This Week's Progress

I have now began work on the second piece in my series, which I am going to call "Judgement". At the moment I am piecing together the different figures that will appear in the piece, of which there will be six total. A politician at his "pulpit", 3 "x-wives", and a gay couple. The politician will be preaching down to the couple from his pulpit while his wives snicker in the background. I should have at least a rough version done by next week, but it is all coming together nicely.

Updated Artist Statement

My work is realism, steeped in current culture and politics, embodied by a fresh approach to the subject matter, often viewed through the prism of an urban perspective. At many times I serve as much to capture as I do to create, grasping a moment in time so that we may all hold it forever. Whether by graphic representation, filming, photographing, recording, or writing, I strive to search out new outlets to express my artistry, and my done works are the results. 

Progress

Well, things have changed a bit in the last couple of weeks, unfortunately. It appears as if "Keeping Up With The Joneses" is, at least for the moment, on the back burner. We have just hit a brick wall. There was a huge flood in Mississippi back in the '40's that apparently wiped out all of their records, so at this point we have learned that Curtis's grandfather was born in Virginia but we have been unable to figure out and confirm where exactly, which leaves us with not a lot of options. I don't plan on just trashing the movie, I still very much want to finish it, but unfortunately doing it in four months appears to be much too ambitious. We are continuing to dig and I do plan on finishing this project at some point, but it won't be for this class. Perhaps giving ourselves more time is better anyways, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sad about it.

As a result of canning that project, I've had to come up with some other projects. The first is a website that I designed. My original plan was to go to Detroit to do a photo shoot with the DJ that I mentioned in my earlier post. Then, the first weekend of spring break my wife's grandmother died and that went out the window. So, same idea, new subject. I instead built a site for Komain, the same artist I shot the earlier video for. It's a five page site right now and is close to being finished. I did the photography, design and coding myself. Here's a look at the cover page:

I've also began work on a series of posters I am designing. I am an avid follower of politics, mostly national, but I always feel like there is no candidate or party that truly represents my beliefs. I am definitely a moderate, as I am more conservative fiscally and militarily but I am more liberal in my social beliefs. A lot of people fall only on one side or the other, and I always found that interesting, because some of the beliefs that each side holds contradict each other, so I have decided to create some graphical representations of those contradictions. The first one, which you will see below, is called "Pro-Life?". I just don't understand how someone can be pro-life/pro-death penalty or pro-choice/anti-death penalty. It seems logical that one would fall on the side of Life or Death, period. At any rate, here is the piece I am working on for that:

I have another idea for this series that I will discuss with Prof. Souther, presumably today in class. Thanks for reading.

Keeping Up

I will be showing some of my progress today in class, and it is probably better viewed than explained, but there has been progress. I have the intro put together, there may be a few changes but it's close, and I also have Curtis Sr.'s interview cut together. All in all I think they look decent. However, I am for the first time a bit worried about completing this project on the timetable given. To be on schedule we have to be traveling somewhere down south next week over spring break. As of this writing we don't have the kind of information we would need to go. That could definitely change, and hopefully it does, but we shall see. I have also locked in my next project, which will be a website for DJ No Sleep, a radio DJ in Detroit. He used to be a DJ here in the South Bend area on 95.7FM. It will be a 3-5 page site for which I will do everything, from the photography and graphics to the coding.

This Week In My Life

This week has been a good week! We filmed and edited the new intro for Komain’s video, then finished off the video. I didn’t change much, a small lighting change here or there, some changes to the text. Then, last night we put it out at about 7pm and since then it’s had about 350 views and the reviews and comments have been great. Komain is very, very happy with the finished product, as am I. I may still tweak a thing or two before turning it in as a final piece but I’d say it’s 99% done. Here is the link:

As for “Keeping Up With The Joneses”, we got another round of interviews done yesterday, but with all the music video stuff going on yesterday I didn’t have time to do anything with it, which is fine. I’ll be tackling that this week. We are also waiting to hear back from Curtis’ aunt to see if this weekend will be good for her to talk with us. If not, then we have his father scheduled as a back up plan, so I’m confortable with where we are at. I’m hoping to have about half the movie done in the next couple of weeks, along with making contact with some of the local (to the plantation) officials that may be able to help us. Stay tuned!

