Trial of John Mosby - the Movie

The Trial of John Mosby from Man Made Wilderness on Vimeo.

At ten minutes, our piece of the Albemarle/Charlottesville Historical Society's annual Spirit Walk fundraiser is the longest by far. This is a compilation of several of our performances from the final day. Please excuse the substandard sound. There is still the possibility of looping all the lines. I might talk to the cast about doing that.

f-o-r-d

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Really, I'm not searching for this stuff. I go out walking in the morning, and this is what I find. Along with some beautiful scenery. But who cares about that, right? We want sensationalism. We want fires, and murder, and car crashes.  But in presenting it here, on a landscape site, am I not falling prey to the same cheap motives that the rest of the media employs? I've wondered before how far one can go with representational photography before you have entered the zone of exploitation. These images are pretty tame: they simply report the incident. As victims of road killings, there was likely little suffering involved. If I was to trap animals, run over them or butcher them, and then photograph the results, it would be a different matter. But can anyone really determine that I wasn't in fact the cause of these animals' deaths?

BTW - nothing has been moved in order for clarity. The final photo, of Mephitis mephitis, shows an animal that was killed on the road and moved into the brush by someone else.

KOYAANISQATSI

Conceived and directed by Godfrey Reggio, I remember seeing this remarkable film at the New York Film Festival in 1983. Two more films, Powaqqatsi, and Naqoyqatsi, complete the trilogy. These are words from the Hopi language, with Koyaanisqatsi being translated by Reggio as meaning "life out of balance." In his commentary - as a separate piece on the dvd - the director explains that his unique combination of image and music is a way to examine the modern world, the world of technology. He feels we are no longer living in a natural state, but are now living "above" the earth, isolated from our historical connection by the layer of technology that encompasses the globe.

The film's role is to provoke, to raise questions that only the audience can answer. This is the highest value of any work of art, not predetermined meaning, but meaning gleaned from the
experience of the encounter. The encounter is my interest, not the meaning. If meaning is the point, then propaganda and advertising is the form. So in the sense of art, the meaning of KOYAANISQATSI is whatever you wish to make of it.

On the surface level of mechanics, the film consists largely of time lapse images created by the cinematographer Ron Fricke. By now we have seen these images repeatedly - the accelerated traffic flows in New York and Los Angeles; production lines in a Twinkie factory, a hot dog factory, an automobile factory - but there are others of the earth and individuals in the mass of humanity that are perhaps more striking for their inclusion in a vision of machine technology.

This powerful combination of images and music, the latter by Philip Glass, is like few others: there is no linear story, there is no narration, there is no actual subject. It is an experience waiting for a viewer.

CARVING

Carving from Man Made Wilderness on Vimeo.

 A time lapse from last night's pumpkin carving. Concept mostly by Claire, then we edited together this afternoon. Pushing up against the limitations of my knowledge of Final Cut Pro's abilities to do text credits without descending into Motion, we opted for none.

CHOOSE

CHOOSE from Man Made Wilderness on Vimeo.

This is one that came to me from good friend Craig MacDonald in upstate New York. He's been recording music with friends from his high school days, the band now christened Old Scots. They get together maybe once a year, but Craig has managed to produce an entire album of music with the three of them playing together, by passing digital files back and forth. The same was done with this video. As can be seen, the images come from four different sources, and I managed through the wonders of software to stuff them into a single format that is viewable.

Trial of John Mosby

Here's the audio from one of our performances last night, as part of the annual Spirit Walk. A bit boomy, but audible. I'll try for better placement of the recorder tonight, all as tests for Sunday afternoon's video recording.

Update on Thursday, October 28, 2010 at 09:08AM by KMW

photo by James Marshall

From one of our performances Saturday evening.

For those clamoring for the video - sorry, it's going to be a while longer. I'm still editing a music video to go online by tomorrow morning.

wow

What happened to me? No more still photography, basically. The GD Canon 7D has taken over my sensibilities, and Final Cut Studio the rest of my waking hours.

Here's the product of the latest marathon.

Who's Afraid of 50? from Man Made Wilderness on Vimeo.

A party last night, and in less than 24 hours it's online. It's been a long time since I stayed up til 5am working on a project, but this morning seemed to be the time to do it. Maybe there was something in the food last night that kept me awake. Or maybe it was the enchantment of cinema...

Update on Sunday, October 17, 2010 at 08:39PM by KMW

A new version available already, to fix some duplication that was missed in the early hours this morning.

16th Annual Spirit Walk

For the fifth year, I'm going to get up on the boards, figuratively speaking. I've ascended to the primo location for characters who perform for the Spirit Walk, the Historical Society's annual fundraiser: the interior of the Albemarle County Courthouse. I'll be playing the Commonwealth Attorney from 1853 with four other actors. It should be a blast. If you're in the area, get a ticket and do the tour.

COME JOIN US FOR THE 16TH ANNUAL SPIRIT WALK!

