LOVE WHEN A PLAN COMES TOGETHER ... OR NOT

So I've collected most of the footage I think I need for "Where Are You" the little video I'm making for the Amplify Me film festival in July.

Many shots of people downtown using their cell phones and some close ups along with some voice overs with the help of some of Collette's friends. So time for the offline, or rough cut

My plan from the beginning was not to use any music for the soundtrack. Partially this is because I don't have any rights to commercial music but also because I wanted to see if I could build a soundtrack without music.

I began editing my shots into the timeline and adding my audio. Some of it was "wild" or ambient audio, the street sounds that accompanied each shot. A lot of it was sound effects, many of them downloaded for free from websites that give you permission for use. Phone rings, phone hang ups, typewriting, that sort of thing.

Final Cut Pro gives you the ability to use multiple audio tracks, up to one hundred, though I could never imagine using that many. So I began layering in the audio, "bedding" the wild audio under the shots, matching SFX with other clips then adding the voice overs. I edited the VOs as if they were a music track, making the phrases almost nonesensical.

I like the effect but I kept watching the video and something was still missing, The video is coming out around 2 minutes and 45 seconds. That's a lot. Most TV commercials are 30 seconds and think how much "information" is contained therein. The averages song for a music video is around the 3 minute mark. Although I liked my soundtrack and it was conveying my message it felt a little clinical to me. Yes, here is the message but I want more than message. Andy video I make, I want that emotional element and in a video like this, without characters or dialogue, music was the obvious way to inspire emotion.

I still had the problem of needing to use music that I have the rights to. Well, I have that. I play around with Soundtrack Pro and Garage Band sometimes. I take pre recorded loops and instruments and make my own music out of them, music that I obviously have the rights to. So one of those songs got added to the project .. and I think it works

I can easily make videos without dialogue. Perhaps though I can never make one without music.

The best laid plans ...