For the second year in a row, I was asked to produce a video for a local cancer fundraising event called The Concert of Hope. Last year they raised over $100,000 in one night that featured three recording artists, an auction and my videos. While last year I created three, this time I only created one five minute feature on Sherilee who, in the past year has experienced some hope in her battle.
As I mentioned in my post last year, dealing with someone’s story of cancer is quite a task, you don’t edit flippantly. Each decision goes through a much more stringent process than other projects I’ve done. Part of my challenge this time was all I had was a 15 minute interview with no b-roll footage. In the end, I think her story stands fine on its own. Very little however is in sequence. The last part is from the middle, the middle is from the beginning of the interview and the beginning is from the end of the interview.
Although I didn’t think about a soundtrack till after I had done a draft cut, I struggled finding a soundtrack I really liked. In the end, I choose a piece by Marc Shaiman (I know I violated some copyright rules) since to me it featured some crescendos and diminuendos that I knew was what I wanted to highlight. The music is intended to add a layer that completes the story. As I added the track, I had a few timing issues. As a result I had to use longer than desired black screens between clips. At first I simply left them black but realized that because of their length, viewers at the concert may be confused and think the video was over. I decided to add the titles to alleviate that possibility. I would have preferred to leave them black but had to consider the audience and context in which it will be viewed.
I’m constantly scouring media to find great interview videos. At the core, these are built around a great narrative. Just like with presentations, the story, the message should be able to stand on its own. Creating imagery and a viewing experience that adds to the story is difficult as the tendency is to over use extraneous elements and inadvertently taking away from the story. I hope I didn’t do that here.
Nice job, Dean. Nothing is harder than editing a serious piece that needs to carry the audience from beginning to end, and drop them off in a good place. You’ve done it, and the result is powerful. And btw, I like the subtitles.
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This is really good.
What I noticed was that the audio continued uninterrupted as the scene changed from a wider view to a close up. I assume the close up is from the original wider view, with the box defining the close up selected from the wider view. (Notice I don’t know the actual terminology here to discuss what I’m describing). I would have thought doing this would result in too poor quality in the close up, but the quality is just fine. Anyhow, I’ve never tried that before, but now I want to try it.
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I used a Sony HD camera on a tripod for the closeup and simply used my Canon still for the wide shot. The source audio is is from Sony so I simply lined up the shots and deleted the Canon audio.
Thanks Dean for doing this. With the recent passing of my mother in law to cancer this really hits home. I really loved your use of soft cross dissolves, inserting photos and using the leading audio technique. A very touching piece that you should be proud of. The two-up shot was also very well done.
More important than the editing is that you told her story with honour and dignity. I had a flood of emotions (and tears) watching this video and thinking about my mother-in-law’s recent battle.
Thank you.
Yea, the music definitely adds something. I don’t think one can truly appreciate the devastating effect that cancer has on so many people lives until one experiences it oneself. The vid really depicts the lady as a strong person in the face of what she has experienced. I think you’ve done a really good job.
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