fan_eunice (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
fan_eunice) wrote2011-08-23 09:22 am
fan_eunice) wrote2011-08-23 09:22 am
Entry tags:
Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em
I said I was going to talk more about vidding right? Here I go, because this morning I opened up Premiere again to work on the epic season 5 Doctor Who vid that I keep stalling out on and one of the issues I keep having is one that I meant to bring up at the Big Emotion panel that we didn't have time to go into great detail on (I think we did briefly address it, but I kinda don't remember a lot of what was said because public speaking freaks me the hell out).
Basically, as the post title says how do we apply Kenny Rogers advice and know when to hold 'em in a vid? Long clips are bad right? Except when they are good. For drawing out tension (build, motherfucker!), for allowing a particular emotion to settle and wiggle under the skin and stay there (perhaps I should not watch so much Monster Inside Me on Animal Planet because I just freaked myself out), a well placed slow reveal or long clip can utterly wreck your audience or leave them primed and ready to be wrecked in the best way (seesockkpuppet's work for some amazing examples of this).
My issue remains the argument in my own head that happens every time I do this between 'too long, you are boring the shit out of your audience' and 'not long enough! you haven't snared them yet!'
Sometimes it is obvious (the long slow pull back on McMurphy's face in Mother Mary and the slooow pan up to the Elm St. sign with Freddy's shadow on the street in Legends Never Die were gimmes), but most of the time I find myself kinda lost?
And this current vid I'm working on has a lot of spaces where this choice has to be made due to it's structure and I continue to flail all over the timeline trying to decide, changing my mind, deciding again, changing again. I swear to god this first verse alone has had so many reincarnations I think it is approaching enlightenment, I will not be surprised if the next time I look at it all clips are replaced with a single one that simply tells me there is no spoon or some shit.
So. When do you hold 'em? When do you fold 'em? Do you know when to walk away, and when to run? And if you do for the love of the TARDIS share with the class.
Basically, as the post title says how do we apply Kenny Rogers advice and know when to hold 'em in a vid? Long clips are bad right? Except when they are good. For drawing out tension (build, motherfucker!), for allowing a particular emotion to settle and wiggle under the skin and stay there (perhaps I should not watch so much Monster Inside Me on Animal Planet because I just freaked myself out), a well placed slow reveal or long clip can utterly wreck your audience or leave them primed and ready to be wrecked in the best way (see
sockkpuppet's work for some amazing examples of this). My issue remains the argument in my own head that happens every time I do this between 'too long, you are boring the shit out of your audience' and 'not long enough! you haven't snared them yet!'
Sometimes it is obvious (the long slow pull back on McMurphy's face in Mother Mary and the slooow pan up to the Elm St. sign with Freddy's shadow on the street in Legends Never Die were gimmes), but most of the time I find myself kinda lost?
And this current vid I'm working on has a lot of spaces where this choice has to be made due to it's structure and I continue to flail all over the timeline trying to decide, changing my mind, deciding again, changing again. I swear to god this first verse alone has had so many reincarnations I think it is approaching enlightenment, I will not be surprised if the next time I look at it all clips are replaced with a single one that simply tells me there is no spoon or some shit.
So. When do you hold 'em? When do you fold 'em? Do you know when to walk away, and when to run? And if you do for the love of the TARDIS share with the class.
no subject
But also, I'm thinking here not just of 'slow' vs. 'fast' cutting but deliberately using a long drawn out clip (sisabet provides an example in the VIP she posted in the livejournal comments, and also brings up the end of A Day In The Life...which, yes, that with the long, long, slide up to HOLY SHIT.)
no subject
I see what you mean, though; specific moments where long clips are called for. I tend to agree with SDW that for me the decision is about how the vid feels. I imagine there's some form of analytical thinking going on when I make those choices, but I'm not always aware of it.
no subject
Just talking about it has helped kind of clarify where that gut reaction comes from for me (specific types of musical cues, context within the vid itself from surrounding clips and such)
But is tricky, this is usually when I threaten to give up vidding in favor of knitting, but having started to learn to knit I no longer consider that the easier option.
no subject
I'd say that my gut usually listens to the music more than anything. Most of my choices made during the editing process are in response to musical cues, but of course these don't occur in isolation: the combination of musical cues and feeling or meaning I want to create in the audience at that point are the magic combination.
I think. Usually. Except when they aren't.