The Glasshouse Birdman prototype is coming together as a work-in-progress. It has been a useful experience to learn how this type of production is recorded, authored and structured.
Montage editing: In comparsion to the usual broadcast production there seems to be little need to use montage editing. In most cases the granular nature of videodefunct works with scenes as short duration single continuous shots. Even dialogue with the style of approach suits being uncut. I was surprised that this would be the case in a documentary style prototype. It is amazing how much conversation and observation is presented in small self-contained fragments. In fact montage editing seems strange in this environment not only from a production perspective but also as clips. The multi-channel composition asks for scenes to be realised as shots played back concurrently rather than edited into montage sequences. The breaking up of time in a montage sequence seems very odd after working with single continuous shots. Although, I think sharp short montage sequences could be used to enhance single continuous shots in the triptych. Also, longer edited montage sequences, I found due to edits and change in shots information ended up being big file sizes with compression. I
Recording notes: I did find myself shooting with the zoom and handheld camera moves I would not normally use to get coverage as part of aiming for one continuous shot. Working solo I experimented with a radio mic because I knew this work would rely on Terry telling stories as he did things. Also, I had to dress in Terry’s clothing as the birds freaked out when I was around on the first day, so a audio person would have made things even harder. In retrospect, the radio mic sound brought up ideas about online video audio where in comparison to television and cinema the subtleties and complexities within reason are not so important or even lost through most computer speakers. The radio microphone recorded the audio close to the Terry including his dialogue and sound associated with his actions. These sounds in miniature video frames are what is needed to make things clear for the viewer, the sounds that help communicate what is happening on screen. But, I did have some technical problems with the radio mic on movement which could be refined. Also, more time could be put into mixing in atmospheric underlay to make things richer and make up for all the audio being recorded close and narrow through the radio mic. Post-production processes do need to be simple though when you are working with so many singular clips.
In the hypertext environment where the clips are highly granular, self-contained and inter-linked, a lot of the content can be used, with all sorts of supporting narrative threads. I even considered a behind the scenes category for example. There is real opportunity to be self-reflexive and work very informally compared to the restrictions of a single montage edit in terms of camera coverage, the narrative structure and what has to be discarded. In this example it is really surprising the ratio of content that is usable. A highly sustainable way of recording.
Categories and Tags: I am starting to make narrative structures work using categories and tags in hierarchical levels. The user enters categories then brings up tags. The narrative can be contained within a category by keeping the tag only within that category with no cross-references which leads to a type of dead-end for the user. Introducing some tags that cross-over into other categories utlises the hypertextual nature of the interface and makes the multi-channel viewing more dynamic. The trick seems to be to keep tags to a minimum and make the cross-over choices with some consideration. I did find myself re-thinking categories as I got to know the material better.
Interface design: There could be some changes to the way the interface is modified for this content. For example I like the three audio tracks running with the louder being moused over. But with the single person focus there is no real need to hear three lots of dialogue across the triptych - the volume could be lowered on the clips not being watched. More later on other revisions with the categories and tags.
