"What I Hear"- Blog Assignment #2

It is 11:15 on a late Saturday morning at the New York Public Library next to Bryant Park. 

The soft patter of rain hitting concrete enters past the gentle swooshing sounds of the revolving doors.

The sighs of foreign folks just entering the dry indoors, join that of the stomping of running children to the left. 

From the floor above, a climbing crescendo of animated voices travel down on the opposite side of the lobby. Their voices increase as they bounce around the high ceilings.

The quiet murmurs of tour guides greet and explain the newcomers in various languages. 

They leave behind a disappearing buzz as they shuffled on to their tour.

Semi-silence resumes. 

The only interruptions are that of the security guard clanging his feet as he shuffles in his seat. Or that of the lobby visit greeters stage whispering to each other. 

The rain, of course, has increased its steady, water-like stream outside--

Suddenly there's the soft clacking of heels waltzing towards the lobby. 

The person gets nearer as they muffle a hacking cough and finalizes their walk with a final stomp right behind a pillar. 

A metal chair scrapes marble and the person shuffles into their seat. 

Once again, all is quiet until the sound of fingers lightly rubbing paper, indicating the person has opened a new book as the creak of binding stings the air.

  

The sound of a person slowly walking around, halting momentarily in place, transfixed, is the most memorable sound as people actually stop and admire something within the cacophony sounds of this city.

Project 1

The Way Out

UPDATE

Analysis:

The topic of the video was meant to have the audience wary and then into panic or paranoia, as this is from a point of view. The whole footage is about trying to escape the building, but it is all for naught as there is no escape, hence the title.

The style of the video is shaky as its supposed to show the fear of the person. In the beginning the camera was held as 'calmly' but was allowed to show human movement, as the 'viewer' is taking cautious steps towards the map. The shot going down the stairs was shaky as the 'viewer' is almost sprinting. The camera was much shakier at the end as it represents the viewer shaking in fear upon seeing the mysterious figure. 

I think the organization of the story does flow as you start in the upper floors, walk down the stairs and stop at the last floor. Then you look down the hall and it ends. It's simple. There is no discernible gaps in the story.

The footage used was almost satisfactory as it was difficult to get the right amount of light/ISO without comprising the scary and dark effect of the story. Also, the footage within the video were the only shots that were clear and passable.

I think the transitions and effects were good as they were not too choppy. The first transition from the map to the stairs was quick as its supposed to show the viewer quickly moving onwards. The second transition was stopping right after the first set of stairs where the viewer slowly turns and looks at the space to get to the next set of stairs. The effect I used here in Adobe Premiere was darkening and fast forwarding a bit, since this is where the suspense really appears. The third transition is after walking this short space and just turning to descend the next set of stairs, where is goes dark for a second or two and then there's sharp light. For this light, I used an light effect where its supposed to represent the person turning on and holding a flashlight. The next transition after this is the only shot that I dislike as its too sudden, but the darkening effect that I used failed as it did not translate upon uploading to Vimeo. In Adobe, this and the next transitions/effects were fine and not too dark at all. 

Improvements I would make is to hold/make the shots longer in order to let smoother transitions occur. I would change the flashlight effect at the end and make more brighter as it barely shows up in the last two shots. Different angles would have been sublime as it would have allowed more space to experiment. Most importantly I would have shot the scenes of the basement in a higher ISO so that it could be darkened without sacrificing the footage.