"About You" [directed by VASH] from J.VASH on Vimeo.

The music is mostly instrumental, with a few vocal samples, and the images are having a conversation with the music. The scene is of a group of women smoking marijuana, and the slow tempo of the instrumental takes you inside the assumed slow world of being stoned. The entire video is in slow motion, which meshes with the calming melody of the instrumental. The image colors are a variation of blues, greens and dark colors contrasted with the bright natural light from the sun, tying into the calm feel of the video. The shot length are determined by each clap in the beat, sometimes the editor skips a clap, which makes the changes in images suspenseful at certain points. The beat erupts at the 3:02 mark, and the theme changes with a shot of a wolf mask. Every aspect of the images are being controlled by the music, from the vocal sample commanding the movement to the marijuana smoke, to the flashing color being prompted by the blaring instrument (not sure which instrument) that’s introduced after the 3:02 mark. The images do have a narrative sequence. The storyline of a group of young ladies arriving at a home, smoking marijuana and then transforming into wolves is a story line that dictates the order of the shots. Also, the video cuts to each of the young ladies in the wolf mask similar to how cinema hints at marijuana cyphers. The video cuts to each of them hinting at the order each of them got high. A lot of the images are obvious, and it seems to be by design. The editor is painting a picture of the environment and activities of the young ladies, and the abruptness of the cuts add a nice contrast to the seamless shots that come later in the smoking scene.

JEFFTOWN: Short documentary

JEFFTOWN1 from Jonathan Perez on Vimeo.

Proposal and story board

As stated in my artist statement, I’m from Bushwick, Brooklyn, so naturally, I have a special interest in studying the neighborhood. It’s no secret that Bushwick is being gentrified at a rapid rate, however, not much is reported about the organizations that oppose the transformation of the neighborhood. I always been familiar with an organization that lies on the same block I was raised called “Make the Road by Walking,” which tackles several social issues like police brutality, Civil Rights and more recently gentrification. I want to interview a member of make the road by walking and learn about their view on the neighborhoods transformation and get inside the agenda of Make the Road by Walking. Bushwick is a hot topic right now, and not much has been reported about Bushwick compared to Spanish Harlem and the Lower East Side. I’d like to highlight this issue more specifically towards Brooklyn and, given how interesting Bushwick is culturally, I feel this is a story that would grab viewers.

From Peru to a Roof : Sound potrait

Museum of Moving Images

After going to the Museum of Moving Images, I feel like I have a much better grasp on the process of video production, specifically with the sound. I spent some time at a demonstration where I focused on the sounds of motion pictures, and a guide there was asking the group that was there to guess which movies they were. The easier to guess was the titanic; being that you heard a woman yell Jack, and water splashing and whatnot. At the museum I learned of different aspects of sound. Those aspects were dialogue, Foley and I forgot the other one. I didn’t take notes, but coming off of straight memory I feel like I absorbed a lot. Dialogue I believe is the actual words that characters speak. I especially remember Foley because I thought to myself that it must be so hard to try to imitate real sounds with objects. I have a friend who makes beats and he also does that, and I find it so admirable. I had the most fun at an exhibit that’s titled “Behind the Screen.” There they had tons of artifacts, and most intriguing were the vintage game systems they had. I haven’t seen a super Nintendo in years. They had make-up from Sex and the city scenes that was interesting too, I suppose. There was a flip book generator there too! I was impatient so I didn’t participate, but I started to consider it as a good first date. The whole experience at the Museum was intriguing and it was overall a beautiful exhibit, and I would definitely go back. Mostly to try all the interactive stuff they had there.

Interview Questions

1) Tell me about your first day at Hunter College 2) Did you find the students from Hunter College different from students at your last school? 3) What’s the biggest difference between New York City and your hometown in Peru? 4) Tell me about the party life in Peru 5) Have you gone out to clubs in Peru? If so, describe the scene. 6) Have you been out in New York City? 7) How do you like the party scene in New York City? 8) Tell me about the last time You went to a New York City club 9) What do you miss the most about home? 10) Who did you leave over there when you left? 11) What your plan, as far as a career, while you’re in New York City? 12) Is Hunter College the right step in that direction, or do you wish you tried something else? 13) Do you plan on returning home? If so, why? 14) What would you recommend I do if I went to Peru? 15) How have you changed since you lived there?

Sound Walk

Due to the lack of timing, I walked around the streets of East New York on a very rainy Saturday. On Pennsylvania Ave I hear cars driving past, tires squeaking as cars stopped, horns honking and I heard a door being slammed shut as a family walked out the car. I heard tramples through water as someone walked past me, and I heard a group of voices speaking at a nearby stoop. I tried to focus on less vivid sounds, and I realized that the rain was slamming on the car windows pretty loudly. I walked inside a store and the door made a squeak as it opened and close. Bachata music – I heard tambourines, piano keys, and perhaps a maraca, with -- was playing from a distance, perhaps from the back of the store, and I heard change clank on the counter, and then a scratching sound when. I assume, the store clerk dragged the change away. I grabbed a bag of potato chips and the rustle of the chips were actually from several bags of chips, rather than the assumed one bag that I’d grab. Grabbing one bag of chips creating something of a ripple effect of sound, since all the potato chips were so close together. I heard the bus engines and the breaks as the tires splashed water on the concrete, and those sounds were similar to the trampling foot steps I heard earlier, but much louder, and it was combating the sound of the bus’ loud engine and windshield wiper.