AV News Magazine | Page 8

AV News 193 - August 2013 Mid-Thames AV Day Peter Harms After closing the doors on the usual sunny day which always appears to happen when we hold our annual AV Day, nearly 70 people sat down on Sunday 21st April to what our own members regarded as the best event we've ever held. We were privileged to be joined on this occasion by the editors of AV News - Jill K. Bunting CPAGB and John Smith APAGB CPAGB. As usual on these occasions, the morning was given over to attendee's work and we were treated to 17 sequences covering a wide range of topics. These included picturesque travelogue styles, visits highlighting a particular place or event, humour and even a sequence showing the re-enactment of the Battle of Waterloo. All presentations showed good imagination in the story lines and the general comment was that the standard was higher on this occasion than ever before. What was extremely useful for both the individual authors and spectators alike were the comments by our two guests. Short, very much to the point and worth repeating: · It is sometimes difficult to effectively finish a sequence and it was suggested that a 'twist in the tale' could sometimes achieve this. Some images and changes need to be in time with the music, particularly if the latter has a rhythmic beat. · The old chestnut of keeping horizontals level - even correcting the original in Photoshop and also using a few soft-edge wipes to direct the eye to a particular part of the next image. · Depending on the subject, a good choice of music creates tension in the build-up. Pay attention to synchronising commentary to the images, particularly at the scene-setting stage (but avoid giving the game away, leave that to the end if appropriate). Page 6