide from our Roman orientation powerpoint:
Yesterday I took a stroll through Riverside and Central Park:
Today we had a workshop with a street photographer by the name of Markus Hartel. After learning a bit about his techniques and insights, we were let loose on Times Square to see what kind of interesting images we could cook up. I'm rather shy about taking pictures of strangers (which makes me a horrible street photographer), so I took this opportunity to focus not so much on the compositions and content of the pictures themselves as coming up with interesting ways to process them in photoshop.
Also, another little Roman doodle since I'm on a bit of a Roman kick.
Here be some more photos and doodles. The great architecture you see is a mixture of Grand Central Station, Grant's Tomb and the cathedral of St. John the Divine.
The first week of my Cinema and Media Studies globetrotting extravaganza has successfully ended with a wonderful Introduction to the sights, sounds (and smells) of New York City. Two weeks from now, I'll be flying off to Rome, and three weeks after that I'll be making my way to Prague by way of Northern Italy and Austria. Accompanying me on my travels is a group of twenty four fellow Carleton students who all share a love of photography, new media, and snazzy digital cameras.
This is the first round of photos I've taken over the past few days. Some are heavily photoshopped, others not so much. I'm snapping about 300mb worth of pictures a day, so expect to see a heck of a lot more in the future.