My father is a truck driver, and has been for over 20 years. Some people really don't realize how much room the trucks need to work. This includes stopping, changing lanes, and getting started among other things. There are so many people who don't realize this, and this video proves that. Even if this truck driver would have seen this car there is no way he could have stopped in time. i just ask you simply remember trucks can't stop on a dime, so try to give them so room to do their job. After all, America's highways are one of the most dangerous places in the world- respect that.

Support Our Troops

I have been talking with some friends lately, and I would like to get something straight. I don't care if you support the war- but it is wrong to not support our soldiers. They are the people that work their tails off every day for our country. They go through training that most of the people that go to Fort Lewis College wouldn't pass- and then they are tested to the utmost extent in combat- where their lives are on the line if they fail. The next time you think about criticizing our soldiers I would like you to take a step back and ask yourself if you could do half of what they do on a daily basis. Not to mention what their families go through when they are gone. I just posted an Army ad for the video for you to watch- but I salute all of our soldiers and their families for their service- whether they are Army, Navy, Marines, or the family of a soldier.

Our Fascination with Babies

This is one of the cutest clips I have ever seen. Watching this, I started thinking about how much money the media makes off of babies- and how many shows and movies you can find that involve babies- human or otherwise! A couple off the top of my head include Family Guy (show), "Look who is Talking Now"( movie), and finally Orangutan Island (show on Animal Planet). This proves that as a society, we are fascinated by babies!

Christmas Lights

'Tis the season to be Jolly! It's a tradition in my family to decorate for Christmas every year. We have a crazy amount of decorations and we really have a lot of fun putting them up every year. I thought it might be interesting to look at what other people do to decorate their house- and to what extents they go to in order to make it look good. This house has crazy lights, and I'm sure it took a lot of work to get it done. Hopefully it will put you all in the holiday spirit!

This is a video of an asteriod coming into earths atmosphere this November. This video reminds me how important cameras can be in discoveries and investigations. Granted, this particular video just proves that asteroids do come into our atmosphere, other videos are really beneficial in investigations as well. What happened becomes more than hearsy- because you can actually see with your own eyes what happened, snd make a judgement from there.

Natural Disasters can be a very damaging events. I find it interesting that so many Hollywood movies center around these damaging natural disasters, but never show what can be done to prevent these natural disasters, or at least be prepared when the inevitable hits. Fire is a natural disaster that happens quite often in Durango, yet many people have no idea how to prevent them, or be prepared for them. This video shows some intense damage, and a lot of it could have been prevented.

Disney

I am in a class right now where we are analyzing Disney. Part of our analysis involves looking at the stereotypes they use in their movies. For thos of you who don't know- there are a lot of stereotypes in the movies that we show to our children. this is obviously not a good thing. In Aladdin the stereotype deals with the people of the middle eact and the way they are portrayed. In many ways they are shown as terrorists, and generally very violent people. The next time you watch a Disney movie I ask that you be slightly more critical of it and recognize the stereotypes that are there.

I watched Wall-e this weekend, and I have a lot to say about it. First of all, I chose not to watch it when it came out in theaters because the previews they showed on television were really stupid. They descibed nothing of the plot and they drove me crazy. Then when I did watch it I really enjoyed it. First of all I loved that there was no real tlaking for a lot of the movie. I think we are so used to listening to people on the bigscreen that sometimes we really forget to pay attention to the visual part, and this movie forces the audience to watch- and not just listen. I also love how the message of many animated films are becoming more obvious, because sometimes you really have to dig to get any kind of moral from an animated film. So, for those of you who haven't seen Wall-e, I highly recommend watching it.

As we finish up our documentaries I started thinking about movies that have been mad from a true story, but are not necessarily a documentary. A lot of true stories that are made into movies involve traumatic life experiences that change a persons life forever. This got me thinking about how I could make a nonfiction film about one of my friends that wasn't a documentary. She lives through an extremely destructive bone cancer. She started treatment when she was 11 years old, and she has since totally recovered. Now that I understand the importance of soundtracks I know this song would have to be in the movie- not to mention the fact that it is my friend's favorite song.

The other day I was watching the CMT channel and these videos came on-back to back. I don't know how familiar any of you are with country music, but those of you who don't know- the woman singing in both videos is Trisha Yearwood. She has a country music star for a very long time (obviously). The very first thing I noticed about the videos is that the hairstyles and clothing the people are wearing are very different in each video. This makes sense because one video was from 1988 and the other video was from 2007. I thought it was very interesting how the song about falling in love was made into a video set in the summer, and the one about a breakup is set in the dead of winter. I have to wonder if this was coincidence or part of the cinematic language.

