Two years ago Phil, Wade and I decided that we would give the 24 Hour Film Challenge a shot. Between the three of us we thought we'd make a pretty good team. And what a combination we were... Phil, a talented composer as well as skilled editor in FinalCut. Wade, also a bit of a video man as well as former thespian. And of course me, former preteen stage actress and child star of the indie-home movie circuit. I also possessed a certain love of cinematography. Naive but committed we set out to make our 5 minute masterpiece.

That first year it was just the three of us (with the exception of a brief appearance by the gentleman who served as our cook and narrator). We didn't really know what to expect so other than a few excited conversations we did almost no preparation for our 24 hours of film-making. In fact we did not even pick up the equipment we were going to use until after we had received the envelope that contained the instructions and the ever-important challenge including the genre of film (suspense) as well as the prop we needed to integrate into the film (golden coins).

Props are supposed to be shown onscreen at least four times. We could have taken the easy road out and just done a few gratuitous shots, but it's a bit more fun to make the prop a part of the film, which is how we ended up with our tragic tale of a mysterious woman (running in stilettos I might add), a suspicious death and poisoned chocolate. It was all very Hitchcock-inspired.



Our experience of 2009 was positive enough that we decided to try again last year. We had less equipment (which we had prepared the evening before) but increased the number of our cast, adding the talented Marsha and Kris as well as a few others who had a certain vegetable quality on camera (watch for Wade's brief appearance on screen. He's rather handy that one). Our genre was comedy and for a prop we had to spend an allocated sum on something from the Downtown Farmer's Market. We were at a bit of a loss at first but everything seemed to come together when we realized that one of our cast had a collection of googly eyes. Googly eyes always make vegetables more appealing. Once our leek and cauliflower had some personality it was an easy extension to film the story of the breakdown of a popular children's show.



I am selectively vague on the details of our film-making process since this is cut-throat business and we must protect our secrets. We were lucky before, as both years our films were selected in the top 10. You might even say we made some award-winners as Phil won for best score in 2009 and in 2010, Marsha, our lead won best actress. I have no idea if we can repeat the success this year, but we'll find out soon. We're preparing for another 24hour cinematic whirlwind this weekend. We're all looking forward to another fun and stressful 24 hours. I'm pretty excited to see what the other competitors come up with. There were some really great films last year. The top films are screened the following weekend on October 1st. Hopefully we finish our film on time.

A coworker of mine has been in looking at buying a new camera and every now and then she and I talk about photography. Although I own primarily Canon equipment, I usually recommend that people buy what feels good in their hands and that once they have a camera that they practice and take lots of photos. So much of what I've learned when it comes to photography came from photographing constantly and then analyzing my shots, comparing my work against that of a photographer I admire. And I wasn't too afraid to experiment. Nor was I afraid to admit that my work would never be perfect.

Now that I have a camera that also shoots video, I'm trying to take that same approach. I've had a Vimeo account since 2006, but I've never had any video projects to share. Now, I do. There usually pointless little things (much like many of my photos), but they are my attempt to document bits and pieces of my life. And they're fun to create. With my camera almost always within reach, it's easy to record tiny snippets here and there to piece together into a longer form. Just like composition with my photographs, I'm learning how to compose for video. Although there are some similarities, video does require a slightly different way of thinking. It's also requiring a different way of dealing with my equipment. Video on the 5DMKII is testing my understanding of exposure as well as my manual focusing ability. And then there is the concept of sound, which I'm only just beginning to dabble with. It's really rather fun, although I forsee this new hobby becoming another expensive one.

Here are my latest three videos. When I first started shooting video I had the tendency to follow motion with the camera. Now I'm understanding to keep the camera still and let things move across the frame. None of these are of course perfect, but it will be interesting to look at them after a few months and see if I've made any progress.

And just like that it's winter. Talking about the weather seems like a pretty boring thing to do, but when you're as moody as I am, then the change in seasons is a big enough deal to require some sort of cathartic release. The one consolation of all this new snow and the cold has been that it's sunny. Clean, fresh snow and sunny days reminds me of the winters of my youth. You know, when I was young and optimistic. This makes things a little bit better.

In my defense I do try to get out and do things when it is cold outside. On Sunday, despite the chilly temperatures I ventured out of doors to go to the Luminaria festival at the Devonian Botanic Gardens.