Project 4 - IUSB Tour

Project 4 Artist Statement

Artist Statement 4

IUSB Tour

All of my years in college, I have attended Indiana University South Bend.  When I was in high school, I barely knew anything about this campus, let alone what this campus even looked like.

This piece, IUSB Tour, is a short video clip that shows the campus of IUSB.  I did this by going out and filming each building on campus and also by using text in the video to describe which building it was.  I had to shoot on a nice day so that I could get some great lighting.  I started the video off by doing the student housing and then I went from the library end of campus towards the Wiekamp end of campus.  Next, I filmed various scenes so that the campus, which it is, would stand out of the ordinary.  

I chose to do this piece because I had no idea at the time of what IUSB looked like.  I wanted to show what the school has to offer on such a beautiful campus.  Also, when people type in Indiana University South Bend, I was thinking that this video would show up and it would give them a virtual tour around campus to see what it looks like.

Overall Artist Statement

Overall Artist Statement

As a digital artist, I can use my videos to capture a moment at which I can strive towards communicating a message to my viewers.  In my piece The Pickup, I strive towards engaging a helpless feeling for an individual in a movie trailer for a horror film.  The communication that I want the viewers to feel in this particular piece is a sense of distraction from everyday life that is out of the ordinary.  I use various sceneries to help reinforce a message which sets the mood in the viewer’s mind.  The extensive time it takes to create a piece, the challenge of getting a message across, is what makes digital art appealing to me, along with capturing the perfect moments for my viewers.  

Project # 2 w/ Artist Statement

Recruit Me

Throughout my whole life, I have played basketball ever since I was little.  Once I got to college, I noticed that basketball and school work is very difficult to do at the same time.

This piece, Recruit Me, is a short video clip that shows how much dedication and time you have to put in at IUSB in order to be a successful student and player.  I did this video by filming myself in the locker room at IUSB so that it was easy access to get into a locker room when I wanted to.  I chose to do a clip of a morning workout that we do in the off season 3 times a week.  It started at 6 a.m. Monday morning and it lasted for about an hour.  Next, I decided to film my brother do a ball handling workout and also a shooting workout to show that you have to work on your basketball game by yourself in the off season.  Also, I filmed in at a study table that he had which was to explain that academics comes first no matter what.  The last segment was of a open gym which we also do in the off season so that we, as a team, can develop chemistry which is very valuable when it comes to season time.  Throughout this entire video, I mainly focus on doing b-roll shots.  

I chose to do this piece because college basketball is again, very difficult to do.  You have to divide up your time with sports and academics and also other things such as your social life.  It's very hard to do, I've been through it.  So, I wanted to show recruits or transfer students of how much dedication and time we put in in order to become successful as a student while being able to be on this basketball team.

Project 3 w/ Artist Statement

The Pickup

Horror films are popular in our society because the story line is some type of experience that most, if not all people will never deal with.  It’s something out of the ordinary.

This piece, The Pickup, is a movie trailer/short film that I have been working on.  I am making an individual, me, into a situation where I am going to pick something up when the whole thing goes wrong.  Out of nowhere, I am pulled into this random house where when I wake up, I am in a secluded area taped up to where I can’t speak, or move my hands and feet.  I am doing this by using fake blood to where it looks like I have been tortured and then there are different weapons lying in front of me which makes me more aware of what is about to happen. 

I chose to do this piece because I believe that anything can happen out of the norm to anyone.  I wanted to make this piece because I am very into the Saw series and it made me think about doing something similar to that.  This piece was fun to do because I, for once, was the one that was acting in front of the camera. 

The chose the title of this piece The Pickup because in the beginning scene, I answered a phone call saying that I can do a pickup.  Whatever it is that I am picking up, it all goes wrong.  It’s the viewer’s opinion on what they think I am about to go pick up. 

This horror film would appeal to adolescents because it’s a different type of excitement that can bring people in to watch it to see what will happen next.  It’s not an everyday occurrence where someone gets captured out of nowhere.   

The Pickup - Trailer/Short Film

Project 3

Horror Films Research

Burning Calories While Watching Horror Films?

Lets just say, one evening you and your family decide to watch a movie.  What movie would you choose?  There are several different genres of film, lets just say that you all decide to watch a horror film.  Which horror film would you choose to watch?  Lets say you pick Jaws, a movie that is well known around the world as being a horror film.  

