Final

This is my final cut. It is composed of abstract shapes derived from the lights I photographed, layered with sounds from Water Street. It is entitled "Lights on Water St." I tried to keep my use of advanced editing techniques to a minimum, and everything you see was accomplished with opacity levels and cropping on Final Cut Pro.

Rough Sound Two

This is footage of a pan across a neon sign combined with a pan over a small blue light. The sound is traffic, heavily modified to give it an industrial, electronic sound.

Rough Sound One

I recorded the sound for this in the same place I recorded the video. There was a small parking lot that had access to the river, and the lights shining in the water created a cool effect. I take that effect and superimpose and rotate it in this clip.

Rough Cut Two

This clip uses superimposition, an idea that I sort of want to incorporate in my editing. Since it will play an important role, I included it in this rough cut as well. You can see the abstract shapes changing as the bugs seem to crawl over them.

Rough Cut One

This is a mesh of the spinning marquees at the Marcus Center and a bicycle light that I found. The bicycle light was surrounded by blackness on the street, so when I superimposed it over the black of the marquee, it seems as if the light is coming from some place deep within the spinning mechanism.

Production Strategy

I will capture photos and video of only abstract shapes - instead of a picture of a fence, I will capture a diamond (with close up); instead of streetlight I will capture its reflection, etc... I will try to capture everything in a way that creates interesting geometrical compositions.

In all the video and photo I capture, there must be one element that sticks out more that anything else in the photo. A blue flower surrounded by green, a speck of red paint on a gray sidewalk, etc.

I can use a tripod, or I can move the camera. I can capture at night or day. Only the above restrictions apply.

UPDATE 11/13/08: I have my footage, and I have decided that my editing strategy will revolve around superimposition and cross-dissolves. I will edit transparencies and create some sort of interaction between the images.

Drift Strategy and Map

View Larger Map

My drift strategy for the second drift is in the same vein of the first: I will follow the water. Only this time, I mean the street, and not the river. I will stick to the street and only capture images of water if I can see it from there. My hope is that I will capture more shapes and lights in this part of town.