Calling all future au pairs!

Okay this is for all of the girls who said they are interested in learning more about the wonderful life of an au pair. I think I am going to arrange a little picnic/meeting or something with a few of my friends this weekend to sneak in some interviews and I was wondering if you had any suggestions as to what I might ask them. Obviously I have a few ideas, but I'm not exactly positive what direction I want to take with the video. Since I've been here so long and know the whole thing inside and out, I'm scared I might leave out something that seems obvious to me...but you may be curious about. I just thought maybe a little outsiders perspective might help if you don't mind. Thanks a bunch!

My First Video!

Everyone did such a good job with their videos that it inspired/scared me into messing around with iMovie and see if I couldn't figure out how to make my own. This is actually more of a montage of every picture I have taken since arriving in Europe rather than a video...I don't really have enough footage to make a film yet. There is also the problem of the song, which is unfortunately copyrighted so I won't be able to use it in my final video. It's called Scenic World by Beirut and the label is Ba Da Bing Records, just to give appropriate credit. Hope you like it!

Tropos of Digital Photography

Ohh goodness...I definitely have my work cut out for me in terms of learning how to shoot video! I've been messing around with it a bit more this week (trying to shoot lots of b-roll footage) and it is tricky stuff! My camera was stolen earlier in the year so I had to get a new one that unfortunately isn't as good. Now if I could just remember where I put that manual...haha here is some of what I have gotten so far!

As you can see, my camera doesn't have the best zoom. I tried to start with a wide-angle shot to place the action, which takes place in front of the Invalides. Then I zoomed in to the rugby players and tried to follow the ball...however, I kind of failed at the end there. Maybe I'll just cut that part off haha. As for the tropos, my decision to take this shot was kind of in line with the last post I did about how the Parisians live right there among all the grand architecture and history. I don't know why this fascinates me so much, but I still can't get over it. For example, the little boy I look after has soccer practice on the Champs de Mars, which is the park underneath the Eiffel Tower! No big deal...Anyways, I'm not sure I will have the time to say anything about that in my video, so I want to show my viewers through images.

This next shot was taken to show the typical Parisian scene of couples walking along the quai's of the Seine. Sighhh...how romantic. I tried to leave space in front of the walkers for them to walk into and also applied the rule of thirds, showing a bit of the river to put the shot in context. At the end there, I followed the bridge across to the other side of the river, but I'm not sure I'll include that in the film because it's a little shaky. Next time maybe I'll also get a close up of a couple holding hands or something, but I'm thinking I might have to hire actors to get up close shots seeing as my zoom is so bad!

I will definitely explore the digital photography resources further to help improve my video quality but I have two major challenges I will have to overcome. First, I need to figure out how to hold the camera steady. It really does make SUCH a big difference! I'm not really sure how to go about getting a tripod for a tiny digital camera like mine plus I doubt I'll actually have it with me when I need it. I get most of my footage when I'm out and about...on the way to class, lunch, shopping, etc. Maybe I could just find something stationary to place it on? How is everybody else handling this? Secondly, I need to get over my fear of what people think about me filming them! A major part of these videos is just going to be showing people in their natural environment. I'm just always so scared somebody's going to yell at me, haha. I've seen it happen to other people and I get a little flustered when people start shouting in French. Ahh well, c'est la vie, I suppose!

Plans for My Final Projects

In the video portraying my cultural experience abroad, I am going to focus on the Parisian culture rather than the greater French culture. Of course the two will overlap, but after visiting other towns in France, I’ve found that there is something distinctively different about Paris. I think the urban atmosphere plays a large role in this. Just as Manhattan is different from the rest of New York. Of course its beauty and its history are not to be discounted either. I will try my best to capture the Parisian atmosphere as I have experienced it. I already have a shot list of about 40 different buildings/monuments to include in the video. This is going to be my hardest one to condense into five minutes because there is just so much to cover!

Since I have been working as an au pair for the past six months, I am planning on focusing on this in my professional video. You may not think this seems like a very "professional" job, but I actually have met people that are doing for a living (at least until they reach the legal age limit) and a cheap way to travel. There is a lot more to it than I ever imagined (going about getting our visas and social security, french laws protecting our rights, and so on) so I certainly would have enough to say. I also think it could be a good resource for students who are looking to take a gap year abroad. I’ve already asked some of my fellow au pair friends for some interviews and I think it could turn out very interesting and provide good insights for people contemplating the job.


For my third and final project, I have been toying with two ideas: immigration and the absurdly large amount of strikes they have in France. I haven’t decided yet because I am probably going to get into some immigration policies in my au pair video so I may have to see how that pans out first. But France has a big problem with its immigrants not assimilating into the population and the government changes its policy on this every time a new leader is elected to office. Quite confusing. The strikes, or greves as they call them here, are another big issue. I’m pretty sure if I looked for statistics I would find that France has more than any in the world. It’s most obvious on Paris’ public transportation system because it affects SO many people, so this could also be another interesting route to take.

