Update #3

Since Connor's editing at home I don't really have much to say.  He has been showing us rough cuts periodically in class and we have been giving him suggestions, but they all look really good.  I'm excited to see how the movei turns out and to see it on the big screen.  I also really hope Olive gets nominated and wins for best actrice because I was really impressed by her acting.

The Oldest Story; Update

We finished almost all of our filming last Sunday.  We got alot of montagy shots at a park, but we still have to film the part with the Bureaucrat typing up the story on a typewriter, which will bring the whole movie together.  Connor is editing at home and uploading what he has so far to youtube.  We watched in class and we gave him some suggestions.

There were a couple of shots what crossed the 180 line (if that's what it's called), where to camera jumps form the left of someone to their right which is really disorienting for the viewer.  He also has to cut down and integrate the montage into the dialogue and we discussed how he should do that.

Since this project first started we've been gathering music, and we have a googledoc with about a thousand songs, so this week we'll start going through it and see what really works with the movie.

The Oldest Story; Production Update

We filmed the bulk of our movie last Saturday at an old train station in Silver Spring.  We had two actors, Allie and the Bureaucrat.  Most of the filming took place on or right next to the bench on the left.  At one point a train was going by for a good five or six minutes, and we were able to get some good shots of the train what we may be able to integrate in to our movie.


During production I helped read the story board and shot list and helped decide how things should be shot.  Since we were using actors outside of our group and outside of Blair, I was really able to see how important it is to manage our time.  We had to go 30 minutes past when we were planing on being done while wasn't that big of a deal, but that meant that we did have to keep the actors there longer than expected.



 For our movie poster I want to incorporate something to do with time, since it's called "The Oldest Story."  We got this from one of the shots of the Bureaucrat's watch.  This is only a rough draft, but I like the idea behind it.  

Economics

 In 2008 the United States experienced its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.  The economy shrunk by 8.9 percent, unemployment was at 7.3 percent and increasing, and inflation rates fell from 4.1 percent to 0.1 percent.  Since the end of 2009 the US economy has begun to grown, unemployment has started to fall and inflation has remained low.   To strengthen the economy, maximize employment, and stabilize inflation, Congress and the Federal Reserve Bank need to change fiscal and monetary policy by increasing taxes on the rich, lowering them for the poor, increasing government spending, lowering interest rates, and buying more Treasury Bills.
Raising taxes for the top five percent of the population and lowering them for the rest of the US citizens will stimulate the economy and create jobs.  The top 5 percent of Americans own 70 percent of the nation’s wealth.  The rest of the country only owns 30 percent of the nation’s wealth.  95 percent of the population owns only less than a third of the wealth.  The government should raise taxes on the rich, which is only 5 percent of the population, and lower taxes for the rest of Americans.  Lowering taxes boosts the economy because people have more money and will be more likely to spend money.  This helps businesses that will be able to grow and hire more employees, increasing employment.  A fiscal policy of raising taxes hinders economic growth, but the government will only be raising taxes on a small number of people, so overall the economy will grow and the increased taxes from the rich will help pay off the US debt.    

The government should also spend more to boost the economy.  When the government spends and invests more it creates now jobs.  GDP growth would be significantly less without government spending.  The government should invest wisely in education, innovation, and infrastructure to increase economic growth and employment, but not to increase the debt.  Investing in education will give more people the chance to get higher paying jobs, which will increase jobs and provide job security.  Investing in innovative technologies will keep the United States ahead and create better jobs.  Infrastructure, such as transportation and communication systems, can be improved to support the growth of businesses.  Once the economy has achieved adequate growth, the government can cut back on spending to decrease the federal deficit.

Monetary policy is how the Federal Reserve System uses the Reserve Requirement, interest rates, and the buying and selling of Treasury bills to affect the money supply.  When the Fed changes interest rates, all the banks in the United States have to change their interest rates.  If the Fed were to lower interest rates, economic growth would increase.  People and businesses are more likely to take out loans from banks if they don’t have to pay as much back.  That means that people will grow expand their businesses some people will start new businesses, all of which creates more jobs.  If the Federal Reserve Bank lowers its interest rates, inflation will eventually rise and become a problem.  Inflation means that the economy is growing, but too much inflation is bad because the dollar will buy less and people will have to spend more money for the same things that used to cost less.  The Fed should lower interest rates carefully to avoid too much inflation. 

The Federal Reserve Bank should buy more Treasury bills to stimulate the economy.  When the government buys T-bills it’s giving money to businesses so that can expand and will be able to hire more people, creating more jobs.  The Federal Reserve Bank should decrease interest rates and buy more T-bills to stimulate the economy, create jobs, and keep inflation low and steady.

