Frame Park

Welcome to my video blog! My name is Jaclyn Bentley, an artist from Waukesha, WI. I have decided to do a visual study of a local park, called Frame Park. This park has always been special to me, because I used to hang out in that location before Frame was ever built. I was there to see it transformed into what it is today, a beautiful outdoors escape from enclosing streets around it. Waukesha used to be small, but we are growing fast. Whereas we used to see wide open spaces and trees galore, we now are faced with tall apartment buildings and miles of uniformly uninteresting condos. In the midst of this all, Frame park has become a family icon to those in Waukesha, an escape from encroaching business, and a boast of pride from its locals. The videos I have created are therefore extremely special to me, and I hope that you will enjoy them as well!

Frame Park's Throne Room

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2o sec., silent video

Every park has got its "special" places! For some reason the thought of the public park bathroom really interests me. I find the public toilet especially engaging. We often forget just how grateful we are for that facility, yet if we were to be without it we would remember in a hurry! I decided to help us all remember our public throne room, and, more importantly, help us realize that there is art to be found anywhere, even in a structurally useful and forgetable toilet seat. I have posted this video first because so far in my study of Frame park this has been my best project.

Ice and Snow of Frame Park

This is the final video!

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2o sec long, silent

The first few edits were just not working for me. I felt the rhythm was too random and did not contribute to a strong and interesting piece. So for this final edit I basically redid the entire project, reentering the pictures into Avid and experimenting with flow. As the video progresses, the amount of frames per picture decreases, so that the overall feel is one of increasing energy. The viewer is invited to go from studying each picture for its individual beauty, to watching the rhythm of the angles of each picture work together for an animation-like feel. This is the only video I made strictly from photos, so it presented an interesting challenge.

Adult vs kids in the park

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20 sec, silent

This is the final video for the actual Frame Park structure. I was extremely happy with the results of this final! When I first edited this piece, I wasn't sure the video and pictures were working together well at all. So I shorted the video parts so they didn't slow the flow of the movie. In addition, I finally gave in and added a few more photos. I felt the pictures were a little redundant in the first edit. These new pictures were taken at stronger angles. One, of a fence, was entirely sideways. This new added sequence added more interest and the shorter video footage helped keep the energy up. In the end the overall flow was much more engaging and I got a better feel of comparison between the wrought iron and colorful kids playing structures.

Second in progress video

This video is the partially edited icicles video. (Click on the photo to watch the video) With this one, since it was purely photos, I wanted to do a time theme, where the pictures are slow and rhythmic but grow faster as the video goes on. I increased the time the first photos are viewed, edited out a fast sequence I had in between the first slower photos, and reentered the last sequence at 1/24 of a second instead of 2/24. That way it grows faster at the end. I think it may be a little too abrupt, though. Any feedback is much appreciated!

Finals in progress

Okay this is my garbage video, in progress. (Click on the picture to view it) I'm still editing it, but I changed a few things and would like to ask you all if you think it is working. For this video I wanted to show the contrast between bright kids sets in the park and the harsh wrought iron fences and garbages in the park. I can still add more pictures as well, but I'm not sure I should. The pictures added would be a slightly different theme. Those pictures are of the wrought iron trellises in the park. It is still wrought iron, but it is a visual study in itself and doesn't have the same pattern as the garbage cans and the fence. Should I add them anyhow? I'm still undecided I guess. The video right now is alot of the same, but I personally think it makes for good contrast between the color and wrought iron. As for changes I edited the video parts to encourage speed to move the video along, because some pats were slow. I also added a contrasting sequence at the end this time. I'm not sure it's working or not, feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Ice Cold Experience

Last but not least, this video is my favorite of all my raw footage clips. It is made from stills only. This one is a little more edited than the others, but I think it just seems that way because everything is stills. I looped the photos a few times and tried to break the monotony by changing up a few sequences and holding a few photos for a second or two. It still needs a lot of work, though. This is the video that most intrigued me because it seems to hold not only the heart of Frame Park, but also the very essence of winter. By the next time I go out, it will not be this cold. I hope to make the rhythm of this video engaging and fast, to make you interested in every aspect of the area I shot. I want people to be drawn in by the images they see, and want to see more. I will probably use special effects on this one, but I'm not sure which ones yet. Click on the picture to see the video.

Wrought with Darkness

This video is of the wrought iron aspects of Frame Park. Wrought iron is basically the art of this park; it's the theme that holds it together. I took this idea and ran with it. I went on to explore the differences between adult entertainment and children's entertainment. The kid's playing area was so brightly colored that it was pleasantly shocking next to the plain but elegant black and white decor of the adult decorations. So I wanted to explore this contrast with this video and stills footage. I want to do more with it to make it more of a shocking difference between color and black and white. I think I just need to use more of the colored images. Click on the picture to watch the video.

In the Throne Room

This video is of the public bathrooms in Frame Park. Something about the everyday aspect of the toilet inspires me. It's like forgotten art, there every day but never really thought about. I like the fast pace of the images in this version because it makes me think of all the random people that have sat on this toilet. I did some interesting videos of the toilet as well, to inspire a person to look closer at the toilets they are ignoring. They can be actually quite interesting if you bother to look. Go home today and observe your toilet and let me know what you learned. Take pictures if you want, and let me see all the different toilets there are in the world! Click on the picture to see my video of toilets!

Down the Downspout

This video is strictly video footage right now. I wanted to get a sense of falling from the video, like a raindrop finding its way down the spout. I didn't quite get that sense from this raw footage, but I'm sure I can change it up a little. I'm going to mess with the frame rates to speed up the fall at certain steep areas, and I might want to change up the color a bit, too. Maybe tint it a bluish color to make it more water-like. I'm not sure yet, though. I like the other recordings better so I may just edit them and leave this one on the shelf for now. Perhaps you can help me decide which ones to bother with! Check out the video and let me know. Just click on the image.

Rustling Reeds

This video is of the reeds in Frame Park, where I have been observing life for several weeks now. I had a sound recording of the reeds also, and I wanted to include some interesting video footage of them as well. Right now this is just the raw footage. I did give it a little rhythm, but I'd like to enhance that rhythm with editing, to see if I could make them seem to rustle, even without sound. I think I can accomplish this with a little change in frame rates as well, to make it seem more random and not so controlled as it is right now. Click on the picture to start the video.