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Your vid blather for the morning from me is all about context. I think one of the trickiest things about putting together a vid is deciding when it matters and when it doesn't, in terms of which visuals to choose. Decontextualizing clips is one of the greatest weapons in the arsenal, imo, but also one that can completely mess you up. Because sometimes you only want your viewer to start with a disembodied visual impression that you create context for (in combination with your other clips and music and such) and tells them what you want them to know, and sometimes you want them to bring very specific information about that scene or episode to the table. And you want both of these things in the same vid. Since vid watchers can't read my mind (I'm working on that), getting that right is tricky.
For example, if Ed starts talking about how much he really hates burritos because they give him gas, and makes an "I hate gas" face (not an actual scene, but wouldn't it be awesome if it was?), and that can be read visually as ANGSTY MANPAIN , I might want this in a sequence of ANGSTY MANPAIN, but I sure as hell don't want my viewer getting pulled out of the vid because they are wondering what in the hell flatulence has to do with death, ya know? But if he starts crying because he accidentally ran over a kitten (also not an actual scene, and should never, EVER, be one), I may very well want my viewer to be thinking 'OMG poor kitten!' in connection even if I do not show the surrounding kittencide.
I...don't exactly have an answer for how one goes about this. Mostly I flail about on the timeline until it feels like the right balance. It's one of those things where I know it when I see it (or when a beta smacks me upside the head for it), but I'm not sure I have words to identify what makes something work for either removing or for calling up context. So I ponder on a Saturday morning, because I have really smart people who might read this and say something super cool.
For example, if Ed starts talking about how much he really hates burritos because they give him gas, and makes an "I hate gas" face (not an actual scene, but wouldn't it be awesome if it was?), and that can be read visually as ANGSTY MANPAIN , I might want this in a sequence of ANGSTY MANPAIN, but I sure as hell don't want my viewer getting pulled out of the vid because they are wondering what in the hell flatulence has to do with death, ya know? But if he starts crying because he accidentally ran over a kitten (also not an actual scene, and should never, EVER, be one), I may very well want my viewer to be thinking 'OMG poor kitten!' in connection even if I do not show the surrounding kittencide.
I...don't exactly have an answer for how one goes about this. Mostly I flail about on the timeline until it feels like the right balance. It's one of those things where I know it when I see it (or when a beta smacks me upside the head for it), but I'm not sure I have words to identify what makes something work for either removing or for calling up context. So I ponder on a Saturday morning, because I have really smart people who might read this and say something super cool.