Rachael Schroeder's Blog

Happy New Year! Documentary Assistant Wanted!

rachaellschroeder@gmail.com — 2011-01-02T00:04:40-06:00

Hello dear readers!

Happy New year to everyone!

Finally!
This year is going to be a great year for me, I just purchased a new camera to replace one that was stolen several months ago. It is a Sony Z5U which is a MiniDV professional camera. I haven’t used a Z5U before, only its younger sibling the Z1U and I am very excited to see all the improvements made with this model.

One of the reasons I chose this camera is because I could not decide whether to buy a MiniDV camera or a compact flash/memory card camera. Tape is where I am comfortable because I know that if everything else breaks, the footage will still be on the tape. Memory cards is where the future of filming is going because the quality is better and you don’t need to carry 80 million tapes with you--however it makes me nervous to put all my faith in a memory card that can and WILL fail at the worst moment possible. In the end, this camera is more cost efficient (tapes cost less that memory cards so I can buy more of them) and I am not quite comfortable putting my trust in memory cards. However, when I am ready to make the switch, instead of buying a new camera, Sony makes an add-on kit so that I can record on to compact flash and tape at the same time.

Production Assistant Wanted!
With the purchase of a new camera, I can begin creating documentary projects on my own. I will be looking for a production assistant if anyone is interested in the job. Paid in experience with filming and editing and a few lunches with me :) No experience required.
Job Duties:
filming
editing
carrying stuff
making sure I don’t fall over while filming
communicating with the Doc subjects
etc. etc.

Skills Required:
willingness to learn
dedication
friendly and professional demeanor towards others

If you are interested please contact me here

I will be brainstorming documentaries for the next week or so--If any one has an idea to share feel free to comment here about it. I would love to hear your ideas.

Schroeder Films Anniversary!

Also, this week marks the first anniversary of my website! This website has been a blessing for me and I want to thank all of my reader and everyone who has helped me set this site up. Thanks to Dad and Gerald for being my tech support and creative team when I need the help!

Future Photo Shoot

rachaellschroeder@gmail.com — 2010-12-14T22:03:06-06:00

Hello Readers!

I know its early but I am already excited about my photo shoot with my good friend Whitnie in April. Whitnie is graduating from the University of Texas and she asked me to do her graduation photos! I am excited because I know I should start planning out where we are going to shoot and if we are going to do studio portraits too.
Things to discuss:
date and time
location(s)
studio portraits?
Gown or no gown?

Things to pack:
tripod (buy a photo head for my tripod!)(if i can afford it)
camera (duh)
flash
extra camera battery
extra flash batteries
a chair (for my model)
Backdrop for portraits
colored gels
light kit (that I need to build)
50mm lens
extension cord
button release cord
reflector bounce board

I think thats everything...I hope I haven’t forgotten anything.

I am very excited!

I try to post a picture in every post so here is a picture of myself (right) and Whitnie (left)!

(obviously its a few years old--but we are still beautiful!) :P

Photography: Model Wanted!

rachaellschroeder@gmail.com — 2010-12-06T21:27:47-06:00

Hello Readers!
I am interested in expanding my experience as a photographer. I am looking for anyone who is interested in being a model for me during the Christmas break. I would like to do some studio work--with lights and a backdrop in order to get a feel for the studio style photography.

I have a special blog for my iPhone Photos. I use it as a chronicling of my life. www.rachaeliphone.blogspot.com
Those photos are more artsy but I love the blog and all the photos in it.

Here is the newest self portrait I have created. I know I look a little ragged--but I am recovering from some minor surgery. However, this photo was one of 20 that I took and it's the only one I was really drawn to. My head was cut off in the original, but I balanced it out by trimming off the bottom to make it into a banner style. I also toned down the reds because my face was very rosy in the original. This photo was shot with a Cannon Rebel XS with the factory lens and an external flash. Once my hand heals more, I will be taking my camera out of the house and into the city to work on more self portraits as a way to gain experience.

Note to self: Buy/Make a light kit

One last thing, I started an ETSY account to sell my photos! Seller name: rlschroeder16. If there is a specific photo on my website you would like to purchase, please feel free to contact me. Most of my photographs are for sale. :)

Anyone who wants to be a model, contact me here

Inspirations

rachaellschroeder@gmail.com — 2010-10-16T22:27:52-05:00

Hello Readers,

I recently graduated from UT after 4 years with a degree in Radio Television and Film. I have not found a job yet so I have been spending a lot of time at home watching Netflix. I have had the opportunity to to quadruple the amount of documentaries I have seen with this wonderful program and I want to share with you the films which stood out to me the most.

