A night in the Showroom
 

I have left UWOL and the bad weather this time and made a DVC film.

The show takes place at my workplace in the middle of the night.

Most owners do not know what actually is going on behind closed doors after they have left the office.

The whole show is made without use of animations, but sewing thread has been in frequent use.

This show gave me much more work than I could have dreamed of in forehand.

Several ideas did not work in practice.

The teddy bear who played the leading role in my contribution last year has a small acting role in this show.

I will thank Morgan, the owner of Morgan Instrument, for his participation.

I hope you will enjoy at least some of the stars.

Re: A night in the Showroom
 

Wow! What a beautiful piece. I can imagine it took a lot of work to pull this one off. What was the composition? Was it an original? This one serves double duty, both as a DV Challenge entry, and a wonderful advertisement for the music store. Loved the Teddy bear serving as guard watch, and the snaking electric guitar chord. Adding that distorted electronic vibe to the mix when it finally plugged in. This challenge as so many unique and beautiful entries, be a tough one to judge.

Re: A night in the Showroom
 

A very imaginative piece Finn-Erik, and with very beautiful music (I assume you played it).

The photography was lovely; great tracking shots and wonderful lighting all round.

It was also nice to see the teddy from 'The Spark' (a personal UWOL favorite of mine) make a cameo appearance.

I guess the idea for a show would be for the instruments to play a new folk piece for each episode? Sounds like an interesting idea really.

What did you edit this with (just out of interest as I thought I recognized some effects)?

Re: A night in the Showroom
 

This film was just super, I thought. And I am sure it took a lot of work too. But you made the instruments seem like they were living things, with the kind of shots you employed. One of my favorites !

Re: A night in the Showroom
 

Hi Finn-Erik,

Thanks so much for posting this. It's absolutely lovely. Aside from being very technically impressive it tells a wonderful story with a great deal of charm and humour. I laughed out loud at the rock skull and Bamse Bear's furtive glance round the shop door in the morning. Brilliant stuff - really looking forward to what you come up with next year!

Henry

Re: A night in the Showroom
 

Very lovely piece. Good camera work and lighting Finn-Eric. As usual you have produced a very polished piece with masterful playing of the instruments. Well Done.

Re: A night in the Showroom
 

Dick, Simon, Chris, Henry and Marj, thanks a lot for nice comments.

Dick,
The piece is a Norwegian folk tune, "Kjerringa med staven" (the old woman with the stave). It is a nursery rhyme most children can sing in Norway. The text have little sense.

Simon,
I had to give the instruments a helping hand with the music.
Like you, I have made the cut on FCPX. First I edited the soundtrack in FCPX and made it the main track. Then it was a nice job to snap the video scenes to the soundtrack. This way of editing gave me a problem.
It was not possible to do any form of transitions between the video cuts. The only way was to do the overlaps and density adjustments manually. Well, I have something to learn.
I have acquired an educational book for Christmas reading.

Re: A night in the Showroom
 

Hi Finn-Erik,

I thought I recognized some of the effects from FCPX when your video went 'electric'! I do agree that FCPX is unusual to start with, and takes a lot of getting used to. However, transitions are definitely possible between video clips (in the main storyline anyway, I think you would need to create compound clips if you are trying to transit with appended clips). I don't usually like transitions at all (I nearly alway use cuts), but I did use 2 very quick crossfades when the bird was first sighted in my video.
I purchased the official Apple FCPX training videos online from Ripple Training, and I would highly highly recommend them to anyone starting out with the program. Those videos will really open your eyes to the new workflow and the possibilities of the software.

Re: A night in the Showroom
 

Simon,
thanks a lot for your recommendation. I think I will purchase these training videos.

Re: A night in the Showroom
 

Ah, Finn-Erik...leave it to you to give us such a sweet gift for the charity challenge! Like your winning entry last year and every film I've watched of yours, you have a way of setting a tranquil and friendly mood no matter what the subject. Your gentle humor makes me think you should be showing your work at children's events or on...wait for it...TELEVISION. :)

What a surprise, UWOLer, that you are a lighting artist! Gorgeous. This entry was a fun departure from your nature films and I loved it.

You answered any questions I had while watching--loved your careful and wonderfully effective work with the sewing thread. Also loved your title. Oh and, good to see Bamse Bear again!

Re: A night in the Showroom
 

Finally I had a chance to watch your film, Finn-Erik.

You have done quality work here. I like your creativity!
Well done!

Re: A night in the Showroom
 

Lorinda, thank you so much for your nice and heartwarming comments.
I will also thank you for your gentle way of managing the challenge.

Re: A night in the Showroom
 

Thanks Trond.
I am looking forward to see your next entry in UWOL-challenge.