Mountain Workshps

In October I had the chance to participate in the Mountain Workshops put on by University of Western Kentucky. I had never really heard much about them but a friend ask if I would like to join. This workshop was one of the best experience of my life. I thought I was pretty comfortable in video until this week.

The workshop gave us one line of info about our story. We had the challenge of digging deeper. Once we did that we then had 4 days to produce, shoot, and edit the a  2 minute short.  We also had some amazing help with  very talented mentors.

This is my piece. Here is a link to the Mountain Workshops for more info

 

World Nomad Travel Scholarship Video Entry 2011

I was researching for my trip to Thailand in July and came across World Nomad website.

When I stumbled upon it I found a Video Doc contest about Local Encounters.  I checked the submission date and realized I had a week.

At first I thought I could not do it but then I read you could use old videos you have shot.  With one week to go and only my Nikon D90 and my Kodak  Zi8  I put together a short doc.  The video was about my local encounter I had when I moved to the Philippines.  It was the first time I had gone out locally. I was able to take part in donating money to get an underprivileged child a guitar.  Not only did I help with that but I was ask to go to the guitar factory and join the family.  I took my Nikon with me and shot footage not sure what I would do with it but months later it helped me put together my submission

I had help from my friend Terry Hahin and support from my friend Fred Salmon.  I wanted to take the road of procrastination and not finish it becasue I had 2 days to shoot and one night to edit but with them pushing me I finished it.

The best part about this project is it helped me refuel my passion for documentary film making and giving back to others.  Below is my submission.  I am not sure if it will go anywhere but from what I gained out of just shooting and finishing it I think maybe enough.

Book Trailer

Here is a book trailer I just completed for DRIVE!  written and illustrated by Nathan Clement.

Some Helpful Tips about video and Premiere Pro

I have been working on some video projects in Premiere Pro.  One HD and the other SD.  I ran into some errors and issues with exporting and aspect rations.  After scouring the internet I found that there were  tons of forums with people who were having similar problems. After trial and error with all the suggestions I found.  I was able to solve my issue.  I wanted to post what worked for me.  In hope that it may be able to help others who are having the same issues.

The first problem I encountered was trying to figure out the correct aspect ration to export out HD footage from Premiere Pro.  The two sizes I found to work are 1440×1080 or 1920×1080

I was also able to go to my video files in the project menu and right click and on properties and this showed me the correct size I was able to export in.

Once I solved that issue the next one was I kept getting and error message when I would export out in Quicktimes with the H.264 Codec.  I found on a forum that if you are using still images in your timeline they can not be more then 3000 pixels.  Sure enough once I changed all the sizes this ceased my error messages at the end

My last issue I had after I  found the right size and got ride of the error message was Premiere was stating that I was out of memory.  This was not true because I had ample amount of space on my computer.  I am not really sure what cause this.  I had to empty out my render folder and trash bin before I would set up my project to export.  It also helped to restart Premiere once I did that

Here are the forums I found the info from

Forum 1

Forum 2

Forum 3

Hope this helps

Lain-Follow me @LainerBainer

Remembering

It has been 8 years since 9-11-01.  It seems crazy to me that 8 years have past.  It honestly feels like it has only been a year.  What really made me think about this is I went to Current T.V. and they have forum called where you you on 9/11/01.  It was interesting to read the stories of others and think about what I was doing.

I thought it was a cool way to not only remember what you where doing but to read others peoples stories from all over.

Lain-Follow me @LainerBainer

On Thursday I went and saw Official Rejection.  I knew loosely about the film but thought it was an interesting idea to make a documentary about getting rejected by film festivals.  The move was funny and very informative.  I would recommend this movie to any person who wants to get in to the entertainment business whether they want to be an actor or director.  Official Rejection goes through the process of promoting your film, submitting your film, and the atmosphere and culture of a film festival.  It was interesting to see how one minute you could feel like you were on top of the world at a festival but then the next minute you are left to return to your hotel room alone.  Official Rejection reveals how corporate sponsors are now in control of big name film festivals.  If your film does not have Hollywood stars in it then your film will not get selected.  It was also sad to see how screeners for a festival are over loaded and generally could miss your film in a stack of 100′s.  The documentary was a really good marketing ploy because know I want to go seek out the film that was rejected so many times.  The documentary is not totally defeating.  The film maker does come out in the top.  My only issue was that it was a little lengthy. I think the film maker could make his point and have room to cut out.  If you are a film maker and looking for information or resources about promoting your film or submitting your film.  Check this documentary out.

Lain-Follow me @LainerBainer

OPENING NIGHT AT THE INDIANAPOLIS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Opening night of the IIFF went well. This year the festival was held at the IMA – a change from Keystone Arts where it has been held in prior years. I think the change was for the better. The IMA offers still the same atmosphere as Keystone Arts but now the film festival is not located in the heart of a mall. Viewers are still able to bring drinks and food in to the theater as they did at Keystone. The IMA Theater has a fun artsy feel to it – topped off with giant bean bag chairs in the front row.

Once the festival got underway, we heard from Dorothy Henckle, the new president of the board for the IIFF, and Brian Owens, the original founder of the IIFF, who came up from Tennessee.

The opening night movie was 500 Days of Summer. It’s not a love story, but a story about love. 500 Days of Summer is directed by Marc Webb and staring Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Zooey and Joseph play the main characters Tom and Summer. The story begins with Tom and Summer working at the same company and is a classic tale of boy meet girl. Both characters have a different outlook on life and love. In the movie Tom has the help of his two friends and wise sister. Tom’s friends McKenzie and Paul who are played by Geoffrey Arend and Matthew Gray Gubler give a good comedic relief. The movie is a romantic comedy with reality laced in.

500 Days of Summer portrays a good example of how we can get so carried away with obsessing and analyzing someone before we gain the courage to even talk to them. I found myself relating to too many of the different stages they went through in their relationship and I think most viewers could also. It is entertaining to have a wise 11yr old sister, but I feel this role has been played out in many other movies and could have done with out. The best part of the movie for me is when they create the scenario of reality and fantasy. I think anyone can relate when we have expectations of how an evening will go and then reality sets in. 500 Days of Summer also creates a beautiful image of downtown Los Angeles that we generally do not see in movies. The film also has a strong soundtrack that carries you through the various different moods.

If you missed the screening last night I would suggest to look for it when it comes to theaters. It is a fun movie that goes through all phases of a relationship from begin to the end.

Lain-Follow me @LainerBainer

Current TV I think I love you

Once again Current TV has best expressed the world’s love/hate relationship with Twitter and Celebrities. 

P.S.  Current TV is your reading this please hire me

Lain-Follow me @LainerBainer

Cassondra and Joe’s Engagament Photos

These are pictures I took from my for my friends engagement.  I shot them in Avon at Friendship Park.  It was a fun shot but very hot and muggy.

Thanks Sarah Haskins

Lifetime TV were should I start?  I will have to admit a guilty pleasure of mine is to site on the couch and get engulfed in Lifetime TV on Saturdays.  I will usually spend 4 hours of my Saturday watching bad movies and then wonder where did my day go.  I did not think there was a way to best express my dirty secret of Lifetime until once again Current TV came through.

Thanks you Sarah Haskins

You can Catch her on Current TV every Thurday at 10 e/p

Its funny because its true