The family is watching Jaws.  Would they ever think that they are actually burning calories while watching this movie?  I didn't think so.  That would be on everyone's last thought about burning calories while watching Jaws.  Studies have researched that watching a horror film would get a person to nearly burn 200 calories at one time.  With the movie Jaw, it is second on the list of 10 which a person will burn up to 161 calories.  

While reading this research online, I found out that "... the moments designed to make viewers jump in terror are the best calorie-burners, as they cause heart rates to soar".  Most, if not all people don't even think about the scary moments are actually the moments when your heart rate increases which leads to a person burning calories.  I find this study very interesting because one would not be thinking about calories during a horror film because those 2 things don't go hand in hand.  

This study is done by Telegraph Reporters. 

 The link to this study is: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9638876/Watching-horror-films-burns-nearly-200-calories-a-time.html

Class Projects

Overall Artist Statement

Overall Artist Statement

Visual art is communication at its best.   As an artist in film, exploring different ways to communicate a message to an audience can be difficult at times while using different perspectives.  Whether it is commercials, recruiting videos, movie trailers, etc. the main focus in my work is to not confuse the viewer. I want to communicate the knowledge that they already have with the types of work that are being produced visually.  Producing the art is through self-creativity which could take some time in order to create the awareness I want for the audience so that they can relate to it.

Motivation and inspiration of film that I receive in order to create art is through life experiences that I have attained.  The art that I have produced are of the people who are close to me in my life.  Film is a way I can communicate through those people a message that can be understood.  

Horror Film - Trailer

Not done editing yet, but here ya go!

Research - Horror Films

While doing my video, I started to search about horror films and started to think about a few questions and I found research for.

My first question would be: Why would people want to watch a scary/horror film?

Modern research has been done and it is saying that horror movies to adolescents are very similar to how a fairy tale story can be attracted to children.  Also, they have researched that people watch horror films to fulfill their need for excitement.  One part that I found very interesting was "... distraction from everyday concerns" is a reason why people view horror films.  If you think about it, it's true.  In people's everyday lives, horror/scary things aren't going to happen to you.  Possibly when your driving and you almost get into an accident.  Horror films give viewers a distraction from their lives which is a reason to watch these films.

One Study:

"One study identified three factors that were important in the appeal of horror films to males aged 15-45: the excitement generated by the film (called "sensation-seeking" by psychologists, the enjoyment of stimulation or physiological arousal), the wish to see the destruction found in horror films, and the satisfying resolution usually found at the end of the film."

This research was done by Jeffrey Goldstein, Ph.D.  Here is the website where I found my research http://www.accessscience.com/studycenter.aspx?main=18&questionID=5338 

Scene - Photos - Project 3

Project 3 - Horror Film

Movie Trailer - Horror Film

I don't have a title yet but this is the story line.

A guy (Ryan) get's a call from his buddy (John) and tell him to meet up with him at a buddies house to hang out at.

Ryan gets in his car and heads over to the house.

He knocks on the door while calling his friend John to tell him that he has arrived.

The door opens and he gets pulled in by his shirt.

Next thing you know, he wakes up in a basement and is looking around where he is at.

Then, he looks on his shirt and hands and see's that there is blood all over him.

He then see's a knife a few feet from him and is freaking out wondering what the hell is going on.  He is scared and frightened.

He then crawls out of a back room and next thing you know, he hears footsteps coming down the stairs.

He quickly grabs the knife and hides into a room with a door shut.

The person who was walking down the stairs opens up the door.

That is when, when the door opens, Ryan is going to open up his eyes from a dream where he was sleeping and then realizes that it all was a dream.

But, once he wakes up, he is either going to look down at his shirt and there will be blood on it.  OR the ending is going to be that he gets up and steps on his shirt that was blood on it.

Project 2 - Beginning Clip - Not Done Editing

Project 1 - PSA Anti-Bullying

Artist Statement:

Be strong. Be happy. Be Confident. Most of all, be yourself!

Maybe that is hard to do, maybe everyone wants to be themselves but something is standing in the way.    Whatever it may be, that one thing that is standing in the way, must step aside and let you through in order to gain control, right?

I have seen people being bullied way to many times in my life.  I, for one, have been in some challenging situations where a bully has taken over my thoughts.  I decided one day that I wasn't going to let that happen anymore.  Today, I see this happening more throughout the world with the use of technology.  I want to make a statement that bullying can be very severe to an individual which can cause a person mentally to be unstable.  Bullying can cause grievous death, so why become one!?

Project 2 - (The Ending Clip)

Research - Basketball Recruiting (Last Post for Project 2)

When looking for information about recruiting when a player is in high school, I went to Google and researched for basketball information.  I clicked on a website and found some interesting information that is true since I also have been a high school athlete and believe in this information for a basketball player. They list a few rules that athletes need to follow so that they can be recruited to go onto and play college ball.

