IAC DISCUSSION FORUMS

Coming up to USA Thanksgiving, Scotland's St. Andrews Day, Christmas, Hannukah and Hogmanay (sorry we missed Diwali) ...

These all mean holidays and often with the family. Many of us will shoot some video, but not much more than moving snapshots. What can we do to make something more interesting and fun for non-family members to enjoy ... without ruining the holiday for everyone else?

Well, fed up with me sticking my camera under the noses of everyone pretending to be happy as they opened their pair of socks, last year one of my sisters came up with an idea which I expanded upon and we (all my extended family) came up with this:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skpgyUqYjtg[/youtube]


Vocals recorded in five different sessions, mix made, then video filmed at several locations culminating in our traditional family get-together at my father's house on 27th Dec.

Cringe or enjoy (I do both)

BTW The idea here is to inspire people to look at things from a different angle, not to pimp my own film.

Rather than force the issue, we're not trying anything this year, though I do fancy in future years dong a "Victorian" type carol sing (many of us are were choristers)around a piano/rtree/open fire in costume and maybe a pantomime ("Oh no you won't", "Oh yes we will")

Thoroughly enjoyed. No cringes at all. Excellent!!

It is a great idea, Tim. I admire the way that you all actually sang rather than just miming to Slade ... and having the youngest girl give Noddy's shout of "It's Chrissssss-mass!" is brilliant. Everyone seemed to be having fun except for a couple of confused looks. Love the Shadows' dance moves.

I might be tempted to keep the sbow falling overlay for the next couple of shots.

What a great way to keepthe family involved and distracted while the dinner cooks!

Dave
PS I arranged to put the film itself on here rather than just the URL - pour encourager les autres.

Thanks for your comments Mike and Dave. Glad you enjoyed.

Dave Watterson wrote:I admire the way that you all actually sang rather than just miming to Slade

Born out of necessity. My sister's idea was to copy what someone else she knew had done - basically lip-sync to Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas". But if you think about it, that works because there are lots of different voices on the record for lots of different faces to mime to.
17 people all singing at different times, but Noddy Holder's voice emerging in every case simply wouldn't have looked right, so I got (nearly) everyone singing and whilst some of the voices might be a bit "off" it is at least authentic (even if lip sync'd) and I'm proud to say all the harmonies were us as well - only the instruments were from a backing track.

As a video maker I didn't want to settle for just people standing in front of microphones (as the other video had) so I gave thought to illustrating each line with a tableau. The Slade song was just about perfect for this. And when we came to think about the following year, no other Christmas song has nearly as much scope for doing that.

There is a shorter edit which improves it a little. The version you see here is true to the Slade record but in another edit I remove one of the repeat choruses and, as usual when you shorten a film, it makes it just that little bit better.

Dave Watterson wrote: PS I arranged to put the film itself on here rather than just the URL - pour encourager les autres.

Excellent!

Let's see what others can come up with for the holidays.

I think re-enacting famous Christmas stories/pantomimes with family members taking on different roles must be favourite - particularly if there are young children/grandchildren around.

Thanks for a great movie Tim. I was having a bit of a rubbish day until I saw this - you've fair cheered me up!!

Delighted to be of service. Hope tomorrow's a better day for you.

Is this the film which won Best Editing in the North Thames awards?

Dave Watterson wrote:Is this the film which won Best Editing in the North Thames awards?

Yes I know, I know, you're wondering what that says about the standard of editing of the other films

Far from it!
Well done on your success. The Christmas film depends on a lot more than just the editing, but without neat cutting it would not work half so well.

Dave

You're too kind, Dave. But your words of encouragement are much appreciated.

Wow !!! just seen this..fantastic nothing like having a family up for a good laugh..excellent..
the only good singer we have is the dog but thats another story
great work tim

John - the BIAFF (British International Film & Video Festival) judged felt the same way and awarded it 4-stars. What's more it was shown at the Sunday Gala Show to break up a rather solemn series of top award-winning films.

Just noticed this - Last month I went to Romania on a kind of working Holiday, and made a video Blog every day I was there. The format could certainly be an alternative to a "holiday film".

I started having never done anything like it before, and filmed during the day, edited during the evening, and then uploaded from Romania that evening.

As the week went on, I heard that I had around 100 people who would wait for that night's update, visiting Youtube every hour to see if it had arrived!

The quality of first one was very rough, but as the week progressed, I learned from my mistakes, and I hope you can see that the quality and style improves?

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL ... ature=plcp

Wow! Touching, heart-warming, personal filming. It is terrifying to think that is happening within the EU. It is inspiring to see and hear that "ordinary" people (and film star people) can go there, be upbeat, help and make personal contact.

When we talk about films where content is more important that technical style ... this is a prime example.

Your style does develop over the series without losing the sense personal involvement.

I need a break before I can really try to write about it.

Watch, enjoy and admire, everyone ...