This film is called War Dance

This film is about children in Uganda who have suffered the wrath of the rebels in their country. Some have lost parents and others siblings. The film focuses on a dance competition that the primary schools compete in and the filmmakers show it as a way that these children heal and move on with their lives.

What I really enjoyed about this film was how the country and the children were portrayed. They were not shown as “poor African children who will always be in a rut”, they were shown as children who had experienced pain but were finding a way to cope and learning how to succeed in life.

The film was beautifully shot and the music was phenomenal. If I every had to opportunity to film something like this, I would jump at the opportunity. Great job filmmakers!!

Final Assignment: COMPLETE

rachaellschroeder@gmail.com — 2010-07-09T15:39:37-05:00

The project is complete! It was actually a lot easier to make than I thought it would be. Guess i learned a lot :). I had some troubles with spelling at one point (my boyfriend had to correct “Amo” to “Ammo” and then I had to re-render) I also had some troubles with the Grid on my particle layer. Somehow it was turned on so that it exported with my project so I had to search out the problem. Also I had troubles with the door I chose so I decided to use the one that was there.

The particle worked much better this time in comparison with the Particles Assignment where I moved the whole layer instead of the position of the particle. Overall I just really enjoyed making it and utilizing all the assignments we worked on in class.
Some of the assignments I used were:
Photoshop Masks
Particles
Text
Sound
3D

Here’s the final product!

Final Assignment from Rachael Schroeder on Vimeo.

Final Assignment: Day Four

rachaellschroeder@gmail.com — 2010-07-08T21:45:32-05:00

Very busy day. All I got done was the arms and I picked out a door. The project will be complete tomorrow to turn in Sunday!

Final Assignment: Day Three

rachaellschroeder@gmail.com — 2010-07-07T22:58:27-05:00

Today I animated the camera movements and timed the pauses, starts, and stops. Then I added in the coin and made sure the scale matched. Finally I created an exploding particle and matched it with the coin.
Tomorrow I need to add in the arms and the door and since the project is not due till Sunday, I will will create the STATS info on Friday.

Final Assignment: Day Two

rachaellschroeder@gmail.com — 2010-07-07T22:53:32-05:00

This post was supposed to be for Tuesday, sadly I forgot to post. Yesterday all I really did was pick out the images I was going to use in my project. I lost my original vanishing point file for my hallway so i re did it as well. I also masked out the images I was planning to use.
Here is the coin I found to use as a target.

Here are the hands. The first one will be for walking, and the second is what it will look like when it flashes.

Final Assignment: Proposal

rachaellschroeder@gmail.com — 2010-07-05T21:27:16-05:00

For this assignment I would like to create my own scene from an imaginary video game. It will be a first-person shooter so we will only see the characters arms. The character will walk down a hall and spot a glowing object of some kind. The character then shoots the object and it explodes and then the door at the end of the hall opens, allowing the character to leave. I will most likely add video game icons to the screes as well such as: Ammo and weapon info and health status and radar. I don’t expect this project to go over a minute.

images and tasks I will need to find/complete:
Hallway (will probably use the one from my 3D assignment) convert to 3D
First person shooter Arms
Create glowing orb and explosion
Create a projectile to hit the orb
Create or find the STATS for the video game style (radar, health, ammo)
Animate the door opening
Sound effects (this is the easy part!)
Background music?

Schedule:
Tuesday: Import 3D hallway and start laying out the camera movements and lighting
Wednesday: create glowing orb and explosion, animate door
Thursday: Animate/Find STATS and incorporate them
Friday: add in arms and weapon/weapon fire
Saturday: sound effects and music

Assignment: Motion Tracking and Chroma Key

rachaellschroeder@gmail.com — 2010-07-04T16:06:59-05:00

This was a fun assignment. I used the chroma key to change the background and crop out bits. Then I used the motion tracking tool to track the wand and then added a particle to the wand so it blew purple sparks. :)

Assignment: Chroma Key and Motion Tracking from Rachael Schroeder on Vimeo.

Assignment: Mask, Mattes, ect

rachaellschroeder@gmail.com — 2010-07-04T16:03:53-05:00

For this assignment I created the two circles as a matte and the animated them separately and added in a feathered mask.

