I have been looking at internships around the country and realized I didn't have a demo reel. One of those things that seem most important in showing off to people that you in fact know how to work a camera, an edit bay, and a producer. So, I sat down and checked out some of the videos I did while working at the school.
It's pretty funny to see them a few years later. I think back about how much of my life was spent shooting and editing, and then suddenly having no real access to video equipment.
Anyway, for these videos I used a flipcam, and a Canon ZH-1. The ZH-1 is basically the Canon version of a flipcam with a mic input. They are not really built for sports, and I had to hand cam it most of the time.
I still shudder every time that camera drops in the middle of a goal shot. The editing was done by me, the shots were done by me, and the extra titles and other stuff were done by me. The only thing not done by me was the title bar, which I also edited to move in and fade in the name. My voice seems a bit slow while announcing the shots, and all I can say is that I was constantly told to speak slower.
In case you are wondering, that was Tango music. I used after effects to create the lap animation. The big ugly Finish sign and background was actually my first time making something like that in Photoshop. The opening way amazing animation was done by Devin, who was the school After Effects man.
A major school office was getting torn down and then rebuilt during the summer. There was also a display for the Haunted Lagoon at the Polynesian Cultural Center with a giant scary doll in it. I used Final Cut Pro color correction to change the colors around and create new styles for edits.
Paradise Noir was a lot of fun to make. One of my coworkers was from Hong Kong and didn't know what Film Noir was. So she complained that I had made the title bar a weird color. Once again, Final Cut Pro color correction, and a lot of extra planning to do this one. It took me a day to to everything. I think I stayed overly long with the walking through book cases deal. I should have also found the places where they were whole book shelves were empty because the school had everything on e-book format now.
I edited this one, did the title bar, and some of the camera work. I also lost my phone on this trip.
This wasn't for work. I was in a class on documentaries, and we decided to research and do a video on the Hukilau. After the presentation on the video someone asked what the Hukilau was? I felt like an idiot, the research had made us forget that no one knew the really important part. Hukilau was a show done by the people of La'ie. They would bus people in from Honolulu, and do a big show and dance on fishing, dancing, and other Polynesian cultural things. It eventually inspired the school I went to, the Polynesian Cultural Center next to my school, and the common greeting in Hawaii the Shaka.
The editing was done by Tama Soli'ai. I did camera shots, and looking up B-Roll footage. Tama was amazing and really this was his project. I tried to be the big video guy, but was too caught up with work and other things to really finish stuff up. Tama went out of his way for 3 weeks to get every edit down. I helped out with some effects and movements. I also taught Tama how to use Final Cut Pro.
My major help was doing audio correction and filtering for the interviews. The microphones kept doing weird things and I had to correct for that. I used Final Cut Pro.
I was assigned to do a presentation on Millenarianism for a history class. The biggest mistake you can find is that long pause at the naked Legos. It was done in a day, and I had to do major research at the same time. I can now pronounce eyafyalayogl much better.
The ironic part about this video was that I did it for a McDonalds Angus Burger. A friend called me up and asked if I would shoot this commercial for him. They had a script and ideas for shots, so I took the shots, did the announcing, and made up the graphics quickly. This was done with a digital videotape and it had to be transferred to my workstation. I had to filter out odd stuff that happened during the transfer. I think this was my best job being an announcer.
During this same time I worked on the weird news blog for the Ke Alaka'i, my favorite article was on the Beard World Championships because a friend and her daughter went there an I got pictures and interviews with them.
Also during this same time I was a cameraman for the TV Station at the school. I did get to direct one show. It was a live shoot of a speech. That was a lot of fun and I really wish I could have done more of it. Sadly, I was getting stretched too thin, and in a month I had to go Ke Alaka'i as my only job, and then quit the Ke Alaka'i as well. It was really hard, but I was failing classes to make videos better.
So that was my life and love during those years I worked video at BYU-Hawaii. Not a 3 minute video, its true.
