Friday, July 30, 2010

Friday, July 30: intense.


Short short.
The rough to Anne is done! Celebration!!!
I spent 9 hours straight at the computer to do what I did today. 9 hours.

It felt exhilarating.

Can I do this for the rest of my life? I took a step in the right direction.

I'm on a parks Canada pub crawl, so this is short. Thank you thank you thank you for reading. I check my analytics and appreciate it so much more than you know.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:University Ave,Charlottetown,Canada

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Wednesday, July 28: Family reunited.

DADDY'S HOME DADDY'S HOME DADDY'S HOME DADDY'S HOME.
Excuse me, but in case you may not have noticed, my father is home and I might be mildly excited. He picked me up at my apartment. We grabbed a pop and sat at needs for almost 2 hours, just catching up on life. We could have talked longer, but it's a long drive back to Souris.

I asked him when he was starting the house, and he immediately answered "tomorrow morning. I got my new work boots". I love my father.

Today I edited like a mad woman. Yesterday I arrived home tired, listless and completely lethargic. Slowly, an idea developed in my mind. An idea for the Anne video strong enough to make me jump out of my chair and my catatonic state and run to the store for props. I came home and filmed a large sequence and edited it today. I hope it looks as good as I think it does, I really enjoy it.

Filming myself has been very bad and very good. It's good in that I'm getting used to seeing myself on camera. It's bad in that my camera is high definition. Hello, pimple on my chin that will form a week from Thursday.

It's totally bedtime. I have a LONG day tomorrow. I have to finish my filming in the AM and finish my editing in the PM. Fingers crossed for my sanity, folks.

Photo of the day: Anne of Duck's Landing.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Tuesday, July 27: Time's a' tickin'.

There are simply not enough hours in the day.
Today, I got to work and the plover monitors told me that there was a whale washed up on the Cavendish Campground beach. I've never seen a washed up whale before, so Ben and I hopped in the car I reserved and headed to Cavendish. This worked out swimmingly, as I had to go to the Lucy Maud National Historic Site afterwards to get some footage for one of my videos.

I was creeped out by a dead whale. Thank goodness I couldn't see it's eye; I think I would have fainted right there.

Filming with Ben is fun. Since he's a student photographer, he's really good to help me think of interesting camera angles for my video. Photography and videography are coming closer and closer.

When we got back to Dalvay, I ate lunch and went home to do a shoot for Anne that required the use of my kitchen table. Here's a little teaser for my newest video:

I haven't done any colour correction, when I do the split between the screens you won't notice a line.  I drank a lot of raspberry cordial today.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Monday, July 26: Life in a Day.

I'll first start out with what I look like 90% of my days now, since it's mainly editing time and I have a little more than a week to put together 3 complete videos.


Now, as completely enthralling it would be for me to start explaining to you how to go about editing a video without 1)punching your computer, 2)losing all of your hair, or 3)having short bouts of crazy (I haven't quite mastered this one yet myself), I think instead I'll answer the questions for Life in a Day.

Life in a Day is a youtube based project by director Kevin MacDonald with an intricate process towards a simple goal: document a day on earth. July 24, 2010, to be exact. Have as many people upload as much footage of their day as they can. The end result: A documentary with hopefully a wide and stunning representation of a million different cultures. Interesting, eh?

For this project, I recorded my day on Saturday, and had to answer 3 simple questions, which I will answer in more depth here in this tiny blog than I did to possibly millions of people.

WHAT DO YOU LOVE? 
I love my family. I love my friends, my job, my coffee. I love the love of my life. I love life cereal and when my sister intuitively knows I'm crying and calls me from halfway across the country. I love waking up to a 14 pound cat sitting on my chest purring. I love how raw my emotions can be and red sky's at night. I love blogging, making videos, editing, and this job for pushing me to be more creative than I ever thought possible.

