I must admit that when I saw Fleet Foxes live the other year, I was quite disappointed. They may as well have played the album and had some cardboard cut-outs on stage. Actually, that may be what happened but I was, however, quite excited reading the article in Uncut for their new album this weekend and am looking forward to it. Robin Pecknold seems to be one of those people that wrecks their lives for rock'n'roll. He sounds like a young David Crosby and their harmonies are quite ethereal. Those unfamiliar with Uncut should check it out (here).
In the meantime, spring seems to have appeared without us quite noticing it. Birdsong everywhere and all those SAD people suddenly looking less pale and wan. They're all still palely loitering, though. We wandered by the Orwell River yesterday to relax and take in the view of what Mrs Dave calls the "dinosaur's graveyard". The photo above suggests an ancient petrified creature (or was that just the Adnams?).
Although the internet was working fine before we left, it had decided not to when we got back. Looks like the Backroom Boys will need to save the day (again). Bloody computers. They're rubbish really. Why oh why do these things take so long? I sat here for several hours to upload this video - there was no indication other than a little squiggle going round and round. Gave up eventually and took it down to a tiny snippet. Oh well, we live and learn.
Sometimes they're hard lessons, though.
5 comments:
Ah! A little snippet of Sandy's Backside Water. How delightful!
Charming, thank you.
You can get away without using a tripod in stills photography, but video really needs one, imho -- it's the first giant step towards movies that don't make you reach for the handrail.
Also, composing with the zoom on the fly and hand-held panning is to be avoided -- a steady shot, where the action passes through the frame is the way to go. You edit the excitement in later...
I speak as the man with the world's must unwatchable home videos.
Mike
I assume we're about to be plagued with "Guerilla Filming" - with the advent of iPad 2 and its video camera and instant editing. I will certainly be plagued with it next year in Media (groan) and Film Studies!
Thanks for the tips, Mike. These little documentaries shouldn't really be for public consumption but I need to be able to "do things" that kids can do, otherwise I can't really comment, or indeed mark their work.
One of the things I needed to be able to do was post videos onto the blog. I'll try not to inflict too many on you all!
I remember taking our super 8 video to the junior school Nativity play, where my daughter was slouching around at the back as an angel, nudging her friend and giggling -- I kept zooming in, pannning around and up and down, trying to keep her in view and generally failing to capture the broader scene, so that watching the end result was a bit like having the spins after a drink too many.
Video is a thousand times more difficult to do well than stills. Doug Plummer's blog Dispatches (which has gone a bit dormant) has some interesting things to say on this. He's a pro who has gone from stills to video, because that's where the market is, especially in the American higher education "prospectus" field, which is his area. He also covers American folk-dance.
I take it you *have* seen the "That's Why I chose Yale" video? It's a must-see, and a genuine game-changer. It's at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGn3-RW8Ajk
Utterly jaw-dropping, and very funny.
Mike
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