This video might feel like a bit of a cheat. it's made of footage i took in february during the snowy season, but was left on hold until now, due to difficulty in finding a voice over artist. Originally it used my voice, but the tone didn't have the authority and maturity needed to carry the piece. I wanted to use a friend called euan, he has an edinburgh accent that is quite soft, but the scottish voice is too easy to swear in. It needed the posher sound that colin could bring to set against the gritty content of the poem.
The poem was written as a free writing piece (unedited improvised writing) then slightly edited, for the creative writing elective i did in the winter months. It felt like something that would go really well in a narrative documentary style and i think the final product is effective.
The film is shot in HD (1920/1080) widescreen, it was edited in FCP and coloured using the magic bullet plug-in, which i found to be a very effective way of bringing life and a continuity to film. It is a lot more effective than the built in FCP colour functions (colour 3-way for instance). The titles were done in After Effects, because it handles text in a much more precise, easy to use and clean way that FCP. Then exported as a 16:9 full quality MP4. I converted this large file (260mb) down to 11mb using the highly effective ipod .h264 converter in compressor.
The film was shot with no tripod, this gives the viewer more of a feeling of being there - a much more candid approach. i used the ND filter on some of the shots to change the aperture and thus affect the depth of field, this is a really effective technique and something I'll definitely use more in the future. The clips mainly cut at pauses in the vocals to help the video flow better and be less jarring.
The foley track is slightly cleaned and edited, the vocal track has a touch of compression and the tiniest amount of room reverb and EQ applied in Logic Pro 8.
The techniques used and learnt in this project are entirely transferable to many elements of time-based media, the use of camera techniques are immediately apparent, but also use of depth of field and editing pace can be used in such diverse applications as .swfs and after effects projects.
I was pleased with the overall standard of the filming, it was not a difficult project to organise. A phone call to george for company and the dog, as mentioned before finding the right voice was difficult, and organising the recording was tricky - i have a busy work schedule with two jobs and various commitments, and Colin is a professional corporate psychologist so he was difficult to corner. eventually though we came to an agreement and the best time and 5 takes an 1 cup of coffee later the job was done.
This particular piece was very personal, and i needed very little help. Tom and Szymon's input was invaluable during the planning process and as spare eyes to test versions that i created. This is more of an extra-curicular work than perhaps anticipated, but it was made in the most efficient way that it could be; which meant using the prescribed group system would have been counter-intuitive. However a group is not only important if the work is split equally, we all have different skills to bring to a partnership, and these should only be used in accordance with merit and suitability.
As a group we worked much more cohesively on "Slug Sumo". It was Tom's concept. we worked effectively as a team, with various specialisations yet authorship over the whole project. It was created in a technical manner much the same as "snow", although the editing took place on Premier.
As a group we have worked together to create one piece and as a community (in terms of advice and expertise) to create 3 others. I think this is a very pragmatic and efficient way of working. As a group we have several future projects in the pipeline in film and other media. This is testament to the effectiveness of our group, we have the tact to step back and allow other ideas and skills to supersede our own, using our collective time productively.
rob.
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