AV News 175 - February 2009
Then it was the turn of each of yesterday's judges to talk about their work. Bryan
Stubbs kicked off and his theme was very much about telling a story in AV. He
showed a number of sequences, shot he admitted, while on holiday in Italy and
Vienna. And while telling a story, Bryan was also keen to ensure that the
soundtrack was of the highest standard and that the music was integral to the
AV. His sequence "The Kiss", about the life and work of two Viennese artists,
brought together well all the aspects he was demonstrating.
Erhard Hobrecker kicked off after lunch, spending a fascinating hour talking
about the detail of his sequence "The Forest of Tane Mahuta". Starting from his
very first ideas, formed while photographing the rain forest in New Zealand,
through his dramaturgical guidelines, to the script and finally to the detail of the
music and images. He uses Wings Platinum and he bravely demonstrated many
of his points 'live' on the software. For someone with little knowledge of this
program, I was impressed at its capability and flexibility. Erhard also showed his
attention to detail, at one point I noticed that he had at least three parallel
narration tracks, in English, French and German.
I think that we were all amazed at the complexity of the dissolves and to the
attention he pays to the selection of music and the sound track. He expressed
the view that "…if you want to do something well, then aim for perfection in every
aspect…". And then his computer rebelled and we had a break while he
resolved it in the usual Microsoft way, turn it off and start again! It was worth it,
we saw the sequence that he had been demonstrating and with the greater
understanding, everyone was in awe of his achievement. (See Page 8 for
Erhard's Article about this sequence Eds)
Finally Colin Balls treated us to sequences on three different systems. His
talk might well have been entitled 'From the past to the future in AV'. From the
past he showed us the slide version of the sequence "Sound of Silence" which
he made with Peter Coles in Paris. It was certainly an old sequence, the two
authors looked like young lads, but expertly put together (the sequence, not the
lads). Moving to the recent past he talked about and showed his acclaimed
sequence "The Last Great Steamshow on Earth" and gave us some background
to the photography and Photoshop work involved. To finish, he gave us a
glimpse of the future, or at least one possible future. The projector was high
definition and wide screen and the sequences shown, admittedly not intended
for AV audiences, included all forms of multimedia including video. The effect
was very different, certainly far removed from the AVs of today, but Colin has
been a pioneer in AV for many years, so maybe he knows a thing or two. The
shame was that we didn't have time as a group to discuss the potential of this
technology and the possible convergence of AV and video.
So what of the weekend as a whole? It was the first time I had been to the
whole event and by the end of it my mind was buzzing with ideas. It had been
tiring, but very worthwhile. The organisation of the whole event had been
exemplary; much credit must go to Howard, Suzanne and Keith Fisher, but also
to the many others who worked behind the scenes.
My lasting impression, however, will be of the great sequences I saw, which
told significant stories and used impeccable soundtracks to creatively enhance
some stunning photography. I'll be back next year.
Page 6