We Check Out the iOS 7 Beta for the iPhone

A new vlog is up! Last week we were horrible, horrible people and didn't get around to uploading a new vlog, but this week's is up and it's about iOS 7! I'll admit it, I'm an Apple Fanboy. I tune in to all of the conferences Apple has had over the years (even sometimes skipping class to watch them), I own countless Apple products, and I try to always stay up to date on the latest and greatest. So when the announcement for iOS 7 came out, I knew I had to get my hands on it.

Once I did, Kyle and I thought it would be perfect to do a vlog on. So in this video we show off some of the new things iOS 7 has and we do a little reviewing, keeping in mind that it's still just a beta and that some things are likely to change by the time of the GM release.

Without further ado! Oh, and please subscribe/like/comment on this video over at YouTube!

Arrested Development Season 4 and the Future of TV Thoughts

I've spent the past few weeks watching all three seasons of Arrested Development on Netflix in anticipation of the release of season four. Now it's out, and Kyle and I thought we'd do a vlog where we discuss our initial reactions to the season (we're still in the process of watching it all) and also commenting on where we think TV watching in general is heading.

Feel free to leave some comments to fuel a discussion!

New Vlog About Lulu, a New App that lets Girls Anonymously Rate Guys

So I first heard about Lulu on Twitter because someone had tweeted randomly about it. Curious, I checked it out, and knew it would be perfect to do a vlog on. Kyle and I had a lot of fun making this one, and I think you'll find it pretty entertaining. After you watch it, comment either on this blog or over at YouTube letting me know what you think of the app. And don't forget to subscribe!

The Worst Ninja Ever!

Kyle is the worst ninja ever! Look for our new vlog this coming Wednesday!

We Review "The Great Gatsby" Movie

In this vlog, Kyle and I give our thoughts on "The Great Gatsby," out in theaters now. We had to film this vlog three times because for some reason, our camera (we were using a Canon 7D) would stop recording every now and then. So that was a pain.

It's a little longer than some of the previous videos, but we had a lot to say about this movie. Please, if you haven't done so already go and subscribe to us on YouTube!

PS - We are filming today for this week's Sunday skit!

808 Originals Vlog 1 - Our Life Stories

Here's the first real vlog that Kyle and I made for our YouTube series. All in all, considering that neither of us have had much experience sitting in front of a camera in just talking, I think it turned out all right. Unfortunately, we talked for about 20 minutes but the camera only recorded about 12, so we lost a bunch of footage and I had to edit around that.

Look for the next vlog tomorrow! And please, subscribe to our YouTube channel if you like the videos and want to see more.

I'm A Lazy Poster (Introducing my YouTube series that started two weeks ago)

I knew this would happen. My class gets over and I would neglect my blog all over again. Well, I'm trying tuh-not-tuh.

Anyways, over the summer some of my roommates and I decided that we would make a series of videos on YouTube and post regularly. Every Wednesday, we are going to post a vlog, where my friend Kyle and I talk about, well, whatever we want to talk about, really. And then every Sunday we're going to post a skit that we made throughout the week. If you're interested in following along and seeing where this goes, please subscribe to my channel kmof1992 on YouTube. I'm going to post the videos here, too, but on YouTube you'll see it first.

And if you decided to skip the above paragraph, here's the first vlog video that explains everything:


I'm really excited about this opportunity, because I've always loved making short, fun videos with friends and this way I get to share them with everyone! Well, everyone who watches, that is.

I'm going to post everything we've done so far in a separate blog post, so look for that, and look forward to the newest video that will be up this Wednesday!

The Amazing Race Audition Outtakes

Outtakes from Prescott and Ulysses' audition for "The Amazing Race." Our first Sunday skit. Look for more videos every Wednesday and Sunday!

"My People" Photo Essay

Me, with the camera I used to capture these pictures, the Canon t4i

My people are filmmakers. We may have different interests and we may have different jobs but we all come together for the same purpose -- to make a film. This particular film is called "Open House" and it is for the Screen Arts 423 class at school, the largest production class that the University of Michigan offers. We started filming on March 15 and finally wrapped April 14 early in the morning, about 2 am. During that month, every weekend (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) I left campus and joined "my people" on set to make a movie.

Jackie Vresics, first assistant camera and camera operator, with the Sony F3

Although we had attended class together up to that point in the semester, we didn't know each other very well. Needless to say, over the course of that month I got to know everyone on our team, which numbered close to 30. Many of them are in the film department, but some were actors, some did art and design, and even a couple people were in business. We bonded over long shooting hours, pizza for dinner every night, broken equipment, and countless other challenges that we faced. In a way, they became my family. So when this photo essay was assigned, I knew immediately who would be the subject of my photos.

