05 - Luminaria, Alternative Ink and Professor Armendariz

I don't remember talking about Luminaria. Its a long time after but I feel I must mention little about it. I arrived with my girlfriend after walking through the torrent of people just coming and going in a downtown San Antonio that is filled with colorful lights; fitting enough for the occasion I guess. The event was hosted in a nice huge area. It was less hipster open air, and more modern. I personally like that direction although I assume many would disagree.

The works of art amazed me and frankly made me feel constantly inadequate. Techniques and ideas that, while I know how to copy them, I would most likely not have ever made. Not to mention how nice the works of my fellow classmates looked in a gallery setting. Too bad about the missing projectors.

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I am not a fan of field trips. They consist of me moving to uncomfortable locations, a constant stream of improvisations and the uncertainty of if I will be able to find my way back to I-10. This one was fairly easy and quite rewarding. The studio was short, simply and chuck full of "we know what we're doing." I mean, there was a print in the studio by Caesar Martinez! It's like name dropping but subtle!

Anyway I was impressed by all the detail our guides, "Chuck" and Jennifer told us about. The dedication it takes to make a proper copy of a work is something work focusing solely on. When you hear chuck explain the need for constant color correction for their monitor you hear someone who has paid so much attention to his trade that he is able to fix problems that are in realms far past normal recognition. It makes me feel as though I should be as effective of my goals.

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The Interview Footage of Mr. Armendariz is quite difficult. Difficult in the fact that I cannot figure out which story-combination I want to go with. There is a lot of things covered but it clashed with all the other ideas I am trying to incorporate into the video. I'm simply going to have to watch this footage over and over again until a storyline emerges.

Also... He is amazingly eloquent.

04 - VRC Interview 01: Malaquias Montoya

After working brute force though the final stretch I was able to put this together. It served a lot of goals in getting more skill and expertise in video creation.

Shooting the interview was technically the easiest part; meaning the a majority of the hassle came in the form of abstract, imagined fear. Thankfully, Connie (Executive Producer) and Rebecca (Interviewer) helped me get the equipment set up; Rebecca even helped me with the camera. Once the interview was done, I was able to reflect on what a wonderful team I was blessed with to guide me.

Now came the self-education part. I never truly realized how much work goes behind cleaning up an interview. So much structuring, editing and, depending on the subject, removal of the "um's" and "uh's". In the end I was able to cut it down to a sequence that would address the requirements.

The final and most adventurous part of this endevor was shooting B-Roll. I needed shots of students working in the studio, Professor Malaquias teaching and shots of San Antonio. For an entire week The HD Camera was mine and together we walked around the art building, we walked around San Antonio Down town (assisted by my lovely girlfriend, Jessica) and Professor Malaquias' Wednesday 8am class; all the while recording shots that would fit in with the video.

After popping in the B-Roll and fixing the errors, the video was posted the weekend before Spring Break. I felt accomplished and it's all thanks to the lovely people who supported me the entire way.

Next up... Interview with Ricky Armendariz!