UWOL#3 "Go Wild" by Ruth Happel

Greg Boston · May 24th, 2007, 08:04 AM

Hi Ruth,

Just watched the piece. I echo most everyone else's sentiments. One 'small' nitpick. The musician in me didn't like the way the music ended. On a repeating phrase such as that, I would have let it fade and cross dissolve to a nat sound like a waterfall that grows and then fades with the fade to black.

Or, you could have started the music fade at the end of the final scene and had it fade through the credits, reaching silence as the video fades to black.

Just thinking out loud and meant to be purely constructive.

Congratulations on a great job,

-gb-

Ruth Happel · May 24th, 2007, 10:55 AM

Per - Glad you liked the film. My daughter and I are both learning a lot from making these videos.

Jeff- Actually, this film was the most basic of all in terms of audio dialogue. In previous films I did the narration in studio, with good microphones (well, it would be hard to mic bushes and a dog on camera)! This time I just used the on camera mic, but played a lot with the levels in post to bring everything up. My background is actually in audio, so a lot of times I spend as much or more time on the soundtrack than the video. I have used natural sounds in the background of the other two challenges, but this was my first foray into music. I just used Cinescore, and am not totally pleased with that, so am going to explore other options for music.

Brian McKay · May 24th, 2007, 12:26 PM

Ruth:

Thanks for the memories....I say that because your little girl reminds me of my own now grown up little girl. She loves that camera and that camera loves her..... a match made in heaven.

I had fun watching, nice and light and good for the soul.

Brian

Tom Schumann · May 24th, 2007, 02:50 PM

hi ruth,

really enjoyed your approach to the wild. it's a very special, entertaining film. i can see both your love for the wild. very nice.

Ruth Happel · May 24th, 2007, 04:08 PM

Gabriel,

Thanks for your comments. I think you mean the staircase when you say bridge? The effect on that was from shooting three takes of my daughter coming down and blending them together to make it look sort of abstract, taking part of the sequence from each.

Ruth

Ruth Happel · May 25th, 2007, 08:39 AM

Greg- Thanks for the comments, and suggestions. I am not totally happy with the music, either. It was the first time I used any for the UWOL, and I chose a piece from Cinescore. That is literally how they ended it, very abruptly. I faded out on natural sounds since I thought that would juxtapose against the traffic at the start. But I would have liked a piece that worked more with the piece, rather than just being muzak. So I am going to try for the next challenge to make something more organic, using ACID to compose it myself.

Brian- Thanks. Glad it can bring back some happy memories for you.

Tom- I grew up with an aunt who inspired my love of nature, and it is so important I hope to do the same for my daughter.

Gordon Hoffman · May 25th, 2007, 08:41 AM

Ruth
As usual you come up with different ideas to a theme. Nicely done, but ... are you not a little concerned that you won't be able to afford your daughter's talent if you keep this up? lol

Gordon Hoffman

Geir Inge · May 25th, 2007, 08:46 AM

Just a suggestion Ruth (maybe you already know).
You can also try out Sonicfire pro 4.5
In the new version you can edit different instruments (not the tune) and what parts of the melody you will use. They call it moods I think.
But Acid is great too, I've been using it a lot, and then you can play/make your own tunes :)

Greg Boston · May 25th, 2007, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ruth Happel

Greg- Thanks for the comments, and suggestions. I am not totally happy with the music, either. It was the first time I used any for the UWOL, and I chose a piece from Cinescore. That is literally how they ended it, very abruptly. I faded out on natural sounds since I thought that would juxtapose against the traffic at the start. But I would have liked a piece that worked more with the piece, rather than just being muzak. So I am going to try for the next challenge to make something more organic, using ACID to compose it myself.

I understand, Ruth. It's a pain when the piece ends before your scenery does. I liked the fade on nat sound, and that's why I was saying that a cross fade between the other piece and the nat sound might have worked better. The other thing you might have been able to do (or could do in the future), is an extension of the repeating musical phrase to pad it out longer. Fairly easy to do in this day and age of waveform editors ( I used to do it with tape and a splicing block).

I'm really glad that you are spending that quality time with your daughter most of all. Too many children have grown up with VCRs and video games as a substitute for parental interaction.

-gb-

Ruth Happel · May 25th, 2007, 10:39 AM

Greg,

Thanks for the suggestion. I think maybe I should have followed my instincts on this piece rather than just going with the music as is. I let the piece go as Sony did it, thinking it should end abruptly like they had it for a reason. It would have been better for me to create my own ending by looping it, making it transition seamlessly into the nature sounds, as you said.

I hear you about the trials of early sound editing. I made the first 60 minute digital nature sound recording for Rykodisc over 15 years ago. I programmed the computer line by line without any visual feedback as in Sound Forge or ACID. Half the time, the computer would crash on its overnight run. I had to do 4 albums in a month for them- the series A Month in the Brazilian Rainforest. (You don't even want to know how I did the previous album for an Earth Day celebration- literally building up an ambient nature album sample by sample)!

After pursuing still photography much of the past decade because of a hiatus from sound recording (not compatible spending most of my outdoor time with a young child- but as you say, I value the quality time with her more than anything else), I'm getting back into audio, and now combining it with video. I still have a lot to learn on all levels- and music isn't my forte (it's my pianissimo, actually). So I appreciate all the advice here to help me move forward. My next video, I plan to focus a lot more on the audio, combining animal sounds as a form of music for a more organic soundtrack. No more Cinescore for me. Thanks again for your insights.

Ruth

Meryem Ersoz · May 26th, 2007, 06:34 AM

my own wild child started throwing up at 5 am this morning, so we are on the couch watching "Paper Moon"--oh yeah, there's nothing like a little quality time together! and whatever happened to the raw comic genius of Madeline Kahn??

