Desertrose
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Posts posted by Desertrose
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This thread reminded me of this....if you haven't seen it, watch it. I thought it was brilliant.
I guess maybe it's the melody that counts?
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Hi, I really don't think the beta blockers are the answer. I've been on them for much of my life and they didn't do anything when it came to the anxiety related to performing.
What your body is doing is perfectly "normal'. It's the whole fright/fight/flight thing. Heart rate increases, respirations increase, blood gets pumped to your heart and brain instead of your extremities.
It's a percieved threat though and it starts in your mind.
Really honestly I feel the only way to overcome this "fear" that is triggering the natural physical response of "threat" is by constant repetitive exposure.
Visualising a different (positive - with less uncomfortable physical restrictions) outcome is really important and as much as it might sound like mumbo jumbo it really does help.
I do however feel for you guys that have to both play AND sing. I only ever had to face trembling knees and the shaky voice.
I always found that after a few songs these feelings would lessen - so maybe it's harder if you're just getting up to sing one song?
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That's pretty darned good for a first!
Very nicely edited.
I enjoyed watching it
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Perhaps there's something you can buy to tape/glue? around the stands arms. Like that rubber stuff you put under rugs to stop them slipping on floors?
The problem I have with my stands is how to tilt the bottom one so I can see my keyboards LCD screen. The keyboard is heavy and I'm afraid that even with the rubber stoppers at the end of the arms that it might slip off if the arms are positioned in a tilt. Easy fixed though with rolls of toilet paper wedged under the back of the keyboard at both ends.
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You really need to post a recording up with your vocals-singing, if that's what you will be doing, or spoken, whatever, using the NEW mic.
Each microphone will have a different "sound" and bear in mind that the cheaper it is....well, it WILL make a difference.
Also the kind of room (acoustics) you record in will effect tone as will where you position your mouth - in line with the mic - singing up to it, singing across it, singing down to it - too close or too far from it, etc.
Nasal tones are a common problem and that could be just the way you speak or sing - the way you position your tongue in your mouth - whether you are singing from your throat rather than your chest.
Experiment with all these things. Do a bit of acting with it - different characters and you'll hear just how vastly you can change your voice by the different ways you 'use" it.
You may also need to play around with EQ on the vocals when you mix - this can vastly improve tone but won't do anything for the nasal problem.
Hearing ones voice back from a recording is always confronting if you aren't used to it and many people say they don't like their voice.
Perhaps this is because what we hear our spoken voice in our heads - through our own ears, sounding like - internally, is not exactly what it sounds like 'outside" of our own heads....if you know what I mean?
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I'd like to see you in the kitchen once you got your hands on the saucepans!
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A bit late in my thanks but.... thanks for watching
I know these high definition clips are a pain so I appreciate you taking the trouble.
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Actually I have quite a few more tips to offer based on what I have learned SO FAR.
I don't mean to sound like I know everything because that is so far from the truth it's not funny!
But........for the complete novice, perhaps some of what I have listed below might be of some help?
I hope so....because this is darn complicated stuff!
Really gives me an entirely new appreciation for those who have been doing this kind of thing for years and are really good at it!
Just some thoughts on what I have read and learned so far... I hope to hear some more from others round here that have many more years of filming and editing experience up their sleeves!
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To paint a picture through moving images is far more complex than it first seems.
It's nowhere near as easy as pulling a video camera out of a bag and pointing and shooting something that appeals to you.
That's perfectly fine for home movies but if you're wanting to get arty farty, or make something aimed at a wider audience then there are some things that can help you make a more "interesting" video.
The most important thing I believe is required to make your filming appealing to the eye, is that you use a tripod!
Unless you have some kind of steadycam, flycam device, hand held filming, despite the decent internal image stabilisers most home video camera's have these days, is NEVER that comfortable to watch.
The exception is filming action stuff like sport and perhaps to create an atmosphere of unease and tension like in something horror related.
Tiny snippets of hand held footage could be worked into a whole piece but it doesn't work when the whole thing is hand held....as I have learned.
When looking at piecing a whole bunch of images together in an editing program it's really important that while you film you think about HOW you are going to join it all together.
