A few people who’ve seen my planned images for this assignment have made the same comment to me: are you going to set the images to music?
Whilst it was obvious to other people that the subject matter (portraits of members of a singing group) would suit an audio-visual treatment, for a while I resisted the idea. The reasons for not trying such an idea so far were twofold:
- I want the images to be seen as more about the people (in the act of remembering) than about the audio memory trigger, and believed that adding a music track would muddy the waters a little
- Practically – there are ten different musical tracks used for the sound waves, and my initial thinking was that this meant either a very long video, or a choppy medley
The second objection was simple to solve – I’m amazed that it took me so long to think of it. I picked one of the songs (the one that I felt was most suitable, mood-wise) and edited it down to a self-contained clip of just over 1 minute that starts and ends in line with the repetition of the title.
As for the first objection: I’m still not totally sure whether the soundtrack is too distracting, but I decided to give it a go anyway, because why not.
There are a few things I know I’d change if I do submit this as part of the assignment:
- The name captions are in a very lightweight font that doesn’t render well when encoded in a video format – I need to tweak the font weight on the source images
- The sound clips off a split-second too soon at the end so I need to sort that
I’d be very grateful for any comments from anyone!
Hello Rob,
I think the sound track would work very well as a kind of teaser for an exhibition e.g. on a website. The images go past too quickly for them to be really seen otherwise and if you made it longer the the singing might be distracting. As it, I think the length and song works. You are right though that the title is hardly visible in a small rendition. I also think in the video the white space overwhelms the image (whereas it doesn’t seem to when you imaging the images as portraits on the wall).
Hope this helps
Jane
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Thanks, good feedback. I’m looking into whether I can force the video to go full-screen, but even then I’m unable to control the size of the viewing device (given that most web viewing is done on a mobile device these days). So this can’t be the primary way of consuming the images, I agree. But I’m increasingly thinking that it’s still worth me including it in the assignment submission. Thanks again!
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For the video could you crop the images to a widescreen format keeping the recording mask (for want of a better description) so as to fill the screen?
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Absolutely not! ;-)
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Sorry meant to say I think the music works well.
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Hi Rob,
So I viewed it on my laptop and the names were fine – the only problem I think is that the names are quite far removed from the actual images and could get lost in the shuffle. Perhaps you could bring them a little closer to the image (just for the video). I’m inclined to agree with Jane that the video might be better served as a teaser. I don’t think you want to make it any longer. As far as the music is concerned I think that was a good choice – it evoked a memory for me. I can remember my parents singing along to this song many years ago. :-) I’d include it in the assignment as a supplementary item.
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Thanks Lynda! I’m still playing with the placement and font weight of the names. Doing a portrait ratio slideshow in a landscape ratio format is tricky to get right… I am increasingly liking Jane’s idea that this might be a suitable ‘exhibition teaser’ rather than a primary presentation method, and it certainly doesn’t need to be any longer than this and might even be better shorter.
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Firstly – good to see how this has progressed since you first shared it with the hangout group a few weeks ago. That you have chosen to focus (referring to your previous post and image selection) on portraits of people remembering is a good decision (in my view) The ‘framing’ with sound waves has enabled you to concentrate on the facial expression of ‘remembering’, cutting out other distractions – but has also maintained/introduced an element of (here comes that word! ;-) ) ambiguity as well as adding visual interest. You could, as others have suggested, go even further in cleaning/standardising the backgrounds, maybe, but that might be something to revisit after feedback.
Then to the video – which I admit I quite like in a charming sort of way. That I think might be the problem with it – it might just start to go towards the sentimental. Not that that has to be an entirely bad thing; but it doesn’t necessarily add to the exploration of the concept you seem to have in mind. For my part, I would go ahead with the images/presentation from your previous post – but obviously with a reference to this additional experiment.
Good stuff – it’s all progressed really well.
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Thanks Stan – that hits the two key concerns of my own, so it felt like I could have written that myself ;-) … re the backgrounds, I spent a couple of hours yesterday trying to clean and standardise them but my Photoshop skills hit their limit… it’s the hair! I may revisit after a few Photoshop tutorials on YouTube. Regarding the video, ‘sentimental’ is exactly my concern, it potentially dilutes the intention somewhat. So it’s not going to be the primary method of presentation, but I do like Jane’s idea that it could be an online teaser if/when I do an exhibition…
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I viewed it fist on my iPad and found I the text a little distracting but it was fine when viewed full screen on my monitor. I must admit, a little like Lynda that it reminded me of sing songs I used to go to with my Granny, so yes, a little nostalgic and sentimental. I do like the idea of this being a taster of a bigger installation though.
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Thanks – this and the other comments are already feeding into the next version of this, such as playing with the text and possibly shortening it… more experimentation… :-)
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I love it and think it works really well. I viewed it on my MAX Air at full screen and it was fine. I would only add that for me I’d like it to move much slower (longer transitions perhaps or really slow feed -in or out) to create the feeling of remembering.
Nuala
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Thanks. Interesting that some people are saying it should be shorter and some longer :-D I guess it might come down to whether it is a primary presentation method for the whole set or more of a sample/teaser. I’m still thinking about this aspect of it…
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Well of course I am totally biased because it is our wonderful singing group!
I ‘m not qualified to make any specialist judgment but from my point of view you have absolutely captured the ‘essence’ of the participants – I especially like the images of Dorothy and Ann because they speak to me about the people that I know they are.
I love the technique of adding the soundwaves – to me it adds specific and specialist interest and makes it obvious (were you to use it as a taster for an exhibition – which I think you should by the way! ) that music was the starting point or trigger for the memories to flow.
Grey hair is always a problem – I know that even as a ‘picture snapper’ – and although the white background of the venue has helped with the uplifting feel of the images it does bring other challenges eh?
But I love the whole concept and I would definitely want to see an exhibition of further work or even a collaboration between us in terms of visuals and audio (live and otherwise). Let’s think outside the box!
Well done Rob x
PS I’d put it on our website any day…:)
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Very glad you like it! And very happy to collaborate further as you know :-D
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Maybe a little off piste here – but to make it less nostalgic perhaps could you perhaps fade the singing in/out at random spots, as if the singers have forgotten some words and then remembered again. I have no idea how you would do that though :-)
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Still singing this blooming song after viewing this, Thanks Rob!
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Ha!
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