Rule 1:  Develop a skill that a coach actually can use.

Rule 2: Be good enough to be a starter on your high school team.

Rule 3: Find an AAU team in your area that fits you.

Rule 4: Don't hire Recruiting Consultants that claim will get you a scholarship, do it yourself.

Rule 5: Develop your marketing strategy, be prepared and start early.

Rule 6: Have trust in your high school and AAU coaches to help you with your recruiting.

Rule 7: Attend the right camps and showcase.'

Rule 8: You are always being evaluated make sure you are always ON.

Rule 9: You have to take care of your academics.

Rule 10: Find a good balance of playing and skill development during the off-season.

Rule 11: Keep your family in check.

Hoop Consultants Website

Spiece Fieldhouse - Fort Wayne, IN

This is one of the biggest showcase basketball tournaments in the U.S. 

Project 2 - Scene Script

Scene 1:

I am going to have one of the players on the basketball team in the locker room talking into the camera about what it takes to come to IUSB and play basketball here, while be a student.  It is tough to do which is the reason why I want to give the recruits a short video to look at to see what it takes.  I'm going to do this differently though, instead of having one person throughout the whole video be my actor, I am going to do different people for each segments.  So, once this scene is about to end, I'm going to have the player say something along these lines, "And now you will see one of the workouts we do everyday in our basketball program."

The segments are: Ball Handling, Morning Workouts, Shooting, Study Tables, and Open Gyms.

Scene 2:

When it cuts to this scene, it is going to be on the gym floor and I will slowly move the camera from the persons feet to their face while slowly zooming out.  Then, I'll have the player say his name and what class he is in.  I'll have him start doing a ball handling workout and then every now and then, I'll have him say something into the camera of how it's very important to dedicate yourself if you want to be successful on the court.  Once this scene is done, I am going to have the player say something along these lines, "Now, let's go up in the weight room and see what kind of dedication it takes to have s physically and mentally strong body."

Scene 3:

When it cuts to this scene, I am going to have a player, Austin Fox, about to do his morning workout at 6 a.m. while the majority of students at IUSB are probably sleeping in a few more hours.  He will say something like, "My name is Austin Fox and it's 6 a.m. here at IUSB, well, let's go see how much hard work you will go through."  Then, I'll video tape his workout while every now and then he will say something into the camera of anything he wants to say to the people who are going to be watching this video.  At the end of this scene, I'll have him transfer it over to a shooting workout which will be done by a different teammate.

Scene 4:

(Coming)

The Office - Research

The Office: 

I started to look up clips and research on how The Office became so successful with how they shoot their scenes.  I found out that they use a single-camera setup on their shoots which saves them a bunch of time as they have said.

Single-Camera Setup:

Project 2 - Critique

After watching the video and having a critique in class about it, I've decided to re-shoot the basketball scenes and also most of the other scenes.  The reason is because I got some feedback from classmates on how to improve the video.

One, I am going to have the actor be more interactive with the camera so that the person watching it feels more as if he is talking directly to him instead of just showing him working out and not saying anything.  I barely watching The Office which is something I am going to do on Netflix to figure out ways I can include the actors voice while working out and doing other things.

 Also, one major thing I need to fix in my video is the quality of the video.  It is shot in HD but when I transfer it over to the computer it transfers over into the lowest quality.  So I asked Lucas if he can help me out and he agreed to so that is going to make my video stronger instead of low resolution.

Re-shooting video this weekend (March 8th - 10th).

Recruit Me - Project 2 - Rough Draft

Artist Statement:

What do you want to do when you graduate from high school?  Many people want to go to college and earn a degree.  But not everyone is alike.  Not everyone has the same goal as each other.  What if you played a sport in high school and want to continue playing in college while being a student?  Now that right there is a reason how everyone is not alike. 

My piece “Recruit Me” is a video clip about dedication.  I chose to do this piece because I was a high school student-athlete back in the day and my dream was to play college basketball.  Going to school and playing sports in high school was a fairly easy thing to do.  But, when you get to college, everything changes.  The reason why I wanted to do this video is because people don’t understand how much dedication of your time that it takes for being a student-athlete at the college level.  I chose to record my brother, who also is a student athlete who knows what it takes in order to be successful at this level. 