For example ....when filming a waterfall video I ran around randomly shooting all the "pretty water", completely disregarding the angles at which I was filming it.
Therefore I had water running from left to right....from right to left.....directly towards the camera....away from the camera....down the cliff and with the camera pointing AT the cliff.
It was an absolute NIGHTMARE to piece it all together when I edited it in order for it not to be "jarring" to the eye when I cross faded the images.
So perhaps to be aware of how you "might" edit it as you are filming is advisable otherwise you end up in a mess!
Or story board the whole thing prior to filming if it is more complex than just nature stuff.
As I mentioned before......it's also a good rule of thumb to count eight seconds when you press record before you do anything like pan or zoom etc....and then leave another eight seconds after you have "got the shot" you want.
This way when you edit it together you have some wiggle room.
As I have discovered while dabbling in making my few music videos, when you want a scene for example of someone singing/miming, and they immediately drop their eyes from the camera as soon as the line has been sung/mimed, it's impossible to avoid that "Ok I'm done now!" eye movement when you fade to the next scene.
Holding the eye contact/head position etc for a few seconds allows for much better editing.
To make your footage more interesting it's a good idea to combine distant, middle and close up shots.
To film everything at a distance - say a landscape, quickly becomes boring, no matter how spectacular it is.
Our eyes have learned to be "entertained" though movies and television and though you're not aware of it, everything you watch on TV combines these three elements (and more) CONSTANTLY.
Except perhaps newsreaders faces? lol!
The trick though is to combine all these different shots smoothly so they are not "noticed" as being shot from different perspectives.
The thing is, when we look at a scene with our eyes they take in EVERYTHING they see and transmit all those images as one thing to our eyes.
If you look at say a river....You see not just the river, but the glistening texture of the water as the sun shines on it....you see the water moving....the tree's on the far side of the river.... the sky in the distance, the clouds, the bank of the river, peripherally you are aware of things, movement, tree's, reeds, etc....and probably SO much more!
With a video camera you point it in one direction and it captures THAT, but is unable to capture ALL that your eyes take in, in one single shot.
So combining all those little elements of interest takes the viewer on a journey OF the river, much as your brain or eyes would.
Video is NOT the same as photography where "stillness" is what is intended.
Video is about movement...about "the journey", made up of hundreds of images.
For a music video as another example....When filming even something simple like a person singing while playing guitar, it's much more interesting to incorporate things like... say the hands on the strings of the guitar as they play, as a closeup shot.
A mid shot of head to waist.....a closeup shot of the face....even closer of the mouth or eyes...
Not JUST a pull away shot of the entire thing filmed from one perspective of the guy sitting on the chair singing as he plays.
Even more interesting is to add in different scenes relating to the song then coming back to the singer?
Framing the shot too is important.
The golden rule of thirds is something I'd never heard of before - you photographers would probably know all about that!
What it means is USUALLY the shot looks best when the point of interest is two thirds up the frame of the shot.
I did find a link about that at some point so I'll try and find it.
Worth having a play around anyway experimenting with what position to film a shot in looks best to your eye, before even starting to record.
Also included in that of course is getting your horizons straight!
This is my biggest problem! I must veiw the world lopsided or something because I RARELY manage to get them straight!
A tricky thing with horizons in editing is getting them to match.
When floating say one ocean scene over another, if the horizons are at a different level it will look "funny".
To fix that you can either be meticulous when filming all your horizons or you can add a contrasting scene - with NO horizon, to put between the shots so it's not so obvious to the eye that the two horizons are different.
OR you can use a crop tool in editing to match them up - though of course any zoom done in editing is digital and will affect the image quality.
One very obvious thing to remember - you would think, when filming is to make sure your shadow is not in the shot!
I don't know how many nice nature scenes I've recorded only to notice afterwards that there is me AND my tripod in the shot!
Being aware of ANYTHING that spoils the overall image is important....no matter how tiny it is.
Cars driving past in the distance between tree's are a real pain in the bum!
When editing, it's tempting to use all the effects you suddenly find at your fingertips.