Rajan Sosale, the assistant director

Julie Vis, key grip, sets up a light on set

For these photos, I chose to do them mostly in portrait, so I could better capture the personalities of everyone on set. I also thought portraits would be good because on set we were dealing with mostly low lighting (since we were filming at night) and I figured portraits would come out better than wider shots. I used the Canon t4i DSLR camera with a 17-55mm IS lens attached to take all these photos, but I had to mess with settings quite a bit.

Quinn Scillian, actor, hamming it up for the camera

Phillip Maxwell, actor

Nick Skardarasy, actor, gestures during the filming of a scene

Again, lighting was fairly dim on the set, so I took the pictures when people were standing near the lights. I tried to avoid flash as much as possible, because it tended to overexpose the whole image. I turned up the ISO a lot, which accounts for some of the grain in these pictures, shot with the aperture wide open, and adjusted the shutter speed as necessary.

Trend Hibbard, one of our sound recordists and boom operators, with boom

Kasey Cox, second assistant camera. She was responsible for the slate.

One of the biggest issues I ran into when shooting these pictures (I have a lot of outtakes) was focus. Because of the low lighting and the lens I was using, getting the right part of the frame in focus proved to be very difficult. Sometimes I used the auto focus, but when it didn't work quite right I adjusted focus manually. 

Putting up a tension pole to hang lights from is a group effort

Everyone was so talented, and really wanted to do a good job, and were fun, nice people to be around, so although we worked long hours and things could get a little tense, I looked forward to heading to set every weekend and seeing the whole crew. Everyone has a unique personality, and there are a ton of jokers and comedians on set who loved to mess around, and I wanted these photos to reflect everyone's uniqueness, even though we were all together to accomplish the same goal. The actors, predictably, put themselves on display when the camera turned towards them, but so did some of the other crew.

"My People" are the filmmakers who came to set every weekend, sometimes at 7 or 8pm and prepared to work until dawn, excited and ready to work. We had a lot of fun together, but we also worked really hard and the product of our work, "Open House" is a half-hour short film that will premiere at the Lightworks Film Festival in the Natural Science Auditorium next Friday and Saturday, the 26th and 27th of April.

Conflict in a Frame

Conflict between subjects

Conflict between textures

Conflict between colors

First Photo from my Photo Essay

Some Mikenny Productions GIFs

Weekly Summary: Digital Storytelling

This week in class we started working on our final in-class projects. I'm working on a documentary video that follows the rest of the class as they work on their own in-class final projects. It's going pretty well, I've got some good footage.

Outside of class, I did the seven daily shoots and watched and posted a response to a documentary about Diane Arbus.

Daily Shoot: Photo With High Contrast
Daily Shoot: A Portrait
Daily Shoot: A Self-Portrait
Daily Shoot: An Extreme Close-Up of A Recognizable Object
Daily Shoot: A Photo of Something's Shadow
Daily Shoot: A Photo of Something Normally Considered Ugly
Daily Shoot: "Rooting for Your Team" - Universal Theme
Response to "Masters of Photography" Documentary

Response to "Masters of Photography" documentary

Holy crazy hair Batman.

I really enjoyed looking at all the photographs in this documentary, most of them pictures of people, while hearing quotes from Diane Arbus, as well as hearing other people talk about her who knew her.

One thing in particular that stood out was Marvin Israel talking about how for Diane, it was always about the experience of the photograph was important rather than about the photograph itself. That really stood out for me, because I feel like a lot of people are really obsessed with taking really great technical pictures, of taking really beautiful pictures, but for me that's not what it's about at all. It's not about taking a photograph and making it as beautiful as possible, it's about capturing the beauty of the moment itself as it occurs. The spontaneity and the experience itself makes the photograph beautiful.

Another thing I found interesting that was mentioned was that Diane liked "photographing freaks." It's interesting, again, because so often people are caught up in photographing a beautiful subject, but Diane found something beautiful or interesting in people who were maybe not objectively attractive, or were somehow different from the norm. It's a different kind of beauty, but I still find it very interesting that she chose to photograph those kinds of people.

Daily Shoot: "Rooting For Your Team" - Universal Theme

Daily Shoot: A Photo of Something Normally Considered Ugly

Daily Shoot: A Photo of Something's Shadow

Daily Shoot: An Extreme Close-Up of a Recognizable Object

Daily Shoot: A Self-Portrait

Daily Shoot: A Portrait