Monday, November 21, 2011

production notes

                After I finished my video project, I thought video shooting and editing are not easy jobs. If I can have another chance, I think I would shoot my video differently. Because my video is about a car accident, it is a tragedy of life. I will recreate the scenes for that accident. I will also use black and white color to present this accident.

        I learned a lot of things from this editing experience. First, I learned the importance of the storyboard in the video preproduction. If I have the storyboard before shooting, I will know what exactly I need to shoot when I actually start shooting. Second, the combination of audio and video are also very important. I need to consider the scenes and the content of the audio. Third, I learned how to order my audio. Before I start editing my audio, I think it should be very easy. However, it is not easy for me. I need to consider which part I should put first, which part I should delete, etc. Furthermore, patience is very important and essential during the editing process. While I was editing my video, I need to view and edit the footage of my video constantly. Even though it is only one second, I still want to try doing my best. Sometimes, I just feel that the editing is a little bit boring. Therefore, I need to be more patient when I edit videos.

        I think my background music is very appropriate for my video. I also like the beginning part of my video. I used many transitions among the scenes, such as fade to color and cross dissolve. I think final cut is an amazing video editing application. There are many incredible effects that I can use. If I can make a change for my video, I will shoot more. If only I have enough footage, I can do what I want when I edit my video.

        When I watched a video or movie in the past time, I would never think about the process behind the scenes. Now, when I watch a video or movie, I will think more about how they make this and why they make this. Because I have a basic idea about video shooting and editing right now, I will try to use more professional views to see the videos or movies. Watching movie not only means “watching movie” for me now, rather it is a filmmaking process. The things behind the scenes are more attracted to me.

        I think video editing is very interesting and challenging. You always can find new things and ideas through the editing process. Because of editing of video, we can create different styles of videos. We also can use various ways to represent our stories.

        In conclusion, I learned the basic skills about video shooting and editing during this project. I also found out many interesting things from the final cut. This is a very good exercise and experience. I think I will continue shooting and editing videos by myself. I love editing.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Sound-Image and Image-image Relationship


go to----the legend of 1900-The Origin of 1900's music


        “The Legend of 1900” is my favorite movie. It is about a pianist named 1900. He has spent his entire life on a ship and has never gone to the ground. Because this is a story about pianist, the movie uses a lot of piano music. The style of this movie is soft, mellow, and serene.
         The short piece I chose from this movie is when 1900 plays the piano in the lobby with different music styles and explains why he plays these styles to his friend Max Toony. The light of this scene is very soft and beautiful. It uses warm color to emphasize the whole environment. It is luxurious, voluptuous, and makes people feel that they can really enjoy their short life in this ship. This scene begins with a very bright and merry jazz music. The shot from the luxurious golden light moves to dancing people. The wide shot can gave us a basic idea and background about this scene. Then, the shot goes to the band. The shots just move from “big topic” to “small topic”. Finally, the shot goes to 1900 and gives a long time shots of playing piano. When I combine the images and sound together, I can really feel the environment and people’s mood of this scene. The sound and image really match each other. When the cantor starts to introduce the pianist 1900, the sound of music changes from trumpet and sax to the piano solo. Every time, when the shot zooms in to 1900, the music of piano will become louder.  Therefore, people’s attention will move to the pianist with the music automatically.
        There are four basic sound changes in this scene. When 1900’s friend Max asks him how to get the music inspiration, he starts to change his music style. First, when the shot moves to a very old woman, the piano music changes to a serious, dreary style. The background piano music plus 1900’s explanation of that woman, we can see the image of that woman seems more visible and obvious. Second, when the shot moves to a sad man, the piano music also changes to a sad style. Third, when the shot moves to a makeup and unhappy dancing woman, the music changes again suddenly. The piano music with 1900’s explanation and this woman’s face, it makes the environment of that shot totally different. We can really feel the unhappiness in this woman’s mind. In the meanwhile, the shot also gives the piano couple extreme shots. I think this is used to emphasize the effect of the piano. Fourth, when the shot moves to a young man who wants to find “chance” in this lobby. We can find that the music changes again. The music temples just follow this young man’s steps temple. When the man walks fast, the music runs fast. When the man walks slowly, the music runs slow too. The sound and image are just as coordination as perfect. Our eyes follow the scene. Our ears follow the background music. And our mood follows both of sound and image. We cannot ignore either.
        Furthermore, when 1900 explains his ideas and inspirations, the shots move between 1900 and his “inspirations”(those men and women). The order of these people is old woman, rich man, young woman, and a poor man. Because of this order, the change of music is obvious but softly. Furthermore, the shots changes softly and smoothly. Therefore, we have a basic construction about this scene. We know what are they talking about and what are they doing. We can find a balance between sound and image. Every single musical notes and every single shot is significant, beautiful, and indispensable.
        In conclusion, the balance between sound-image and image-image is very important. When we combine sound and image together, it could be very descriptive. The image will be very obvious and vivid. Sometimes, sound and image match each other. The sound just follows the image or the image just follows the sound. However, sometimes, the image and sound could go totally different ways. It will make a very different ambience and mood to the audiences. We always can find out more deeply aspects when we put sound and image together. Furthermore, image-image relationship is also very important. The different time span decided which part is important, which part we need to pay more attention. The shooting angles and the colors elements also affect the whole scene.