I've had a rubbish week. Flu up until friday and then hard drive faliure on Saturday. Good times. I've spent the weekend recovering the data and it looks like we're back in the game although the whole Premier thing needs going over again. I re-record the dialogue this afternoon and hopefully by this evening I'll be at the same point I was last week. This one's going to be tight but its possible. Crack on.
Here's a sneak preview of a couple of slides from my Interactive assignment. I don't want to give much away at this point, you'll just have to wait until its ready to unleash. Muchos work gone into it and since I've had to learn Dreamweaver from scratch, its not bad at all. Finallising over the next few days.
Well after a few minor setbacks, we're up and running again on our Narratives project. I'd scoped out a chaise inside Nottingham castle last time I was there. We went to investigate and maybe record some images, easy we thought. They had removed the chaise 4 weeks previous and couldn't tell us where, apparently. We diverted our attention elsewhere, namely Wollaton Hall. No worries we thought, its not that far away, we could back there if we needed to and permission wasn't an issue. 'Closed for Refurbishment' the website said. Well not all of it, but the majority. Not only did we have a limited viewing material but the longer we left it the faster the original furnishings and decor were disappearing. Bad times. We've looked further afield and found some potential pieces in Derby but time is running short. Getting there is expensive and re-booking the equipment is gonna take two days. Not to get stressed though. We seem to be on top of everything else, the dialogue is done and resdy to record. I'm still searching for the right voice. The timeline works well in premier. Decent quality too, considering they're pretty small images. I had to make it that way, the one, whole image I used was becoming huge and my machine was struggling to cope. I looks good. To be continued...
I'm getting more confident at the old web scripting malarchy. I'm beginning to understand it as a complete language rather than the odd 'word' or 'phrase'. I can quickly flip through found script and edit out an unneccessary components. The best example would be the slide.com photo-sliders.
When the site creates the script, it adds on loads of different links and buttons (forms), all unrelated to the actual function of the slider. Like links back to their site or to related online editors. I removed 60% of the script before I was happy with the aesthetics of the slider on my page. Nice and simple.
I've created a complete 'myspace' layout from scratch over the last few weeks and its nearly ready to add to the Ambush Myspace page. Its not as complicated as my mind had made it out. Its very regimented and structured and thats the way I like to work. No room for surprises, black or white. The script either works or it doesn't. Bob on.
Everything's sorted for the video. Except for the fact that the sofa I had my eye on has been moved out of the Castle Museum and they couldn't tell us where. We got in touch with Wollaton Hall and they'e closed till the end of November. We thought we would have to be looking a bit further out of Nottingham than we expected. Luckily, part of it will be accessible so we have managed to get permission to be there over the weekend. The equipment is booked so we've notheing else to worry about. The script is ready for someone to read (I'm keeping quiet about who) so the recording of that is likely to start at the beginning of next week. I want to give the person chance to familiarise themselves with the literature, making the way they deliver the dialogue more natural upon recording. I don't want it to appear rushed, hence only taking on the reponsibility of the audio. Louisa and Nesha will be recording and processing all of the visual elements. It continues...
I can handle ideas creation, design, layout, colour, photography and film but this is going to be difficult. I understand what its supposed to do but putting it to practise is a different story. I sat and stared, bemused at a screen for 50 minutes today. This is going to be fun.
I found one or two interesting examples of the style we are trying to achieve. Although the below example ('History of the Word Nigger') has no dialogue, the pace and context of it relates to our idea. The subject matter is quite heavy so a warning was provided at the beginning of the piece. What it covers is not a new topic, in fact its an issue as old as time itself. I was upset to say the least after I saw this and if you've got an open mind will probably relate to that after you watch it. The dark, silent movie style really takes you as a viewer into the picture gripping you until you are completely engrossed. I respect the fact that the makers could keep me like that with such a linear story.
If we can produce that much concentration from our audience, we've hit the right spot.
I've provided links for other videos that interested me.
'History of the Word Nigger'
'History of the Middle East'
'History of the Chav'
Well, we've cemented our idea at last and made a half baked effort to present it to the class. The content was good but we needed to rehearse a little more. Although when you have a group that is quite weak in terms of motivation, it becomes difficult. We got some good feedback from Deb, she thought it was quite an interesting idea. The other guy didn't seem so keen. I think his name's Dave. He was pretty ruthless with his questions not really giving us a chance to respond. Even Deb had to gesture him to calm down. Perculier man, must know his stuff though.
Enough of that anyways, here's a little bit about our idea:
Title: 'History of the Chaise'
Format: Mainly still photography in macro rendered to MiniDV through Adobe Premier. Recorded dialogue layered over top of images. Rolling timeline at the bottom of the frame chronicling the progression opf the daybed.
Narrative: The narrative will be delivered to the audience through the use of audio and recorded dialogue. It will follow the life and history of the daybed or chaise longue. It will be narrated by a third party from outside the group. It will expose a brief history of the daybed from the earliest referenced piece (900AD) right through to today (2006).
Visual: As none of the visual aspect of the 'video' will relate to any of the beds we reference, we have complete freedom to explore the shape, form, texture and imperfections of one particular chaise longue. We have not yet finalised which one we will be using because we are still deliberating on whether to use an antique or modern one.
