So the bad news is that I discovered after meeting Tristan, that all my iPhone footage, even after being converted to ProRes with Compressor, still inherited a problematic audio sample rate of 44.1kHz after conversion. There's good news to this discovery, and it's that it was caught now rather than later, which presumably would've been so disruptive and just very inconvenient. So I had to redo all my iPhone footage conversions using a custom preset of 48kHz audio sample rate in Compressor. I still have to do that for YouTube footage as well.
There's good news too. Very good news. I asked Tristan to help me see if my interview with Pascal is salvageable. I didn't use a wireless lav mic, just the camera boom mic, and the AC noise is difficult to ignore. Trying both Soundtrack Pro and Audition, Tristan demonstrated how the background noise can be omitted, and we concluded that Pascal's interview is usable. This is great news because even if I am still making a trip to the middle east during winter break, it's nice to know that I have more time for pick-up shots. Tristan hilariously praised Pascal's deep voice, and we laughed at the pick-up line, "You have the perfect voice for a noise reduction!"
That was a nice tool to learn, and Audition showed better results than Soundtrack Pro.
All in all, Tristan approves of my hard drive organization, and gave me a few useful tips.
As for my "going through footage," workflow, I spent most of the past week doing some transcribing with focus on my interview w/ previous deputy mayor of Riyadh Dr. Faisal Al-Mubarak, more problem-solving, and also some writing and brainstorming about this project. Since I am also working on a creative writing piece for my LIT class, it is also helping me think about the lens through which I am seeing and projecting Riyadh. I actually spent some time going through my photographs (not footage) of Riyadh. My stills are inspiring me to write and also encouraging me to test a few potential (complicated) ways of telling this story. I'm feeling more confident about telling this story, however complicated and multi-layered, as opposed to a couple of weeks ago when I was feeling frustrated about how I will have to make something intelligible to the audience. I'm starting to think more in terms of deciding who my audience is, and it certainly is smarter and more inquisitive than the audience I was considering a few weeks ago. In other words, I'm working around trying to make this in the best way that I can, rather than working around trying to make this as easy to understand as possible. I was generally struggling with the idea that my world, or this story/project, is "the other," and it is difficult for me to carry that weight all the time. I've more or less decided to lift off all this political, cultural, and orientalist weight I've been carrying, and forget that I'll have quite an audience that has little knowledge of the place and culture which this story is about. My main challenge is to think of how I can fill in those gaps in an effective and meaningful way, without having to spoon-feed my audience with basic background info. This is important also in terms of thinking about how to give lead, narrate, or structure the story in a way that doesn't compromise my own aesthetic and vision.
I also did some research on GTA (Grand Theft Auto) Arab Drift, Aka GTA hajwalah (joyriding), and chatted with Rakan about all that. He shared some info and clips and told me it helps as a temporary "taste" of joyriding. I seem to be opening a door to a whole second life world of joyriding. Interesting visuals to incorporate into the collection. I'm going to ask Rakan for footage of him gaming the next time we chat.
I saw Port of Memory (thanks for the suggestion, Irene), and that was yet another instance that encouraged my creativity last week. I loved its poetic and metaphorical style and its layering of memory. I can see why this was recommended to me, as I thought about the stillness and yet mobility of my lens through the city... and what they mean. Being a passenger... detouring... and road blocks. I'm relieved to think that I can take my audience on this ride.
I've been recommended Viola Shafik's film Arij - Scent of Revolution, and am planning on watching it tonight.
There's good news too. Very good news. I asked Tristan to help me see if my interview with Pascal is salvageable. I didn't use a wireless lav mic, just the camera boom mic, and the AC noise is difficult to ignore. Trying both Soundtrack Pro and Audition, Tristan demonstrated how the background noise can be omitted, and we concluded that Pascal's interview is usable. This is great news because even if I am still making a trip to the middle east during winter break, it's nice to know that I have more time for pick-up shots. Tristan hilariously praised Pascal's deep voice, and we laughed at the pick-up line, "You have the perfect voice for a noise reduction!"
That was a nice tool to learn, and Audition showed better results than Soundtrack Pro.
All in all, Tristan approves of my hard drive organization, and gave me a few useful tips.
As for my "going through footage," workflow, I spent most of the past week doing some transcribing with focus on my interview w/ previous deputy mayor of Riyadh Dr. Faisal Al-Mubarak, more problem-solving, and also some writing and brainstorming about this project. Since I am also working on a creative writing piece for my LIT class, it is also helping me think about the lens through which I am seeing and projecting Riyadh. I actually spent some time going through my photographs (not footage) of Riyadh. My stills are inspiring me to write and also encouraging me to test a few potential (complicated) ways of telling this story. I'm feeling more confident about telling this story, however complicated and multi-layered, as opposed to a couple of weeks ago when I was feeling frustrated about how I will have to make something intelligible to the audience. I'm starting to think more in terms of deciding who my audience is, and it certainly is smarter and more inquisitive than the audience I was considering a few weeks ago. In other words, I'm working around trying to make this in the best way that I can, rather than working around trying to make this as easy to understand as possible. I was generally struggling with the idea that my world, or this story/project, is "the other," and it is difficult for me to carry that weight all the time. I've more or less decided to lift off all this political, cultural, and orientalist weight I've been carrying, and forget that I'll have quite an audience that has little knowledge of the place and culture which this story is about. My main challenge is to think of how I can fill in those gaps in an effective and meaningful way, without having to spoon-feed my audience with basic background info. This is important also in terms of thinking about how to give lead, narrate, or structure the story in a way that doesn't compromise my own aesthetic and vision.
I also did some research on GTA (Grand Theft Auto) Arab Drift, Aka GTA hajwalah (joyriding), and chatted with Rakan about all that. He shared some info and clips and told me it helps as a temporary "taste" of joyriding. I seem to be opening a door to a whole second life world of joyriding. Interesting visuals to incorporate into the collection. I'm going to ask Rakan for footage of him gaming the next time we chat.
I saw Port of Memory (thanks for the suggestion, Irene), and that was yet another instance that encouraged my creativity last week. I loved its poetic and metaphorical style and its layering of memory. I can see why this was recommended to me, as I thought about the stillness and yet mobility of my lens through the city... and what they mean. Being a passenger... detouring... and road blocks. I'm relieved to think that I can take my audience on this ride.
I've been recommended Viola Shafik's film Arij - Scent of Revolution, and am planning on watching it tonight.
No comments:
Post a Comment