Comments for Journeyman Blog

Comment on Style and the DNA default by Mathew Welsh

Mathew Welsh — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:16:52 +0000

Kimberly, thanks for the comments. Much appreciated. Glad to hear you’re learning and practicing. It’s the best way to keep it all interesting. I just took at bit of a departure from this “come to life” style in our last project — a three part piece on Social Determinants of Health. I used a much more sober and unflinching gaze, much of it shot on the tripod and it was inspired by work I’d seen by a production company called Everynone. Check out their stuff. I tend to shoot hand held on most live action, but it was really interesting to focus on framing, doing subjective portraiture and letting the subject move in the frame.

We’ll be posting that work as soon as the client launches it officially in September.

Comment on Style and the DNA default by Kimberly Smith

Kimberly Smith — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:52:49 +0000

Thanks, Mathew, for posting your thoughts about style in such a generous and thoughtful way. Your “default” definitely works for me and I also love the musical choices you have made in the Come to Life vignettes. If you start to see some of your “style” appear in my work, rest assured it is my way of honoring you and your work. You inspire me to keep on learning and practicing this amazing craft we know as motion picture making.

Comment on Alcune storie devono essere raccontate by jeff white

jeff white — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:54:08 +0000

One of the things I cherish most about my traditional art/design education is the time I spent studying ancient Greek and Roman art history. Beyond being able to pick out all the best triptychs in a Dan Brown novel, it gives you a really great understanding of the power of the church and the methodologies of ancient story-telling.

I’ve rarely related this art to film although now that you say it, it makes perfect sense. I always saw the great artists, especially those of the Renaissance era as being more akin to graphic designers than actual artists. The work they were creating was mainly about conveying the message of their client (generally, the church or powerful religious families like the Medicis), as opposed to challenging the status quo or pushing a message as much of the art of today seems wont to do.

I will look at paintings and sculpture a little differently now though as I definitely see your point about how cinematic they can be.

Comment on You’re not in Kansas anymore! by Mathew Welsh

Mathew Welsh — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:12:29 +0000

Thanks for the comments Scott. Glad we hit the mark!

Comment on You’re not in Kansas anymore! by Scott Davidson

Scott Davidson — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:06:52 +0000

Matthew-

I’ve been meaning to contact you but it was only this week that I was actually able to go through all the footage from the shoot. All I can say is WOW! You, Oren and Nikki exceeded all my expectations. I couldn’t be more pleased with the final product. I love how you cropped the interview sequences and the audio quality is great. I know it was a challenging environment and a very aggressive schedule and your crew went above and beyond to get the footage I needed. That was easily the longest shoot to date for me and I really appreciate the long hours you put in. I wish we would have had more access to getting some of the B-Roll but what you were able to get is dynamite. You really maximized our time in the multiple locations we were in. You and your team really know your stuff and I only wish you were here in the U.S. so we could do more work together. Best of luck to Journeyman Film - YOU GUYS ROCK!

Scott Davidson
Sr. Designer / Video Director
Data Systems International, Inc.

Comment on Media: parasite, or power to do good? by Mathew Welsh

Mathew Welsh — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:30:48 +0000

Ellen, thanks for commenting. Indeed they are as smart and talented, and ultimately, as human as we are. We have a lot more in common that we might think, and much to learn from each other. And I agree that it’s policies in the West that have frustrated the efforts of, say, African exporters who can’t always get access to markets due to protectionist practices, despite all our talk of free trade.

There is a real entrepreneurial spirit there. Our fixer, Baba, implored me to consider partnering with him to start a TV production and broadcast company there in The Gambia. He sees the need and appetite for better communications there. I was partly amused at the image of me as media mogul in West Africa, but partly quite intrigued at the notion of meeting someone like him halfway on his idea. Why not?

Comment on Media: parasite, or power to do good? by Ellen

Ellen — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:32:35 +0000

I think that your work has done good, not just for Gambians, but for Africans. It is important to tell some stories of hope and to show how Africans are just as smart and talented as anyone else. It is largely the fault of the “West” or of “developed” countries that they live in the poverty that they are in, not because they are not smart enough to make a living or work hard. They work much harder than many people in other parts of the world do. So I think your story of the talent and intelligence is an important story. As well, I was with a man from Sierra Leone at the screening of the film and he really enjoyed it for just those reasons. He said to me after the festival, “my favorite film was still the one from the Gambia that showed the positive stories. There are too many stories of the people starving and not enough of those who are working hard and succeeding.” And I also think it’s great to try to get assist people like Omar to do his trade - that’s not a handout, that’s a hand up. Hopefully this will help the word get out about people like him who need that hand up. Great work, as usual, Mathew!

Comment on Media: parasite, or power to do good? by Nikki

Nikki — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:21:19 +0000

Thank you!
Darlene, you can see the old version of The Exchange on the JFC website under sample work. It will be updated with the new narration soon. If NSCC International is interested in screening it, they can email me at nikki@journeymanfilm.com and we’ll make sure you’ll get a copy!

Comment on Media: parasite, or power to do good? by Wayne Comeau

Wayne Comeau — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:44:50 +0000

Nikki
Way to go Kiddo, you know how to tell it like it is.

Comment on Media: parasite, or power to do good? by Darlene Redmond

Darlene Redmond — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:43:46 +0000

Nikki,
Nice work. Thank you so much for posting the Journeyman Film Blog on facebook. Their work looks amazing. I was disappointed that I couldn’t make it to the screening of the film during the film festival and some of us for NSCC were wondering where else we might see the full-length films from the Gambia.
Nice job…you must have good karma.