CompuServe Messages

<<if you have to do that, you're not telling your story effectively>> <– refering to: "there are times when you just have stop the film, tap on the screen and ask, "are you getting this?">> Oh, of course, Tim. The 'are you getting this' moniker is one I ascribed to that icky part of so much (even professional) work these days where characters have on-screen conversations about topics which everyone (including the viewer) knows are obvious to people in the movie. So unnatural, and unfortunately my video is riddled with it. But I'm far from alone. For example, I saw 'Tank Girl' this weekend. The director went to some considerable trouble to execute nice matte 'establishing shots'; dramatic vistas of a world where fresh water suddenly dried up decades ago. A little film schoolish in style, but convincing. Then comes the 'tap on the screen'; characters going on and on about how there's no water and how precious it is. Oh, please. '… these are the white keys and these are the black ones.' Obviating enumerationist, indeed. <g> <<speak to one person, NOT to a crowd…if the idea is clearly presented, *everyone* will feel you're speaking just to him or her.>> An excellent tip. And something probably even more important when editing. We tend to think of editing as 'cutting out the bad stuff'. The painful part is when footage is really, really, good yet totally unnecessary. Editing is indeed 90% tailoring and 10% 'fixing and correcting'. <<do you insert it *deliberately* or does it just come out in *how* you do it?>> I realize it may be heavy-handed, but I often force it. If I don't, my video comes off sterilized, journalistic and dispassionate. Ordinary. There is nothing wrong with telling the facts, but when making personal video, why do that? I learned in creative writing studies that the *only* thing I have that you don't have is my point of view (unless I have exclusive facts; but if I waited until I shot the Rodney King beating I'd never make video). And whether you're Rice or Mitchener, that's what everyone who reads you is interested in. Your point. Otherwise, viewers might as well be watching the news. So, no. I don't assume that just because I have a point of view that it's clear when translated to tape. <<I'm not a sitcom fan–I feel they're SOOO determined to "sell" the moral, rather than letting the moral come out of the story itself>> Me neither. I watch them for educational purposes (sounds funny, doesn't it), but one can quickly gag when spoonfed a moral; metered out from title to credits. Yuk. Paul