Video Production Vlog– Fireworks
- Posted on 4th July 2017
- in Entertainment, entertainment books, Video Editing, Video Production, Video Production & Editing
- by Ben
Video production
and editing (mainly editing) have been my passionate pursuits for about twenty-five years, encompassing the period covered by my third book Waiting For Elizabeth.
As a painter paints for self expression I edit. (And for fun.)
A few years ago I discovered the creative joy of fireworks. First I had to teach myself how to shoot them. Fortunately I have a terrace overlooking the Hudson river where, for several years Macy’s presented their 4th of July extravaganza.
The shooting is the easy part. Stop your lens down to where the brightest bursts burn out a little, start shooting wide until you figure out where the highest bursts will hit then pan, tilt and zoom to your heart’s content. Never ever use in-camera effects, shoot clean footage. (There’s an archaic term, it ain’t “footage” any more but words do persist.) You can – as you’ll see – play around in editing all you like.
Video editing of fireworks
allows the editor much freedom and is, in my experience, the closest one can come to purely painting with light.
Once I have the video “in the can” (another archaic term) the pivotal factor is the music. When creating the video you will soon see I went through hours of compositions ranging from Hildegard von Bingen (10th century) through baroque, classical, romantic, modern and finally settled on Leonard Bernstein as interpreted by Johnny Richards and Stan Kenton.
When watching this movie stay conscious of the relationship between the music and the video. Occasionally it’s literal but mostly it’s deliberately abstract yet there’s always a visual/auditory connection. Many hours of searching for the exact pictures and massaging them to fit went into this piece.
I kept my voice-over comments to a minimum so as not to distract from that prosody. I use that word because both music and pictures – moving or still – are forms of language.
This vlog at 8:34 is longer than most but I don’t think you’ll mind. Crank up the volume, go full screen and Enjoy.
There are many tales of video production and editing (as well as true love revisited) that you will find when you click here and get Waiting For Elizabeth.
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