Directors Commentary.
Let me
start by bowing my head to all those in the film industry. It has taken me all
of the given fourteen days to come up with anything. Not for lack of trying
(This is actually my fourth attempt for this assignment). As I stated in an
earlier blog I find stationary images much easier to manipulate.
I knew I
wanted to try and tell a story throughout the short minute. So that is what I
set out to do. My film starts black with the storm noises setting the stage.
Then the storm quiets as the bird flies through clear skies. I had the storm
pick up and the music almost give up as the bird flies higher into the storm
clouds. I then picked back up the music and lowered the storm as the bird goes
on. To me its a story of perseverance.
When I sit
and ask myself what makes it compelling I come up with three things. First, as
I've said, you can follow it as a story. Second, the sounds pull you in but is
not the only leg it stands on. I have watched the clip by itself and while I do
not think it holds the same power I do still see the story. Third, the simple but
rare beauty of a bald eagle flying makes you want to stop and watch. I played
off this innate human draw in my selection of this clip. Knowing people have an
natural curiosity about animals they rarely see immediately puts the film in
their sights.
On the technical side I had a lot of
fun with making this film. I downloaded a free video editor and went to town! I
will first admit that I did not film this section this week (or last week). I
did film it, just over last summer. I was up at Lake Michigan
and there was a resident bald eagle that lived down the beach from me. He seemed
to only fly by when no one had a camera ready. Luckily on this stormy evening I
did have my camera at hand. Instead of trying for a single shot I just tracked
his flight. This past week after filming many things around my home and not
finding any of them compelling I found this clip on my camera. Even watching it
without the sound I found myself drawn to the bird. I realized with some good
music I could turn his flight into a story.
I went back
and forth about the blur at the beginning. It was a part of the original
filming as my camera sensor tried to auto-focus. I took it out and put it back
a few times. I decided to leave it for the final cut because of the natural
fade in it gives. The music also acts to guide it.
I would
also like to admit to some film editing as far as the pace of the clip goes.
The original clip lasted only about 25 seconds. After realizing that the one
minute requirement was not just a maximum but a minimum as well I slowed down
the clip to about 60% of its original speed. The only reason I did this at
first was to make the time limit for the assignment. But then looking back at
the original and watching the slowed down one it works better slow. It follows
the music better and gives the viewer a chance to see the bird in each stage of
the story.
I knew
first I wanted to add a better background storm. In fact there was no storm
noises in the original recording, just waves, birds, and my mother asking if I
got the shot. So I stripped out the original sound and replaced it with a
nature clip. I played with it quite a lot to get the thunder claps at the right
moments.
I then went
through many great music choices but after some in-depth reading on copyright
laws decided not to push my luck. So out the window went the theme from
Schindler's List. I scored many sites until I found this piece. It is entitled
Night Nurse and was composed by Jon Chilton and published by Freeplay Music. I
picked it because of the similar haunting quality of Itzhak Perlman's piece but
also had a quiet tempo that perfectly matched the beating wings of my eagle. I
also played around with its timing to match the story line I was creating.
A few
technical complaints. First the picture quality isn't as high as I would like.
And second, if only I had the ability to erase that damn other bird that flies
through the picture half way through the movie.
Overall,
even with all the struggles, I had a fun time making this film. Do I find it
compelling? Yes, and I hope you do too.
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