Okay, stick with me for a minute here. I think an important thing to think about when taking photographs or shooting video is the nature of human memory. We live life at a certain speed. We are only consciously aware of about 30 frames per second. However, our brain does not record and react at 30 frames per second. It can do a lot more than that. Our brains record memories like tiny fantastic movie reels, networked together by feelings, associations, and experience. As a photographer and a filmmaker, I always have to remind myself that the brain does not store memories like a computer stores JPGs. We are looking for those fleeting moments that grabs us and will never leave. We do certainly sense the world at greater than 30 frames per second. You know by experience that you can pick up on the micro-emotions that appear on people’s faces when you talk to them in person. That is what my camera is looking for. We can miss a lot of that shooting portraits and can lose a lot of that shooting video. When we keep this in mind the result is something gripping that can hit the viewer on a deeper level. This is why I like going frame by frame through our videos. To see what I have missed in real time. Try this:...Shoot fast (10x speed).Youll look strange doing it, but do it anyway. Get at least 2 layers of independent motion (and have the 3rd layer in motion be the camera. Your brain lives in a 3D world. So should your camera. The brain wraps around that to make 3D sense of placement, and the brain enjoys that because it needs to figure out where the heck things are. We expect humans to move in a certain way, water to splash at a particular speed, and horses to trot at an expected gait. When you slow these down in editing, your brain has a wonderful time appreciating all the little things you’ve always subconsciously known.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 04:46:20 +0000