I believe, less is more.
The simpler the better.
All of those cheesy wipes and transitions, like page roll overs etc are really better left for something you want to look like has been made in the eighties, lol!
This is personal preference I guess, but I have read people say that the minute they see a "wipe" of any kind it screams "amateur!"
Dissolves and crossfades used to smoothly flow one scene into the next is much gentler on the eye.
All depends of course on what you're filming.
You wouldn't gently cross fade scenes of a football match
Matching your fades and scene changes I always find is controlled by the pace of the music you choose.
It's tricky to "time" the scene changes to the music, but by expanding the time line you expand the music track and can "see" (more or less) where to line up your cross fades or dissolves.
If you have a shot of something and it's not quite long enough to fit where you want it, you can change the properties of it in your editing program and slow it down a little, which lengthens it slightly.
You can also speed it up slightly.....or a lot
Back to what I said before though......always film MORE of what you think you'll use in editing just to be on the safe side.....(but never use SO much that it becomes static and boring.)
There's nothing more frustrating than having a scene you love but its over in a heartbeat!
Always film in good light!
Early morning and late afternoon offer the best light to film in.
Heat haze here in Australia is a HUGE problem....even on cloudy winter days it STILL distorts the landscape images!
I'm so jealous of those that live in countries that don't have heat haze problems!
No camera's out there, despite what they say, work well under artificial light conditions.
You always need LOADS more light than what you think you'll need, even if you're trying to create a night time effect.
Just look at the horror/suspense movies...
Haven't you always noticed how "light" it looks for night time?
When filming indoors with ordinary light bulbs they cast a very orange light that you don't notice until you try to film with them on.
I was quite startled to see just how orange they make everything look!
Apparently you CAN buy light bulbs that have a more "white" light.
Something I'm looking into.
Remember though, the camera lens is just like your eye.....without light it becomes hard to focus.
Lighting in itself is a whole other learning curve to master....there really is an ART to it!
Bouncing light....reflecting light....pin pointing light....It's all VERY complicated!
Makes my head hurt.
When you use a video camera on "auto" settings it WILL automatically adjust itself depending on how much light is getting into the lens, therefore fading and brightening as the level of light changes.
Turning it to manual will give YOU the control.
Much trickier, but creatively much more freedom is available.
If you know anything about aperture and shutter speeds it's probably worth experimenting in manual mode to see what can be done.
Depth of focus can be very rewarding creatively when using your camera's manual setting.
Ok, that's a start.
When I think of more.... read and learn more, I'll add them to the list.
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Thanks Nightwolf.
Oh I'm so pleased you noticed all my fades and layers. God they drove me INSANE!
I used SO many effects in Sony Vegas
that it slowed everything down SO much that each little BIT that had a layer had to be rendered down separately just so I could check the timing of the fades.I had to do this literally hundreds of times with all those little "bits" in order to get everything crossfading and fading in time.
This final clip is the fifteenth render of the whole entire song (THIS version...I did another one before this one!) - and each one of those took about 40 minutes!
I was like a woman possessed though - determined not to miss one little section that was slightly too quick or too slow on a fade.
I surely hope I've suceeded, because I tell you what, if there IS one tiny bit that some one tells me needs fixing I'm NOT FIXING IT! LOL!
And thanks too for the support on the closed minds.
Poo to them!
I just love that face.
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I'm using a JVC Everio HD 7. The image stabilisation is CRAP on this camera. Get's very bad reviews for that, but that is simply solved by using a tripod
The best thing about it is the ease of all the manual features which are all external on the camera - not on the LCD screen, which I personally hate.
I'm not sure if this model has been superceeded yet but I would highly recommend it for anyone who is not afraid of using the manual features of a camera.
John, skyclad in HD.....no thankyou very much, LOL!
Thanks for watching
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Thank you Steve
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Nothing wrong with mucking about and having FUN.
It SHOULD be fun.
Ever since reading this thread and watching the video I've toyed with the idea of making something quirky that runs "backwards" - since I have discovered how to do that in Sony Vegas.
Only thing my simple mind can think of at the moment though is filming someone applying makeup and doing their hair - then reversing it...
