AV News 174 - November 2008
North Wales & Wirral AV Group - Workshop
Terry Mills
As I waded my way along the curling route to Capel Curig through a deluge
of rain for the NW&W AV workshop I did wonder about my sanity. However
I'm new to digital AV and need all the help and inspiration I can get.
Marion Waine and John Rowell are the organisers of this fairly new group
and we meet about four times a year. So far the programme has been varied
and has included an international competition judging weekend.
Our tutors on Sunday 17th August
2008, Keith and Kate Brown, were
teaching us about the use of music
and voice-overs in AV sequences.
The day started with just a couple
of short sequences from members
which were then commented on by
Keith and the audience. When Keith
was introduced a long list of letters
and awards were cited - the most
important to my mind was the Dobson
Henry Medal for services to AV - an
indication of his generosity and willingness to share his expertise with others.
In his preamble Keith admitted his reluctance to get involved in the digital
revolution and it wasn't until he met Kate about 6 years ago that he was dragged
kicking and screaming into the technological age. "When I met Kate I was
attracted to her body" he quipped. "She had a digital SLR!"
We were shown some simple sequences to start off with, using music to
enhance the visual stimuli of the pictures. Kate then showed 4 sequences using
the same pictures with different types of music highlighting the importance of
choosing the appropriate sound tracks to make a sequence work.
We had a fun competition
to try and determine music
style and we were asked
whether we needed a voice
over or whether the use of
titles would be sufficient to
convey our stories. AV
should evoke response and
emotion. Does the idea
come first or is it the music or
pictures? The end product should be greater than the parts we were told.
Keith and Kate introduced us to their lives and family through their AV
sequences. The day finished with Keith's latest work - "The Quiet Man" - a
biography of ex-Beatle George Harrison and gave an insight to its making. It
was well done.
So in the end it was worth braving the elements.
Thank you both and also to Marion and John for organising the event.
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