Jason Rosado

The assignment for Wednesday’s homework for Video for New Media class at ITP was to create 3 one-minute video blogs. For my submission, I decided to focus on my good friend Serge’s experience of learning how to box. Ever since Serge took up boxing, his life has changed, and for the better. He has a lot more confidence now, he’s lost a ton of weight, and is finally believing in himself and strategizing more for his long term goals. I am very proud of Serge and hopes he keeps it up. While I’m not personally a fan of doing anything that involves getting repeatedly hit in the head by another half naked man, to each his own, of course.

For the shoot, I took a Panasonic DVX, a Xacti HD, a Nikon D90, a shotgun mic and a lighting kit. My girlfriend Pam was my Production Assistant, and she took several pictures (400) using the D90. I intended to do use the multiple cameras for different editing angles (such as focusing on the feet), but I neglected to set the proper aspect ratios between the 2 cameras, and the Xacti footage ending up being more widescreen. I generally placed the xacti in a fixed position, which is probably counter-intuitive to its portable design, but we didn’t have enough hands/heads to pay attention to it all.

I tried to be discrete in terms of my capture, I wanted the subjects to act as naturally as possible. I knew coming in the type of angles and shots I wanted to take. Typical prep shots (hand wraps, shadow boxing, etc) but didn’t do too much directing. This made me focus on getting more value from the footage I ended up with than setting out to do something in particular. That’s not to say one is better than the other, however.

The video blogs are split in three, and the titles indicate Rounds 1, 2 or 3. I encourage anyone to watch them in the appropriate order, so as not to ruin the “reveal.” This was a fun little project, albeit grueling. I think it’s a worthwhile topic to pursue. Serge has a big personality (big mouth) and doesn’t mind being a ham in front of the camera. The story of his particular “ascenscion” might also be inspiring to other slow (but steady) starters out there.

Embeds to follow.

GBL, Round 1 from Jason Rosado on Vimeo.

GBL, Round 2 from Jason Rosado on Vimeo.

GBL, Round 3 from Jason Rosado on Vimeo.

I am taking a summer session class at ITP titled “Video for New Media.” Our first assignment was inspired by a French movie called La Jettee by Chris Marker, which was an inspiration for the movie, “12 Monkeys.”

Our instructor, Gabe Barcia-Colombo, requested that for our homework we mimic the movie’s style, which was done completely in still images, to tell a story based on the “Missed Connections” section of the Craig’s List website. Here’s my submission.

Missed Connection