So as I was editing this morning I really began to realize the importance of spliting cuts where necessary and doing voiceovers when you need to. I realized the art of all this is to make it all sound as naturual as possible, and get the right flow to it. I thought this video did everything right except for the constant music in the background- it got really annoying really fast- especially when people were talking.

With all the talk I have been hearing about the Grand Canyon from Alan lately I had to refresh my memory a bit. The last time I was the Grand Canyon I was about 8 years old and I honestly don't remember a whole lot about the trip, except for the fact that my mom wouldn't let any of us get anywhere close to the edge. No they have built this skywalk, and I could just imagine what my mom would have to say about that! Lol! I think I might plan a trip out there sometime this summer to check it out again, and refresh my memory. It really is a beautiful place to be, and I can't wait to see it again.

CMA video

The other night I was watching the Country Music Awards and I saw Carrie Underwood sing this song. For those of you who remember Ms. Underwood won American Idol a few years back. This song is great and the intro to it is heartbreaking, but that is not what I was interested in. If you watch this video there are lights everywhere, and the reason we get so many angles of Carrie singing is because there are also cameras everywhere! After noticing all these technical details I realized that so many people are taken aback by the performance- hardly anyone really noticed the technical things that helped make this performance great. Kudos to Carrie Underwood for having such an awesome voice- but I think the techies on programs like this deserve an award as well!

Our documentary is about mountainbiking, so I figured I would look up some videos of some people crashing. The crashes these people take are nothing like the crash Thomas takes off of the Mushroom Drop. But watch these people falling- they are pretty intense.

Supersize Me

For my documentary I watched Supersize Me. I have watched it before, but I never really paid attention to the cinematic language they used in the movie. I liked the interviews with the doctors throiughout the movie. They all had different opinions, at first especially, and I think that is very important when we are talking about overall health. The McD pop-ups on the map were very effective, they put into perspectie exactly how many McDonalds there really are in any given area. I also thought considering other kinds of food that could make people unhealthy, like ice cream, was strong. The interviews of the kids on what they recognized was really interesting. There were some things I really had a problem with in the movie. For one, harrassing the school lunch ladies was uncalled for. They have a job to do and they do it- its really not their fault. I also didn't care for the vegan girlfriend. Vegans are very biased about meat in general, so she got really annoying really quickly. Also showing the gastric bypass surgery was gross. I don't do surgeries at all. In general, I think the movie had some really good points.

As the bad weather approaches, the concerns about snow seem to heighten. The amount of snow we experienced last year is not typical, nor is it to be expected this year. Thinking about all the snow I started considering avalanches, and peoples perception of them. The fact is avalanches are really cool to watch and obsere. But, not so much if you are part of the mountainside of snow crashing down. They are very dangerous, and anyone who would like to ski in the backcountry or out of bounds should learn more about survival if they are caught. As for me, I'm just gonna chill inbounds and watch avalanches from afar.

Importance of Musica

This weekend I was watching Coyote Ugly and realized a lot about movies. For one, the music that is used is really important to the overall feel of the movie. Music can be a somewhat subtle way to convey a feeling, without any dialog between the characters. Obviously this movie is about a rising song writer, so there is gonna be a lot of music, but there had to be that much music before I even started thinking about the amount of music that is in any given movie. I also started thinking about music videos and how different camera angles can totally alter the theme and feel of the movie.

I found this on You Tube directly after the last one on this song! CHeck out the different styles people use the same song on!

Friday afternoon I went to the rally for John Mccain at Durango High School. It was so AWESOME! We got there at about 3 o'clock and the line was already around the corner by the stoplight to go into the fairgrounds. There were thousands of people there, and it was my first rally so I was really excited about it. It was crazy to see my high school host such a huge event. This is such a huge thing for Durango- for those of you who don't already realize that and it was even bigger for me because this is the first election I am old enough to vote in. I was glas to see so many people involved- both the people there supporting Mccain and the protesters outside. SOmetimes I fell like this world is getting entirely too passive for its own good- but Friday night proved me totally wrong.

In my Disney class recently we were talking about the stereotypes Disney uses in man of their movies. There are obvious ones, like the way princesses and princes act. But there are also some stereotypes that are less obvious. For instance, this song from The Jungle Book is viewed by some people as racist. Meaning the way the monkeys are portrayed, the beat of the song, and some of the lyrics within the song are seen as what African American people would do. Now this is only seen this way by some people, but if a child saw it that way it could be extremely destructive to their world views. What do you all think?

