Today, I experimented with creating two of the sketches for project two (note: this post was published at a later date than when the content in the post is referring to). With little daylight left, a broken chain on my bike and the absence of anyone to assist in filming, I created the below two sketches.

Slow Motion

Skate videos often use slow motion to create an atmosphere or to draw attention to a complex manoeuvre. The type of slow motion that is consistently used in online skate videos is called a ramped slow motion, where the degree to which the playback time is altered is increased and decreased smoothly (think about a wave form to represent the playback curve). This technique creates a smooth transition into the slow motion and often produces a unique sound, symbolic of skate videos.

Film Burn

Transitions are one of the most important elements of skate videos and an extremely popular transition is the film burn. The film burn is a blur of red, yellow and white colour that wipe the frame, it was originated from the visuals of super 8mm film physically burning. It seems the use of the transition does not serve a narrative purpose. However due to it’s consistent prominence in skate videos for decades, it has become an expected aesthetic of skate video and therefor serves as an element of non-narrative, existing for artistic value. To explore this concept further, final sketches will experiment with different types of film burns and different uses.

Both sketches explore strictly technical elements and elements of which may refer to skate video in general rather than the specific case study. Whilst the film burn sketch will be expanded on for experimental purposes, the slow motion sketch is not as directly relevant to the case study and will most likely be removed. Meaning later planning for the remaining sketches will have to be more explorative of particular aspects of the case study from a more experimental and open-minded stand point.