AV News 186 - November 2011
Humour was one of the recent 'mini - challenges' for our AV group and two of the
sequences today were made as a result. They most certainly had us all laughing
with enjoyment. 'The Martians Have Landed...in Wigan,' by Sylvia Hughes, was
a short AV of images with a song of the same title as the soundtrack. It is sung
with an exaggerated Lancashire accent and brings in some local dialect. All I will
add is that Martians are definitely green!
'SLICmix', again, is a short sequence and combined two 'mini-challenges, ie.,
humour and the inclusion of recorded location sounds on the soundtrack. The
humour lay in the presentation as the author, Mike Donough, talked us through
his approach to the challenges, the pitfalls and the results. We saw snow in
Saddleworth, a wedding party in the street, a boat trying to negotiate the harbour
mouth and Sydney Opera House.
Above Rossendale is a public artwork called 'Halo', which is one of a group of
sculptures known collectively as the Lancashire Panopticons. This 'Halo' is the
subject of an AV by Keith Hughes. We see photographs of the 'Halo' through the
changing seasons, different times of day and in close-up and long-shot so that
we can appreciate this sculpture in all its guises. A number of location shots give
the viewer a glimpse of the surrounding landscape. There is no narration and the
soundtrack is orchestral.
'Dallas' was next. Not Texas, as you might think, but a community living in
terrible poverty in Romania. An emotionally moving sequence (still in progress of
development) which showed us the plight of this community and introduced us to
some of the women and children living there. The narrative told us a little about
the individuals and their lives and was set against a song from Romania.
Lastly, we have 'The Saddleworth Rushcart & Morris Men', by Sheila
Goodyear. This AV shows the annual rushbearing celebrations in a group of
Yorkshire villages. The sequence brings in some 3D animation and includes two
short video clips which are contained within still images. The soundtrack, of
morris-dance mus