Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler
Just about every Okay Samurai movie is up on Google Video now, including a little NYC stock footage. The recent cre824 video was also mentioned today on the international site en francais. Sometimes it feels a little self-serving to publish these videos outside of our initial small audience of family and friends, but every so often we get a reassuring comment through the mailbox, like this one today:
"The video you created using Mariah Carey was great! It was written for me. :) It was a good pick-me-up. I laughed and cried because I'm one of those people sitting in my cubicle. I am trying to obtain the same skills you mentioned so I can leave my cube. Thanks for giving me hope."
Feedback like that helps keep things in perspective. The day this site becomes about making money or seeking fame is the day it shuts down.
Tuesday, November 29 at 4:06 PM
Water Pong, Thanksgiving, Google Video
During college summers at Kiddie Country Day Care Center, there were "theme weeks" where we decorated the room and had activities based around a central idea. The best of these was Water Water Everywhere! week, when we introduced the kids to water pong, the kid version of beer pong (the infamous frat party game that involves throwing ping pong balls into plastic cups). The difference was that the cups were filled with water, and instead of chugging beer on a made shot, you had to pour the water on your head (but usually this meant pouring the water on Mr. Dave's head). Anyway, the kids loved it so much that it lived beyond its theme week and became a summer pastime. It's going to be so great one day when these kids play beer pong for the first time and already have the water pong training.
Don joined us for Thanksgiving dinner and video games this year. This short break in DC also included a show at the Shakespeare Theatre, one of Andrew's old Little League teammates rocking out at a local bar, HD Mario Kart and frisbee golf at Jeff's place, and of course Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
And a friend recently sent me this:
Okay Samurai made the popular video page on Google! I thought that was pretty cool.
Sunday, November 27 at 1:58 PM
Revolution50: The World Definition Project
This weekend was the cre824 24-hour interactive competition in Chattanooga. Jen Lee, Nick Skyles, Stephanie Aron and I represented Portfolio Center. Unfortunately, we didn't end up winning the trip to France, but it was a great experience and we got to meet some inspirational speakers. Check out the movie here (Flash 8 Required).
By hour 24, we were proudest of our idea and how it became realized within such a short time span. The theme of the competition was "The World in 50 Years: To Act or Not To Act". Whereas every other site approached this from a political or environmental standpoint (usually with a straightforward act / don't act dichotomy), we attempted to take it into a different direction.
You'll see this in the video, but the idea was called Revolution50: The World Definition Project. We wanted to take vague everyday words like love, death and beauty, and ask people worldwide to create concrete definitions of what these words meant to them. Definition was a loose term to include words, illustrations, video, audio - whatever best fit the individual's idea. Mapping these definitions out in a 3D environment created a visual world of diverse thinking. By exploring other people's thoughts, your own definitions of these words might evolve through contrast. So the "to act or not to act" was not a preachy message about recycling soda cans, but rather an experience that forces you to think. By continuing the project for 50 years and archiving the results, there would be an enormous knowledge base for several generations to discover.
Thanks to Shannon Bain, Dave Berzack, Sarah Barbato, Lisa Bowling, Marilyn Bowling, Nick Bullock, Mary Campbell, Chad Chappell, Tammer Farid, Jen Fenrich, Howard Hill, Sheree Hill, Julie Jawor, Charry Jeon, Bridget Jones, Melissa Jun, Matt McKenna, Jeff Ma, Leah Perry, Jason Puckett, Talia Salei, Rose Savage, Don Simpson, Ashley Sprowl, Manoj Swearington, Kate Weaver, Mom, Sarah and everyone else who gave us content for the definitions on such short notice. We couldn't have come close to developing our idea without you.
So sure, we were disappointed with the results, but everyone left Chattanooga with no regrets. It was cool to participate in the beginning stages of an international competition that continues to grow. We got a video out of it. It was awesome working with three incredibly talented individuals. I got to talk about tea with Kevin Rose and video games with Joshua Davis, whose ideas left me with newfound inspiration for the upcoming final portfolio. Thanks again to everyone for your help, and I hope you enjoy the movie.
Sunday, November 20 at 11:09 PM
Age Perception
As soon as college hit, I became unable to determine people's ages anymore. It got progressively more difficult with Teach For America and Portfolio Center. As a kid, this was cake: everyone older was taller than me, and everyone younger was shorter. Now I'm consistently 2-10 years off when guessing ages in the "young professional" range. And we see the whole gamut of maturity levels here at PC, regardless of age. Of course, I still look 12 (13 if I don't shave for a few days). Having a signature in lower case letters on my driver's license and checks doesn't help much. But I've never been in a rush to grow up anyway.
The PC team is leaving tomorrow for Chattanooga...I'll let you know how it goes next Monday.
Wednesday, November 16 at 7:13 PM
Home Movies For Everyone!
