UWOL#2 "ShootinFerFun" by Bruce Foreman
 

This entry reflects some degree of frustration. It started out as an attempt to contrast some "urban blight" with the clean open expanses and terrain features of West Texas.

However San Angelo is located between the Texas Hill Country to the east and the oil producing Permian Basin to the West and Big Bend area much further west. None of that convenient for me to get to at this time. So the opening sequence visually reflects some of my frustration in not going for West Texas spectacular scenics, and seems (according to family members) to also depict me not finding anything photogenic enough relating to "recreation" to point a camera at, which was not the original intent.

So this video project changed direction some. Of course the timing hit between some strong possibilities. Nothing happening at Ft. Conch which has a few very rich in living history events during the year. It is the best preserved and most restored frontier fort in the west, but alas, to my visual sense too over restored and too "clean". Nevertheless I used an officers quarters in the beginning stages of being rebuilt to illustrate "fun" photography.

Our local gun club (I serve as Executive Officer for special projects) has monthly 3 gun matches (action format!) but none falling during the time frame allowed us to shoot our video, or I would have been able to show a very exciting 3 minutes of either myself or a friend shooting action format tactical rifle, tactical shotgun, and handgun stages. So I had to settle for the usual "put myself out in front" of a remote runnning camcorder.

So I've kind of managed to depict 2 kinds of shooting I do for recreation. That it was more of a challenge than I had forseen cannot be an excuse for not coming up with something a lot better, but the viewers must judge for themselves.

As always, there are two facets of these challenges that make it all worth it. One being "getting something done", and the other is seeing what all of the other folks do with the theme.

Bruce,

I'm not sure what to say here.....I guess I'll preface it with "I have no opinion about guns" just to rule that out.

I didn't know where this video was coming from...actually you lost me from the very first shot...no pun intended :)

You open with a shot of a building with grafitti art on it....WHAT you say art??....yep. I see things a little different than you in that respect. I'm not talking about profanity or tagging (egotistical name spraying) but what you vidoetaped looked like it may be a very interesting visual art piece. I have ideas of going to Toronto Canada simply to videotape some of the incredible works of Grafitti I have seen there. You obiously have a different perspective on it as shown by the head shake but everyone has a right to their own opinion.

As for the rest of the video it didn't go very far for me either. There is a bit of a mix of scenery and the developing idea of shooting (albiet with a camera) and then WHAM....straight into a M16 (or something along that lines) pointed at my face! It was a little disturbing.

All in all it was a mixed message but I wind up with an odd feeling about the video. I think I would have been happier to see an engaging documentary about the recreation of sport shooting.

Keep on shooting though!!! pun intended this time. ;)

James Hooey

Makes me want an M16

I read your comments after looking at the film, and actually wasn't clever enough to come up with the shooting in two ways theme without reading it in your post. On first viewing, I was having trouble picking up the theme. Your comment makes it more interesting to tie it together as a play on words.

Your video quality was good- with a lot of variety.

Ruth

Actually I've been meaning to go there and photograph that and a few other samples of graffiti, need to just do it. Some of these guys are really talented.

Very interesting film to rent if you can find it. "Transit" is a feature length story shot with a rented Canon XL1 with a total crew of 7 if I remember. The author posted about it in another forum and I hunted it down so I could see what was possible on DV without going film distribution, this one went straight to DVD.

He gives a very "nitty gritty" look at the Los Angeles graffiti culture along with the inevitable "tagging" and gang conflict that followed. Technically, the production quality was lousy, grainy, some audio problems, poor lighting. But the story was compelling, the amateur acting very good and I got an education in that culture I would never have found any other way. I believe he sold it to a distributor for $30,000.00.

I see this graffiti thing from 2 perspectives. I appreciate the art side of it, but in what I do now (defensive handgun training) I sometimes have contact with people who are uneasy about the gang activity threat that seems to go along with the graffiti. To say nothing about the property owners who periodically repaint their buildings until they have to give up.

The "head shake" really was meant to go with a contrast between urban setting and wild country scenic I couldn't pull off cuz I couldn't get away to it at the time.

Well, neither you nor I can own an M16, but living it the free state of Arizona you can definitely purchase one of the AR15 variants.

Mine is an M4 carbine, a civilian version of the same M4 our guys in Iraq have been using. I bought mine right after the original assault weapon ban died. The original purpose was for the growing 3 gun sport but my grandson has used it in competition more than I have.

As a youth shooter he has had a free slot in the Texas 3 Gun State Championship for the last two years, both times taking the trophy for high youth shooter.

Bruce Foreman

Yeah I was looking at the AR15, nice. Got the trusty blue steel police edition .38 for now.

Bruce,
I saw you film first before I read your comments and it didn't give me so much. I think it was to static. To be the actor yourself didn't work this time! You could have varied with some more close-up, but I know it's difficult when you are both the DP and actor!
I think you should also done some narrating instead of display text.

The video quality was superb! Did you use any filtering (CPL) in your shoots?

Per Johan

Your comments and observations are right on. In retrospect I should have stuck with one activity, probably photographing things and exploring that in more detail.

