I had to create an image for the masters web page which I felt would communicate my film well.
As I prepared to work on this in edit my share account announced it was full! I am not an expert in computer skills and it had not yet occurred to look at this every day. However now it has happened I see it is one of those learning curves that has given me knowledge which will now stay with me. Well I am hoping all the knowledge will stay of course but this is a mistake I will not make again in a hurry!! I thank my stars that it happened now and not in another week!That I was not mid edit but working on a side issue.
I duly purchased a portable hard drive which I will keep for film ( and Mac only!) and got back to work on clearing up the space. It has been useful as I would have to be doing it anyway...maybe just not now...and it serves to make me locate all my film and any material I may need in this last two weeks.
I have found it quite difficult to get rid of material tho as it is all linked...and I have alreday made the mistake earlier this semester of deleting something, to find it had a knock on effect on my other work. And although many peers decried the use of film tape that I have done...this is one situation where I was very lucky to have chosen to film this way. I have all my tapes carefully logged and indexed to use in the future!
So, the film title is settled...another change which I feel reflects the dance the letters and the emotional content...'Affectionately Yours...Norman'...and space is made on the edit share to work...I begin to sift through all my still images which I had stored over the last months for just this purpose (publicity) and try to choose which one holds all my ideas. In the end I make the choice but it is not a fantastic quality of shot so I have to do some work in photoshop to make it special. I choose a finish that reminds me of pastel or paint and sit back to scrutinise it.
I cannot get the idea out of my mind that I have to find some way to include a letter in some form...at first I try with images of me and then Norman writing and then a letter...then it suddenly comes to me!! The dancer looks as if she is writing a letter on the ice...so I set about fitting one or two letters to see what I can achieve. I use Final Cut for this in the end as I now know it so much better than photoshop!! I do not use the letter I had thought I would, but instead choose one I took at the archive which describes a Christmas film Norman made...I had noted it last week and rejected it in another phase of my project as it was taken at a strange angle. But I search it out realising it is perfect for my purpose now...as it appears to be fading into the distance. ( this I must admit was chance as the letter was two pages and I had folded it over and captured one page) I now know, as a result how to achieve this look! It is also on a whiter paper so gives me a much better resolution after working on it than the first letter and the words...Norman's...on it are particularly appropriate as they describe the animation process. He even gives a frame count...3,600 still drawings!!
I am pleased with the results but still see room for improvement. It will have to wait as time is running out to finish the film itself, but seeing this image clarifies many things about the film. And like all creative projects just as you reach the finish you begin to think about the future.
I can already see many ways forward for most of the ideas I have explored in my films. I am looking forward to sharing those ideas with the Stirling University Team and Karl the archivist. But this image in particular carries the emotion of the film and its journey, and portrays the connection between Norman, me and my research process and its outcome in terms of my creative response to the letters. In a sense I feel it is also a starting point for the next part of my journey, and by happenstance a letter arrived today inviting me to get involved with the centenary in 2014 of Norman's birth. One journey will end in two weeks and a new one will begin!!
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