...sorry to get off topic, but i bet you both are going to enjoy looking back on these movie-making endeavors and have a lovely record of your relationship. worth the price of admission to the Challenge!!

May 25th, 2007, 08:46 AM	#23
Geir Inge Trustee Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Larsnes, Norway Posts: 1,342	Just a suggestion Ruth (maybe you already know). You can also try out Sonicfire pro 4.5 In the new version you can edit different instruments (not the tune) and what parts of the melody you will use. They call it moods I think. But Acid is great too, I've been using it a lot, and then you can play/make your own tunes :) __________________ Geir Inge B. Brekke Visit me at: https://vimeo.com/gibbfilm

May 24th, 2007, 08:04 AM	#16
Greg Boston Wrangler Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: DFW area, TX Posts: 6,117 Images: 1	Hi Ruth, Just watched the piece. I echo most everyone else's sentiments. One 'small' nitpick. The musician in me didn't like the way the music ended. On a repeating phrase such as that, I would have let it fade and cross dissolve to a nat sound like a waterfall that grows and then fades with the fade to black. Or, you could have started the music fade at the end of the final scene and had it fade through the credits, reaching silence as the video fades to black. Just thinking out loud and meant to be purely constructive. Congratulations on a great job, -gb-

May 24th, 2007, 10:55 AM	#17
Ruth Happel Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Black Mountain, NC Posts: 488	Per - Glad you liked the film. My daughter and I are both learning a lot from making these videos. Jeff- Actually, this film was the most basic of all in terms of audio dialogue. In previous films I did the narration in studio, with good microphones (well, it would be hard to mic bushes and a dog on camera)! This time I just used the on camera mic, but played a lot with the levels in post to bring everything up. My background is actually in audio, so a lot of times I spend as much or more time on the soundtrack than the video. I have used natural sounds in the background of the other two challenges, but this was my first foray into music. I just used Cinescore, and am not totally pleased with that, so am going to explore other options for music.

May 24th, 2007, 12:26 PM	#18
Brian McKay Major Player Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Rankin Inlet, Nunavut Canada Posts: 289	Ruth: Thanks for the memories....I say that because your little girl reminds me of my own now grown up little girl. She loves that camera and that camera loves her..... a match made in heaven. I had fun watching, nice and light and good for the soul. Brian

May 24th, 2007, 02:50 PM	#19
Tom Schumann New Boot Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Berlin, Germany Posts: 15	hi ruth, really enjoyed your approach to the wild. it's a very special, entertaining film. i can see both your love for the wild. very nice.

May 24th, 2007, 04:08 PM	#20
Ruth Happel Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Black Mountain, NC Posts: 488	Gabriel, Thanks for your comments. I think you mean the staircase when you say bridge? The effect on that was from shooting three takes of my daughter coming down and blending them together to make it look sort of abstract, taking part of the sequence from each. Ruth

May 25th, 2007, 08:39 AM	#21
Ruth Happel Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Black Mountain, NC Posts: 488	Greg- Thanks for the comments, and suggestions. I am not totally happy with the music, either. It was the first time I used any for the UWOL, and I chose a piece from Cinescore. That is literally how they ended it, very abruptly. I faded out on natural sounds since I thought that would juxtapose against the traffic at the start. But I would have liked a piece that worked more with the piece, rather than just being muzak. So I am going to try for the next challenge to make something more organic, using ACID to compose it myself. Brian- Thanks. Glad it can bring back some happy memories for you. Tom- I grew up with an aunt who inspired my love of nature, and it is so important I hope to do the same for my daughter.

May 25th, 2007, 08:41 AM	#22
Gordon Hoffman Major Player Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Pincher Creek, Alberta Canada Posts: 619	Ruth As usual you come up with different ideas to a theme. Nicely done, but ... are you not a little concerned that you won't be able to afford your daughter's talent if you keep this up? lol Gordon Hoffman

May 25th, 2007, 10:39 AM	#25
Ruth Happel Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Black Mountain, NC Posts: 488	Greg, Thanks for the suggestion. I think maybe I should have followed my instincts on this piece rather than just going with the music as is. I let the piece go as Sony did it, thinking it should end abruptly like they had it for a reason. It would have been better for me to create my own ending by looping it, making it transition seamlessly into the nature sounds, as you said. I hear you about the trials of early sound editing. I made the first 60 minute digital nature sound recording for Rykodisc over 15 years ago. I programmed the computer line by line without any visual feedback as in Sound Forge or ACID. Half the time, the computer would crash on its overnight run. I had to do 4 albums in a month for them- the series A Month in the Brazilian Rainforest. (You don't even want to know how I did the previous album for an Earth Day celebration- literally building up an ambient nature album sample by sample)! After pursuing still photography much of the past decade because of a hiatus from sound recording (not compatible spending most of my outdoor time with a young child- but as you say, I value the quality time with her more than anything else), I'm getting back into audio, and now combining it with video. I still have a lot to learn on all levels- and music isn't my forte (it's my pianissimo, actually). So I appreciate all the advice here to help me move forward. My next video, I plan to focus a lot more on the audio, combining animal sounds as a form of music for a more organic soundtrack. No more Cinescore for me. Thanks again for your insights. Ruth

May 26th, 2007, 06:34 AM	#26
Meryem Ersoz Wrangler Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Boulder, CO Posts: 3,015	my own wild child started throwing up at 5 am this morning, so we are on the couch watching "Paper Moon"--oh yeah, there's nothing like a little quality time together! and whatever happened to the raw comic genius of Madeline Kahn?? ...sorry to get off topic, but i bet you both are going to enjoy looking back on these movie-making endeavors and have a lovely record of your relationship. worth the price of admission to the Challenge!!