2005 seems to be the year of online video. With the advent of Google Video, Vimeo, YouTube, the PSP and the video iPod, we now have convenient ways to share our movies online with family and friends. I use iMovie and Quicktime Pro on a Powerbook to edit and prepare movies (Windows users will have to settle with Windows Movie Maker, which gets the job done but isn't as intuitive or customizable as iMovie). The creative possibilities are endless. Share home movies from your last Disneyworld vacation, create your own video blog, start a TV show (or a whole station), make music videos, choreograph a kung-fu film or teach a cooking tutorial. Whatever you end up doing, here are five samurai-approved tips for making cooler, more engaging online movies.
1) Good Content. Film in well-lit areas (the bar on Saturday night is not going to work, trust me). Be wary of ambient noise. Always take more footage than you think you'll need, so you have a choice later on. Learn to not be embarrassed holding the camera in front of you at arm's length and talking to it. If you can somehow add weight to the bottom of your camera (like this guy), it will help balance the image and reduce shaking. Take your camera with you everywhere.
2) Great Movies Have Great Editing. In the New York movies, there were about three hours' worth of footage over the course of three months. Editing them down to a trio of four minute movies was pretty difficult, so I had to cut a lot of scenes short. Movie directors sometimes say "you have to learn to cut out your favorite scene." A typical edit might shave several seconds off the beginning and end of a clip so only the best part remains. I must watch the OKSMM movies a hundred times, always making minor edits and tweaks. A few seconds here and there really start to add up. Think about how you want your story to unfold...what's the first thing people will see and the last thing they'll remember?
3) Keep it Under 5 Minutes. People have ridiculously short attention spans online. As a general rule, I try to keep everything between 3-5 minutes. If you're doing something longer like a video podcast, break things up every five minutes with a fake commercial, music clip or at least a change in scenery to keep things fresh.
4) Make Customized Bumpers. This can be as simple as the URL of your website or a fancypants After Effects title sequence. Since you never know where someone might see your video nowadays, it makes sense to have a short clip before and after your movie to give yourself credit. Come up with a fake production company name - those always sound cool. And for the love of all things sacred, please don't do the lame credits thing where you say "directed by: me, written by: me, filmed by: me."
5) Keep Things Moving. Static images typically make a video lose its forward momentum. iMovie lets you slowly zoom into photographs with the "Ken Burns Effect". Using background music in your movies is a great way to keep the pace going. Switch camera angles or scenery often. Use transitions and fades tastefully.
This is all fairly general advice, and it won't transform those family reunion movies into an oscar-worthy epic adventure...but hopefully it helps them become a little more engaging and entertaining for your family and friends.
Sunday, November 13 at 9:17 PM
RSS 101
RSS has been around for a while. It stands for "really simple syndication" and makes it easy to read updates from your favorite websites. For example, my homepage is set to netvibes.com (but there are thousands of free "make my own homepage portal" sites out there). While it displays the Atlanta weather, bookmarks and unread Gmail messages, it also displays custom RSS feeds. So I've got my friends' blogs, CNN headlines, portfoliocenter.com news and a few other things all under one roof. Whenever someone writes a new blog entry or news headline, a new entry is generated on their RSS feed. This is much more convenient than checking site after site to see if there's any new news. And now people are using RSS feeds for creative things like new audio or video podcast episodes, online comics and photographs. So check it out (here's a better explanation than mine), and add the Okay Samurai RSS feed while you're at it.
Saturday, November 12 at 12:02 PM
PeterHobbs.com Launches
I'm happy to announce that PeterHobbs.com went live today. Peter is the head of the photography department here at Portfolio Center, and is also regarded as one of the world's premier wedding photographers. It was a real pleasure working with someone so passionate about his work. Most wedding photographer sites are horribly cheesy and outdated, so we tried to create something professional, friendly and unique. Both of us are extremely pleased with the results. As a bonus tradeoff, Peter will be shooting a few pieces for my final portfolio...so no matter how crappy my work turns out, he'll make it look like it belongs in the Smithsonian. This is it for OKSMM freelance work for a while - it's time to focus on graduating. Hope you like the site.
Thursday, November 10 at 12:44 PM
Political Fashion Statement
As a man who wears the same sweatshirt five times a week to work where no one cares (if you're interested, it's the one I'm wearing in the drunken, bloated picture of me that Dave loves so much he put on the 103 SWashington party invite), I obviously have great credibility when it comes to fashion. With that said, I noticed something tonight (perhaps years behind everyone else). Every politician, every single one, wears an American flag pin on his/her lapel. Barak Obama was on the Daily Show last night and had one, then on the Colbert Report, Eliot Spitzer, running for governor of New York, had one. In 2004, both presidential candidates had one on almost the entire campaign, including all three debates. In fact, in one of the debates, Kerry and Bush, as much as they hated each other, were dressed almost exactly the same, as if they were twins with a lame-o mother. Blue suit, white shirt, red tie, plasticized hair, American flag lapel pin. Lame. Why don't they just wrap themselves in the flag, like sprinters at the Olympics? I think it's high time for politicians to stop trying to prove their patriotism with lapel pins and red, white, and blue clothing color schemes and instead prove their patriotism with support for public schools and civil rights and armor for the humvees in Iraq. I would be much more likely to vote for someone who forgoes the lapel pin but was truly patriotic than some phony with a metal flag on his chest. And that's the end of my rant.
