Project Motive
Many people say they write because the characters live in them until they are released into a story, a novel, a screenplay. This story lives in me, and begged telling. It is only part of the tale of my dad, but perhaps the most telling one. So while this was an assignment for a graduate class at Texas A&M - Commerce under the direction of Dr. Shannon Carter, it is a story that simply had to be told. I am grateful for the opportunity to have told it under these circumstances and with the support of a wonderful instructor and amazing classmates.
Methodology
Audio and video included in "Just One Year," exclusive of the musical soundtrack, were carefully chosen from thousands of photos and a surprising dearth of video of my subject - Hank, my dad - because he was almost always the man behind the camera. It was only in recent years and with the advent of smart phones and iPads that we managed to capture him through the lens. Older footage was digitized by my father several years ago in an attempt to preserve the family's legacy in a digital format, and for that foresight I am eternally thankful. They come from the Saunders family collection of video and photo, stemming from early technology adapters generations ago. There are two images included in the compilation collected from the Creative Commons (see Acknowledgments for credit), and the background audio is looped sections of "She's Asleep," offered by one of my favorite artists, Moby, on mobygratis.com.
Technology
The technology was perhaps the most frustrating aspect of this project for me. I wanted complete control of every aspect of this film because it is so personal and means so much to me, but since high end tools are not currently in my collection, I am terribly appreciative of the the makers of the software and hardware I was able to use to put this together. This was a story that could not be stopped by technology, or lack thereof.
Products Used: Dell Inspiron 1501 Laptop, MovieMaker, Adobe Photoshop, MS Word, and WavePad Sound Editor
Many people say they write because the characters live in them until they are released into a story, a novel, a screenplay. This story lives in me, and begged telling. It is only part of the tale of my dad, but perhaps the most telling one. So while this was an assignment for a graduate class at Texas A&M - Commerce under the direction of Dr. Shannon Carter, it is a story that simply had to be told. I am grateful for the opportunity to have told it under these circumstances and with the support of a wonderful instructor and amazing classmates.
Methodology
Audio and video included in "Just One Year," exclusive of the musical soundtrack, were carefully chosen from thousands of photos and a surprising dearth of video of my subject - Hank, my dad - because he was almost always the man behind the camera. It was only in recent years and with the advent of smart phones and iPads that we managed to capture him through the lens. Older footage was digitized by my father several years ago in an attempt to preserve the family's legacy in a digital format, and for that foresight I am eternally thankful. They come from the Saunders family collection of video and photo, stemming from early technology adapters generations ago. There are two images included in the compilation collected from the Creative Commons (see Acknowledgments for credit), and the background audio is looped sections of "She's Asleep," offered by one of my favorite artists, Moby, on mobygratis.com.
Technology
The technology was perhaps the most frustrating aspect of this project for me. I wanted complete control of every aspect of this film because it is so personal and means so much to me, but since high end tools are not currently in my collection, I am terribly appreciative of the the makers of the software and hardware I was able to use to put this together. This was a story that could not be stopped by technology, or lack thereof.
Products Used: Dell Inspiron 1501 Laptop, MovieMaker, Adobe Photoshop, MS Word, and WavePad Sound Editor
