AV News 193 - August 2013
Around The Clubs
Great Yorkshire AV Day
Steve Emsley - Batley AV Club
After four years with the Batley AV club and more than a dozen sequences
contributed to our annual showcase, I still consider myself a rookie with a lot
to learn. So I look forward each Spring to rubbing shoulders with really
experienced AV enthusiasts at the RPS 'sharing' day at the National
Photographic Museum in Bradford.
As usual, the morning of Sunday April 14th was devoted to reviewing
sequences floated for constructive criticism by attendees. I did not bring
anything this year, but remember my nerves when I shared my sequence on
a Shakespeare sonnet a couple of years ago. I need not have worried. Then,
as this year, members were very supportive and helpful. As Keith Scott
reminded us, you can easily get 'tunnel vision' as you assemble a sequence
and what seems acceptable to the creator may jar or even not make full sense
to the audience. Road testing a sequence is essential. It's also reassuring to
have some of your own practices given a seal of approval.
AV has a unique capacity to draw the viewer in, to create a mood and to
take you places. We visited bleak Skara Brae in a sequence which gave a
very clear idea of how the village was uncovered. A very evocative visit to an
Italian hill town, rubbish and renewal beside Britain's canals, a floral love song,
a documentary about peat cutting and an animated clock are just a few
fragments which stick in my memory. I frantically jot down suggestions in the
dark, often to find they are illegible when the lights go up. This year I did
manage to retain the tip that it is good to routinely increase image saturation
for projection. All contributions gave me ideas.
The afternoon was given
over to the guest speaker,
award-winning AV wizard,
Keith Leedham FRPS. Keith
shared with us some of his
techniques. He revealed
that he often starts with the
soundtrack.
He demonstrated how he
assembles
his
sound
sequence in CoolEdit and
showed how evocative
Audio is just as powerful as
the Visual. In a sequence
which featured a journey by sailing ship, the groaning of a wooden ship and
the ringing of a ship's bell over an image of the ocean, evoked the experience
more effectively than a picture of a ship. All the best ideas are the simplest.
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