"Keeping Up With The Joneses" Artist Statement

“Keeping Up With The Joneses”

This is a documentary film focused on one Curtis Jones, a mixed-race man from South Bend, IN. The film depicts Curtis searching for his roots, specifically on his African-American side. He is intent on finding his ancestory dating back to the days of slavery. Upon locating the plantation that his forefathers were enslaved on Curtis will travel and visit that place, with camera in tow. It is intended to be a spiritual discovery, a story of one man’s journey through history to find himself.

"My Guitar Gently Weeps" Artist Statement

“My Guitar Gently Weeps”

“My Guitar Gently Weeps” is a music video for an artist by the name of Komain. The song is an ode to what hip-hop used to be, could be, should be, or maybe some combination of all three.  The basic concept is that we’re stepping inside Komain’s head as he hears the music and the scenes reflect the song’s feeling. He walks through an empty door to nowhere, seeking something, finding only the beat. In the auditorium, he is alone, a student of the music and rhymes, alone in his research. As the words flow from his pen the guitar gently weeps in the distance. Outside, he is in the cold, vulnerable, fighting through it. In the studio he is in his element, his comfort zone, oblivious to the outside world and he is one with the music. 

Komain - "Guitar Gently Weeps"

This week I shot a music video with an artist that goes by the name Komain. We shot the whole thing on Saturday and I've spent the last couple of days editing it together to form the rough draft that you see below. We also shot a short intro for the video yesterday but I have not yet edited that into the beginning. It still needs some work here and there but this example is fairly close to how the final product will look. Here it is:



As for "Keeping Up With The Joneses", we unfortunately had to reschedule this weekend's shoot. Ultimately not a huge deal since I had the music video to work on. The good news is that we have made contact with his aunt in East Chicago who is the "family historian" and promises to be a great source. We've also been digging into more research and have found a new and interesting census record containing info on Calvin Owens, Curtis' great-great-grandfather. Here it is:

If you notice, Calvin's birthplace was Virginia, which is in line with some of the family legends we have heard about Curtis's family being slaves in VA, which is great to hear. Curtis and I plan on meeting up in the next couple of days to get caught up on shooting and then we hope to meet with his aunt next weekend. Until then, here is a small trailer I put together for "Keeping Up With The Joneses":


So, that's where I'm at this week. Stay tuned for more!

Making Progress! First Scenes Shot!

After using last week to acquire all of the equipment I will need for this project I was finally ready to get into the actual filming of "Keeping Up With The Joneses". It was really just a test run, as I try to get the audio dialed in and figure out my new camera, but it went really well. I sat down with Curtis for about an hour and interviewed him, gaining a lot of good footage in the process. At the end of the day, I learned a few things that will be important moving forward. Here are some of those things:

1. My mic setup is pretty decent but we have to be in a totally quiet area- which I should have assumed but I wasn't sure how good my wireless tie mics were. There are instances in the footage where you can hear Curtis' dogs in the background (he has two huge pit bulls) and when the heat kicks on it definitely creates a hum. Next time, no dogs around and the heat will be off.

2. Curtis is a very good interviewee. We jumped right into the nitty gritty details and he never hesitated and he got better and more comfortable as time went on. This, obviously, will be good for the film.

3. As good as he is, he also moves a lot, causing "scratching" on the mic. I'll have to instruct him to sit as still as possible without making him uncomfortable, as I want him to be natural.

4. My lighting set-up looked pretty good I thought. One thing that is for certain is that the better the lighting, the better my picture will look, specifically in HD. The shots we did outside are outstanding (quality wise).

All in all, I feel very comfortable with where I am at and am excited about our progress. The plan this week will be to sit back down with Curtis and reshoot after making the adjustments listed above. I will probably still use some of the footage from the first interview, but like I said, it was basically just a test run. I am confident moving forward now that we got that out of the way. We will look to interview Curtis' father next week, so we are moving right along.

Below you can see a little mini-trailer I put together using some of the footage. Make sure to click on the little gear icon to switch it to full HD (it looks better).This was really just an attempt to throw some things together to see how they looked and sounded, but it turned out pretty good, for what it is. A little background music goes a long way towards improving audio, although this could definitely still use some cleaning up. At any rate, it's short and simple but interesting and it introduces us to Curtis. Here it is:


I will have a good portion of the "Intro" segment of the film done by next week following the next round of interviews with Curtis. Things are going good!

On another note, I am also scheduled to shoot a music video this upcoming weekend with a friend of mine that goes by the stage name "Komain". I will have, at the very least, some screenshots from that project up in this blog in the next week as well. Moving forward and feeling good, stay tuned!!!