WHAT DO YOU FEAR?
Failure. I fear this Island swallowing me whole. I fear never truly doing what I want to do because of limitations I set for myself. I fear letting down the people that I love, and I fear I'm not what they want me to be. I fear that gutwrenching, world-rocking feeling when someone has gotten hurt or died; the feeling of longing for 5 minutes earlier, the complete mind jolt. I fear having to relive past experiences that only now are starting to come back to me in all of their complexities as flashes of memories. I fear remembering more than I want to.

WHAT'S IN YOUR POCKET/PURSE?
In my purse right now are 2 old bills that I paid but never cared enough to take them out. I've got half a pack of gum and a triangle rock I found at the beach last summer. My wallet, my change purse, my phone. Usually a piece of tiger eye or chalcedony, but I gave it way so I'll have to replace it with another one from my collection. A morbidly designed notebook and a pen, too much small change.

There. With this, I'm going back to editing a video about kiteboarding. Good night.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Sunday, July 25: What a weekend.

Today we got up and beat the rain before we got soaked at the campsite, so we were at Bakin' Donuts at 9:30 am for some greasy breakfast. Jacob and I had to drive to Souris to pick up a few things I need for filming/my trip in a few weeks (a whole blog post on that to come!). I didn't go visiting or anything; I was exhausted from a huge week and a full weekend. I even took a nap. I don't recall the last time I've napped.

Tomorrow: Anne, you're going down.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Saturday, July 24: camping.

Camping in Cabot park in malpeque! Reception sucks, here's a quick post to say hi and say that I live in the most beautiful place in the world.
Back at it tomorrow, but for now I'm enjoying filming for fun again.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:King St,Lot 18,Canada

Friday, July 23, 2010

Friday, july 24: CASINO NIGHT!

I think I've shed light on exactly how much luck the Robertson's have. In case you missed the memo, I believe the running total is none.

Well, I sure proved myself a Robertson tonight at the casino!

Tonight Jacob and I went to the Gahan house and couldn't decide what to do afterwards. We called our besties Emile and Krista and together, the 4 of us were stumped. We ended up going to 4 dives before finally deciding to blow 10 (which turned into 20) bucks on the casino.

It was SO MUCH FUN.

This ia a prime example of a one-armed bandit. When I was a kid I used to watch an infomercial on how to beat the one-armed bandit. Ever since then, I've wanted to pull the lever. I guess I should have bought the DVD.

Sure, I lost my money, and managed to lose 10 bucks on 2 cent slots in about 3 minutes, but that's ok! It was only the second time I've ever casino gambled, and it was a fun "once very 5 years" thing.

Jacob gambled as long as the rest of us but only lost 40 cents. He was definitely the big winner.





I felt like I was in Vegas. Yes that's very small town to say, but it did. I had a great night. Camping tomorrow!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Thursday, July 22: I can do it.

Can I finish 2 videos by the end of next week? Yes.
Will they be very, very rough? Yes.
Will I get all 3 good copies done before the 6th of August? Yes.

Today I kept having waves of I CAN'T DO THIS IT'S TOO MUCH, then it would calm into a nice "No, this isn't just a test of creativity and skill; it's a test of patience and perseverance." I'm swamped because I chose topics that were either months to cover, or had to wait to be filmed.

I'll get through the 3 because I have to. I'm glad that I have to.
This may be a crash course in film, but it's the best damn thing I've ever done, and I've never felt more proud of myself.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Wednesday, July 21: I cried.

Yes yes, I haven't updated in a week. I've been working too hard. Does that matter now? NO. Why, you may ask?
 I uploaded the rough version of my plover video for my peers and mentors to review and give back (hopefully) constructive criticism. I was extremely nervous to upload anything; I'm not a film student. I've been flying so far on a wing (plover joke, ba-dum-pshhh) and a prayer.

Well, after a lot of very positive responses from peers and mentors alike, Craig Colby responded. Craig's the producer of Oasis HD, a brutally honest guy and perhaps who I wanted to impress most. Here's a screen shot from the chat window on our social networking site where we upload our videos.


I'll keep this screenshot and look back to it when I feel like I'm not good enough. I'll remember it when it's 1 am and I'm still editing a video. I'll treasure it and refer to it when I think I can't.
So thanks, Craig.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Thursday, July 15: Directions.