I chose the title “Recruit Me” because on Indiana University South Bend’s athletic website, www.iusbtitans.com there is a form/questionnaire to high school students and transfer students to fill out if they would like to attend IUSB.  One reason that people will fill this form out is because of this reason: “According to the National Federation of High School Athletics, there are more than 15.2 million high school athletes.  There are only 2,200 colleges with athletic programs.”  My point is, most college coaches cannot go out and watch that 15.2 million high school athletes. 

This video will appear once someone clicks on the “Recruit Me” button on the website and it will show how much dedication of time a student-athlete at the college level will give in order to make it at this level. 

All the filming is done with, all that needs to be done is the video editing.  At the end, it will be about 6-7 minutes long.  

Project 2 - Scenes

1) The actor is going to have his eyes closed with a close up shot.

2) The camera is going to zoom out to where its a full shot of him sitting in the locker room right next to his locker.

3) Then he is going to start talking by saying, "So you want to come to IUSB and play basketball here? Let me tell you what it takes because I have been there and done my time."

4) Different camera angle to where he starts talking into the camera while getting ready for a workout of his own.

5) He is first going to start off by saying, "My name is Steven Heatherly and my 4 years of playing basketball was up on February 22, 2013.  That is a special date for me as a senior.  On that day, if we won our final basketball game then we would have gone to the National Tournament in Branson, Missouri, which IUSB has never done in school history."  (Camera shot of him putting on his ankle braces and tying them up).

----First, talk about being a student-athlete and how much dedication it takes and how many hours you have to put into studying outside of the classroom while putting in time for practice, games, weights, individual workouts, and other things.  (It's like a job)

6) "There is one thing I am going to say that I have learned in my 4 years of playing college basketball, and that is dedication."  -There is going to be a (b-roll) shot of someone working on his ball handling skills.  While this b-roll is going on, the actor will be talking about the dedication that IUSB basketball players have in order to be apart of the team.

Ball Handling Example

7) Ill have the camera back on the actor while he is getting his shoes and jersey on.

8) The next b-roll will be on someone lifting weights.  (Talk about how staying in shape is very important and how your core is the most important part of your body that needs to be strong.)

9) Then, put the camera back on the actor and have him start walking out of the locker room and then look back at the camera and ask into the camera, "Do you have what it takes? If so, then proceed to fill out the Recruit Me form."

10) Have him walking out into the gym and start doing a shooting workout where the (shooting gun machine) is set up to where he is shooting the ball and putting his own time into getting better.

Storyboard:

Recruiting Facts - Research

Getting recruited as a high school athlete is very tough to do, I would know.  My two brothers and I all went to college while playing basketball and let us tell you, it wasn't easy at all.

- "According to the National Federation of High School Athletics, there are more than 15.2 million high school athletes.  There are only 2,200 colleges with athletic programs..."

- "Less than .08% of all high school athletes will have the opportunity to play at an NCAA Division I blue chip, major college program.  That's a lot of adjectives to describe the top of the mountain in college athletics.  Less than 1% of high school athletes will compete at the NCAA Division I level!"

AthleticQuest.Net

"Recruit Me" - Project 2

Do you want to be recruited by a certain basketball team or sports team?  Usually on their websites, they will have a form for people to fill out which will then send that form to the head coach. People can see it has sending their resume into a job and then the manager having to look it over to see whether they qualify for the job or not.  In that sense, that is what is on Indiana University South Bend's basketball website for a recruit to fill out if they want to attend on this University. For my video project, I am going to make a video for when a recruit pushes the "Recruit Me" button, then a video clip will pull up and it's going be of basketball players giving reasons why they should want to come to IUSB and play basketball.  Also, I am going to be asking the recruit at the end of the video and ask him, "Do you have what it takes?  If so, then bring it!"

Below is the IUSB website for athletic sports.  Scroll down and you will notice the "Recruit Me" button for recruits to fill out.

http://www.iusbtitans.com/

Anti-Bullying PSA Preview

Shane just getting home from school.

Upset about something.

Viewers now see his black eye.

He carries a knife in his backpack.  Therefore the audience can now see that there is something serious going on here.  

Mirror shot.

Erasing the mirror that had hurtful words on it.

Writes down positive words to send a message to the audience that, no matter what, he is going to think positive messages instead of seeing himself from what the bullies think of him.   

Video - Still need to put audio in and voice-over. 

PSA VIDEO DRAFT

Dreams Come True

Project 2:

We all dream. We sometimes remember dreams. We sometimes forget dreams. Do dreams come true? Are they real? Ever have deja vu because of one of your dreams? 