Weather was a factor, although the storm and precipitation patterns were in the area there was some time with no rain but the skies were dull & gray. I had just about decided to not even do anything when we did get a day and a half with open blue skies.

And yes, I did use a filter. A linear polarizer. The rationale for the LPL rather than CPL was that I was not dealing with a reflex viewfinder, so I tried the linear. The effect was not as dramatic as I had imagined it would be however the video does have a "richer" look to it for the most part.

But you are absolutely right in everything you said.

Bruce Foreman

Hey Bruce,

I didn't mind the two different activities. I think it was just the way that all of a sudden you traded in your camera for a gun.

I thought maybe if there had been canons or something of that nature that you could have photographed, you could have done some sort of shot where you kind of pondered the big gun and then transition into the gun piece.

God job on putting the disclaimer on the remote camera. I'm sure you would have caught some flack on that if you hadn't.

Did you notice the camera movement from the shock wave or whatever it was when you first shot the gun? :)

I would have liked to seen some of the targets you were shooting at as well.

Congrats on finishing too! Sometimes that can be quite the task in and of itself!

I think I needed bit smoother transition between your two passions in this video. Understood how both are important to you, but maybe something tying the two in for this film was needed. Great camera work !

Nice pictures in this video Bruce.
I'm one of those who don't like shooting guns, but i liked your video though.
I think you've done a great job, in front and behind camera, I know that isn't easy.

Nice video Bruce. I like the angles of the different shots (not from the M16, altho, I liked those too, but from the camera).

I liked the music at the beginning. IMO, I would have the music continue during the shooting. But I would also say make it some metal for that part too, lol (I like heavy music).

Now you make me want to head out to the store and get that M16 Airsoft Rifle...

Anyways, nice video and so forth. I could sense what you wanted to put into it, and I think it was an excellent idea.

Keep up the good work, I can't wait to see your next one.

Thanks for your video lead "Transit" regarding grafitti, I appreciate it!

One other thing I wanted to mention about your video. I was very impressed with the sound quality when you were shooting. I thought something like that would overload most mics and sound like a square wave but it sounds very good. I liked how the camera seemed to shudder with every shot too...very cool.

James Hooey

I made a few bad decisions on this one. Originally I was going to do some voice over narration and would have mentioned that I have two recreational "shooting" involvements, but I decided to try to do it with visuals and use music. Didn't pull it off very smoothly.

What would have been perfect for this topic would have been for one of the big Ft Concho events to be taking place. We have period re-enactors, multilple cannon barrages, cavalry demo's, frontier traders, and visitors who come in costume just for the heckuva it.

One of the things I'm going to do is a documentary on the fort with an eye to really spicing it up with video of what goes on at these events. It'll take me a year and a half or more to catch the re-enactors doing their thing, the fort itself has been so over-restored it looks too new.

We have to do that. Otherwise some idiot will see something like this, or "Self Defense TV", or any of the instructional programs that use that camera angle and think it's OK to put a camera operator out in front of a shooter.

There is no shortage of idiots...

I sure did. The last time I saw that was when I had failed to tighten down the pan head movements. It was a handgun training video and with each shot the camera literally jumped. Haven't seen the effect since until this time. The .223 cartridge is a high velocity round and creates a lot more shock wave than pistol rounds. Everything on the tripod was locked but the bullet path on some shots was within a few feet of the camera.

I didn't dare. They were somewhat "politically incorrect" in that although showing no real detail, the shape was a bit humanoid. The "tombstone" shape suggests torso and head shape enough that some clubs have switched to a different shape except for the official "classifier" stage in their matches.

I appreciate that comment very much.

Do a Google search on -transit and dvd- and you'll get a few hits. You may have more luck ordering than renting but it's worth it for a look at what one guy got out on the DVD market with a rented camcorder.

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808643790/dvdinfo

On the sound quality while shooting: The first camcorder I had, a version of a Panasonic VHS shoulder mount, would literally shut down audio wise and take about half a second to recover after any percussive noise. Since then the Sony Digital8 and Sony HC21 I've used have responded well audio wise to shooting noise.

My current camcorder is a Panasonic PV GS500 and it is the first one I've had with manual control over most functions. One of the useful settings is being able to set an audio level and still have AGC for percussive sounds that exceed the set level but would otherwise distort. I have an external stereo mic I can set up on a stand or stand and boom but didn't use it for this video because I planned to use no other location audio except for the carbine sequence.

The "shuddering" effect is strongest when the bullet path was closest to the camera. Even with some distance from the muzzle to the camera (as when I advanced) the effect was most pronounced when the shot path was closest. As I mentioned to Kevin above, the .223 carbine round is a high velocity round
and I feel that is a factor in the camera response.

Bruce,

I'm no gun-nut, but I would have really enjoyed a slow-paced, tightly framed, well miked, 3-minute piece on just prepping, loading and shooting that gun.

Tough thing to do by yourself though.

Still a good job though. My son loved it... Couldn't believe it when I told him the gun was real, and that you were shooting live rounds. He was dissapointed though when I had to break it to him that we're not allowed them in Canada.

