Kat Enters the 21st Century

A new educator's first foray into modern media

Category: Video Editing

Hoop Check-In – Final Video!

November 24, 2019 / / 0 Comments
Well, I did my best

I set out this semester to learn how to choreograph and perform a routine in the aerial hoop (lyra) discipline. I came in with some knowledge of my strengths and weaknesses in the hoop, and with some practice under my belt, but with no experience putting together a routine or moving to music in the hoop. Through online resources, the generous help of my mentors and coaches, and listening to that song until I couldn’t anymore, I was able to put together a routine that played to my strengths while also challenging me to improve in my weaker areas. I practiced and practiced, filming periodically along the way, until I arrived at the end of the semester (and the end of my filming opportunities with Eve at Studio 4 until the new year).

This is by no means the best I can do, and I’m going to keep working at it – with a different song this time though! That said, I’m fairly proud of what I was able to accomplish, and moreover, I forced myself a long way toward getting over my aversion to being filmed.

With enormous thanks to everybody who supported, guided, and ooh’d and aah’d me through the process, here’s what I have so far:

Hoop Check In – Week 9

November 11, 2019 / / 0 Comments
Things I’ve Learned

The semester is drawing to a close, and as I prepare to wrap up my Free Inquiry project, I’d like to take a moment to summarize my learning thus far.

As I’ve stated before, it’s more difficult for me to reflect on my learning and make it visible when I’m working on a physical skill and not academic research.  I’ve been watching and learning, rather than gathering prior research. I’ve been seeking advice, rather than gathering data. And, very importantly, I’ve been gaining an understanding of physical limits (mine and gravity’s), rather than analyzing observations. I’ve learned a lot about my strengths and weaknesses, and how to learn by experience.

Along with my latest progress video (the entire routine through with music for the first time), here are a few practical things I’ve picked up along the course of this project that I think apply to life in general:

  1. You can substitute strength for flexibility when it comes to showmanship…but you still need to work on both.
  2. It is 100% harder to resist gravity when spinning very fast.
  3. You can condition and you can gain calluses, but in order to put on a good show, some things are going to hurt very badly no matter what.
  4. Covering up doesn’t always prevent you from getting burned.
  5. Leaning into every move makes it look more intentional.
  6. Always think of what to do with your hands.

And without further ado, my progress so far:

Video taken by Eve Carty at Studio 4 Athletics. Used with permission.

Hoop Check-In – Week 7

October 25, 2019 / / 0 Comments

I had another very productive (and exhausting) session with my instructor this weekend, and realized something important: I need to videotape my performances at the beginning of class, and not the end of 90 minutes of working hard. I was so exhausted that I thought I should record only a short, easier part of the routine – I wasn’t sure I could make it through the whole thing again and make it look pretty.

I also cut in the song that I’ll be performing to. The song is called On the Arrow, and it’s performed by Rachel Rose Mitchell. She is a fantastic artist, and creates beautiful music all on her own, with a single voice and her own musical skill. This song is a cover of the song by the same name by AFI, but Rachel has an amazing discography of her own independently-written songs as well. Check her out!

And now, my video of Week 7:

Hoop Check-In – Video Proof

October 11, 2019 / / 0 Comments

This past weekend, I was reunited with my wonderful instructor Eve Carty and the gang from Amethyst Dance & Fitness, which is still under repairs due to a massive flood in August. Studio 4 Athletics was good enough to give us space to practice, and it was such a relief to see everyone for the first time in a few months. After hooping my heart out for an hour in supportive, easygoing company, I remembered that I was meant to take a video this week.

The video is a bit blurry in the middle, due to the motion, but Eve caught it after only a few moments and refocused. I’ve posted the video below, along with some text commentary. This represents the first moves I’ll be building into my routine, performed when I was already tired, so forgive the sloppiness of some of the moves. I also really messed up a single-knee climb, and managed to tear the backs of both knees to shreds (you can see the exact moment in the video when this happens), which resulted in a bit of a lull in the middle of the combo. Things I learned this week is that when I feel like a move is sloppy, it really does look that way. Also, its looks so much better when I smile, and I need to remember to do so!

Video Editing with iMovie

September 27, 2019 / / 0 Comments

This week in class we got a quick tutorial from Rich McCue on video editing using iMovie. I use Windows almost exclusively, so I was happy to hear that DaVinci Resolve is an option for us PC-lovers. I made the following monstrosity using the video that Rich gave us, presumably of his daughter playing with her goats:

 

Not too bad for a first attempt that took about half an hour of playing with the user interface, and I’m really excited to try this software for the first time on my own videos for my Free Inquiry project. I’ll also be using Audacity to produce a short podcast-style interview with my aerial hoop instructor (as soon as I get her permission to use her name, voice, and image). Now I just need to create some of my own content!

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