(More to come)

Bullying Statistics Research

BullyingStatistics

Throughout this website that is dedicated to the research of bullying statistics, I found many interesting facts that I thought would be interesting to read more about.

1) When people think about bullying, I think you would agree with me that people mainly think about kids in school being bullied.  The stereotypical kid who is being bullied is most likely a nerd or someone who isn't a jock.  But, there are many different types of bullies.  You don't have to be a kid to be bullied.  There are child bullying, adult bullying, teenagers, teachers, and one other interesting thing I thought about while people were critiquing my video was that athletes could be bullied also by their parents.

2) With regards to my PSA video and my research on bullying and suicides, I found on this website (see above "BullyingStatistics") that "Bully victims are between 2 to 9 times more likely to consider suicide than non-victims, according to studies by Yale University."  My PSA video, it shows that this male is contemplating about suicide because it is very common in victims to where those thoughts go through their minds sadly.

3) Ever had to stand in a corner in school because your teacher told you so?  Research have now shown that teachers may also fall under the category of bullying and they didn't even know it.  But, not only could they be bullies, they also can be found as a victim which is crazy to think about.  The research says that "Vandalism, such as keying cars and causing flat tires, and theft of teachers' property, as well as verbal abuse are other ways in which students abuse teachers."  In past years, people probably didn't think much of it but nowadays, anything can be considered news and if it gets out to the public then it causes discussion which is what I can see nowadays because teachers can easily tell their stories to the media if they are being bullied.

Anti-Bullying PSA Revise

After watching the Anti-Bullying video and critiquing it in class, I've decided to do a few changes in order to make the video better.  For one, I am going to switch out the actor and have it be someone smaller than who I used in the video and also I am going to have him dressed up in a way where it would seem as if he has been bullied at his school.  I'm going to have him dress up in a nerd looking outfit and I'm still going to have him use make up for a black eye.

For the camera, I am going to give more light to each scene so that the viewers can identify with the actor more fluently to where they can see him.  Also, everything will be done on a tripod which will make everything look a lot nicer.  I am going to keep the background music and also the scene selection because I feel like it sets the mood of inside his own house where he does all of the thinking at.  Lastly, I am going to use a voice over throughout the video to give the viewers a voice instead of just background music.  The beginning and middle stages are going to stay the same but the ending of the video I am going to switch up by adding a scene or 2 to where it gives a more positive message to the audience.

Anti-Bullying PSA

For project 1, I wanted to make an Anti-Bullying commercial which could help possibly get me into the commercial advertising business.

I wanted to show different scenes to where the actor is looking as if he has gotten beaten up in his past.  He currently has a black eye which was done with make up.  During this video, I added a few facts about bullying and why it is important for us to pay more attention to bullying in schools.

I am not done with the video.  There are a few things that I would like to add to it.  Maybe do some voice over sounds and also re-shoot the video to where all of it is on a tri-pod instead of just some parts of it.

Documentaries On Athletes

For my first project, I am going to do a documentary on a college basketball player which will document his daily routines on being a student-athlete.  Most, if not all people only see the games being played and not the "behind the scene" work that goes into the hard work of an individual who is an athlete.  For my research, I am going to find articles and documentaries on athletes, and also information on how to make a successful documentary video.

Searching for some examples about documentary films and how it can help me while making my documentary film, I went onto IUSB's website to look for scholarly journals at which I searched for "Sports Documentary."  I found an article called, "Height of Passion: A Film-Maker's Observation" and it explains the difficulty of making sports films because the focus isn't to attract sports fanatics, but to try and get the non-sports lovers to watch such documentary films on sports.

Hay, Rod. "Height of Passion: A Film-Maker's Observation." Communication & Mass Media Complete. 136 (2003): 182-184. Web.

Thoughts

For this class, I have been thinking about doing a few things for my projects.  I am interested in doing commercials of pretty much anything.  I don't have a particular idea of what kind of commercial I want to do but I have done one before for another class and it was fun to do.  Also, I was thinking about doing a short documentary of a basketball player at IUSB and to video tape "behind the scenes" of the life of a basketball player which most people don't know about.  Interviews are another thing that I am interested in.  I like to edit video and I like to use iMovie and I would like to do more stuff with after effects.  I have 3 videos that I have made for other classes that are on YouTube that I have uploaded.  If you would like to check them out, go to www.YouTube.com/kheatherly34 and they are called: "IUSB Mens Basketball Pre-Season" "Kyle's Project T336" and "Shane_Steven".  My first after effect project is also on my YouTube page which is called HeatherlyProject2.