August 19, 2007

• MikeVideo Internet Movie: “Greetings From Long Beach’s Ocean Blvd.”

  

  I’ve been concentrating on my “Ocean Blvd” project since the latter part of July. You’ve seen two Photoposts full of images I shot while walking down the Boulevard, both on July 22nd, a Sunday, and last Wednesday after the DirecTV guy came over and adjusted my satellite dish (subject of an upcoming blog entry) Since I had filled my memory stick on July 22nd, but didn’t get the whole street covered, I shot more photos and also the completion footage for the internet movie, which I have just finished. Editing took place Friday night and most of Saturday. I finished editing at 10pm last night, and uploaded this morning. The video is shown here on this entry, which also contains my “Director’s Commentary” about the making of the video. I’d really appreciate it if my visitors click on the video itself, and leave comments for the vid and 5 stars (which gives it  a chance to get on the front starred pages of Xanga’s video section) on the video page. My last two videos stayed on the main pages for a week thanks to the 5 star ratings my readers gave it. So enjoy. I really have fun making these vids. If I did good, then you will feel as if you’ve actaully been strolling along the boulevard with me. Next up in the planning stage, is a video postcard of  Hollywood and Sunset Blvds. in Hollywood.

  The video is just over 10 minutes long, but I rendered it with an additional music file which I hadn’t deleted, so the video itself is about 9min 50sec. long. Remember to turn off any music that might be playing here on the blog by using the controls under the JukeBox This Week logo to the left before playing the video. (The music shouldn’t be playing while this is the main entry for the blog.)

  Director’s Commentary: When I found out that my video San Diego Dreams was acutally embedded on a San Diego Travel site, it made me realize that my little “internet movies” shot “around town” here in SoCal might become useful travel tools on the internet. I’d love to have the money to actually travel to remote places, and aim my camera at more exotic locales, but until I can shave down my credit card debt, I’m forced to shoot video “around town”. Since a lot of bloggers don’t live in “my town”, these experiences might be beneficial and entertaining.

  On July 22nd I shot most of the video above on Ocean Blvd. in Long Beach, as I was walking down the boulevard, also taking the photos for my Ocean Blvd. Webshots Gallery folders ONE and TWO. I shot the footage of the west end of the street, with the World Trade Center tower, this past Wednesday. I don’t live in Long Beach, which is 15 miles from my home in Lomita, but I work there Monday through Friday, and have always enjoyed driving down Ocean Blvd. which contains a mix of architectural styles, and has changed greatly over the past 20 years.

  I assembled the video in about two days total. I also used video shot during a harbor cruise with Liz in 2005, which shows up in the main credit sequence, and which provides the still for the “Postcard” at the top of this entry, which is the main title card, “colorized’ to look like an old postcard from the 30s. I used to collect post cards when I was a kid, in fact postcards were the first of many collections I have since involved myself in aquiring. I used to call some of my early MikeVideos “Video Postcards” and “Greetings From Long Beach’s Ocean Blvd” is another in the series of “video postcards.”

  The footage of the shoreline taken from the boat was much shakier than you see it here. I used the grid on the video editing software, tripled the shot so that I could rotate and align without “bars” on the screen. One of the duplicates was used to fill in the sky and the other the sea. If you look closely during the credit sequence at the front of the video, you will see the dividing line between the sea on the main shot and the duplicate which is layered below it. I probably could have feathered this so it blended more, but as I’ve mentioned before when talking about making videos, I sometimes feel as if I could continue “tweaking them” so much that I’d never post them.

  I’ve attempted to hold the camera as still as possible, even when moving it. There are no tripod shots in this video. And I don’t use a “steadicam” although I understand there is a steadicam available for home video use. For those who don’t know, a steadicam is a device with a gyroscope, that allows the camera to stay still while the operator moves. If you see a movie like “The Bourne Ultimatum”, which used handheld without a steadicam, there is lots of “camera shake”. I admit, there is camera shake in the above video, but I did as much as I could to limit the shakiness so that the image transitions and pans are smooth. My tripod is a cheap one, and actually causes more problems than it solves. I want a nice tripod with a more fliuid panhead but these things cost money, and I want to use what I have without spending more money if possible.

  I’m very pleased with a lot of these shots. For some reason, either in capturing or in shooting, there were some errant pixels showing up in a lot of the footage, so I deleted about 12-15 individual frames from the video prior to rendering. I noticed I didn’t catch all of them, but I don’t think anyone will notice.

  The last section, in which I drive down the boulevard I have just walked down, was accomplished by holding the camera on the visor of the convertible while driving the car. Someday I want to take someone along as a “driver” so I can shoot from the passenger seat. I’m also thinking of devising a camera mount to put in the air dam of the car, so that I can get “street level” shots while driving. Also in the works are a device with a single wheel and an outstretched “arm” so that I can ”dolly” the camera as I walk, when I put myself in the shot. For those who might not know, I don’t use a crew at all. All video is shot by me on the spot. In one shot near the end of the vid, you’ll see a police command center vehicle. The police cordoned off Shoreline Drive on Wed. afternoon for some reason, and the command center is on it’s way to the scene of the crime, whatever it was.

  I selected and recorded all the music yesterday. I love Sam Phillips, and use her song, “Strawberry Road” from one of my CDs. I had to have “Summer in the City” by the Lovin’ Spoonful in the video. It’s a vinyl record, as is “Sweet Mary” (chosen because of the Queen Mary, docked in Long Beach harbor) “Draggin the Line” and “I Live in the City”. “Gone Ridin’” by Chris Isaak has shown up in at least one other video. It’s one of my favorite “driving songs”.

  I’m getting about one video shot and edited each month, which has been my goal for may years. I have this video on YouTube as well as Xanga. At least one of my readers can’t view videos hosted on Xanga for some reason.

   

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  On a completely different subject, thank you so much to everybody who wished my brother a Happy Birthday. What a fantastic response. I won’t send any announcement through messages for this video because I don’t want to “get on anybody’s nerves” by sending messages so close together. I emailed my bro sending him the link to his birthday post. I was very very happy with the response and all the comments and birthday greetings!

  • 1:57 pm
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