Michael Gough's
Hawaiian Production Diary

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EDITING - Continued

Writing the script

My first creative task is to try to write the commentary. I nearly always do this first after I have a good idea of what pictures I have successfully captured. Hopefully I end up with something that could almost stand on its own feet as a verbal composition about the subject. Obviously I realise that there will be the added punctuation of visuals and sound. Having already recognised some visual sequences I will deliberately word things to introduce them or to provide a verbal link between two sequences that otherwise appear unrelated.

I have created a table with 3 columns for commentary, sound (including choice of music) and pictures. At the moment the words are fully written (though not unalterable). I know a few sequences that will use only natural sound, but I still need to listen to more recorded music to punctuate the moods. The picture column mainly has general descriptions like "jungle walk" Occasionally there is a single description of a shot that I noted would be useful to underline a specific point i.e. "backlit palm tree"

For a week now I have been regularly glancing at the printed text, tweaking a sentence here, adding a phrase there. I like videos to have a structure, perhaps where the commentary at the end almost loops back to the main theme. I have finally decided on the title "A Breath Of Life" which could be interpreted in a variety of ways but at the end of the video will be explained in terms of the native translation of the word "Aloha".

The pictures have turned into much more of a "personal holiday" than I expected. Because Linda and I were involved in a lot of activities, such as learning to boogie board there are more shots of us than I usually include. This may work against it in the eyes of some judges who seem to undervalue a straight forward holiday treatment. (Even my major award winning video on Moscow was described derogatively by one judge as "Not quite making it past being a very pretty holiday movie".) I do not anticipate winning any awards with this video though it might deserve a public showing as a worthy "also-ran". I still think it will be appreciated by audiences (which does raise an interesting question on the role of judges and competitions!)

Timing

I have timed the individual paragraphs of commentary and estimated the length of shots between the sentences. This gives me a rough impression of how long the video will be. In this case I anticipate about 20 minutes. This is longer than I normally intend. I have no pre-judgement about how long a video should be. I object to those who strongly want to set time limits. However I also recognise that it gets harder to hold an audience's attention the longer the video runs. Although I don't anticipate at this stage that this will be a masterpiece I will be disappointed if my audiences don't enjoy it. I have thus re-evaluated the worth of each sequence and decided to probably miss out our day at Pearl Harbour. It was interesting and could be linked in a bleak way with the title but it will certainly chill the mood temporarily. There is no harm in that, I like videos to conjure up a variety of emotions but it may be best to leave it for another video. (I shall reserve judgement until later … I will ask Linda for a second opinion. She is my harshest critic and provides very constructive comments)

25/9/00 The Title Sequence

This is probably the most important part of any video. It gives the first impression of quality, and interest that might be forthcoming. The choice of the wording, and the simple clarity of reading it in a suitable font against a clear background is vital. The words don't need to be immediately obvious, a little intrigue can add to the interest.

I have been experimenting with a title sequence. The commentary starts at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean with descriptions of volcanic lava bubbling to the surface to create an island. I had difficulty finding a piece of music that was somehow tropical and ethereal and ominous at the same time. In the end I mixed together a sound effect of some bubbles, a throbbing beat which I "sampled" (and repeated) from a song and one of those "New Age" moody pieces of music. The title rolls slowly up the screen with an additional "ripple" filter to suggest it is drifting up through water. The background is a mix of different colour mattes using a gradient wipe with a highly diffused edge. The colours start with a mix of dark blues and purples to suggest both heat and dark at the bottom of the ocean then slowly mix to paler blues as we reach the surface. The eventual plan is that this will dissolve to a montage of rocks and palm beaches as the commentary introduces the island. The experiment took time to get the right balance of sound and colour but I think it will work.

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