Assignment: MASK from Rachael Schroeder on Vimeo.

Assignment: 3D

rachaellschroeder@gmail.com — 2010-06-28T20:50:39-05:00

Here is my 3D assignment. I used a vanishing point effect to create a 3D hallway. Then I dollied the camera through the hallway and created a blue ambient light to give it that erie feeling. The heart beat was just for fun :)

Assignment: 3D from Rachael Schroeder on Vimeo.

Boggy Creek Farm

rachaellschroeder@gmail.com — 2010-06-20T17:37:39-05:00

As you may know, I have started a new urban farm film about Boggy Creek last week. Saturday I went to their Farm Stand and it was incredible! So many tables full of vegetables and so many people! I had a great time filming and meeting people and listening to the great live music. I got tons of footage and my arms are SO sore from hold that camera all morning. It was totally worth it.
I stopped by Springdale Farm on my way home to say "Hi” and they seem to be doing great. I really like Springdale Farm. They are a great business and great people.

Assignment Particles

rachaellschroeder@gmail.com — 2010-06-20T17:35:51-05:00

This assignment was fun mainly because I gave my cat evil sparkling eyes :) I made the particles opaque so that you could still see the roundness of the eyes.

Assignment: PARTICLES from Rachael Schroeder on Vimeo.

Assignment TEXT

rachaellschroeder@gmail.com — 2010-06-20T17:32:54-05:00

This assignment was about creating and animating text. I started with the paperclip effect and modified it from there to fit my artistic needs.

Assignment: TEXT from Rachael Schroeder on Vimeo.

Assignment 4

rachaellschroeder@gmail.com — 2010-06-14T15:55:39-05:00

Assignment 4 from Rachael Schroeder on Vimeo.

This one was a challenge because I was not in class this day so I had to learn it on my own. Parenting was easy but I had trouble with the time effects. The ship didn’t come out exactly as i wanted but it still looks neato :)

Assignment 3

rachaellschroeder@gmail.com — 2010-06-14T11:20:29-05:00

Here is assignment 3. I will add in details later about what I did. right now I’m in a hurry :)

Assignment 3 from Rachael Schroeder on Vimeo.

Photoshop Assignment

rachaellschroeder@gmail.com — 2010-06-09T19:34:41-05:00

Here is the Photoshop assignment for class. I used a mask to add in the new background and I fiddled with the colors and highlights and shadows as well to make the foreground picture look more like nighttime. I smudged the edges of the grass to help it blend better and i think it came out really well.
here are the original pictures:

Springdale Farm

rachaellschroeder@gmail.com — 2010-06-08T12:15:35-05:00

I am currently working on a long term project about urban farming with a good friend of mine Juan Elizondo. Here is the first farm on our list--Springdale farm. This is a great farm in the middle of East Austin, TX. Paula and Glen Foore, the owners or Texas Tree and Landscape, created Springdale Farm in 2009 in order to create organic and pesticide free produce for themselves, their employees and their community. The Foores are dealing with the trials of farming, such as bad harvests and the short life expectancies of organic produce, and learning how to create a successful farm and see it grow. Produced by Juan Elizondo, Michelle Mejia and Rachael Schroeder

Feeding Austin from Rachael Schroeder on Vimeo.

About Rachael

rachaellschroeder@gmail.com — 2010-06-07T13:26:19-05:00

Hi I’m Rachael Schroeder and I am a documentary filmmaker.

Thats me and my Dad--one of the biggest influences in my artistic endeavors. here is a link to his website
I am currently a student at the University of Texas at Austin with an expected graduation date of July 2010. Besides filmmaking my hobbies include video games, Star Trek and photography. I love to make documentaries that highlight interesting people and interesting lifestyles. For example, I am currently working on a documentary about urbanized farming in East Austin and the ups and downs of that world. I also love to watch documentaries--one of my favorites is Food Inc. because of the mixture of real-life footage and animation used to tell the story. Since this blog is attached to my website, feel free too look around at my films. Some a few of my favorites are:

Austin Speed Shop:

Austin Speed Shop from Rachael Schroeder on Vimeo.

Jessica’s Runway Debut

Jessica's Runway Debut from Rachael Schroeder on Vimeo.

A portion of my urban farm film will be uploaded soon :)

Oh! and here is my Resume

Unfortunately in order to activate comments on my blog I would need to pay for a comments service, so until then all comments can be directed to my email here at Rachael@rlschroeder.com