Instead of talking about editing since my video is due very soon, instead I'm going to take this opportunity to give Sean and Amy direction's to Jacob's Parent's house. The rest of you may stop reading now, knowing that the rest of the post will have little to interest you.

Dear Sean and Amy,
Thank you for agreeing to come camping this weekend. Since Sean expressed his lack of talent in simple navigation, I give you the way to Jacob's house, in just a few simple steps.

Step 1: Leave your house. 
Don't forget your keys. Don't talk to the guys next door.

Step 2: Get out of town. 
I've drawn you a quick map to show the main route. Please be reminded it is construction season.


Look for the PEI landmark of this road; the KFC.

Step 3: Drive until you can't drive straight no mo'. 
This is also known as the turn at St. Peters. Now, listen carefully: Hang a left across the bridge, then a right after the bridge. I'll draw it out for you. Don't swerve your car to match my poorly drawn line; that'll likely result in death and then NOBODY would enjoy camping.

Step 4: Drive until you reach the Souris Bridge. 
You can tell it's the Souris bridge because the town of Souris will be within your view beyond it. If you're still unsure, here's a picture.

Step 5: Turn left on Beach Ave, and arrive at destination.
It's the first house actually on Beach Avenue. The camper doesn't count.

There you have it. In just a few simple steps, you've navigated your way to a great weekend. If you can't find it now, Lord help you both.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Wednesday, July 14: Definitions.

Some definitions to help you all understand how I'm feeling these days, followed by explanation of how every example relates to my life. 


Main Entry: 1busy 
Pronunciation: \ˈbi-zē\
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): busi·erbusi·est
Etymology: Middle English bisy, from Old English bisig; akin to Middle Dutch & Middle Low German besich busy
Date: before 12th century
1 a : engaged in action : occupied b : being in use 
2 : full of activity : bustling 
3 : foolishly or intrusively active : 
meddling
4 : full of distracting detail 


Yes, I'm engaged in a lot of action these days. My plover rough cut is due Friday and I'm not done filming until Thursday afternoon.
I'm also very full of activity, editing. 
I'm foolishly thinking about work all of the time and it's intrusively meddling in my everyday life. 
MY LIFE IS DISTRACTING DETAIL. Unless referring to design. Then it's simple and clean.

Main Entry: 1pres·sure 
Pronunciation: \ˈpre-shər\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Late Latinpressura, from Latin, action of pressing, pressure, from pressus, past participle of premere
Date: 14th century

1 a : the burden of physical or mental distress b : the constraint of circumstance : the weight of social or economic imposition
2 : the application of force to something by something else in direct contact with it : compression
3 archaic : impressionstamp
4 a : the action of a force against an opposing force b : the force or thrust exerted over a surface divided by its area c : electromotive force
5 : the stress or urgency of matters demanding attention : exigency 
6 : the force of selection that results from one or more agents and tends to reduce a population of organisms  
7 : the pressure exerted in every direction by the weight of the atmosphere
8 : a sensation aroused by moderate compression of a body part or surface


I'm definitely feeling mental distess. I'm feeling the constraints of MY ROUGH CUTS ARE DUE VERY SOON, which is the circumstance driving my brain to work. This pressure is applying force to me; the pressure is mainly external and I know that if things go horribly, terribly wrong, I'll be OK and be able to work it out. I have a lot of things demanding my attention, thank goodness I work well under pressure. I'm finding it hard for #6 to apply to me, but my plovers feel predation pressure! #8 doesn't make much sense in the current context either. 