On a non-patriotic theme, the Molson Canadian double label bottles are fantastic. One label is the regular Molson Canadian label, the other is something funny for the bar. For example, the one I'm drinking right now says "Your epidermis is showing." OK. I'm out like the Wutang Killer Bees on parole...
Tuesday, November 8 at 5:57 PM
Professional Crastinator
I'm procrastinating right now to avoid working on a pizza logo. I still put off errands and work a lot...mainly due to daydreaming, playing guitar and reading friends' blog entries for the millionth time. These are great in moderation, but they begin to add up over the days. Here are some ideas that have helped me at least feel a little more productive as a student:
* Procrastination Folder. Instead of having internet icons on the desktop for easy access online, they're hidden in a folder called "procrastination". It seems stupid and simple, but it's helped cut back on checking email and blogs every five seconds.
* 12-6-12. I fall in and out of practice with this one...it means reading websites and replying to email only at noon, 6PM and midnight. This is less of an issue now with tools like the Gmail notifier plugin and RSS feeds, but it's still proven to be helpful.
* 10-Game Daily Mario Kart Limit. Well, 15 if it's really close. 20 if your opponent is Cheapy McCheapoPants with red shells. 100 if your name is Don Simpson or Jeff Chin.
* Just Starting. Sometimes I am literally kicking and screaming when beginning a big project. It's not pretty; Zack Attack and neighbors within a fifty-foot hearing radius can attest to this. But putting work off always seems to snowball into something more overwhelming and worse than before, so making an initial dent is better than nothing.
* Calendar. Loosely planning out my days in written form has been good for structure (they used Apple iCal in NYC and I got hooked). It's always great to look back on a finished week and realize how much you really accomplished.
Thanks for this hypocritical procrastination break. Time for some Mario Kart.
at 3:02 PM
Chattanooga
Okaysamurai.com has moved to Dreamhost...they came highly recommended, and we were running out of space with our old host. If you're ever interested in creating a website, typing in the permanent promotional code "OKAYSAMURAI" gets you up to $80 off any of their plans. Pretty sweet deal.
No one really has any idea what's going on with this, but apparently I'm going to Chattanooga in two weeks with some other PC students to compete in a worldwide 24-hour web design contest called cre824. There will be some cool speakers there (including Armchair Media's Shannon Bain and the guys from Diggnation), but it's probably going to be pretty nerdy. I'll take some movies regardless. The competition will be happening worldwide at the same time, so people all over the planet will be working during the same 24 hours that we will.
To make up for all the tech talk today, check out the Hornet Massacre, The Next Backstreet Boys and Mahnahmahna.
Saturday, November 5 at 8:48 AM
Iambic Pentameter Rocks
So myself and a few others been coerced into this little open mic poetry reading thing at Portfolio Center tomorrow. I'll be playing an acoustic version of the Sesame Street song I Don't Want To Live On The Moon. 7:30 tomorrow (Friday) night @ PC.
Thursday, November 3 at 10:16 AM
What's a Portfolio?
Some people have asked me what exactly a "portfolio" entails. Usually, at PC at least, final portfolios are large black books with clean, crisp shots of your work. These are housed in a custom-built box which also contains a few handhelds like annual reports or small products. It's pretty substantial and impressive to see someone slam one of these bad boys down and open it up, James Bond style. One of my advisors told a story about a job candidate who kept his work in a pressurized case, making this cool woosh sound when it was opened. Sometimes people get crazy with fabrics and laser-etched metal, but the general rule of thumb is that the work should speak for itself; it's best left in a professional but neutral housing. A museum, not a rock concert. So it's a little scary to think that my final portfolio is going to be entirely online, where there is no single accepted format to present yourself with. Lately it feels like I've been spending just as much time on revisiting my projects as I am on the website (which will actually be a new domain, separate from okaysamurai.com). But the packaging has the potential to be very cool - not saturated with Flash and After Effects explosions, but rather engaging...and dare I say entertaining.
Addendum: Last night I talked to a few people who went to the successful New York portfolio review; peeps are rocking interviews like crazy. Rusty said that a substantial amount of companies seemed to be looking for interactive designers, and that one woman even went so far as to tell him "Why do you have all this print stuff? Print is dead." Interesting...
Wednesday, November 2 at 4:02 PM
Okay Samurai Multimedia is Dave Werner's personal site. I'm currently working at Minor Studios in San Francisco. Thanks for visiting! (more...)
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