Re: 365 vs. videohaiku

From: Jack Sargeant (email suppressed)
Date: Tue Jan 23 2007 - 21:42:26 PST


www.videohaiku.blogspot.com

On 24 Jan 2007, at 16:33, alvamel wrote:

> Hi Kevin,
>
> I tried Safari, and Netscape & came up with an error as well. Any
> hints aout getting to your site?
>
> Alva
>
> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Kevin Obsatz <email suppressed>
>> Sent: Jan 23, 2007 10:55 PM
>> To: email suppressed
>> Subject: 365 vs. videohaiku
>>
>> Let me use that as a segue into a topic that I tried to bring up
>> before.
>> Jonas Mekas is now about a month into his 365 film project on his
>> website.
>> I really love the spirit of this project. I've downloaded most of
>> the days
>> but have only watched a few of them so far. A lot of it is
>> profoundly
>> uninteresting, and I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad
>> thing.
>> I'd much rather watch all of Walden straight through than watch
>> some of
>> these 5 minute videos. I don't think it is a film vs. video issue in
>> terms
>> of image quality or technical concerns, it just has to do with the
>> fact that
>> sometimes it's a bit too easy to let the video camera roll. Of
>> course, a
>> formal analysis of the 365 film project would in many ways miss the
>> point,
>> but that doesn't make it any easier to watch. I find the project far
>> more
>> fascinating than the films themselves.
>>
>>
>> I was unaware of Mr. Mekas's "365" project until you mentioned it - I
>> searched around his site, and found the project but not an
>> explanation or statement of purpose or anything like that - maybe
>> that's not his style. But I'm assuming it's a short segment-per-day
>> kind of thing.
>>
>> Partly inspired by Walden, I've been engaged in a similar project for
>> about 10 months now on my blog - it's called Video Haiku
>> (www.blog.videohaiku.com).
>>
>> There's no way I could maintain a rate of 5 minutes per day, every
>> day. but on my site I post 2-3 videos per week, each 2 minutes or
>> less. So far I've posted about 120 videos, and I think I'll hit at
>> least 140 by the time the year is out.
>>
>> I shoot most of them on my digital still camera, in movie mode - the
>> memory card in the camera can hold exactly 3 minutes of footage, I
>> was happy to discover - very similar to a cartridge of super-8 at
>> 18fps.
>>
>> I carry it in my pocket whenever I leave the house, and I think I've
>> captured some very beautiful images over the last year. And the fact
>> that I only have 3 minutes to work with (before I have to go home and
>> discharge the camera) helps me to be very judicious when choosing
>> what to shoot - fortunately I don't have the option to let the camera
>> run for an hour. Then I edit the three down to less than two, with a
>> self-imposed rule of five cuts or fewer in the piece - which gives me
>> a little bit of flexibility, but not too much.
>>
>> This project has been really important to me, and even though it's
>> video and not super-8, I feel that it's true to the spirit of the
>> diary format. Being able to post the compositions online within days
>> (or hours) makes it an effective way to share my life with my family
>> and friends around the world. Internet Video meets Film Journal. I'm
>> also planning on creating a longer project, an amalgamation of haikus
>> (Epic Video Poem, if you like) after I've completed a year.
>>
>> Definitely planning on crediting Walden as a major influence for
>> that, it goes without saying...
>>
>> Anyway, I'm not big on self-promotion, but since somebody else
>> brought it up I thought I'd mention it here.
>>
>> Please visit if you're interested, comment on the blog, and/or let me
>> know what you think - constructive criticism is welcome - offthread
>> if you like. my email address is below.
>>
>>
>> Thanks for your time, everybody.
>>
>> -Kevin
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Kevin O
>> email suppressed
>>
>> Video Haiku
>> (scene as seen)
>> www.videohaiku.blogspot.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> __________________________________________________________________
>> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>>
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.

__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.