Micro 4/3 Silk Mill Reverie -- New Version

entropic remnants

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John Griggs
The last silk mill in the US stands in Lonaconing, Maryland. It feels like something that died before it's time.

I'm still working on doing short videos with a feeling. I have just set up my midi music studio again and I'm getting back into composing and performing mood pieces for my hybrid videos.

So on this one, I also composed and performed the simple piano theme. There's no animation here, just a simple musical theme and picture show... but I think/hope it works.

My chops on keyboard were never good, so this is still a bit rough. I hope to improve these as I go along, but not over produce them.

[video=youtube;3yIlcvZt5Us]
 
very nice much impressed

being overcritical I think the transition could be smoother - maybe fade to black if that is possible
 
very nice much impressed

being overcritical I think the transition could be smoother - maybe fade to black if that is possible

Thanks, ReD!

Which transition are you talking about? Final? In between images? Criticism welcome especially since these are learning experiences for me.

Edit: I will say I know the problems with the music -- some unexplained dynamics and so forth. My touch on the keyboard is very much in need of practice, lol. I haven't done this kind of composing probably literally in 20 years or so. I play bass mainly and truth be told: music is not my most significant "gifting", lol. But I'm excited to combine it with photography I must say.
 
fading between slides

i thought the music was very apt & understated - really good.

Thanks! I thought about the fade to black between but what happened in my mind was that the actual time the image was on screen was too short when I used a long enough transition to get the kind of "swing" I wanted against the music. The crossfade just seemed like it gave me more "dwell" time on seeing the images with a long swing (3 seconds) of transition. I realize I'm not using conventional language to describe some of this, but that's how I think of it. The transition is basically motion so if it's too abrupt or too slow it doesn't "swing" well against the music if that makes any sense.

I like fade to black transitions for more moody stuff so I'm with you on that. I just didn't want to make the movie any longer or remove any images. The crossfade was my choice here to maximize image time and I'll keep your comment in mind going forward and try both to make sure I'm getting what I need. Thanks again.

Love the location and your images. What did you use to put the movie together?

=G=

Just Adobe Premier Elements 11. Pretty simple video editor though it doesn't do what my old standard definition video editor did years ago -- or else I've not figured enough out yet, lol. I may go back to using AviSynth to pre-process photos to get some zoom and pan features the way I want them. That's why I'm not using that on these photos yet.

I had a bunch of nice free tools I used to use and a bunch of scripts I wrote to process but that was pre-HD.

For the music I'm just using Avid ProTools SE and an inexpensive "midi" keyboard that just plugs into USB. They both come as a kit for less than $100 and uses your computer for all the processing. It has some nice built in samples though and can take plug-ins you can get from third parties to expand the library of patches and samples. I had sold all my midi and keyboard gear but this is a cheap way to leverage what I already know how to do. In many ways this system sounds better than the external MIDI sound modules and keyboard I was using 20 to 25 years ago, lol.
 
Wonderful John, I love the rich colours in your images. They suit the subject matter so well. The slide show video was a great way to showcase your photography and music. Very well done!
 
Well, I took ReD's advice finally and modified the video to use fade-to-black transitions. It did work and I'm now sure why I thought it didn't other than stubbornness -- something I am well equipped with, lol.

But I've also put a "pan over still photo" sequence in it (I finally figured out how to do that properly in Premiere Elements editor), and smoothed out a bad bit of the piano part. I had a note I was hitting way too hard in the left hand part -- repeatedly, and it's better now.

Here's the new version, but I also edited the original post:

[video=youtube;3yIlcvZt5Us]
 
Thanks

I think that works a lot better & I especially like the pan

(was not advice btw just a suggestion)

well done - & look forward to a tutorial
 
Thanks

I think that works a lot better & I especially like the pan

(was not advice btw just a suggestion)

well done - & look forward to a tutorial

Suggestions are advice with a much more polite tone, lol. No worries and thanks for your input and encouragement.

Tutorial? When I figure out what I'm doing that might show up, lol. Right now I don't feel like I have much to offer as I'm still stumbling through this.
 
Nice set, John... any chance of slowing it down a bit? I like to take in the entire shot (maybe I'm too slow) and I found that the slide was already moving to the next before I was ready for it to do so.

Ah, see that's the problem isn't it with something like this. I want to keep it short, but have enough photos in it -- and I went to fade-to-black transitions which shortens the time you see an image.

I'll have to think about this. I might take a photo or two out and stretch some times, or maybe take the whole movie to 2 minutes but I'm trying to keep them 2 minutes or under.

Although, I guess you could take in the entire piece -- which is about mood not individual photos per-se -- and then run it again pausing at the shots which you are most interested in. You can also have a look at the original set of photos here: Throwing Klotz - a set on Flickr

Thanks for the feedback! I'm still figuring out exactly what I'm doing with these short pieces. The main goal though is mood and the photography or video (when I have video) is only a means to that end.
 
Hey John, here's a link to my first movie, (one of two - lol), class assignment ... as my first attempt I used every transition at my disposal.

Kodachrome

Excellent, Gary! With something like that, changing things up hurts nothing. The overall theme is COLOR! (Okay, Kodachrome but it's the same thing.)

Were they all slide film? They did look like it for sure. VERY nice photography and the movie works.

If I squeezed that much production pizzazz into my little movies it would detract from the mood. I've seen this in music: overproduction kills the feeling. That's certainly not a knock on yours as the whole goal is something different. I liked all those transition types between all the color slides -- some were like rainbows linking all the images, lol.
 
John, you are way too kind. You are right, over-production can kill the goose. Like neophytes in photo studio, the first thing they do is fire up all the lights.

I need to work on creating my own music.
 
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