Concept Brief

WEATHER: 

One of my ideas is to interview many different people on the subject of weather. This could involve a story, definition, or opinion.  I am interested in how people feel about different types of weather, and the affects of this on their moods and emotions.

Another idea I am considering is focusing solely on good weather; this is because the weather has been beautiful for the past week when I have been shooting. I have plenty of footage for fall trees, crisp, sunny days, and people walking around campus. However, I feel as though this angle would not be as interesting as my final idea.

My final project idea that I intend to pursue is analyzing the "bad weather" part of Syracuse. I was thinking of perhaps making this video into a somewhat abstract piece with an ongoing weather-related beat that corresponds to the video.  I want to incorporate small clips of nice weather throughout the movie, and change the sound accordingly.  This would show the contrast between the sunny fall days we have had for the past week, and the cold, snowy weather that is sure to come. 

My location so far has been the quad; however, I am hoping for snow over Thanksgiving break, so in that case, I plan to film at my house.

The quad:

I will be using the natural light outside for shooting long shots. There will be a variety of long, medium, and close-up shots. The close-ups will require an extra light source to bring out shadows.  I will be shooting at a high camera angle if I am able to capture snow falling.

If I decide to take the interview approach for this project, the permission of each of the people I interview would be necessary to get on tape. However, if I continue with this plan of shooting the landscape and different aspects of the weather, my focus would not be on any particular individual. Permits and permissions would not be necessary for this. 

My major issue at this point is not getting the weather I want. I have enjoyed this past week of wonderful fall weather; however, this came as no help when I went out with my video camera this week. I got some good shots of the sun through the bare branches of a tree, and I know that I will use that. The rest of the footage is very bright and colorful with the red leaves and bright blue sky; this will be useful if I decide to place these shots in my video to provide contrast. But my original final project idea was going to focus on snow. I am realizing now that I will most likely have to discard this idea as my main focus, but I am still holding out hope that the typical Syracuse November weather will pull through for me very soon. If the forecast does not show any sign of snow in the next week to week and a half, I will have to drastically change my video idea. A lot of my footage that I have already taken focuses on the sun through trees, and the different colors generated from this.  

Over the next few weeks, I am going to keep an eye out for snow in the forecast. I realize that I am unable to count on this at this point because the deadline is drawing closer. I am planning on using my own video camera when I go home for Thanksgiving break, and am planning on doing the majority of my remaining footage then. That means that I will have to adjust my focus of the video depending on the weather in the next week.