PEOPLE NEED TO TAKE THIS MATTER SERIOUSLY

Look at this bird:

Looks like a normal bird, right? I mean ya its pretty cute in what not but what is so special about it? What you are looking at is the New Zealand Dotterel, and endangered species of bird only found in certain parts of New Zealand. 

The reason I bring this bird up is because recently I was watching Taylor Swift's music video "Out of the Woods" (if you haven't seen it, check it out)  http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/music/75580001/Taylor-Swifts-new-music-video-Out-Of-The-Woods-showcases-New-Zealand

and I realized that the location where most of the filming takes place is very similar to that of where the Dotterel roost. I became a little concerned that maybe Taylor Swift and her film crew perhaps intruded on this species' home so I decided to do a little research, and it turns out I was exactly right.

http://www.nme.com/news/taylor-swift/89978

The above link is an article that I stumbled upon while doing some research that claims that Taylor Swift's film crew disrupted the Dotterel's natural habitat and harmed some of the birds. The crew supposedly drove over a dozen vehicles onto the beaches where they roost and potentially murdered some of the birds. Now I personally am a firm believer that a filmmaker must do whatever it takes to get the perfect shot. But when it comes to endangered birds, thats where I draw the line. No birds life is worth a flawless dolly, especially that of a Dotterels. 

I do enjoy Taylor Swift and I think the music video is a beautiful homage to New Zealand's natural landscapes, but there are certain things that I just can't turn a blind eye to.

Please share this.

The Dolly Zoom

While watching Season 1 Episode 3 of The Wire this week, I noticed a camera movement that made me feel slightly uneasy. The scene shows a group of drug dealers sitting around in the projects, and one of them is telling a story.

In order to capture the perspective of each person listening to the story, the camera was trucked right while panning left to make the audience feel like they are rotating around the scene’s main character. However, as the story progressed and the situation he was describing got worse, a slow dolly zoom was introduced. This camera movement stood out to me for two reasons: first, it stood out to me because I can appreciate how difficult it must have been to accomplish this. Trucking right and panning left while dollying out and zooming in is not something that just anyone can pick up a camera and do. I was really impressed with the shot and the work of cinematographer Uta Briesewitz. As impressive as the shot was though, I felt it stood out to me because it wasn’t really necessary. The dolly zoom is a very dramatic effect, and can be great for communicating disorder or chaos when used correctly. But while simply telling a story like this scene in The Wire, it struck me as odd and out of place.

With my interests regarding dolly zooms piqued, I took to the internet to find more examples of times that dolly zooms were used effectively. I ended up finding this video on Vimeo that takes a look at the history of dolly zooms in movies, starting with Vertigo in 1958 and continuing to a couple films from 2005. Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo was one of the first times, if not the first time, that a dolly zoom was used in a widely popular movie. Because of this, the combination of dollying in/out and zooming the opposite way was was given the nickname “The Vertigo Effect”. The dolly zoom’s second most famous appearance come in 1975 with Jaws, giving it another nickname: “The Jaws Effect”.

After seeing all these cool examples of dolly zooms, I decided to take out my camera and try it for myself. Seven takes later, I came to a conclusion: a dolly zoom is tough to pull off (without tracks to smoothly dolly on). And although it might not have fit very well in the scene I first saw it in on The Wire, it made me appreciate the experimental camera work that past cinematographers have done to get the dolly zoom to where it is today.

OK, How'd They Do It?

The band OK Go is known to have some crazy music videos that really go above and beyond but in their latest video the band goes even further. The video directed by Morihiro Harano starts in a studio as the members of the band ride these little machines called UNI-CUB's. We dolly out of the studio and into the streets surrounded by bright and colorful buildings and out of nowhere the camera flies up into the air. The camera was attached to a drone that was then attached to a dolly and the camera continues to soar into the air.

Below the members are joined by dancers with umbrellas and the camera shoots back down. It locks back into place on the dolly and continues rolling down the street. And just like that the camera goes up again, but this time it doesn't come back down. The band is joined with now hundreds of dancers and we keep flying up and up. The crowd shapes forms with their umbrellas even spell out words as the camera flies over a half a mile into the air. To think how long it took to block the whole shot and to then get the choreography down perfectly is mind boggling. Check out the video below! 

OK Go - I Won't Let You Down - Official Video