The Spirit Walk is a guided evening tour of Historic Downtown Charlottesville and Maplewood Cemetery. What really makes the Spirit Walk unique, however, besides it’s being at night, is that along the way, you actually come across and interact with ghosts from Charlottesville’s past.  In fact, each tour is led by an actor in full costume representing a spirit from Charlottesville’s history!  The Spirit Walk is the number one fundraiser for the not-for-profit Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society whose goal is preserving and nurturing appreciation of local history.

WHEN:

October 22^nd, 23^rd, and 24^th.  …. One weekend only!

Tours run every 15 minutes.  On Friday the tours start at 6 and the last tour leaves at 9:15.  Saturday, 5 to 8:15.  Sunday, 4 to 7:15.

PRICE: 12 for Adults…8 for children under 13 years old

Get your tickets online at:

WWW.ALBEMARLEHISTORY.ORG

Or call:434-296-1492

Or Stop By!:

200 2^ND STREET SE…ACROSS FROM LEE PARK, BEHIND MAIN BRANCH OF LIBRARY

Hope to see you there!

welcome to NJ pt. 2

click 'er for biggerApparently it was a slow day. Or more likely the officer was new to the job and needed some experience. Details of my encounter with the CSX police can be found here. I was warned because I was supposedly within 24 feet of a railroad track. This photo is pretty good evidence that I was on the edge of the road, probably about 25 feet away from the track that runs down the middle of a public road. But who's quibbling? Believe it or not, the railroad was not what I was photographing. I probably won't be returning to South Kearny, N.J. any time soon.

another instance of my inability to conform

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This is a photograph that could benefit from an audio component. Or at least it would make the reality of its nature more immediate. But as I wrestle with what it is that I want to do with a motion picture capture device, it is fairly obvious that what "typically" works is not a collection of still images, even complimented with sound. The question that is posed by director Peter Watkins in his critique of the media and film making, is whether we can find other means of communication through visual media that transcends the hegemony of the three act structure of virtually all story telling.

This extreme crisis for global civil society AND for the environment, falls into six principal areas under examination: • the role of the American MAVM [Mass Audio Visual Media], with their disastrous impact on global politics, social life, and culture • the somewhat less obvious, but equally dangerous role of the MAVM in most other countries • the role of global media educators (encouraging young people to enter the mass media as acquiescent professionals, or to accept the mass media as passive consumers) • the role of film festivals and of film makers themselves • the complex role of the counter-culture movement • the role of the public.

Crucial to Watkins' analysis of the MAVM is his examination of the Monoform:

To explain to new readers: The MONOFORM is the internal language-form (editing, narrative structure, etc.) used by TV and the commercial cinema to present their messages. It is the densely packed and rapidly edited barrage of images and sounds, the 'seamless' yet fragmented modular structure which we all know so well. This language-form appeared early on in the cinema, with the work of pioneers such as D.W.Griffith, and others who developed techniques of rapid editing, montage, parallel action, cutting between long shots/close shots, etc. Now it also includes dense layers of music, voice and sound effects, abrupt cutting for shock effect, emotion-arousing music saturating every scene, rhythmic dialogue patterns, and endlessly moving cameras.

He proposes alternative ways of viewing (see especially this section of his statement), and that the entire process of media production become more democratic through subjects and audiences becoming involved and a part of the means of communication.  After all, the word implies some sort of two way process, rather than the simple passivity of a silent audience in a cinema or on the couch in the living room.

Can a lone landscape photographer find a way through this minefield?

power people

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Perhaps time to find out where they go? In our case, the coal fields of south Virginia and West Virginia.

being neighborly

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As flat as this composition might seem, there is a density to it that reallty draws me in. It says a lot about where we live. The four man made objects in the man made landscape attempt to exert their presence over the surrounding vegetation. But there is little doubt that those four objects and the infrastructure they represent have a limited lifespan that will require constant maintanence.

more pieces to the puzzle

Maybe it's already obvious to everybody else, but the proper methodology - aka "workflow" - for getting files from flash card based video cameras or DSLRs into editing software, specifically Final Cut Pro, has eluded me. If you don't already know it, DO NOT simply drag & drop files from the cards to the hard disk. When trying to open them later in FCP, in the Log & Transfer window, the software will report an unsupported file type. The entire file structure needs to be copied off the card.

If using a DSLR such as the Canon 5D MkII or 7D, Canon has created a utility for FCP which helps with the correct settings and the use of the Log & Transfer function, and supposedly transcodes the original H.264 codec to Apple ProRes (or whatever editing codec you want) at three times the speed that Compressor will do this operation. Canon suggests using the Mac Disk Utility to first mount the card as a disk image on the hard disk.

 

Very preliminary use shows that another method, which seems much simpler, is to select in a Finder window the folder on the card that contains the files that need to be copied off the memory card, go to Edit/Copy, then open the folder on the hard disk where they need to be placed and go to Edit/Paste. Once again, Drag & Drop doesn't work, but copy & paste does.

