AV News 186 - November 2011
Script Writing
Basics: Fix the 'aim at the top of the lightbox' (an expression from the the
analogue AV days), ie make a clear statement about what you are trying to
achieve and stick to it.
Think of a 'hook' or different approach to grab the audiences attention.
Use short sentences, which are easier to fit to images. When writing, keep
the flow going, don’t worry about the grammar, edit it later; write things
down, even if wrong, and go back to it later.
How will it end? Possibly even write the ending before anything else.
Imagine yourself in the situation you are writing about; if there are
characters try to become them.
Books: Dictionary, Thesarus, Rhyming Dictionary.
Tweaking: Are you stating the obvious? Don’t just say what you can see.
Simplify sentences.
If quoting facts and figures round them up or down, ie simplify again.
Drop unnecessary adjectives. Finally, try reading it out loud; if it sounds
awkward change it.
Audio Software
Marion’s favourite is Adobe Audition (née Cooledit) but at £330 most plump for
Audacity which is free (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ ).
An additional download (LAME MP3 encoder) is required to output to MP3
(http://lame.sourceforge.net/).
A lot was covered in a very useful evening, particularly those areas where most
of us just muddle through. Marion and John were ideal for presenting these
ideas as they are fundamental to their own successful sequences.
C D R ip p in g
Keith Scott FRPS
You may be interested in this article I found about CD Ripping, as it is
something we all do when making sequences. It does not however give anyone
the right to use the music in a sequence without a license, but it’s interesting
nonetheless.
Every day millions of portable music player users break the law. Thankfully
in Britain at least, the law is about to be dragged into, well, the late 20th
century. The country’s business secretary Vince Cable has announced the
U.K. government plans to formally legalize ‘format shifting’: in other words,
ripping a CD or DVD so that you can use it on a computer, portable media
player or similar device. You know, like virtually everyone who owns an iPod
does all the time, and for which nobody is ever taken to court.
The wording of the legislation making the change will be designed to make
clear this will only be allowed for personal use, and is expected to specifically
rule out ripping and then sharing files publicly.
Read the full article at http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2011/08/03/
cd-ripping-to-be-officially-legal-in-uk-at-least/
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