Final Video of Frame Park

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2 minutes
Color


This is the final product of my exploration of Frame Park's Fox River! I wanted to enhance that feeling of relaxation I got when I was near the water, much as many people get lulled by the rhythm of the waves. I did this by using a lot of layering and a few special effects.



Just for fun, I also did a second version, which relies more on special effects and is more emotional, colorful, and abstract. Take a look at it by clicking the picture below:
I felt this one lent itself to a more energetic atmosphere, perhaps a little foreboding. The focus of my project was to find the feeling of comfort I got from the water when I was near it, but I had a hard time getting this across. I think this video is what resulted simply because I am afraid of water and have been ever since I was a kid. This video is perhaps more true to how water makes me feel. I think I may keep going with this, get a different recording for the background. I even considered making it about the false claims about 9/11. I thought I'd put a radio show in the background to add to things I'm afraid of. One of those things is water, and the other is our corrupt government. I'm not sure this video will belong here on this blog, however, once it is finished. It has turned a completely different direction. If I finish it, I will post a like to YouTube, which I feel is a better place for it.

Sample Video #5 - Rushing Water

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20 sec, sound, color

This video is a pretty simple water video. I like the sound better than the footage. The video quality is very poor now that I exported it to the website, so alot of the visual complexities it had are somewhat lost. I'm working on remedying this for future projects. I have plenty of other water visuals, but I liked this one best for this idea.

Sample Video #4 - Contrasting Walk

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20 sec, sound, color

This video is a wonderful contrast of me walking in crunchy grass vs the visual of people walking far off and on a bridge. It contrasted the harshness of life to the softness and peace of the water.

Sample Video #3 - Duck in the Reeds

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20 sec, sound, color


This video was the only one I used photos in. I felt it added interest to the piece. I especially enjoyed the rather creepy looking duck swimming through the weeds. This video makes me want to make it into a horror film, but unfortunately this is not really what I am going for in portraying Frame Park. If I choose to make this one as my final video, I'll take the shot again if I can, but at lighter exposure.

Sample Video #2 - A Study in Light

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20 sec, sound, color


This video was made of water, but it was a beautiful sunny day and the results were amazing and intriguing. You'd never expect patterns like this from regular water.

Sample Video #1- Peace at the Dock

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20 sec, sound, color


This video I wanted to focus on that feeling of peace that I get when I am near the water. This feeling gets most amplified at the dock. I think it's the atmosphere itself, the openness yet closeness of nature. In this video you will here odd noises from a factory across the river. In a way this shows how us city kids can actually feel comfortable with city noises just as well as nature noises. I think next I will do a video in the actual country, to compare these environments; the peace is found either in complete and utter silence, or in the slight city background noise. Would I feel less comfortable if there were no city noises at all? I think so.

I have really been going deep here at the Fox River and it's going great so far! I am working on a few sample videos right now so I can test exactly which avenue I want to take. For now, here's a few of my favorite shots so far!

Draft Production Strategy

Well for this project I think I am going to try to focus on Frame Park's stretch of the Fox River in Waukesha, WI. After going to Frame Park for various other recordings and videos, I've found that this particular area sticks out the most to me. I was very peaceful there, and I felt most connected to the spirit of the park. So when I go out on this next trek, I'd like to explore why I felt that way. I'm not going to worry so much about people noises or activities, or any specific noise, really. I just want to get the atmosphere. I think I'll back up and walk close, etc, so I can feel the atmosphere change, and be able to see why it changes ad from how far away. I also want the pictures to show how I feel while I am there. That's a bit harder, because I am trying to get an overall feel of the park. I think I'll focus on the water itself and the dock. I'm not going to worry so much about the shore itself, unless it's the very edge. Most of my pictures will focus on areas of the dock and water. I want this video and its sounds to be atmospheric and slow, quiet and relaxing even. I'm not sure yet if this will come across as boring or too "spirit" like. I don't want people falling alseep necessarily. I want them to feel drawn in, like they are engaged and invited to come lay on the dock with me. I want them to want to be in the area I depict.

If you've never been to Frame Park, this is its basic location:

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?address=1200+frame+park+drive&city=waukesha&state=wi

Unfortunately there are no better maps than that online.

Curiosity #3

How can I incorporate the street noises in with the park noises? Can these two coexist?

Plausible Causes:

1. I had street noises as background in almost all my recordings because the park is near a busy highway. I found it irritating, yet this is a park in the midst of the busy steetlife of Waukesha.

2. I liked the recordings that were strict street noise, yet it didn't interest me because it had nothing to do with Frame Park, not really. Or does it? What if I had just park noises? It wouldn't be Frame Park any longer.

Curiosity #2

What was it about the atmosphere at the lake that made me feel so at peace?


Plausible Cause:

1. The river gave me the most peaceful feeling of all the spots in the park, and gave the best sounds, and yet when I went to use them and edit them, the sounds were not as good as they had seemed while I was there.

2. I know I heard the factory across the street while I was on the dock, but I didn't really hear it in the recording. Was that why? Is it because I'm a city kid and I like factory noise?

Curiosity #1

Will the reeds I attempted to bring to life through sound and video finally work once there is spring in the air?

Plausible Causes:

1. For some reason the idea of the reeds interests me, but I was frustrated when I could not get what I wanted in either sound or video so far. This was during the snow and cold, and perhaps spring would change the atmosphere to help me get what I want this time.

2. I am rather sick of the reeds now, because they have foiled me twice. I am an extremely motivated and competitive person, and I will not let this rest until I accomplish what I want, even if I don't really yet know what it is I want. Maybe that's the problem.

Recalled Situation From First Frame Park Studies

I have greatly enjoyed recording sounds and taking pictures of Frame Park. There is just something special about this area, that calls to anyone who enters it. I remember when I was a kid, and the downtown area of Waukesha was characterized by an old gazebo that had a wishing well and a mini waterfall inside. It was a great place to hang out as a kid, a shelter of sorts, and beautiful. It was fun to toss coins into the water and wish for things, big things, like grow up as soon as possible and please let my family leave me alone for two seconds this week. This old gazebo was my relic from my past, and it was that figure for many from Waukesha. Once it broke down some and the people starting thinking it looked like a dump, they decided to move it and repaint it, restore it to its old glory. The old gazebo became a stepping stone for a whole new park, a shelter for not only kids, but also adults, longing to escape their busy lives. It was built as a relic of the past small community that Waukesha had been before it grew.

Now, as I walked its barren winter paths and recorded all of its sadness and dormancy, I can't help feeling excited at the prospect of spring, when the park will come alive again. I want to see the kids racing around the area designated for them, leaping off swings and climbing the gyms, screeching in great fun and pleasure in ways that only kids can achieve. I want to see the joggers and hear the volleyball players. If there was one thing I enjoyed about this area, it was the potential for excitement. When I took recordings and pictures of the area it was lone and weary, but there was a sense of waiting; a dormancy that was just yearning to explode into full summer play. I wonder if spring will be soon enough for it to come alive? How will the park feel while it is awakening? I am eager to get started, to explore this "awakening"- this spring transformation.