If anyone out there knows how to get Bruce the Wonder Yak to appear in Final Cut 6, please drop me a line (jonathan[at]quernstone.com). I know it’s not the done thing to ask except via word-of-mouth, but I’m working on my own at the moment. Besides, blogs are word-of-mouth, right?
Month: September 2007
Call an election, already!
I have to submit a register of electors return thing in the next few days, but there’s a problem: I’m probably traveling for most of October. So on the face of it I should apply for a postal vote, but there’s a risk that could backfire dramatically.
If there’s an election on November 1st there’s a chance I’ll be back in Glasgow in time to take a wander to the local polling station. And you know, I adore that whole edifice – the humble procession of the people to make their mark, the process overseen by dedicated grannies. Glasgow have updated all their signage, which sadly takes the edge off the war-era serifs used elsewhere, but it’s still a sombre and magnificent day as the hidden machinery that quite literally is democracy wheels smoothly into action.
With a postal vote I’d miss all that, which would be a shame. But I might not be back by the first anyway, and if it’s October 25th I certainly won’t be around. So: postal vote it is, right?
Well, no. See, chances are I won’t be around to pick up the posted ballot papers, either.
So, Gordon, look – do me a favour, make a decision, and announce that you’re going to wave off until next Spring at the earliest. Thanks, guv.
A new day
Yesterday, I hit a bit of an impasse – a particular film I’m trying to cut that just wasn’t working. It was always going to be cheesy, but it wasn’t coming together in anything like the way I’d wanted. The timings were off, and it looked rough as anything. I struggled through for a while, lashing together at least the audio, but ultimately gave up on it.
This morning it’s a whole different animal. The shots still aren’t there, the performances are dodgy, and the script is over-complicated… but today I can see the charming idea behind it all, I can start to see a decent little film emerging, and as a result I’m enjoying the process again.
I’m frequently surprised by how this happens – given the opportunity, how I feel about a film, on a gut-reaction, emotional level, can change overnight. It’s one of the reasons I like to have three or four on the go at once, since there’s always a few with which I reach a barrier of some sort.
I need a new word
I need a word for the feeling of intense ennui and frustration one feels when attempting to find any shot that can fill a gap of six frames, only to find that every camera is repositioning at exactly the same time.
‘Fit to fill’ has never been so abused.
I’ve put a few new films up at SciCast this week, by the way, along with an old favourite.
Technorati Tags:
scicast, video editing
Great Facebook status lines of our times
One of the great new literary forms of the twenty-first century is, I think, the Facebook or instant messenger status message. Today:
“Debbie Syrop is disappointed that there were no Ferrero Rocher at the ambassador’s dinner.”
(she’s touring a theatre show in Eastern Europe, with the British Council. So… she probably was at an ambassador’s dinner.)
Time-lapse
For some reason, I’ve been flicking my way through a bunch of time-lapse videos on YouTube. There’s some fabulous stuff, though I’ll say again: current YouTube quality is only ‘good enough’ because we don’t know better. I’m not just being stroppy or ‘professional,’ we’ve been here before: remember the postage stamp-sized early Quicktime, how utterly magical it was to see that back in 1992… and how quickly it started to look rubbish?
Anyway, the tricky bit about time-lapse is finding something appropriate to point the camera at. Anthony Powell has the perfect subject: Antarctica. Wow.
Worth checking the silly film competition Anthony won, too.
Ping
A fun and useful day yesterday on the fringe of the Scottish Learning Festival: Channel 4’s In The Wild event, and Teachmeet ’07.
Meanwhile, I have new specs. From the outside looking in, these are just like the last ones only black rather than tortoiseshell green; from the inside out, it’s like seeing the world through a real-time unsharp mask filter. Which is slightly disturbingly William Gibson, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it. Oh, and I’ve just placed an order for what will become Quern V.
But I’ve no time to chat, I need to get back to Final Cut Pro.
Inbox Shedload
Not quite Inbox Zero, but I’m halfway towards it. Which means my email inbox is showing 1426 messages, 92 unread. Yow. Busy day.
Back
Quiet. That’s how my blog’s been, for a few weeks. Initially because it was Broken, then because I was Busy, and finally because I was Away (which doesn’t begin with a ‘B’, but still counts). Now, however, I’m Back. Though the site is still partly Broken, so you’ll have to give me a little time to sort it before anything like regular posting resumes.
…at which juncture, I shall tell you a little of the quite lovely week I’ve spent with Flossie in Cumbria. There was much Sitting Around in Pubs, Reading of Books, Cooking of Outrageously Good Food (On a Camping Stove), Thinking About Walking, and Careful Selection and Consumption of Buns.