Main Entry: thrill 
Pronunciation: \ˈthril\
Function: verb
Etymology: Middle English thirlen, thrillen to pierce, from Old English thyrlian, from thyrel hole, from thurh through — more atthrough
Date: 1592
transitive verb1 a : to cause to experience a sudden sharp feeling of excitement ed him> b : to cause to have a shivering or tingling sensation
2 : to cause to vibrate or tremble perceptiblyintransitive verb1 : to move or pass so as to cause a sudden wave of emotion
2 : to become thrilled: a : to experience a sudden sharp excitement b :tinglethrob 

Every time I think about what I've done and what I will be doing this summer, I feel a sudden, sharp feeling of excitement and have a shivering or tingling sensation. Once and awhile, when I think about the Torngats, I feel like I'm vibrating with the excitement of it all. I definitely feel the sudden wave of emotion; the kind that starts up your spine and works its way into the back of your neck to nestle there and remind you of why you're feeling the emotion. My belly tingles when I think about the feeling of having movies that I created up on youtube. 


There you have it. How I'm feeling, in a nutshell. It's hard to blog when my brain won't turn into blog mode and off editing mode. Sorry for the boldedness. Ugly, but effective to separate thought from dictionary.


Monday, July 12, 2010

Monday, July 12: AAAAHHH

When my sister got tickets to Regis and Kelly in general seating, we were on cloud 9. Robertsons are notorious for their bad luck, after all. I do recall Chrissy getting hit by a car being driven by a fellow classmate on the UPEI campus, Kim getting attacked by caged wild turkeys, and my dorm windows blowing in during Hurricane Juan and ruining all of my photos from grade 12/first year university.

Then, Frances held a twitter contest for VIP tickets. Name the location in the picture she tweeted, and win VIP tickets. "Nai!" said I, already defeated before I even tried, "I cannot be eligible, for it's a picture in the National Park and I work in said park!".

"Aye!" says Frances, "Ye be allowed if yarr the fastest tweeter in the land and tell me where the picture is!". Frances is apparently a pirate, I don't know if you knew that.

So, channelling my grade 10 typing teacher, I typed out those 2 winning words as fast as I could: Green Gables. Light smoke came from between the keys from the sheer speed of me.

Thank you, extensive visits to Green Gables for Anne. 

I held my breath. Surely, I wasn't the first. I COULDN'T get the VIP tickets. OH, BUT I DID.

When I told Chrissy, I thought she was going to pass out. There was about 5 seconds of eyebrows up to hairline, beachball eyes, mouth O'd like an old Garfield cartoon, fingers hyper-extended past her palms. She didn't say a word. I don't even think she started to breathe until a good 10 seconds later. I wish I could have taken a photo of that look and shown it to Frances, because only then would she know how truely happy she made us both. Frances is right: It's a round world. Good Karma will come her way for making us and @AprilEnnis so happy.

So thanks Frances, I can't wait to hang with you tomorrow in VIP!

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Saturday, July 10: animal sitting.




There's not too much to say about today, besides that I broke my all-time sleeping record. I went to bed at 11:45, and woke up at 11:45. I've been burning the candle at both ends and it is starting to show. Today I took it easy.

I'm currently at my friends Kyle and stephanie's house, cuddling with their cat and watching their bunny run around and have a grand time.

Photo of the day: animals. Oh, how I love animals.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Friday, July 9, 2010

Friday, July 9: Great summer, or the greatest summer?

I'm having the best day.
I actually did write out a post for yesterday, but I didn't press publish. I only realized this right now, so I deleted it. It wasn't that interesting anyways, and today trumps yesterday.

I've been going to Green Gables early in the morning for the last few days to shoot inside the house when nobody is around. The staff at Green Gables have been fabulous with letting me take up vast quantities of their time, move props, hold my bounce, etc. One even gave me a very long interview that's going to be gold for my Anne piece.

This morning as I was finishing up filming at Green Gables, I got a call from David of PEI Kiteboarding, asking if today was a good day to shoot for me. FINALLY! I GOT TO SHOOT KITEBOARDERS!

Let me tell ya, they make my job easy. David even soared over my head and gave me the most spectacular shot of water dripping off the board as I followed his arc. Amazing. I can only imagine the freedom they feel when the kite picks them up and the wind sails them through the air. It's the feeling that makes me continue to ride roller coasters and challenge heights; that skin-prickling kick of adrenalin that so many are thirsty for.

