check out my new video.

http://photos.wakeboarder.com/showphoto.php?photo=2520&password=&sort=7&thecat=5 08

there's the link. it'sof josh rice. cable rider. video includes trick like mobe, crow mobe, 313, double sbend and many others. please watch and tell me what you think. constructive critisim is appreciated.

he is good...video was cool...good job

yeah pretty good, alot of the same tricks and it seemed a tad repeditive but overall pretty good, good choice of music aswell

actually only one trick was repeated(factoring in stuff like sbend/switch s bend).

Josh=sick riding
Derrick=nice video
great job on the editing

late/jake

wow really sick riding by josh! good choice for a first subject. he seems ridiculously comfortable riding switch.

some comments... ;)

1) i absolutely hate blends and long cross-fades! i can't emphasize this enough.

i feel they're useless as you can't really see either image so you just get the worst of both worlds. i avoid them at all cost unless they're quick and done to specifically juxtapose the two images for some reason. to top it off - the only footage of his s-bend-to-blind is hidden in there mixed with a shot of an outdoor oven?? what a waste!


2) editing - excellent job on most of the editing, especially when linking his tricks. the fades to black at the beginning set a nice pace before going into the linked tricks. the pacing on the editing was nice with plenty of time to see the set up as well as the trick which i appreciate, especially since it was a cable park with it's unique approaches.


3) montage - the cut to the out-of-car scenery footage seemed random and didn't seem to contribute anything. had it ended on the entrance to the cable park, a sign or something like that it would have made more sense to me. also if it had been at the begining of the clip it might have worked better.

for some reason you fade to black for 4 seconds or so at around the 2:41 mark. didn't understand that - it didnt seem to signify any major transition. were you just making the video longer?

the footage after the credits didn't contribute anything for me and seemed random. it made the ending a bit of a let down - a kinda "huh?" section. especially after the big double s-bend finale.


4) shots - the overhead from the cable apparatus was a really nice view! helicopter like - but fixed. would have loved to have seen a bit more of that, limited tho it may have been in what you could get there.

nice mix up (via editing) of different framing and p.o.vs. a bit more footage from different angles would have helped, even with the limitation of having to do the biggest tricks at the corners.


4) credits - i liked the simplicity and tone of the credits. black on grey was nice. not a big fan of the font used for josh's name tho. i tend to stay away from directorial choices that buy too much into the visual lingo of the environment of the subject.


5) music - always a very subjective choice, but i didn't like the music. not very expressive and didn't seem to add much to the overall feel of the piece. felt monotone and lethargic. i can click thru randomly on the movie and have the soundtrack sound the same at every point - takes away from the dynamism of what im seeing on the screen. i preferred watching this w/o the sound.


and just as a last note, where was this filmed and where does josh ride? 830 is texas but 910 is north carolina? just wondering why he has WSR on his helmet?

Ahh man, Chris didn't like the fonts! You better start over.

Nice work Derrick.

christopher- first off i would like to thank you for your constructive critisim. these are the types of posts i look for when posting videos on the web. now to answer some of your questions....

1)i chose to use the blends/transparencies because i thought it would give a little more artistic feel to the video. when i edit i don't always look to just get riding in i try to make a video that somenone whos never seen wakeboarding before can appreciate. i didn't want to hide his sbend to blind in there but b/c he feel i thought it would fit well in the spot its in.

2) the cut to the scenery was pretty random now that i look back. i chose to fade to black around the 2:41 mark because right about there the music started to wind down. you'll notice that when the guitar pics up again the shot pics up again. sorry about the credits....i made this video for josh as a promotional video he could send to sponsors. figured after the big double s it would fit well.

shots- i had origonally planned to ride tandem with josh and flim that way too but the guy who lends me his camera was out of town and i couldn't get the water proof casing.

as far as the credits, i hate those too. i don't have photo shop or any thing like that so i just use paint and as you can tell i suck at that. i plan on learning something to make that kind of stuff look better in the future.

to explain the area code thing....josh is from north carolina. moved here to ride at tsr. so his cell is still nc and home =tx. and his helmet says tsr not wsr.

once again thank you for your post i really do appreciate it.

hey derrick,

i completely understand the desire to make something different and artistic as well as a document of someone riding, and i appreciate you trying to do so.

so to help out folks like me (if there are any others like me - i imagine jrod cringing right about now ), it would help if:

- the images somehow complimented each other, either thematically or visually. if a filmmaker is using effects just because, it shows. like every other device in visual media, if used for it's own sake it's usually not interesting.

if you're young enough to remember when morphing technology first came out - it was used in everything just because it was hot. there was often no reason for it other than the creator wanted to use the latest coolest technology. nowadays, unless it produces an emotional reaction in us, its boring.

- the images were more discernable from each other. usually in a blend one image plays supporting player to the other (and thus it helps if there's a reason the two shots are being shown together).

- there was only movement in one of the shots. movement in both is more chaotic and makes it harder to figure out what either image is (especially if they're evenly present).


so for instance, with the oven/sbend shot, if the oven shot had started closer on the flames and only moved a bit if at all, and you'd had the sbend clip weighted a bit more (less transparency on its side), or if you'd cranked up the contrast on it so it's edges were easier to pick out, then we might have associated the heat/flames with his riding/passion, etc. chessy yes, but you get the basic idea.

another way to use it might be to take static shots of the tsr signs or location and use that as a backdrop in the blend. that way the actual riding shot is more prominent, but we also get more information about where all this is taking place. static visual information is easy for us to assimlate quickly, thus allowing us to see both images, but also focus more predominantly on the action. i could imagine an overhead birds-eye-view of the layout of tsr blended behind the shot of a trick. that might look pretty cool.

one way of thinking about blends might be this - if the blend would look good as a poster or ad, then it should work. if you think about movie posters or picture ads with multiple images, usually one image is more prominent, with the others supporting, either framing or just providing more context. the images are usually layered, representing a foreground/background hierarchy.

anyway, excellent work. its good to see you're confident enough in your creative ability to solicit comments. best of luck in future endeavors!

i'll defenatly keep that in mind. thank you.