This fall, my family and I took a vacation down to Texas. It was the first time in a long time that everyone was able to go. We spent a day hanging out in Austin, TX before driving up Interstate 35 to see my brother at college. The trip turned out to be a much needed break, and a nice change of scenery. With all that said, here's a few scenes from the trip: There's a popular idea out there that if we practice something over and over again, we will become gradually better. While I have no hard evidence to back this up, it certainly seems to be true, especially when it comes to sound. Sounds make up a huge part of our perception of a video, movie or TV show. In many ways, the sound design of a video can make or break it. While I have met some people who were naturally good at sound design, most of the people I know who currently work in sound design took a long time to learn the craft. It takes practice to get a perfect sound, and while I am not the expert, I am practicing to become one. Here's the new video on sound: When it comes to framing a video, guidelines can be incredibly useful. Thirds are essentially guidelines for your viewfinder, to help you frame people, places, and things in the best way possible. Check out today's video on Framing here: "Click," a deadbolt retreated into the front door. "squeak," replied the door hinges as Paul stepped up from the porch of his house into the entryway. "I ought to fix that," he remarked while looking up at the top bracket.
The front door squeaked again as Paul closed and locked it. He doffed his cap and opened the coat closet door. Aside from the singular light fixture hanging from the ceiling above the entryway, the house was dark. It was a typical December evening in Colorado after all, and the days were as short as they would be this year. Placing the hat on the shelf of the closet, he proceeded to remove his jacket and shoes. Paul's brown hair glistened in the light, while his face remained flush from the cold outside. Closing the door to the closet, Paul shuffled into the kitchen in his socks. As he reached for the light switch in the kitchen a small spark jumped from Paul's finger to the screw below the switch. With a flick of the switch, the lights went on and spilled out into the split level living room. It was a small kitchen, closed on three sides, with a hanging lamp overhead, a fridge and cabinets to the left, a sink and cabinets to the right and a stove and cabinets in the back. On the right side of the sink was a dishwasher, and to the right of the dishwasher there was a sliding glass door that lead out to the back porch. On the left side of the fridge was the open doorway to the living room, and above the stove there was an ordinary sized microwave. Opposite the stove, there were stairs leading down into a sunken level. This level was separated from the kitchen by a three foot high wooden railing, with 4 inch gaps between each of the rods. The sunken level's 8' ceiling sat no more than a foot above the railing. To the right of the stairs leading down, were another set of stairs leading up to the second floor. The only bathroom in the house as well as two bedrooms were up there. All of this was semi visible from the light in the kitchen and the light in the entryway, for the light from the kitchen not only spilled out through the open side of the kitchen, but also filled the gap between the 3/4 left wall of the kitchen and the gap between this wall and the vaulted ceiling. With the kitchen lit, Paul moved back into the living room. It was sparsely decorated, but contained a Christmas tree in the window and a couple of wing-backed armchairs facing the tree. Paul bent beside the tree, found the chord beneath it and drew the plug over to a nearby outlet. With a flash, the lights on the tree turned on, filling both the front window of the house and the living room with a gentle glow. Paul moved from the living room back to the kitchen, and opened a cabinet beside the fridge. In the cabinet were a few snacks and dry baking ingredients, as well as a box of hot chocolate packets. Paul pulled two packets from the box, closed the cabinet and moved to the fridge in search of milk. With all these items in hand, Paul turned towards the sink side and opened a cabinet above the dishwasher. There were mugs and glasses in the cabinet, none of which seemed to have come from the same store or from the same era. Paul took the one he was most interested in the moment (a large green one that looked more like a small bowl than a mug) and proceeded to fill it with milk and the contents of the two hot chocolate packets. He moved from there to the microwave and set the cook time to a minute and a half. Once the hot chocolate was hot, Paul moved back into the living room and sat down across from his tree. In between sips, Paul looked longingly at the tree. The tree was full of lights, ribbon, and ornaments of various sorts. It brought tears to his eyes as he remembered all that had come before this moment, and realized all that would never be the same hereafter. ---------------- Thanks for reading my story! If you liked it, bookmark this page and keep your eyes out for future stories. In addition to working as an Associate Broker at Keller William's Client's Choice Realty and in addition to working on advertisement projects, I write stories and create interesting projects whenever I can. One of the most nuanced parts of filmmaking is lighting. While some might say that lighting is just about enabling the audience to see, lighting tells the audience a big part of the story. Take a noir film for example: if noir films were lit in the same way sitcoms were lit, they would be a lot less dramatic and a lot more comedic. Audiences interpret the world based on the way they've seen the world, which means there is an element of conditioning and an element of natural subconscious at work in the background of our minds, whenever we see a film or a YouTube video. With all that said, here's the video on lighting: Happy Thursday to you all! Thanks for your continued support of my endeavors. Today will be the last week of twice a week YouTube postings. From here on out (until I have the capacity for more) I will be moving towards a once a week schedule, happening at noon on Mondays. With all that said, today's video is about real estate, coffee, and filmmaking. If you have no idea how those connect, tune in to find out! This year has been a roller coaster of emotions, but it has had many wonderful moments. One such moment happened mid-summer. After years of wanting to make an ascent of Pikes Peak, I finally made it to the top. Some friends from church and I took an early morning drive up to Barr Camp, and hiked up Pikes Peak from the western slope of the mountain. It was a beautiful day, and I filmed a lot of it on my GoPro. Here's that video: |
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Welcome to the blog! I've republished some of my favorite entries from previous blogs (found in the archives) and I am constantly creating new content for this section. As with the rest of this website, I hope you enjoy reading and exploring the many ventures I am undertaking. Thanks for stopping by! - Chris Archives
July 2024
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