It was an extremely windy day, gusts pushing past 30 knots, so there were only 2 kiteboarders willing to brave it. Unfortunately, one of them got hurt in the process, and the day ended after about 10 minutes of footage. I'm OK with that; I'll go out again and it's all gold footage. The kiteboarder wasn't seriously injured.

You know you've been thinking about film too long when someone crashes and as you wade over to see if they're ok, somewhere an evil part of your brain is checking that you are still recording. Now I know how paparazzi get so annoying; it comes with experience and the thirst for the shot.

After my awesome morning, I went back to Dalvay to check out the footage and charge the batteries, then headed back to town to do one more shoot before work was over. Nothing could ever trump the morning though.

Photo of the day: a picture of my screen. A preview of some of the shots that I acquired (with no risk to the camera, don't worry guys!) that really made me feel like a professional. Subject matter is everything.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Wednesday, July 7: OMG SUN

Today was super hot and sunny! It's the first day I've been able to go out and shoot in awhile, and I was extremely eager. So when one of the plover monitors told me she was working on the flight pen for the plovers coming from the Moncton Zoo, I was all over it.

I took some very nice shots and did a time lapse while I helped Jessie sew mesh fencing together. I tried to get as involved as I possibly could without annoying/embarrassing the plover monitor to death; she's been so so nice to let me film her all summer. Watching trailers from other videographer's videos is helping me a lot. I'm trying to become more involved in my subjects, and since plovers are quick little buggers it's best to stay away from, that means monitors.

I got a sunburn on my left arm and my left arm only! Talent, my friends. Sheer talent. In the afternoon we had a conference call and I was asked to do more design work. I don't know if I'll have the time to do too much more, I've got so much on my plate right now it's ridiculous. I'll help everyone out as best as I can though.

Here's a few photos from the glorious day.
Mitchell Buchanan would be proud of this time lapse.

JELLYFISH MASSACRE!

We have the purdiest roads.

For my shoot this weekend for a Parks Canada vid. You've gotta trust me.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Tuesday, July 6: Rain rain, go away.

Come again another day when I have more stuff to edit and work on than shoot. Thanks.

After work day, I went to see Eclipse with a friend of mine. Now, I'm not a Twi-hard by any means, but having read the series, I enjoyed it enough to expect some thrill from the movie on half price night at the local cinema. Well, that was wrong.

Because this job has ruined/heightened my movie-going experience, and in Twilight: Eclipse's case, it ruined it. 


I don't go to school for film, and I don't claim to know everything. I do know that shots that look hand-held make me feel nauseated and when sound editing goes bad, it's very, very noticeable. Don't even get me started on the story line. Less talk, more action for the next one, OK?

I DID get a really cool angle that I'm going to steal from Twilight though, so it was worth the price of admission.

Photo of the day: that darn hilarious cat being darn hilarious again. Seriously, is this not amazingly funny to anyone else?

Monday, July 5, 2010

Monday, July 5: I'll see them LIVE.

My sister scored tickets to LIVE with Regis and Kelly for next Tuesday! I'm super excited. I wonder what kind of camera they use? I can't wait to watch the crew in action!

Oh, and seeing Regis and Kelly will be cool too.

I'm super pumped that my beautifull, intelligent, witty sister gave me her other ticket so we can go together. Here's a picture of us looking excited/slightly blue!


I still can't believe she got them. Thousands and thousands of people tried for them.

Today I drove to Greenwich to record a reference video for a company that's going to be updating their video. I AM THE WIND. AND I AM THE SEA. was played to me 4 times. However, I can now tell you an awful lot about the history of the area! The rest of the day was spent organizing interviews and times that I can film at various locations and talking to kiteboarders about how much heads up I can actually get on whether or not they're going out (about 12 hours). It'll make a great video though!

Tomorrow is more Anne filming!

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Sunday, July 4: Melting like a popsicle on the fourth of July.

It's so hot in this apartment. I'm keeping this short and sweet so I can go back to laying on my bed in my skivvies surrounded by fans.