Keeping Up With The Jones

It has been an interesting week as it relates to this project. For starters, I have been able to purchase all (I think all) of the equipment I will need. I purchased the camera itself last week and this week I was able to locate and buy another lens that will I will use a lot. I also purchased a wireless clip-on tie microphone system, complete with receiver, so that my audio will be as good as it can be. I spent a lot of time looking for a new lighting system but just didn't find anything I really liked (I can't stand the florescent light sets) so I'm just going to use the lights I have already, which are hot lights but I like the warmth of their color. The last piece I was able to acquire is a new external hard drive that I plan on using exclusively for this project. I also ordered the book on making documentary and reality films recommended by Prof. Eric Souther. With that, I think I have all that I will need to make this project happen. From a strategic standpoint, I think I have loosely determined the direction we are going to go with this film. I've decided to break it into four different sections so that I can tackle one at a time (although some of it will overlap, of course). The four sections are as follows: The Introduction- I want to open the film by introducing the viewer to Curtis (the star of the show, in case you have forgot). I think that since it is his story it is important to understand who he is and what his motivation is for taking this journey. We will briefly cover his childhood, his high school years, his shooting and the aftermath of that, and where he is today, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. That will set the stage for the next section. The Investigation- This will be where we really dig into his family history. We have started preliminary investigations and have already unearthed some cool stuff, like this:

This is a census record showing that Fred Jones (Curtis's grandfather) was a plumber for the city. Under Fred's name you see the names of his children, one of which is "Curtis", which is our Curtis's father. I've highlighted the area to make it easier to locate. Also, if you click on the thumbnail, it will show a larger shot of the census. Once we have gathered enough info, we will move into the next section. The Journey- This will be the actual trip that we make to explore the plantation(s) that Curtis' family was enslaved at. Not exactly sure where this will be but based on family legend we think we may end up in Virginia. We will visit the area, visit the local historical center, etc, before culminating with a visit to the actual land. Really, this is the meat of the film. The plan is to take this trip during spring break. The Conclusion- This will be something we film a few days or weeks after the trip itself (time willing), so that Curtis will really have a chance to decompress and think about the journey we have taken. This, I suppose, will be where we find our "final message", although I'm not sure what that will be. That is is the beauty of it! We plan on beginning filming this week on the introduction, so hopefully by this time next week we will have some footage to look at. I am feeling good about where I'm at and confident that this will all come together. Stay tuned!

Project Ideas

I have a couple of different ideas right now for this semester. The first project that I am working on will probably take the longest but hopefully will be the best. It is a documentary tentatively titled Keeping Up With The Jones' featuring a friend of mine named Curtis Jones. The basic concept of the movie is that we are going to trace his families history back into the days of slavery. We are then planning on visiting the actual plantation that his great-great-great grandfather was enslaved on. Here's some background:

Curtis is mixed (black and white) but identifies, I think, as black. Growing up he was a fighter, as in literally fighting, and got caught up in all that is the streets. Around 2000 Curtis was shot nine times outside of a 7-11 but survived. The incident caused a sort of spiritual awakening in him and he has spent the last decade pursuing knowledge in all forms, independently studying religion and politics along with history, which brings us to this project. He has a deep interest in researching his family's history, he sees it as a spiritual journey. He is also passionate about African American issues and believes that slavery, in many ways, helped set the table for the cycle of poverty and violence that many blacks find themselves in today, specifically in the inner-city where he came from. I make that last point because those issues will no doubt come up in this film.

Outside of Curtis, we will also be interviewing his father, who is around 80 years old and grew up in Mississippi (with Elvis Presley, none the less), so his childhood experience was centered around racism in many ways as he experienced the Jim Crow era in the deep south. We will also be interviewing other family members that we determine to have pertinent information for this film. We will be making a trip down south to wherever we end up, and my hope is that we will secure interviews with some of the local historians and then in a PERFECT world we would get an interview of some sort with the family that still owns the plantation. According to family legend, the same family still lives there, although we will have to confirm this through our research. We may also try and interview an IU South Bend professor or two to provide some historical perspective, as it becomes necessary.

In the end, I'm not exactly sure what we will find or where this will take us, instead I am just along for the ride, so I don't know that I can speak to it's purpose or message. That, I think, will be determined by the events as the unfold, but I hope that it can be a powerful depiction of one man's journey back through time. At this point, I have met with Curtis and held preliminary talks on what direction to go and I purchased a new camera that shoots in HD for the filming. We plan to begin shooting this weekend at Curtis' home in Michigan, where he currently resides.