AV News 186 - November 2011
F lo w e r P o w e r
Maurice Dybeck ARPS
Take a close look at those flower arrangements at your next local Flower
Festival. So much work goes into them and I guess most spectators don't get
the full benefit from the efforts put in by those diligent ladies. Sometimes there
is much wit and wisdom in the detail and this is something that a perceptive
photographer can pick up and demonstrate. And, when the theme of the
Festival is SONGS, here is an audio visual challenge just waiting to be taken!
My wife had chosen 'If I were a
Rich Man', from 'Fiddler on the
Roof' and much effort (not mine)
was put into the Arrangement.
We had a great big model house
in the middle, three characters,
dressed
wooden
figurines,
Tevye, Golde and the Fiddler,
various hens & geese and, in
the sky, God's PLAN (Vast,
Eternal). To remind people of
the story we had text clips
pasted here and there. And, of
course, flowers a-plenty.
Turning this into a not very serious AV was great fun. Using four minutes of
the Topol recording as the track, I set about loosely linking postures to words.
As this was as much as
anything about the making of
the arrangement, I intersperse
snaps of work in progress as it
all comes together. I drop in the
text clips on cue with just
enough time to read them
before getting into some fairly
demanding closeups - revealing
things that the passer-by could
easily miss.
When did I shoot it? I waited until all but the church caretaker had gone
home. No need for the house lights as I often found it far better to provide
small pools of light on each chosen subject. This gets rid of any distracting
background and helps to give the right atmosphere for the piece.
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