Digital Video 2 – Week 06

Digital Video 2 – Week 06

Classwork

We went through the basics of keying (or matting) in both the lecture and tutorial this week. Programs like After Effects have really made this process much easier than it used to be. It doesn’t take much digging through older music videos to see what a nightmare it must’ve been (though I’m sure some of these video creators would argue that this is a pre-meditated effect)…

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(Yes, the above is a shameless Severed Heads plug. Buy the music and tell them I sent you, so I get better marks at uni)

Without going into too much detail, we learnt that we can hang a green Ikea bed sheet, dress up like a busty referee from Gladiators and trick people into thinking we’re in outer space. Cool.

"Go back to bed, America. Your Government is in control."

Research

I will be returning to Bukowski once again for the Rostrum Camera assignment. However, instead of poetry or a short story, I’m going to be using one of the letters he wrote to friends, which I found (again) on bukowski.net.

Bukowski's letter to Jon & Louise Webb, November 1st 1964

This letter is useful as narration for this assignment, because it is so descriptive. We are limited in this project to only static image and sound, and it’s Bukowski’s words about music, people and his environment which will give the image it’s real shape…

Sunday Nov. 1st, 1964
Dear Jen and Lou:
I am enclosing the drunken letter of yesterday. It is not a very good one but it is a letter. Very drunk last night. The landlord and his wife came over and we slugged it down. His wife became rather upset when she saw the kitchen and the bathroom. Frances is not a very good housekeeper. But I calmed the old girl down and got her to insulting me. I had let some gypsies straighten out my car for $30 and she said I shouldn’t have done this. What should we do, let these people starve? There were 3 of them, 2 boys and an old man with a huge belly. They saw me typing and drinking beer at the window and came up and talked. We haggled at price a little while and then I told them to go ahead. They didn’t do a bad job. When I handed the old man the 30 he bent down over his belly, bowed and said, “God bless you, son.” I figure that was worth the 30 right there. Nobody ever said “God bless you, son,” to me before. –Sergei Prokofiev 2nd piano concerto just over. Frances has come in. She has been at church and at the beach with her church people. We have a pretty good arrangement here. I let her have these but ask her to keep them away from me. –Listening to Copeland and Downs at intermission and their talk is not bad, but the accents as usual all so cultured, English, & a seeming homosexuality–the latter, of course, probably not being true.
Don’t study the work of a great master, it will tend to discourage you, somebody says.
Mr . Copeland.
Mr. Downs.
Mr. Copeland. Mr Copeland. Mr Copeland. Mr Copeland.
I don’t think there will be any poems enclosed. If there are, there are. I mean after writing this if something comes up I’ll stick it in, but have my doubts–I feel like I’ve been hung by my ankles in a grey wet wind.
Good to get your card, Jen. Melle, Gypsy. Hello dogs. New Robert Schumann, symphony #4 in D Minor. This is his original 2nd symphony re-worked. Goes well this 4:30 pink-black afternoon. I think of you down there in New Orleans–battling. My god, think of how much more peaceful life would have been if I had never sent you a poem? That you have done so much for my work I can never forget or hardly understand. This #4 by Schumann is a fine work, he really rolls it out. He was not afraid of emotion and the years have held his work up. It’s not sugar like Tchikovsky or cheap like Liszt. A good afternoon after all, and
God bless you
too,
Buck
P.S. – poems enclosed. B-

Sunday Nov. 1st, 1964

Dear Jen and Lou:

I am enclosing the drunken letter of yesterday. It is not a very good one but it is a letter. Very drunk last night. The landlord and his wife came over and we slugged it down. His wife became rather upset when she saw the kitchen and the bathroom. Frances is not a very good housekeeper. But I calmed the old girl down and got her to insulting me. I had let some gypsies straighten out my car for $30 and she said I shouldn’t have done this. What should we do, let these people starve? There were 3 of them, 2 boys and an old man with a huge belly. They saw me typing and drinking beer at the window and came up and talked. We haggled at price a little while and then I told them to go ahead. They didn’t do a bad job. When I handed the old man the 30 he bent down over his belly, bowed and said, “God bless you, son.” I figure that was worth the 30 right there. Nobody ever said “God bless you, son,” to me before. –Sergei Prokofiev 2nd piano concerto just over. Frances has come in. She has been at church and at the beach with her church people. We have a pretty good arrangement here. I let her have these but ask her to keep them away from me. –Listening to Copeland and Downs at intermission and their talk is not bad, but the accents as usual all so cultured, English, & a seeming homosexuality–the latter, of course, probably not being true.

Don’t study the work of a great master, it will tend to discourage you, somebody says.

Mr . Copeland.

Mr. Downs.

Mr. Copeland. Mr Copeland. Mr Copeland. Mr Copeland.

I don’t think there will be any poems enclosed. If there are, there are. I mean after writing this if something comes up I’ll stick it in, but have my doubts–I feel like I’ve been hung by my ankles in a grey wet wind.

Good to get your card, Jen. Melle, Gypsy. Hello dogs. New Robert Schumann, symphony #4 in D Minor. This is his original 2nd symphony re-worked. Goes well this 4:30 pink-black afternoon. I think of you down there in New Orleans–battling. My god, think of how much more peaceful life would have been if I had never sent you a poem? That you have done so much for my work I can never forget or hardly understand. This #4 by Schumann is a fine work, he really rolls it out. He was not afraid of emotion and the years have held his work up. It’s not sugar like Tchikovsky or cheap like Liszt. A good afternoon after all, and

God bless you
too,

Buck

P.S. – poems enclosed. B-

For this project, I decided it was time I put Celtx to use. It really is a great program, for anyone interested in visual work that requires pre-production, such as film, theatre and AV. The latter is the direction I’m heading in, so I’ve attempted to prepare this project as such.

I went through the very dry Celtx features screencasts, before finding myself at on the Wiki page for AV. I can’t really say that either were particularly helpful, but they did pass some time whilst I was shaving my beard and I do like pretty pictures.

Using the AV Script format was actually quite helpful. Once the original text was transferred into the basic script format, Celtx has the ability to automatically type set this into a useful layout for planning and arranging shots…

The AV TypeSet layout in Celtx

Once this is all broken down and storyboarded correctly, I can then plan my photo shoot and voice recording. As I sound something like a nasal 14 year old, I think I’ll be calling on some ‘talent’ (read: friends that owe me favours) to narrate. The filthy house I am capable of producing myself.



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