CHRISTMAS HOMEWORK 1

First thing I completed is the VISUAL CULTURE ESSAY. Topic agreed with Declan and Tim Stott before hols: Essay that might be expanded into a THESIS. The area I covered refers to my proposed DEGREE SHOW idea of doing something with my Family Archive. I called the essay: Bits and pieces – is this art, and if so, why? Very enjoyable to write, and still have loads of sources to explore if it is agreed this will be the thesis I go with.

Second thing I have done is to think up a theme for the Media essay. I want to analyse an ad-break through the lens of Transactional Analysis. I have already started looking at the BBC videos on the Century of the Self.

Third thing I have started working on is a rehash of the COOMBE Old and New which is one of the pieces to be presented for my assessment on January 11.
So far I have made out this plan, and I have also made a chart in which it is easy to put the timelines.
I'm very unhappy with the film I took, and may either end up re-taking it, or only using part and padding it out with some of the original stills. Depends on time.

How I might edit the three elements of the video COOMBE.
The three elements are
1. the AUDIO. This is the voice of John Gallagher as he walks up the Coombe and back down telling me about what it used to be like and some of the history.
2. the VIDEO. This is the footage I took with my JVC camcorder, walking the same journey as I had done with John a few days earlier. I did cross the street on my way back so as to get a better view of the first (north) side of the street. I am not happy with this footage. The camerawork is very jerky. Have explored the possibility of making a steadicam. If I can get this done, I might reshoot the footage.
3. the OLD PHOTOS. These are black and white scans of various photos, some from the architectural Archive and some from various books. The quality is not great. If I know more about photoshop, I might improve them.

So what am I proposing to do?
I plan to use the AUDIO as the base-line, and to fit the visuals to that.
As John (in the audio) mentions some place, my plan is to show it first as it is, then
to fade into the scan of how it used to be, and then
return to how it now is as we proceed to the next place he mentions.

I have made out a TIMELINE for the AUDIO, so I can use that to plan where the scans should appear, and how long each scan should be shown for. (I imagine this will vary according to how much John had to say about any particular place.

Think it will work to make the VIDEO opaque while the scan is showing.

Wonder can I put a fade TRANSITION ? Maybe I won’t need it if the opacity works instead. That would be better.

Think I probably need to make a physical TIMELINE with 4 cols: Time Audio, Video, Scans
If that wouldn’t take too long, then I can be very precise about where the fade-out starts and ends, and how long the scan is on before the next fade-in begins.