AV News Magazine | Page 44

AV News 191 - February 2013 Letters Movies Peter Davies There has been, over the years, a fair bit of comment and correspondence on the merits or otherwise of having moving images in an AV, as we know them. I think you have to stand back and take an objective and long distance look at what AV is all about. It is a series of still images edited and presented in a way to tell a story, it could be a lecture, advertising, educational, travelogue, or a series of images to accompany and or illustrate music. But it is essentially a series of still images. Film imaging was king, then along came digital. Because of the nature of digital imaging, it was realised that movement in the image was possible. In fact the camera makers realised this and you can purchase a 'still' camera that will take half an hour or more of movies; fine. All you now have to decide is, am I going to make a movie or an AV. If I decide I will make a movie, the audience would be quite surprised if every now and again I put in a 'still' shot. Equally, if I make an AV the audience is surprised to find the occasional moving image among the stills. The point I am making is that movies and AVs are two different animals, and really they don’t mix. It is a penalty of technology, just because we can do it, doesn’t mean we should do it. My own position is no movies in AVs. AV Step-by-Step Howard Gregory Most people start in audio-visual as 'an interesting way to show their pictures.' It can be very effective when used in this way, but that is only the beginning. As regular readers will know, AV is capable of doing so much more…….. I've just added a new tutorial CD-ROM to the series. Called 'Audio-Visual Step By Step' it is primarily aimed at people who want to make a start in AV, or at least find out what is involved, but haven't anyone to ask. It follows the usual style of personal tuition - like having me sit down with you at your computer and take you through all you need to know, step by step, right from the absolute beginning to some more advanced techniques which will help lift your work above the ordinary. The CD is in standard AV format, using .exe files. Total running time is over 2.5 hours. Price is £12 + £1 p&p from: Howard Gregory, 64 Mill Lane, Heatley, Lymm, Cheshire, WA13 9SQ. Please e-mail chairman@wilmslowguildav.org.uk if you need further details. Page 42