SETTING UP AN A/V SEQUENCE
By John Ruffell. LRPS APAGB FRSA
Sequences start with an idea. Either there is a set of slides to be edited into sequence, or the idea provides the incentive to go out and take the photographs for the original idea, is one of the most difficult tasks. Feeding the mind with images, reading widely, and persuing various hobbies and activities may all help to stimulate idea.
If the sequence is to be for public viewing then the type of audience for which it is intended, should be considered. The way it is crafted, or slanted, could make it designed for a specific audience, and then may have limited appeal elsewhere, although it may not be thought so at the time. Occasionally I have been asked to produce a sequence for a specific event. This is undoubtably a very good exercise, but here it is important to consider the time and work involved to produce such an Audio Visual, and whether it will be useful for more general purposes afterwards, perhaps with adaptation.
The time consideration is important, for although a simple sequence might be 'thrown together' without following all the various stages to be mentioned here, the most satisfying and successful sequences do require a lot of time spent upon them. Enough time should be allowed to produce a satisfactory standard. It does depend on the particular A/V and the topic, as to how much time is required. Even then I usually find that I (still now) underestimate the time required! How long? Well it can be many hours or hundreds of hours, months or years, depending on the subject matter. A pitfall to be avoided is never to accept a booking for a sequence which has not been prepared. Although a future provisional date is a good incentive to work towards.
What takes all this time? The simple sequence which most people start with, such as a straight piece of music to a set of suitable slides: eg: "Waltz of the Flowers" requires good quality slides and music, careful editing and projection. This can be done on a single projector, but is vastly improved with dual projection avoiding the black interval between slides and making possible special effects. Already in the simple sequence mentioned the following skills may have been employed: Conceiver (ideas), Photographer (Photos), Editor (Slides), Sound Engineer (recording), Designer (Approach), Graphics Artist (Titles), Programmer (Dissolve), Business & Economic (Organisation/Licences/Copyright/Finance), Producer and Director. Add to these for a more advanced sequence Researcher (obtaining accurate details for the Subject Matter can be a very lengthy business), Scriptwriter (Story/Commentry), Narrator (Suitable Voice for Subject), Special Effects (Photographic/Darkroom/Projection), Soundtrack (Specially mixed and edited), and Presentation etc, - this should give an indication of what can be involved and the time taken. If this has not been too offputting so far, then we can begin to get a sequence together. If the slides have yet to be taken, prepare a 'shooting list' of subjects expected to be included. It will be found that a few more will be taken and some omitted but the initial plan will give guidance to what to take and the plan can be adjusted if necessary as the photography progresses. If music has to be chosen a selection of possible pieces should be listened to, not forgetting that parts of pieces might be used as moods of the slides change. The I.A.C. Music Service can be of help here if there is difficulty in finding a piece of music to suit the sequence.
So the slides and music are coming together. A Lightbox is essential on which to view as many slides as possible in sequence. A story is being told in a picture series and each slide should advance the story, be of good quality, even in density, match for colour, and preferably all be in horizontal format. It is necessary to be ruthless in editing slides and not keep any slide which does not add value in some way to the set. Whilst editing it is sometimes possible to see probable visual effects. This comes with experience. If seen, try them out straight away on two projectors, to make sure the effect will actually work.
The initial selection of slides having been made, it is now necessary to list them and this may be done in several different ways:
1. On cards or Pieces of paper,
2. On File Sheets ruled in columns for Number of Slide/Left, Projector/Right, Projector/Dissolve, Type/Timing/& Soundtrack. (I find an accountants Analysis Pad very useful for this method, A4 with 8 columns plus small one at left hand side for number of slide. The last four columns being used for the soundtrack and script.).
3. By Computer (in similar format to 2.).
Working on this stage is again time consuming and often omitted by beginners who think they they can proceed directly to the projectors, hand control, and run their sound against the pictures. What they are omitting is the Storyboard or Planning Stage and experience will show that all but the simplest of sequences will suffer if this stage is left out. So what is being done here is attempting to put on paper the format the sequence is going to take and establish the timing. In writing this out other ideas will most likely occur and appropriate changes be made. Sometimes this plan will need to be written out more than once, and this is when method 1. with cards is particularly useful as they can be changed around instead of the slides to see if an idea works or not.
Script writing, if required, needs now to be carefully prepared and inserted on the Storyboard. Avoid repeating in the script what is already 'told' by the picture on the screen. Method 2. (above) is particularly valuable here for assessing the timing, - due to the space on each sheet which should have been ruled to take about 8 slides per page. The space of the last four columns and the depth of each slide space on the pad limits the amount of commentary which can be printed in double spacing against each slide giving a clear guide as to whether more slides are required or less commentary! The latter is usually preferable!. The computer method particularly aids re-writing and printing out a revised copy as necessary. By actually writing a sequence out in this way it will be found to be a valuable experience and any problems arising can be ironed out at this planning stage.
Next run the sequence according to the plan to make sure everything works as expected and that the planned timing will be O.K. This should be done 'live' if possible and assistance will probably be helpful! Then record the soundtrack, mount the slides in glass, number them, starting with a blank (zero) in the right hand or lower projector, so that the No.1 slide in the opposite projector is the first one screened. The sequence is now ready for final programming. Usually I find that after three practice runs, a successful automatic controlled recording may be attempted.
This has necessarily been a 'snapshot' or overview in the making up an A/V and as mentioned earlier, fuller articles could be written on single aspects of sequence making.