I keep seeing lipstick peeling OFF.
Or what about someone slurping spaghetti?
Now that might be fun to film and then reverse?
My dog pooping?
LOL!
Now I AM getting silly.... AND gross!
I just watched my two dogs attempting to each eat a boiled egg for the first time.
It was the funniest thing, seeing them pop the eggs out of their mouths repeatedly.
You had to be there.
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Anyone got any?
How to make day look like night it what I want to know!
Bugger all this filming AT night, trying to fiddle with lighting and make it look "dark" and still try to focus the damn camera!
In Sony Vegas I have discovered an effect in "colour curves" that says " night".
It casts a very blue darkish look to the clips shot in day light. Still needs some desaturation done in order to look semi "night-ish".
I'm wondering if this indeed will prove the way to go.
I still have a lot of fiddling to do before I'll know for sure.
Anyway.....just thought I'd start this subject in case anyone has ANY sort of tips to offer those of us eager to learn!
One tip I have to offer the novice, is.........always shoot a clip longer than what you expect to need to use.
8 seconds in front and 8 in back for ease of editing.
Nothing worse than shots that finish too quick.....or a line mimed and then the eyes immediately drop with that "Ok I'm done" look that you can't disguise in editing when fading to the next bit.
If you know what I mean?
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Hi Rudi!
Hey thanks for taking a look and your nice comments.
I forgot to mention that if these huge HD files are too big - take too long to stream, you can always click the HD button OFF so it's standard definition.
You didn't mention that you had any problems watching it, so I hope you didn't!
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Well hello again!
I've seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth as I have been totally consumed by trying to make this music clip.
My biggest challenge so far, even though it probably looks so darn "simple" !
I know the symbolism "may" disturb some of different religious faiths.
I have written my thoughts about that on Vimeo, so be aware that if you have a really strong dislike of anything "pagan" then you would probably not feel comfortable with this clip.
In fact I came across one person who was very disturbed by some of the images and probably no longer wishes to associate with me.
Reactions like that perplex me, but...well, each to his or her own.
Anyway....hey, from a technical point of view all I had to work with was household lighting. Desk lamps and bedroom lamps, balanced on cushions and strung from the ceiling, lol and I had to film it entirely inside instead of OUTSIDE, which is really what I would have preferred to do.
Would love to hear your thoughts on the results, especially from a technical/editing point of view.
Here it is.
Tracy
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I watched it and enjoyed. Very quirky
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A photoshop thread would be great. Like maybe photoshop for dummies?
I'd be interested in learning more about it. -
Ahh see I'm not very photoshop savvy...When it comes to "layers" I get confused...I might at some point fumble around and give it a go though!
Thanks!
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Wow, is that your video John? It's fantastic! Very creative! Love the eyes especially.
How did you achieve that effect on the eyes?
Geez, a lot HAS changed since I've been absent from this site.
I'm so excited to see a whole section devoted to video!
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Hey that is so cool! So you can actually do that AFTER you've shot the image. I didn't know you could!
Wow, and here I am fiddling endlessly with aperture and shutter speeds to get that same depth of focus.
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Is that another euphomism?
Goodness, me be euphomistic? Never !
I hope Santa brings you your drums!
Soon we'll have enough between us to fill that mud hut!
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No, it's Christmas.
I have to be "nice" or else all I'll get is a lump of coal.
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Hey Tracy
You do know you're meant to blow, not suck?
How on earth did you end up choking?Maybe you're right. The didgers' curse somehow knew why you were practising with the straw!
Cheers
John
I could say something but it would end up naughty.
Have you got any of your didge playing recorded by any chance? I'd love to hear.
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ooops. *foot -> mouth*
lol, no worries Typo.
John...I've tried the straw trick...and choked.
Anyway, my excuse is that women are "forbidden" from playing the didgeridoo.
But I LOVE how the instrument sounds.
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Is Originality A Myth
in Music Production and Recording
Posted
I really enjoyed the above video. Different and interesting and what......no grinding provocatively swinging naked from wrecking balls or any lewdness at all? Miracles do happen.