Basketball Trick Shots in Silver Spring

I do live just a five-minute walk away from Downtown Silver Spring, but I didn't really want to film myself going into the movie theater, eating a Chipotle burrito, etc. because I thought there would be plenty of videos of that kind. Instead, I put together a collage of basketball trick shots. While I don't spend much time doing shots of that sort, I do really like to play basketball. This is my hoop but it has been a popular attraction throughout the neighborhood since we got it about eight years ago.

My brother filmed this for me using a Flip Video. I recognize it isn't in widescreen, I will try to fix that for future videos. I tried iMovies '07 for my recent video for English and had a terrible experience. I felt helpless at times: clips would change lengths at will, it crashed frequently, the transitions were not good, so I went back to iMovie '06. I found this upbeat song and thought it fit well in my video.

I had some shots planned out, and many of them took a while. The bike one was difficult for me because I had to maintain an acceptable velocity to make the shot look decent, I had to stay under control (I crashed into the curb several times), and I had to catch the ball and make the shot keeping one hand on the bike. This shot took quite a while. Then there were some other tough ones like the one where I juggled a soccer ball then kicked it into the hoop. I actually made it on the first try when I was demonstrating what I would to do. Then it took five minutes to do it again. In addition to the challenging shots, the cold was another factor. We broke the filming over three days because while I might have been in a t-shirt and shorts, my hands were freezing.

Other shots were improvised. I had a stretch where I did as much and I could. That's when I did the 360-layup and some other shots.

Dialogue never factored into the video. My brother was had some funny comments from behind the camera because he understandably got quite bored. I might upload some of his comments as well as some of my bloopers for a weekly post soon. Sorry my dialogue was not a little more creative.

Capture the Fall

I created my "Capture the Fall" video by going around and taking short (usually around 10 seconds) shots. I tried to bring them to life a bit by moving around, just so that it wouldn't be a still frame collage. I took shots of everything that could relate in any way to fall, or even the outdoors for that matter. The flower I briefly showed in it does not really relate specifically to fall, but I thought it was a nice shot to include. I took shots from different heights as well, to "Capture the Fall" from different perspectives. My favorite shot was dropping the iPhone, which I used to film the video, into the leaves. Until I put it into iMovie and slowed it down as much as possible, I did not know how it would look. I elected to leave background sound in just because of the crunch sound of leaves. I ended up with well over a minute of footage, and had to leave out some shots and cut some short.

5x5

 

Clip 1: Picked up my chemistry textbook.
Clip 2: Flipped to a (random) page.
Clip 3: Started doodling in the textbook.
Clip 4: Used the sky and moved the phone in a circle to represent my eyes drifting all over the place.
Clip 5: Threw my textbook on the ground.

I started my 5x5 by planning out my five shots. Using an iPhone, I first filmed my four shots in the same location. I then went outside to film the last one (Clip 4). Clip 1 was the most difficult to shoot, as I knew that I had to walk over to my textbook, pick it up, and place it on a table within five seconds without seeming rushed. The other four shots were not so difficult, as I only had one task. For the other four clips, I filmed for a minimum of 10 seconds, just in the event that I had a second or two at the beginning where nothing occurred. Out of those four, Clip 4 was the only abnormal one, as there was no particular beginning or end to the clip. So, I just spun in circles until I got dizzy. I then edited the 5x5 on iMovie '06 in just a few minutes. The issue I had was coming up with an idea because everything I that I thought of involved me being in it. I eventually resorted to searching for random objects until I found one that I thought would be a good centerpiece for a film.

I'm pleased with my 5x5, as just 6 hours ago I was sitting around with no inspiration. And by this point I was a little worried, as I had been brainstorming ideas throughout the week. The silent background made me pleased, though a little sound might have been better.

An idea for the next video challenge would be a similar assignment to the 5x5, except that each shot must be in a different location, while still keeping the plot intact. Finding a set is a difficult task in production, and this could help us improve at this aspect.