I began this project taking short clips of myself doing basic flip tricks on my skateboard within the art building. I wanted to show a slight progression of difficulty of specific skate tricks, but as I put more and more work into the project I depict a variety of tricks throughout the entire video. The intro shows layered effects displaying a ghostly quality. This effect was easily done with the help of my professor because I shot the intro clips from the same spot and same angle with my iPad. The straightforward sense of the intro transitions to a subtle narrative of myself skating throughout various floors of the art building and the process of doing as such. Some problems I encountered within this program are limited, but I did run into some annoying occurrences such as transitions not working properly and clips becoming misaligned and chopping into one another when I attempted to move them around. In regards to the program, it is very simple to use and the editing of raw footage can be done very quickly to create an engaging video.
After reviewing my video multiple times, the only thing I really thought I could work on was some of the timing of the tricks with the music. For the most part, everything lined up almost perfectly with the music in a coincidental fashion. I enjoy it when things in artwork mesh together without much work. Another thing I could have pushed was the elevator sequence. I agree that this sequence doesn’t particularly flow with the rest of the video and it almost seems like filler. To combat this I could have spaced the two elevator clips apart, one in the beginning and one in the end. Also, the sequences are quite generic, very cinematic in that elevator scenes can be a very common occurrence in videography and movies. One last thing to nit pick was my decision of background for the different skate scenes. I don’t have a problem with the intro background, for it is empty and doesn’t cause any distraction with the vacancy. The scene I do have a slight problem with is the segment right after using the elevator a second time. This particular scene can be a bit distracting with the solid black trash can very close to me. The learning process of this creation of video has allowed me to definitely take background into consideration for future shooting.
In conclusion, I had a lot of fun with this project. I have been skateboarding for about 13 years and I’ve always shot singular tricks from time to time. I have never really created a legitimate montage of my skating, and I believe I created a relatively strong one as my first. Now that I have created a simple flat ground montage, this summer I plan to get some heavy duty skating in (stair-jumping, handrails, etc.) and create a real skate part. Furthermore, collaboration with my friends shall occur and I hope to progress my skating abilities.
Ian Marshall: Blog of the Arts 