Created in the same technical guise as my earlier split screen experiments, Headphones is a brand new self-portrait of sorts. This is but one more short in a series of edits that is meant to reflect a process, a personal awareness, and a deliberate approach to editing as art.
I've said it many times before, but the idea behind shorts like this isn't about masked themes, but about appreciating the digital medium and editing technique by taking a forced look. Just as a painter might fill a canvas for the tactile experience of seeing the streaks and runs in drying colours of paint, these editing experiments serve a similar purpose for further nurturing my personal appreciation for the technical execution of editing. Working with seemingly mundane raw footage only emphasizes this, and putting myself in the mix puts a face to the technique.
As I find myself more inspired to shoot, more of these edits always pop up and I feel that it's for the sake of variety that I share them. While individually, Headphones doesn't say much, it does add to the diversity and overall arch of my portfolio. Which, for the sake of this blog and myself I think it's essential to showcase editing not simply as a career or task, but as a powerful way to express creativity.
I came across this video today, I hadn't even realized that it was uploaded over a month ago. Squonk Productions gave me a very generous shout out in what they advertised as their 'last video entry' on YouTube. I can identify with their frustration about getting noticed on YouTube. I was just mentioning this after noting my 200,000 view milestone. I work darn hard at my edits, went to film school, screen my work at festivals, etc. and still despite all the effort it's taken 2 years now to get a sum that seems even remotely impressive - I haven't seen any of my videos earn substantial individual views on YouTube.
I came across Sqounk's video as I was re-uploading Buick to the Future: Episode 1due to a copyright issue with the song 'Good Vibrations'. This dispute between YouTube and Warner Music Group is just one more reason to complain about the site - it's started to become more about YouTube partners' individual revenues, royalties for labels, banner ads and popups, than about the free-for-all video hosting site it started out as - or seemingly was just a couple years ago. Who couldn't have seen this coming though, right?
Anyway, the obstacles do keep the path interesting. I'm proud of what I've done so far and truthfully, I never expected it to be an easy climb. It's just nice to be regarded as a deserving 'underdog' after all this time. The fact that anyone is tuning in or reading to begin with is pretty awesome! Thank you Squonk Productions for making my day! And thank you viewers and readers who continue to make this the great experience that it continues to be on a (near)daily basis! Stay tuned.
I'm rolling back the counter a bit here to highlight the passing of another significant milestone. On May 8, 2009, less than 7 months after hitting 100,000 video views, my online uploads surged passed the 200,000 mark. The relatively quick increase has been a direct result of uploading my work onto the Yobi.tv Film site - where my short, The Gizmo Tree has been viewed over 40,000 times alone, easily making it my most popular upload.
I have to say that it's nice seeing some of my uploads take off on their own at last. It's now only several days away before Editing Luke celebrates 2 years, and it's certainly more of a celebration seeing just how beneficial and rewarding this blog has continued to be.
The biggest eye-opener as of late has been the benefit of uploading my work to a new site. I've been drumming away at YouTube for a long time and have never really seen any personal overnight successes, but new venues, with Editing Luke as the central hub, show a lot of promise. Onwards and upwards!
Created in the same technical guise as my earlier split screen experiments, Headphones is a brand new self-portrait of sorts. This is but one more short in a series of edits that is meant to reflect a process, a personal awareness, and a deliberate approach to editing as art.