Visual Literacy

In a previous unit, we learned that the amount of time we are spending online is most likely affecting the way our minds work. We are shifting away from long articles in newspapers and moving towards information outlets than can provide "instant gratification." Photographs are a great way to do this. If you have a well-photographed picture, sometimes that can display the entire aim of a news article (or at least the theme) in a single shot. However, it is necessary that the photographer and reader are both visually literate to be able to grasp the message. For example, I have seen several recent pictures on CNN that completely capture the pain and despair caused by the recent earthquake in Haiti. Visual literacy is being able to produce and interpret the messages in the pictures and images we see around us every day. Syntax (pictorial structure and organization) and semantics (the way the pictures relate more broadly to the world to gain meaning) are both a part of visual literacy and that is what I am going to discuss in my pictures below.


First I want to address the "theme" of todays posting. For me, one of the hardest things to get accustomed to in France was just being among all the history and beautiful architecture. It's no big deal for the French to pass by a gothic cathedral on the way home from work...or for their closest supermarche to be located on a medieval alleyway. Just all in a day's routine. Paris is truly a modern-day city located in an ancient setting. BUT I want to make sure I emphasize the word modern. Along with its historic beauty, the city is also known to be at the forerunner of many visual industries such as fashion, design, and art--and this is evident in their city landscape. They mix the old and the new with effortless ease and the contrast can sometimes be quite interesting.

I was trying to point out that very idea in this picture of a modern sculpture in front of the gothic/renaissance church, Saint-Eustache. I love how the children are playing on the statue too because that just further emphasizes my point that it's no big deal for them. I had to take the picture from a distance (and vertically) to get the top in and I also took it from a low angle to make the church seem more imposing. The small people give the viewer a reference so you can see how big both the sculpture and the church really are.

This next picture was taken for my McDonalds assignment a few weeks back. It's not a full shot of the front of the building. In fact, you can't see much of the actual restaurant at all...but the tiny little golden arches on top of the awning is all you really need to recognize good ol Micky D's. What I was trying to capture in this picture was the proximity of the cheap, american, fast-food restaurant to the beautiful Arc de Triomphe, one of the greatest arches in history commemorating centuries of French soldiers. I also wanted to be sure to get some of the sidewalk in the shot so you (the class, my audience) could get a feel for how heavily trafficked the Champs Elysees is. I just think these little tid-bits help put it all in context.

Here is another picture of a church, this one called Saint-Merri. What I was trying to capture here was the graffiti that is creeping its way onto the church walls. The first thing that catches your eye is the bright red door and I like how that is placed over slightly to the right (rule of thirds). I didn't have to put the entire church in the frame...I just needed those one or two stained glass windows to let the viewer know what they were looking at. This is also why I had to shoot the photo horizontally instead of vertically.

Haha this is one of my favorite pictures I've taken here so far...but probably just because I had so much fun at the event. This was a techno parade that I went to back one of the first weekends I got here. By techno parade I mean there were dozens of giant floats parading the streets of Paris that were carrying celebrity DJ's spinning their favorite techno tunes...accompanied by a whole lot of strobe lights and smoke machines. This is like the Parisian version of tailgating. When you heard a song you liked, you jumped in behind the float and danced your way down the road as people watched on. Total madness. Anyways, the ending (grand finale for all the floats) was at the Place de la Bastille, which is where the Bastille prison stood until it was stormed and later destroyed during the French Revolution in 1789. The Colonne de Juillet, which is the large structure you see on your left, commemorates the events of the July Revolution in 1830. So you see the square holds a lot of historical significance. I thought it was really funny that the onlookers started climbing up the statue in attempts to get a better view of the floats, so I went to great pains (traveled through that humongous mass of people) to get an angle where I could get both the floats and the monument in the frame. I think timing is another important part of syntax because I caught this guy on the float at a good time, when he was lifting up his arms to try and "pump up" the people on the street below. 

Like I said, I'm pretty sure Parisians are totally unfazed by beautiful architecture. How can a building this beautiful be a supermarket! It would literally be named a historical monument in the US. Yes, the sunset in the background certainly adds to it's beauty but that was kind of the point when I took the picture. The frame had to be vertical to get the top of the building (the most important part) in there, but I left some room to the side to showcase the beautiful natural lighting of the sunset.

Here is another graffiti picture. I like graffiti. I also really like Paris rooftops. I think they are so unique and really represent the city for me almost in the same way the Eiffle Tower does. I've still yet to figure out what those little wiry things are (I'm thinking satellites/telephone lines?) but nevertheless. I like the contrast of colors in this picture. Bright green and purple against a neutral background and a gray sky. Again, I have the subject off-centered and I don't have the entire building in the picture. I don't need it. The frame is tight (to make the graffiti legible) and I just sort of played around with it until I found something I liked.