This was the second soccer video I edited for the college, and it was the hardest conceptually, as our college lost. How do you show this as a positive thing while still telling the story? It’s incredibly hard to tell the story of a soccer game in a minute, especially with limited angles (we only had two cameras at the game, and both were shooting about the same thing.)
So check it out. It’s the Men’s Soccer Highlights from MCC Tournament – Finals vs. Indiana Wesleyan University.
Tonight I’m heading to Notre Dame to hear Gustavo Gutierrez speak.
Here’s a short highlights piece I edited for my college. It’s a minute long summary of the Maple Leaf’s Men’s Soccer first round win over Marion. Check it out.
After a recent Fuerza showing, someone (we’ll call
them Pat) came up to tell me that they mostly enjoyed it, but one part
bothered them. It was the part where we showed the video of the mother
in Mexico to her son in Indiana.
“It went on too long,” Pat said. I explained that we cut out over half of the scene as it was. Pat
thought it was showing the emotional side too much. “Do we need to just
look at the issues, separate from emotions?” Pat asked me.
Socially Aware Media means that the whole story is told. Emotions are
an enormous part of immigration, and to separate the personal aspect
from the rest would really be detrimental to the story, to the people
involved, and to the understanding of all.
As I was leaving, Pat told me that the scene made him uncomfortable. Is
this really a bad thing? I don’t think so. I’ll be honest, I HATE being
uncomfortable (I have to leave at certain points in Zoolander and The
Office). But when used properly, it can really spur deeper thinking.
This is the scene from Fuerza that I’ve gotten the most comments on, and many
of them are about how we handled the situation. Some people have told
me that it was perfect, and others have seen it as manipulative and too
drawn out. I, however, and content with how it is, and think we handled
it respectfully and honestly.
Related links-
My Kid Could Film That
Why church is loud
I’m working for the college’s PR department a bit, doing videography. Here’s one I co-edited, and I thought I’d share it with you.
Celebrate Service Day Video
I think it’s a good example of what happens when footage isn’t shot for the same style it’s editted to. The footage will be used for long slow promotional videos, so there are slow pans and pulls, and wide shots (which is what they need). However, they asked me to do a short upbeat piece with the same footage. It works, but I can definitely see how a different style of shooting could have helped this type of edit a lot.
Last night I had the privilege of presenting Fuerza to a class at Notre Dame. Let me tell you what, it was slightly intimidating. Here we are, 4 kids from a small liberal arts college, taking questions from students at one of the most prestigious universities.
But it went fine. As much as I am not a fan of public speaking, I have really grown to love and embrace speaking about Fuerza. It’s something I love, and had a blast doing. So maybe I still stumble occasionally, and what not, but it’s still fun.
The class was Migration: Documented, and part of the university’s
Institute for Latino Studies. Each week, the class (and any public)
will watch a film on migration. Sounds like an awesome class to me.
By the way, if you’re in the South Bend area, check out the other films in the series. It looks decent.
Well I’m back in school now. I’m taking classes to pick up a social policy minor I tacked on last spring. So that means I am in Social Welfare Policy and Program (I think that’s the name… it’s long and has those words), Mediation, and a night class called Race, Class, and Ethnic Relations. I’m really excited to take what I learned about international relations over my time in the DR and Honduras and apply it at more domestic and personal levels.
I am also doing layout for the Goshen College Record and working as Managing Editor for GC Journal, the on campus/online TV show. I also have a weekly radio show on 91.1 The Globe, Wednesdays from 12-2. You can listen in online at GlobeRadio.org.
Tonight, I’ll be at Notre Dame, presenting Fuerza in a class there. Stop by if you’re in the area.
Uprising Radio did a pretty good review on Fuerza. They’re a California-based public radio show, and Fuerza was a gift for pledging.
The review starts around 11 minutes into the streaming feed, and runs about 12 minutes. Here’s a direct link to the feed.
My favorite line:
“Fuerza: a documentary that shows the link between two cities you’ve probably never heard of.”
old blog, Video | James | 
November 2, 2007 4:18 pm | 
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