Fiscal and monetary policy need to be carefully adjusted to avoid increasing the federal deficit and inflation.  While lowering taxes and increasing spending can help grow the economy, but in the long run if the government doesn’t invest enough in education, innovation, and infrastructure the United States won’t be able to compete international businesses.  Interest rates need to be carefully adjusted so that inflation doesn’t rise or fall drastically.  It is essential that Congress and the Federal Reserve Bank increase taxes on the rich, lower them for the poor, increase government spending, lower interest rates, and buy more Treasury Bills, to strengthen the economy, maximize employment, and stabilize inflation.   

Documentary Project Reflection

My documentary was about the culture of longboarding.  This isn’t the most ordinary topic for a documentary.  Most of the other documentaries are about current issues like the education system or the Israeli-Pakistani conflict.  For these groups their documentary was a way for them to further explore their issue and to express their opinions.  I’m glad I chose this topic because although our documentary isn’t particularly educational and doesn’t address a current problem, it was very fun to make.  Having the freedom to chose our own topics is very important because a documentary, or project of any kind for that matter, won’t turn out well if the creators are only lukewarm about the topic.     

If I could have done the documentary over again I would have gotten better interviews.  I think the only way to do this is to just interview way more people than you think you’ll need.  Many people have the same generic answers and don’t generate much insight on the topic.  Also as you get more information you’re about to ask better questions and receive better answers.   

I liked watching the documentary about the recovery of the football player, it was really well done and inspirational, but I’m not sure that it helped us make our documentaries.  It was mostly comprised of reenactments, which we don’t have the resources to do.  We should watch more simple documentaries and good student documentaries.  It would also greatly benefit our documentary making process if we were able to spend more time working on the project rather than talking about it.   I understand that you need proof that we are working and all the members of the group are contributing, but I think it would be more effective to write a blog post about our documentary every few weeks instead taking a half hour to talk about filling out a half sheet of paper.    

I learned more about filming and editing action sport videos without any fancy aports cameras or equipment.  I don’t longboard but I do enjoy watching ski and snowboard videos.  Once I started to pay attention to more than just the tricks, it became clear which ones were more professional.  I think more about how they were filmed, the lighting, and how it’s set to music.  Our introduction is a combination of b-roll and our footage.  The first shot is behind someone longboarding out of a tunnel, which gives it a natural fade in.  The next few shot are of longboarders and each shot changes with the beat of the music.  I now understand more about how action videos are made, and have the basic skills to create one.  

Skiing

     I went skiing this weekend with Takoma Park ski club.  This was our last ski trip and we visited Liberty.  We've been to Liberty a lot before and since we felt like we mastered most of the slopes, so we visited the terrain park.  So I've gone of the terrain park before, but I never really did any big jumps or bombed the hill afterwards.
     On the rest of the mountain the snow was too icy or too powdery, but on the terrain park it was smooth.  I went over the first two jumps, but then went around the third.  I didn't jump or do any tricks, but there's an amazing rush you get from just being in the air for two seconds.  After the first three jumps there's a turn and then a fourth bigger jump.  I slowed down but I still thought I was going pretty fast.  I didn't notice until I got to the top but there was a sharp incline and I freaked out a little, but I still landed.  once I went over it there was a dip in the jump, which is supposed to make you jump, so you miss the dip, but again I didn't and somehow I sill landed.  We did the same run three or four more times.  On the second to last one I hit all the jumps and I jump a little on the last one.  I yelled out of joy when I was in the air and my only thought going down the rest of the slope was I LOVE SKIING.
     We had to leave at 7:50, which is ridiculously early, especially since it's our last time.  But anyways I hit the first three jumps as well and on the third I didn't land it.  I wasn't a bad fall but what I was really worried about was that I was directly under the jump, and if someone was going over, they wouldn't see me, so I popped off my skis and scrambled to the side.  As I was putting on my skis I saw Annie ( one of the snowboarders I was with) go over the fourth jump, and fall.  We got up and finished the hill.  When we got down we found out that Phuong (the other snowboarder I was with) had also fallen.  I was 7:55 and I just wanted to say screw getting back on time and go again, but we didn't.
     Hopefully I can go skiing again before it gets warm, and one of two things may happen.  Either I'll be really scared of the fourth jump, or since I've already fallen I'll be less afraid because falling wasn't that big of a deal.  I also really hope those first three times weren't beginners luck and that I can do it again.

Ski Trip

I did my independent video challenge on a ski trip to Whitetail Ski Resort.  I used a point and shoot edited it with iMovie.  I really like the first shot where the camera comes down from the dark sky into the light, which gives it a purple pink effect.  From the lift I filmed skiers and snowboarders, and I got some good landscape shots of the rest of the mountain.  I used guitar music from free music archives.