My Geology professor showed us this video in class the other day. Just an f.y.i. people...you should definitely NOT drive across a road that has flood water running across it. Water is a very powerful thing and it doesn't take much force behind it to take things away (like cars). I also liked this video because I felt like the sound they put with it makes this video even more dynamic. WHile its terrible to laugh at these people, its hard not to, I mean, how stupid can you get?

Our Senses

I decided to post this today because I think it is interesting how we combine many of ous senses and don't even realize it. The sound in this piece is awesome and really neat, but when we got to a concert or a musical we don't get a close up opf what the muscians really do. When I am at calmer concerts I find myself literally closing my eyes to soak it all in, rather than using both my ability to see what is is happening and hearing it as well. I think sometimes our power to see is better in our own imaginations than what is being shown to us directly. Try it sometime, I think you will enjoy it.

Fall is one fo my favorite times of year. I've been pretty busy the last few weeks, but when the weather started changing I really noticed the environment around me. I love watching the leaves turn and eventually fall, the tempatures beginning to drop, and the warmth from a fireplace. It is by the fireplace where I get some of my best ideas. I think we shoudl enjoy this cool weather and great sunshine while it lasts. I'm looking forward to a great winter full of hot chocolate, fun scarves and building snowmen, but I'm not sure if I'm ready for the snowfall, especially like last years for those of you who remember.....

Personal Breakthrough

After editing my script for the fiction piece for class I realized something about myself that I have never noticed before. I love drama. I loved working on dramatic pieces during high school, movies that are really dramatic in nature have always been my favorite, and I loved writing the script I wrote for this class. Granted, the piece I wrote for this class had some personal relevance, but it really just spilled out of me. I chose to share this personal breakthrough with you all through a video on The Notebook, which in my opinion is one of the best movies I have ever seen. Enjoy!

Old Animation

I chose this video today because I was thinking about all the awesome editing tools we have now in Vegas 8.0, and that got me thimking about what it took to get there. The first thing I thought about was animations, because for many of us our first exposure to film was something animated. For many people from older generations their definition of animation is very different than ours. While this is very different than filming real people I think it is relevant because it shows how far we have come on technology. This clip is of Mickey Mouse in 1929. I hope you enjoy.

I chose to post this video today because I went to the movies the other night and realized how many different camera angles, different sound, and different lighting goes into just making the previews for the movies. I realize the previews are made after most of the shooting is done, but previews are typically like 30 seconds to a minute long. They have to snag our interest and keep it long enough for us to not only watch the preview, but remember it so we can watch the movie when it comes out. As an active movie watcher I am really beginning to realize how much the technical pieces of shooting a film directly corelates to the audiences interest level and overall reaction to the piece.

Class on Wednesday reminded me my days at my high school when we did Beauty and the Beast. I was a techie in the production, so I worked with lights, sound, costumes and props. I truly loved being involved in this particular play in high school because I believe it was the best play we did in the four years I was there. On Wednesday when we were experimenting with the lights it reminded me of the intense effort it took for all of our theatre group (about 60 people or so) to get everything just right. This is the woman who was the voice of Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast, the Disney version. I hope it brings back some memories for you too.

While I was doing some research on our candidates for the 2008 election I came across this video. I chose to watch it because I love to hunt and fish and I wanted to know the stance John McCain took on one of my favorite hobbies. I got the information that I needed but I was really distracted by the camera angles the camera man was trying to achieve! He was constantly switching from a close up shot to a wide shot and it drove me crazy!

This sound track is actually taken from A Walk to Remember, which is my absolute most favorite movie in the entire world. Its a total chic flick, so I wouldn't reccomend it for the guys, but for the girls it is awesome. I thought it would be cool to post something from my favorite video, because I am currently enrolled in a video production class and the last time I watched this I definitely was more aware of the camera angles than I was before. I realized how much the camera angles truly have an effect on your emotions. Without the right angles this movie had the potential of really sucking.

I chose this video today because I am developing an interest in archery. I have been a hunter for most of my life and was barely introduced to archery. The main difference that I have noticed so far between archery and shooting a gun is that archery requires a much more precise aim , and ultimate hit in order to get an animal down. Hunting is not about injuring an animal and then having it suffer because you, as a hunter made a bad shot. This video shows me some of the possible "shots" I may encounter while walking through the woods, and gives me an idea of what I need to practice for and expect in the wild.

Wow! This video is interesting because typically animals don't understand when people are trying to help them, and rather than the moose trying to attack the rescue workers after they helped him he just stood there! Maybe animals understand more than we think they do.