Sunday, March 14, 2010 at 7:30PM Here's a video I shot (with my still-new Sony EX1) on a short overnight trip across the Sound. Beach shots are at Fay Bainbridge State Park, all the Ferry stuff is on the Bremerton - Seattle ferry.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 6:03PM It's been a year since the Seattle Post Intelligener became seattlepi.com. Seeing as how the web is becoming more and more oriented towards video and multimedia, I assumed that they'd move in that same direction... but I was wrong. They've done a one-off video or two... but no recurring video series', no videos prominently featured on the home page, no videos that look like they took more than a couple hours to produce. Here's their self assesment (no mention of video!).
They end the video with their oft repeated "experiment a lot, fail fast." I really wish they'd listen to their own advice and start experimenting with some well produced video! Even this one seems like an after thought. It's not a terrible video, but it could've been much better with minimal effort from a trained videographer or editor.
Meanwhile, Seattle Times has been producing a lot of video (not all of it great), and even an honest to goodness multimedia report. It's no flyp media yet but it's a step in the right direction. And PNWlocalNews has done some good work too in integrating video into it's stories.
Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 4:32PM Some gorgeous footage of the area by Chicago videographer Joel Edwards.
The Emerald City - A Scenic Short Film
by Joel Edwards
"Last year I went to Seattle to shoot a commercial spot with the Deadliest Catch Captains. Seattle is one of my favorite spots in the U.S.A. - so I booked a few extra days and drove around the area shooting B-Roll for a few days. " - Joel E.
Shot on Panasonic HPX 300 - AVCI-100
And a trailer for a cool looking documentary "Paddle to Seattle"
Winner of Best Adventure Film at the 2010 Waterwalker Film Festival. Paddle To Seattle is produced by J.J. Kelley and Ben Gottfried.
Paddle to Seattle follows two adventurers on a 1,300-mile voyage in homebuilt kayaks for 97 days down the Inside Passage from Alaska through British Columbia to northern Washington.
Full movie and running time: 52 minutes
Year released: 2009
Catch it at your local 2010 Waterwalker Film Festival
Wednesday, March 3, 2010 at 10:53AM Another Seattle video from one of my favorite video series' Streetfilms, this one on the new Link Light Rail line. As a video I'm not as impressed with this one as the previous one on Mike McGinn, this one goes a little heavy on the cheezy graphics and fast motion effects.
On the content side, the focus seemed a bit too broad, a common problem in videos that I talked about in my post on History Links WTO video. I think focusing on a couple of areas that make our light rail system unique instead of this broad general overview of the line would've been more interesting in the end. The last Streetfilms piece on McGinn is a great example of this. Highlighting one unique aspect (that he bikes to work) gives us a much more interesting picture of him than a more comprehensive 'general' overview of him would.
Monday, February 15, 2010 at 10:45AM Here's a guy who's job I'm jealous of... Clarence Eckerson Jr. gets to travel the country making his StreetFilms series. StreetFilms is a web video series, based out of New York City, that highlights ways that cities around the world are reclaiming streets for pedestrians, cars and mass transit. Watching StreetFilms was more than a small part of what inspired me to make my Streets For People feature for VJIAM.tv last year, which was the first time I'd heard of soon to be Mayor Mike McGinn, who I interviewed for the video.
Clarence was in Seattle recently and shot this video with Mayor McGinn biking in to work. Clarence told me in an email that it was one of the most awesome videos he's done, and I have to agree... it did turn out great. This is a good example of how when all the pieces come together, great footage, a relatively charismatic subject, and tight editing, a video can take you into an experience in a way a written article never could.
Here's another StreetFilm from a previous Seattle trip, on the seattlpi.com's Bus Chick.