Bruce,

can't add anything critically, kind of reminded me of close courters assult training back in my Marine days!!

I chuckled when you were shooting with the camera to the front. I wouldn't be standing there, cameraman or not the footage would have looked the same!! I liked it. Don't ever do that with a 300 mag, or a 50 browning! I suspect the shock could rattle the camera for sure, eh?

How far back was the camera??

Bruce, you have an interesting video. And it is great to see when someone is doing something different than what we (the audience) expect.
So I liked what you did.

Maybe you could have made a little better story out of it, but all in all, a good video.

Very nice images, as usual, Bruce—rich and pretty. This is the first time I’ve seen video with the camera in front of the shooter, which made it more interesting to me. Almost seemed a tad risky there, dude, but you know what you’re doing. :)

My son has an AR15 and I’ve taped him shooting, plus I've shot some video of a .50. Like your current camera, the XL1s doesn’t have a problem with recording the audio, which always impresses me. One question: seems every time I’ve taped rifles there’s muzzle flash, so I was kind of surprised when I didn’t see any on yours. Was it the angle?

One camera angle I really liked was that of the rebuilding site at Ft. Conch. At first glance it made me wonder what was going on with the architecture in the background, which looked very cool to me.

Back to the guns, I’ve been wanting to sign up for a tactical class but figure I should get more proficient with the basics first. Next time you guys have a match I wish you’d shoot a little video and post it for me. I’ve promised my friend/teacher that I’ll produce a video for them on this very thing one of these days, so I’d like to see what you do.

Hi Bruce:

I also watched your video without having read the comments. First, I thought it was great technical work being able to remotely film yourself in this way and always being in the field of view and with close ups as well. Wow!

I also think this is the kind of film that is a springboard for discussion of interpretation and meaning... which is not a bad thing! I thought you were drawing a line between shooting in war versus shooting as a recreation...

The music choice also steered me to draw some of these conclusions.

Interesting piece!

Cat Russell
Spike Productions

Hello Bruce:

Like many or the others I watched then read your post...So needless to say I was lost for a bit. I liked the crispness of the video, but I think you should hire a better actor hahahaha. Just kidding bro.

It was interesting to me when one realize that when I'm out with my camera I have a .270 on my back. Wouldn't dare step out of the cabins without it.

I enjoyed your film.

Brian

Actually, when I consider what you just said, I probably should have done just that. I make my own handgun training videos to hand out to my students, I just didn't consider doing that because it seemed too "instructional" and not recreational.
Well you probably can't have "so called" assault rifles, but I believe you're still able to own less military looking hunting rifles.

Thanks for your comments, the interchange of comments is one of the fun things about these challenges. Feels like getting to know some good folks better all the time.

Bruce Foreman

300 mag or 50 Browning shock wave might be more than that camcorder could take!!!

Camcorder was about 10 feet away. Bullet path of closest shots came within 24" of the camcorder.

I was definitely "floundering" for ideas and direction.

I've seen it done on "American Shooter", "Personal Defense TV", and "American Rifleman" on the outdoor channel. And they have the "Remote Camera" disclaimer when they do this. So I figured if they can get away with it, I can.

Muzzle flash has more to do with lighting conditions and powder type and amount in the cartridge. It's unburned powder exiting the muzzle if you see it in fair daylight. At dusk and at night anything gives a lot of muzzle flash. But many commercial rounds use powders designed to reduce it as much as possible.

The structure I was photographing is the beginning of restoration of another officers quarters like the other ones next to it. The black troopers ("Buffalo Soldiers") lived in barracks on the other side of the square while their white officers lived in family quarters. What you see in the background is a school playground. Elmer Kelton's book "The Wolf And The Buffalo" brought Ft. Concho alive for me and I need to produce a documentary on the fort and it's history.

San Angelo got it's start as a street of saloons and bawdy houses across the Concho River from the fort. Originally the name was Saint Angela. City still has a law on the books prohibiting "galloping your horse across the bridge" over the Concho River.

Send me an email with a mailing address. I'll send you the most recent version of the DVD I give my students. It's "rude 'n crude" (I'm about to start a total redo of it reflecting the latest things I've learned) and you have to bear in mind I ain't no young fast moving guy, but the things taught are mostly still valid and you will get some practice ideas.

And you will most likely get some real ideas of what you want to produce, just send me a copy of what you produce if you do it.

Hi, Cat. It did that. It's been interesting to see the discussions here. Had I stuck to my original intent to include voice narration, the idea of 2 types of shooting recreation would have been crystal clear.

Some folks who have known me for a few decades as a portrait and wedding photographer are surprised to run into me out at our local club range, then they come to understand. I enjoy both as recreation.

I'm ready to fire him!

Big hungry white bears wouldn't have anything to do with that, would they?

Thanks, Brian. I enjoyed yours (enjoying short sleeve shirt weather here)

Bruce....I really liked your video. Like so many others I was lost when I first watched it. That is not really unusual in my case though. I think the link could have been better formed between the 2 styles of shooting if you had used the truck scene to show the camera being put away and then the gun coming out.....just an opinion.

Thanks

Randy