Navlopomo Day 9.

De Revolutionibus (2) is another version of yesterday's film recounting the history of the universe metaphorically in glass balls.

But I really felt after watching the first one, which is silent, that it needed some sound. So, I added some music to it, put together from some library loops with some digital tinkering by me. I say, I do prefer the music version, though at first I thought nothing could match the silent visuals.

I notice that YouTube has added a "pop" to the beginning of the sound track, which is pretty poor codec conversion. But I decided to leave it, as it actually makes serendipitous sense as the beginning of the film represents the birth of the universe (if, indeed it had one; so perhaps the birth only of our localized version. String theory, anyone?)

Navlopomo, Day 4. This one is an edit I did today which combines outtakes from a homework assignment: one single one minute shot, completely uncut, showing cinematic motion.

I had planned the shot to start at the hookah, follow the path of the smoke then dolly out onto the faces of the smokers and finally a reveal of the background film playing on the wall. The film is just a loop showing part of Greta Garbo's dance scene from Mata Hari. I wanted to use the smoke from the hookah with the smoke in the altar in the film clip (which, in fact, I did, as you can see :)

I never got that shot, though. Because as it turned out, I couldn't dolly out the camera because the space was so crowded and busy. Instead, I had to resort to the evil and dreaded zoom <sigh>. Scratch that one.

Directorial lesson learned: check all location details yourself and do not depend on others.

I have never been in a hookah bar, since I am not a smoker, but it was a pleasant mellow experience. This was shot at King's Hookah Lounge in Portland. It was wonderful to be surrounded by mostly Arabic voices, pleasantly chatting away. And the aroma of the air was amazing: fruity and fragrant, almost like incense. The proprietor, Billal, makes his own mixes of aromatic tobacco, specially blended for hookah use. If you indulge, check it out.

[Update: I notice the YouTube conversion has made this incredibly jerky as the camera tilts down. The original is very smooth. Welcome to lousy down conversion...]

Navlopomo, Day 3. As it was a gorgeously sunny day in the Northwest, here's a time-lapse of the sunset reflected on Mt. Hood. The moon was rising at the same time, but too far away to get into the frame. I took this from the Sandy River delta area where it runs into the Columbia River, so the view is from about 50 miles distant.

An offshoot of the famous National Novel Writing Month are the text blogging, podcasting versions, and also a video blog correlate, known as navlopomo. Though originally a video blogging idea, it is liberally construed as make and post any kind of video once-a-day month.

The point is to make something everyday and explore that process. As our film teacher loves to say, "camera in hand" is the way to discover what our craft is, making films.

Here is entry number one, November 1, 2009: Just Sitting. "Just sitting" is a loose translation of the Japanese term zazen for this style of Buddhist meditation.

Originally a 35 minute session, it has been time lapsed to about 35 seconds instead, after a real time beginning, followed by real time end. Seems like a fitting way to get started this month...

I went out today and took a hike in one of my favorite places, Round Lake in Camas, Washington. I got caught in a rain storm, all the better for it. Here are some moments captured on film...