The class becomes a functional stock footage company -- participants come up with generic scenarios and scripts, then act in, and film many short stock footage clips. Finally, using extensive keyword-ing, they upload and organize the clips onto their "company"'s own searchable online database -- essentially creating a miniature version of GettyImages' vast stock empire (http://gettyimages.com -- specifically the "creative footage" section.) Afterwards, the videos might even be sold through the website like a real company (with watermarked previews viewable for free.)
The goal of the class is not learning film techniques, or learning the real mechanics of a real stock company -- the quality will be fairly loose -- I'm much more interested in a critical understanding of databases and "stock", and how these ideas relate to our new Internet-centric world of media -- GettyImages and YouTube strike me as bizarro parallel universes. And, of course -- it will be a fun social experiment, and I'm sure the end result will be great.
This class is related to the Distributed Gallery show I've curated for February and March. http://dg.telic.info/?a=guthrie_lonergan
Other possibilities: Real actors could be brought in. Participants could bring in props, backdrops (I imagine we'll just do it at The Public School, so maybe we'd have colored backdrops instead of real locations?). Someone actually in the stock footage industry could come talk or be involved somehow.
GettyImages search for "artist looking at camera": http://tinyurl.com/bo43ss
GettyImages search for "couple eating": http://tinyurl.com/abmv3l
- Date
- June 27, 2009 at 2:00pm
- Location
- 972B Chung King Road, The Public School
- Teacher
- Guthrie Lonergan
- Fee
- FREE!
Comment
Oops! I guess that flickr link wasn't working. Here's another one:
http://flickr.com/gp/54242738@N00/60cM3o
If this one still doesn't work, I'm happy to add anyone as a flickr contact.
2 Jul 2009 8:19AM
Hey Jean,
I'd love to see the pictures as well. Can you make them public or add me as a contact as well? http://www.flickr.com/photos/_elemenoh_/
I had a great time working with yall. I hope we can meet again to shoot some more footage.
-Clint
1 Jul 2009 10:53AM
Hello Jean,
I couldn't access the photo link you posted, I think I may have to be added as a flickr contact.
Here's mine: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cd_mccullough/
Please add me, I'd love to see these, and really enjoyed meeting everyone, including you, as well
1 Jul 2009 10:24AM
Hi Everyone! here are some photos from last Saturday. Feel free to grab any of them and play with them if you like. It was great to meet you all. http://www.flickr.com/photos/54242738@N00/sets/72157620815165508/
_ Jean
1 Jul 2009 9:24AM
A reminder that the Stock Footage Workshop is tomorrow (Saturday the 27th) afternoon at 2pm!!
Come with ideas and props and anything else!
Write guthrielonergan AT gmail DOT com if you have any questions
26 Jun 2009 6:53PM
YES, I will attend
28 May 2009 11:11PM
Cool! :)
Some questions for you to discuss/things that are still open --
1. Should we get real actors/actresses? I like the idea of the class-takers being involved in every single aspect of what we produce, but maybe our clips would be infinitely better if we just get actors who know what they're doing, instead of us going in front of the camera? Unless there are some aspiring actors who want to take the class!... This is the biggest question for us -- let's get this figured out soon...
2. Items to be brought into class:
a. Objects to be used as props -- Could be anything random but generic -- fresh flowers, a basketball, a top hat, popcorn.
b. Backdrops -- I have some bigger white, light blue, red, grey, and possibly some gold fabrics... Would be really cool to bring in some chroma key colors like bright green or blue. I have some black but its small. If anyone has some real/pro stuff that'd be ideal, I'm just talking about bedsheets and fabric... I can bring in an iron, too, to clean up wrinkles. I guess large stage set things like furniture would be a problem............Or maybe we want to just go outside?
c. Other things: generic clothes for actors, makeup?
3. I googled the 3 commenters here and you all seem to be way more visually and camera competent than I am, so that's definitely a good thing!! There are 2 HD cameras available, and one soft box light. We need some more light, looking into that -- especially if we have enough people, we'll split off into multiple groups. The Public School space is very small. Also, I don't know how realistic it is to do steady-cam stuff, anybody know anything about that? Really smooth panning shots would be ideal, but...?
Just to re-state this -- I'm not a pro film-maker or an expert on stock footage or anything like that, I'm just a huge fan... I see this workshop more as an experiment, loosely moderated by me... It'll only be as "successful" or "professional" as we make it together.
28 May 2009 8:04PM
I plan on coming!
26 May 2009 5:07PM
27th works for me!
25 May 2009 5:12PM
I can do the new date - June 27th. Looking forward to it. - Jean
22 May 2009 5:38PM
This class has been scheduled, and if you notice, recently changed to begin on June 27th (instead of June 13th).
Since this class is free, and there is no way of recording who has registered, please leave a note in the comments section if you are planning to attend.
Feel free to include additional ideas, questions or comments about the class.
-ak
22 May 2009 11:56AM
I think its possible for the class to film and keyword enough clips in one day to have a formidable database -- I can do the annoying stuff like uploading and coding the web end of it after wards. It might be a longer, Sunday afternoon type of class, but the clips would be very simple and be done in one take... If we have fun we could keep adding to the same database in the future, and schedule another one?
6 Mar 2009 8:21PM
How many times do you think this class would meet? Or would it all happen in one day?
6 Mar 2009 7:07PM