Whaaaaat? Those of you who’ve been reading my blog for a while might remember the old AudioCoffee series I used to do on here. Well, I decided to flex the old creative muscles again and try and put that concept into video form – you can check out what I came away with in the embedded video above, or check out that and more on the Fernway Films Youtube Channel. We’re looking to get more frequent and really start growing in the community, and we’re counting on you guys to help us out. Give us a look, toss us a like, tell us what you think, share the video with people who might like it, and if you really really like what we do, maybe hit that subscribe button for us. We’d really appreciate it. 🙂
The transcribed poem is going to be in the description of the actual YouTube video, but as per tradition, I’ll go ahead and post it below, too:
Sepia
I don’t get stuck – I just think a lot.
I’m my head, I’m
constantly seeing the
world with this
sepia tint.
Not enough to
make the memories feel
ancient –
but enough to make them feel
warmer.
And it doesn’t matter if it ends up
being warmer
than it actually is.
I just don’t like having to
clench my fists when I remember.
As if the world doesn’t have enough
of that.
It was a bit of a weird stretch last week – the weather got flat out wonky on us out of nowhere, and we ended up getting a downright decent, warm spring day sitting right next to school cancellations and a few inches of snow.
So I figured I’d make a video out of it.
It was fun, actually – ended up sticking a little closer to home with the places I chose to shoot. Back when I was first starting out, I had this weird idea in my head that if I went someplace a little more grandiose – a city, or some place maybe more visually interesting than a quiet little suburb stopover in New Jersey – my shots wouldn’t be able to do the place justice. I think it’s a bit of a silly way to look at photography now, but it’s what kept me wandering around my hometown when I was still figuring out my camera – shooting almost exclusively in patches of woods by the roadside, old rail lines, scenic local ponds…
…it’s a vibe I feel like I got back to a little bit with this little edit…vlog….thing. But less because I’m skeevy about shooting in busier spots, and more because I like capturing the little bits of charm that shine through the cracks in this little town – bits that sometimes, you don’t even need to take a car too.
Anyways, here’s the latest upload on the Fernway Films Youtube channel. Hope you like it. 🙂
A nice little one I never posted from the recent warehouse set. I think my girlfriend may be talking to a plant? I’m not sure.
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about projects for the YouTube channel – different things to keep us moving along while we’re working on the more ambitious videos we’ve been bouncing around concepts for. We’ve got what we’re tentatively calling “trip” or “day” videos – like Night Ride and The Downtown Lap which are essentially music videos with a bit of a loose narrative that follow us as a group while we’re out and about on our little escapades – which are great, but I definitely don’t want them to be the brunt of what we do.
Then there’s the Tips Appreciated micro-series we’re working on, where every video shoots for somewhere under a minute. But even those are a little tricky to pump out because of the effort that goes into trying to center in on something snappy, quick, and catchy to shoot, cut down, edit, and post on a semi-frequent basis. Not to mention props – you’ll see what I’m talking about once we actually manage to get another one posted.
Vlogs are huge on YouTube right now. I was a big fan of Casey Neistat’s series while it was still on, and there’s no denying that the genre is still carrying a lot of weight on the platform. But while it’s tempting to jump on that wagon, I don’t think the whole deal would really appeal to me. And it’s not the act of putting a life on camera, or having nothing to post that’s really the issue – it’s more that I think that vlogs aren’t really personal enough in some regards.
Course, you also can’t really deny the kind of connection that some of these content creators have with their audiences, but I’ve always sort of felt that you lose…something the moment you step outside of just living your life and turn to the camera to address an unseen audience. There’s something about the physical act of putting what I’m doing on film on halt to talk at a lens that would really take me out of it – cheapen things, almost. It may be an odd opinion to have, but it’s a constant worry I’ve got while I’m working on projects. It’s constantly something I’ll circumvent with voice-overs or superimposed text, just because I don’t really feel as though it resonates with what I do.
But I like the odd sense of voyeur that comes with viewing a vlog – the (hopefully) unfiltered and genuine experience that comes with offering the events of a day up to the world, because you thought it was worth sharing in a certain form. Maybe I’ll find some way to tap into that without the “hosting” aspect of things…only time’ll tell.
…or you’ll come back here in a few months, and I’ll be zipping around Manhattan on an electric skateboard, wearing painted shades and shouting at a DSLR. In which case, feel free to quote this post back to me, yeah?
FernwayPress 