Reconte Moi Une Histoire

I don't speak french as well as I used to back when I was required to take the class in elementary school. However, I do know how to use google translate like a wizard. Reconte Moi Une Histoire means Tell Me A Story.
A while back I wrote a post called Frogs, Solos and Silver Ratings. In it, I mentioned this project. It's been a really long time but the opening and ending title sequences took forever for the guy I asked to help me with it. Apparently it was more work than I anticipated plus he had computer problems.

The project is a stop motion animation to a song by M83 (one of my all time favourite bands in case you didn't know). In it, a little girl tells a story about a magical frog and I had that story come to life.
The preproduction took way more time than I had planned and we finished filming late into the night (or should I say early into the morning?) making it the most tiring shoot I've ever done. That being said, it was totally worth it! :)

So without further ado, I present to you Reconte Moi Une Histoire ^_^

Working on this video, I was hit hard in the face with the feeling of being over ambitious. Considering the timing of when I decided to take it on paired with the courses I was enrolled in that semester and of course the ever-daunting procrastination, there was no doubt I felt stressed.

When I was younger, being overambitious wasn't a term in my guide to live life. Probably because I didn't have much standing in my way. Now though, I have to schedule myself and prioritize things that are important or required above things I 'want' to do.
This summer, my schedule has been pretty relaxed and I've gotten a ton of writing, filmmaking and photography done. Now that school is just around the corner though, I've got to push my hobbies aside to make room for studying and homework.

More projects like this will still come around though and I'm not about to slack off on my writing because one: I enjoy them and will do a lot to make sure I can keep enjoying them, and two: if I don't express myself creatively, I'll go insane ^ ^

Thanks to everyone who made Reconte Moi Une Histoire possible. You're all superheroes for your efforts :) 

Frogs, Solos and Silver Ratings

I've been MIA for awhile now and I apologize for that but a lot has happened in the past month that's kept me occupied and away from blogging. Since a lot of the things are noteworthy, I thought I'd do a post on some of them.

Me (left) and my friend/model/actor
 after the music video was completed.

1) Frogs

After much procrastination, I finally finished the sets and the filming for a music video I'm doing for a Digital Multimedia class in school. After at least 72 hours of hot gluing, cutting cardboard, drawing flowers and frogs on poster board and struggling to make clouds out of cotton, I finished my props and sets...the same day that I started filming. It took seven hours to shoot everything but I'm incredibly pleased with how it turned out.
When I get a finished rendered copy of the film, I'll be sure to post it with a little more detail about the project.

2) Silver Ratings 
My high school choir took a tour to the west coast of Canada to Richmond Vancouver for the national competition. We traveled by bus, 14 hours there and 14 hours back with both the junior high concert band and the high school concert band. We made stops at schools and the provincial competition for the concert bands along the way. I'm so proud of both concert bands for getting Superior (the highest you can get) ratings at the festival! They were great performances to listen to.
Going to Vancouver meant sight seeing. We traveled up to Grouse Mountain, hung out in Stanley Park, and had a day at the beach. The memories I made with some of my best friends will stay in my mind forever.

A photo of Vancouver taken by
a member of the choir and high school 
concert band, Andrew Schroeder.

Near the end of our trip, the choir sang. We had the privilege of concluding the entire festival and it wasn't a disappointing performance! We sang Lux Aurumque (Light and Gold) by Eric Whitacre,  a Venezuelan percussive piece called Salseo by Oscar Galian, and a gospel piece, Shout Glory. For the record, our soloist was better than the one in the recording XD
The performance we gave was so much fun and we sang so well! We got a Silver rating which may not sound incredible but it's a huge accomplishment! Our Director said that he has a friend that's been going to this competition for 17 years and has only gotten Gold once. Not that I like boasting but for a second year choir to get a Silver: that's something to boast about!

3) Solos
Most recently, out Choir preformed at a jazz club. Since only a few of us could go, we were missing one of our soloists and so I was asked to fill in.
I was really excited and not nervous at all—until three bars before I sang my first note. I've never felt nerves like those ones! My entire stomach felt twisted and heavy inside me, my heart was beating and yet I was surprisingly calm. I do wish I could have shown a little more confidence in the way I sang but it certainly wasn't bad for my first solo in eight years.

Hopefully I can get back into a more regular writing schedule now that my crazy month is passed. If there's anything you'd like to have me write about post it in the comments below!