AV News 201 - August 2015
One film I would like to draw attention to is 'Borneo Jungle Soundscape'
from Australian, John Gray on https://vimeo.com/99590461
I thought it was a great film but so close to an AV presentation. It was given
the 'Creative use of Sound' award. I am not too certain if I agree. It has a
fantastic sound track but 'Creative' - to me that means taking raw sounds
and creating a soundtrack, maybe from scratch. In fact the same starting
point for most AV producers.
Another film which comes near to an AV with mainly moving pictures is
'Giving up on Love' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pQHtEcuZ20
made by Wales High School 'A' level media students. The sound track is
simply the music track from the Sheffield duo Slow Club. Would it work better
as an AV? Maybe or maybe not. It was well liked by the first round judges
and received 4 stars. In my opinion it is a bit on the high side.
Now I am going to talk to about another film called '3 pints' by Richard
Anthony Dunford on https://vimeo.com/11484852
In many ways, I did not like it but it was an extremely well-produced movie.
I do not intend to discuss the plot other than to say one of the lines was "do
you know you can lose 3 pints of blood before you bleed to death". The film
is shot in a format still photographers would call extreme letterbox. In my
opinion it really works. I believe the trendy word is lots of negative space. The
acting and direction were superb. The film only received 3 stars which in my
opinion was way too low. What do AV producers think?
I believe both films and AV presentations need the correct blend of sound
and vision. Should more weight be placed on either element? No, because
it depends entirely on the production. At club level, I find that still
photographers tend to feel the sound is there just to supplement some good
photography. In my opinion both elements need to be of a high standard for
a presentation to work. I feel, not every image has to be a masterpiece. In
fact I would go further to say that a superb AV or film could be made with
average photography.
Take the reporting of a live event. In many ways, I feel AV assessment is
biased towards the visual content. Maybe that is because the majority of
distinctions are 'Photographic'. While film judges tend to assess the complete
production. I personally feel the IAC should welcome AV producers more.
Incorporate them into regional competitions.
As I am writing this, I feel that maybe I am justified to mention my
contribution to the Sunday's entertainment.
My own film 'Some days are Special',
https://vimeo.com/110070435 was made in
one day. It did not exactly fly when we talk of
awards but it is suggested that it received the
largest amount of laughter on the day. As it
was meant to be a comedy, I was pleased.
May try the odd International festival and
see what happens.
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