Work on the Video of My Work

As part of my exhibition I am considering a video of the work.  The reasoning behind this is that when I am out walking in woodland it is an immersive, reflective experience and I want to go some way to reproducing this in the exhibition.  In an ideal world I would use a separate darkened viewing room with surround sound.  As this is not possible I intend to show the video on a laptop using headphones, although someone at my portfolio group suggested that I use a virtual reality headset.  First though I have to get the video right.    I have worked on various prototypes, but the one that I sent out for feedback as part of assignment 1 and to my tutor is here  https://vimeo.com/216371001 .  As part of the feedback from assignment 1 it was suggested that I change the black background to one that was sympathetic to the colours in the images.  My tutor suggested that a white background would be safe.  He also suggested that I try to make a sound recording of my own to go with the work.  I had downloaded some a free sound effect of someone walking from the internet, but Robert felt that using my own recording would add a lot of value to the work.  I had already tried recording my own footsteps in an even earlier prototype, but I had made the mistake of wearing overtrousers and all that could be heard was the swishing noise emanating from them.  I had also had an older smartphone then and the technolology has since improved.  

Changing the background to white was fairly straightforward so I then set out to experiment with my own recording.  I used my current smartphone and having research in the internet downloaded an app called RecforgeII which allegedly does a better job than the built in voice recorder that came with the phone.  On advice from a colleague in my peer hangout group I also down loaded Audacity onto my PC to edit the sound tracks.  I was delighted with this and not only did enable me to edit out poor quality sections it also allows me to blend tracks together.  In this way I have been able to use my footsteps as the main sound with the sound of rooks and jackdaws calling in the background.  Having got to this stage I saved this version to Vimeo.  The link to it is here: http://www.vimeo.com/243641946

I am relatively pleased with what I have done in that I have made some improvements.  It was easy to change the background and I have proved to myself that it is possible to record my own soundtrack.  I was pleased with the recording of the rooks and jackdaws and the way that they come through in the video and I am delighted with the ease with which Audacity works as an editing tool.  However, I am less pleased with the quality of the footsteps track.  Although I had the volume adjusted OK for my PC and the level I have my volume set on it, when I used headphones the sound was far too loud and harsh and there was a background rumble/hum on parts of it.

At this stage I shared the work at our fortnightly peer group Google Hangout and later that evening I also shared it with a local portfolio group that I have been invited to join.  I asked the two groups if they would consider the background suitability, the sound quality, the text and the time for which the images were displayed.

All felt that the video was an excellent alternative way of presenting the work and it could provide the immersive experience for which I was seeking.  One member of the OCA group felt that the white background worked OK, but generally there was a feeling that the black would be preferable as it keeps the viewer in the experience more whereas the white takes one out of it.  White is too much like a gallery wall.  Another member pointed out that the white background only worked with a 16x9 monitor and if it was viewed on an older style 4x3 there is a black region beyond the white anyway.  People also agreed that it would be better to have the background above and below the images as well as to the sides in order to frame them better.  In the evening the portfolio group who seem to have an RPS/camera club background definitely felt that black would be better.

It was generally felt that the text was too large and in some instances lines tended to merge into each other top and bottom.  It was also felt that I needed to look at the line breaks and perhaps left justify rather than centre the text.  It was also felt that I only needed to fully reference Rebecca Solnit in the body of the text and didn't need the date of the quote in the credits.  The Arial font worked well. One interesting point made for the text would be to begin with the word Shul as that is the most important. i.e Shul is the Tibetan word for track rather that The Tibetan word for track is Shul.  I agree with this.

Some felt that the sound was fine but two agreed with me, especially when listened to through earphones.  One person thought it would be a good idea to employ a sound recordist (if I could find one).  Alternatively try a separate sound recorder rather than the phone.  One person recommended an Olympus digital sound recorder and a member of the Portfolio Group has offered to lend me a broadcast quality machine with which to do the work - a fantastic offer which I shall take up.

The length of time for which the images were displayed was felt to be fine.

All in all the general opinion was very positive and the project was well worth persevering with.  I have lots of great ideas to ponder and alterations to make and, hopefully, some better equipment with which to record the sound.