I had a meeting with 5 of my 6 bridesmaids tonight and they collectively chose a dress! That's a load off my mind. I'd post a pic, but this is the wrong blog for that talk, and herein lies my problem: What do I do when this job is over? I kind of like blogging on a regular basis. Should I merge the 2 blogs? Should I just change the name of this one to something else and continue? Canada's greatest fall semester doesn't exactly have the same ring to it... I'll figure it out I suppose.

The anticipation of where I might be living in 2 months is killing me. Will I be in Halifax, Fredericton or Charlottetown? I wish schools didn't take so long to get back to me.

No photos today! That's what happens when you DON'T LEAVE YOUR APARTMENT.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Saturday, July 3: Lists.

Since the greater part of today was spent cleaning and blowing up vacuum cleaners (RIP 25 year old Electrolux. RIP.), I've decided to do something a little different today.

So, I give you, in no particular order, the 


Top ten things I wish I knew when I was in high school that I know now. 

 1. Narwhals are real, and they're magnificent.

2. "Tomboy" is not a fashion statement. You'll look back at your choices, slap your forehead and vow to burn every picture of you in shirts vaguely resembling your parks uniform. 

3. Though I feel eternally grateful I never found them to buy them, STOP WANTING JNCO JEANS AND DON'T TELL EVERYBODY YOU WANT THEM.




4. Whatever it is, don't worry about it. It probably won't matter in a few months, let alone a few years. Math finals will disappear from memories, teenage tiffs will resolve and that boy you like won't remember the time you fell up the stairs at graduation. 

5. Do not avoid problems. Do not avoid situations because they're hard and they hurt. When everything's said and done, you'll really really regret not facing your fears and being there. Suck it up and deal with it. 

6. Family is absolutely the best asset you have. Use it. 

7. When you hear a weird scraping noise coming from the engine of your car, don't try to make it home. It's likely a leak in the oil pan, and it will mean the death of your baby. Maybe read a car manual or something. 

8. Chrissy says hi. This is not something I wish I knew earlier, because she has told me to say hi to people in the past, BUT it seems relevant right now.

9. Do not get second degree burns on your back. Please listen to Bachman and wear sunscreen, because when you're 24, you'll STILL have burn marks from high school bathing suits on your back.

10. STUDY. Guess what? The future actually does depend on your high school marks. Pay attention, do everything on time and get extra help. 

There you go! 

Friday, July 2, 2010

Friday, July 2: I forgot.

I thought I blogged on Wednesday, but apparently I didn't. I knew I wasn't going to be able to yesterday.

It was Canada's birthday. It was a perfect blue sky day. I was hanging out with friends, eating bbq, drinking beer and playing washoos. To take time out of my day to blog from my iPhone would be to insult the very day that was provided to me.

I participated in the Rustico Canada Day Parade in the morning and had so much fun! It was my first ever experience dressing up as Anne. All these years of avoidance, and I come to realize that it's extremely fun to look like a fictional character. I won a potato sack race, danced around and handed out tattoos and pins. I also got myself a tanne from the costume(see what I did there?)!

Afterwards, I headed to the infamous camp Misty. Camp Misty is put on by a lady who opens up her yard for camping, her bbq for use and her home for peeing all day and night every Canada Day. I am so happy I went; I had so much fun hanging out with my friends, doing mini photo shoots and poking people taking afternoon naps. At the appropriate time, we went down to Norman Peter's boat and participated in the boat parade!

Unfortunate event on the boat: It was apparently freshly painted, and I leaned against something and when I stood back up, I had white paint on the arm of my new HH black shell jacket. I was a little upset, but I'll talk to Doreen tomorrow. Moms always know how to get that stuff out.

Here's a few pictures I snapped with my iPhone. I've also come to the conclusion that Canada Day may be more fun than my birthday, and slightly less fun than Christmas.

We're on a boat. Notice the new paint job on my jacket.

The legendary Norman Peters.

My favorite picture of myself ever. I love being friends with photographers. Care of Haley!