The project is trucking along. In many ways I have been kind of surprised by how smooth some tasks have been. In more ways, frustrated by fixing some of my shortcomings as a filmmaker. Nonetheless, the project is in fairly healthy shape and still tracking a possible January completion.
Recently, I have finished my audio narrative. Basically that means the audio narration from Bro. Edward is in place and it seems completed. As of now, I am satisfied in how the dialogue flows. I think it tells the right story, at the right pace, in the right tone of delivery. I guess time will be the judge of all the elements at play. But at this point. That audio is a pretty firm lock, and thats good thing .
Moving on but staying with audio. I always knew finding the right music was going to be difficult. Exactly like my “Family Videos”, the tone of the music I know, but finding the actual track that will be placed is always a complicated feat. For me, the music is a huge element in a video like this. If we are going to try and recreate how the church feels accurately – which is the goal – then the music needs to feel the most spot on in my opinion. Especially because in a church like CBC, music plays such a big role as the general “feel”.
I searched high and low for literally weeks on end and nothing came. To be honest, I was getting scared imagining a future where the music would fall short. Then at church 2 weeks ago something hit me. Bro Edward does so much of his talking with piano playing in the background. And what is this video? It’s him mostly speaking. So soft piano music would work. And it would be a precise representation of what church is actually like there. So my idea of “big production feel” music was left at sea and my search began of old gospel hymns, softly played. Nothing big, just subtle. Blending in instead of demanding attention. I found a keeper and pleasantly am surprised how well it is working in the current cut. Check and moving on.
Like I mentioned earlier, all of the audio nearly is finished, so my focus now is on shots. I need a bunch of them. Mostly every service I attend in the month of November I will be shooting. Thats the level of shots needed in a video like this. Sure the final cut will end up around 5 minutes, but I’ve discovered by doing this, you need shots and shots and more shots and back ups and fill shots. So shots it is.
So, It seems all of November will be big on picking up shots of various things. Bus route, Sunday School classes, Super church, in service shots, Nursery etc. Anything really Bro. Edward speaks on in the video, I need ample coverage.
More words on shots and cinematography: I’m shooting everything with the idea that when I go back to Final Cut, I have the option to play with these. I am shooting a tiny bit wider and zoomed out then normal. The main reason for this is to play with the notion of a Ken Burns or dolly effect to be added to everything. Im not sure if that idea will pan out in the final cut, but I like the idea of leaving that option open. So there’s that. Of course I don’t have to do that, but I want to make this video as good as possible. So I’m willing to put in the extra work and try it. if it doesn’t work, I’ll revert to my originals.
Then comes December. If all goes well and according to some sort of plan, December will be my magic month. This is common phrase in the filmmaking world. Basically by then, you hope that you have all the footage you need and all feels right to where you can really maneuver the video and tweak elements to really make it a strong project.
Anyhow, I’m moving forward and all is going decently right now. Like I mentioned, November is going to be a shooting month and December will hopefully be a Magic Month with the hopes of release on the website sometime in January!
Thanks for following along and I will certainly update this video diary some point in November. Any questions as usual you could use the contact tab on the site.
Happy Shooting!
ddileo 