In the case of the Canon camera(s), there is a directory called eos_digital with a subdirectory called dcim. When using Log & Transfer, open the dcim directory to find the copied files. Choosing any directory lower than this results in the Unsupported media message.

This way the files can be opened from the hard disk, and the memory cards can be reformatted and used again for new material. As an added benefit, cards can be copied to a portable hard disk such as the Photo Safe II, and then transferred later to a computer.

The Photo Safe has no display other than digital readout for functions, so is really only a small portable hard disk with card readers connected. When travelling no computer is needed to download memory cards. I've not really used this much yet, but with a summer vacation under way, it seems the perfect solution to the checked bag luggage problem. The primary issue appears to be the transfer speed from card to Photo Safe: they claim a 1 gig card takes 3-1/2 minutes, so my 16 g cards are going to take nearly an hour. Photo Safe to computer runs at USB 2.0 speed.

If anyone using the Canon 7D and FCP has a simpler way of getting video files off the compact flash cards, I'd love to hear about it.

gone

click 'er for biggerSite's on autopilot for a week while we travel. I'll check in if I can find access.

beware

click 'er for biggerObviously this one didn't make it. Unfortunately, a common end for these ancient reptiles.

At this time of year, these guys - Terrapene carolina - are occasionally seen crossing the thoroughfares. Since their habitats are usually only 200 m. in diameter and have become so fragmented, it's not surprising that they may be seen trying to cross a road. And since they mostly live in the grass and forest leaves and dead trees, it's not likely we'll see them anywhere but on the roads. They don't stand much of a chance against vehicular challengers, so I make a point of lifting them out of the way and helping them on their journey. It's best to move them across the road, because removal from their locale will spur them to engage their homing instincts to return to their natal grounds, possibly searching unsystematically for the rest of their long lives. A thirty or forty year life span is not uncommon for this species, and it's believed some have survived to 80. But long term survival prospects look dim due to habitat destruction, slow growth rates for individuals, as well as slow reproduction (a female may lay 100 eggs in a lifetime, but it's estimated only 2 - 3 will reach maturity.)

Read more about Eastern Box Turtles here.

Here's one I moved out of the way recently while walking in Loftlands.

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howdy, pardner

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A fine and dandy how-do to one and all on this gray Sunday morning, finally some respite from the July heat.

wondering - or is it wandering

How Cats Do Laundry from Man Made Wilderness on Vimeo.

The time function for these kinds of things is still all out of proportion for the result. But learning new bits and means of expression is stimulating, at the very least. The point was to try to put something together in a day. I almost made the deadline. Pieces were recorded on Sunday, and by that evening I had some kind of an assembly put together. But it was another day to lay in the music, edit the picture to half it's original length, compress the file for Vimeo standards, and then upload.

BTW: all hand held with the Canon 7D using the live view. It's getting a little easier...

Oh, and it was H-O-T this past Sunday, in case you couldn't feel it.

confusion reigns

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Better? Nahhh... Different... A whole lot of buttons and batteries. But I don't really want to write about camera technology. Of the thirty or forty exposures I took late this afternoon a week ago, trying to find what my 3 pints to the wind brain could comprehend, this one - at about the end of the series - is probably the best. Not too bad for being drunk. I don't usually combine drinking and photography, and I don't think I would recommend it, even to myself. But having a camera at hand was an interesting way to burn off some alchohol before I needed to drive home.

welcome to northern NJ

The offcers didn't seem to believe they were in paradise. "I've seen better." said one. When I suggested that perhaps his elsewhere was merely different, he insisted "No. Better." South Kearny didn't seem to fit acceptable notions of beauty. I continued the discussion by elaborating upon the concept of finding beauty in unlikely places. He may have been curious, but he was far from convinced, other than possibly to think I was yet another looney citizen.

Sematic differences aside,  his uniformed associate was only moderately intent on issuing me a warning for so called tresspassing on railroad property - which happened to be the middle of a public thoroughfare. He had driven past me while I was standing about with my viewfinder in hand, trying to find the composition. We waved at one another. He was curious, but didn't stop, so I didn't realize that he was police. He didn't even see me with the camera set up.

Some time later when leaving the area, collecting snaps of pollution abatement signs, he passed again and decided he needed to talk to me. Under the impression that I was taking pictures of the railroad, I tried to make it clear that this was not the case. Alas, cops can't talk to citizens without turning it into official documented business. So at least half an hour after the "infraction" came the written warning. More evidence to support my theory that there are more police on payroll in New Jersey than anywhere else in the known universe. I never would have thought to include the CSX railroad police in the list. Now I know for certain that they exist.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the third cleanup site sign. Or the officers.

the jersey shore, too

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I guess you get used to it, if you spend some time on the island. Not sure I want to. Maybe through the winter. And there is of course the sand to deal with. And the sun. And the swelling population during the summer. Being the well known grouch that I am, I got out of there about as fast as I could.