David Porter

Thanks for all the input and the fate of the cuckoos has been decided. As my wife and a couple of other friends thought the cuckoos are a bit of fun, they are staying for display on my TV and Youtube. But for the purists, subject to anyone coming up with a realistic flying cuckoo, I am going to follow Peter's and Snapcam's advice, find some better shots and keep them grounded, fading them in and out as required. I'll put it on my website when done. Eric, thanks for the Youube conversion link. It works very well indeed.

Hi Eric, Excellent stills and video of the flowers which I think would have made a very good show on their own although I understand you have the residents in mind. By the way where were they all, I would have thought they would want to get in on the act. The first slow pan was expertly carried out if a little uninteresting and the second you know about. I was going to suggest you use the pans and an introduction (an establishing shot I think it is called) but as I liked the flowers the best I've changed my mind. Well done.

Hi Maureen, Prosecco has worn off now and I've viewed your show a couple more times and I have to say this is one of your best. I love all the candid shots and I'm guessing that as Florence was so crowded with people that if you can't beat them then join them. I particularly liked the mobile phone shot transforming from girl to boy and then the green bike. Also the green bike appears in front of the flower shop - well spotted and the girl and couple on the steps - classic. you have an excellent eye for a shot. I am always impressed with the vibrancy you manage to achieve in your shots. This shows up particularly well in the magnificent Florence buildings. Shooting early and late means you get excelllent light but I wonder if you tweek them very much in PS. The shots of the procession were particularly good and you managed to get the timing just right as they marched along. I'm not sure about some of the mini pans and zooms as, although they didn't detract, I'm not sure what they added. All in all an excelllent show.

Thanks Eric for the Youtube link but I don't know how to download it to something that can be edited etc., matybe there is a way. Mick.

Well Maureen, that does conjure up an image - oops sorry, I'll have to stop drinking that Prosecco. I'll have another couple of looks at "Florence" in the morning before commenting.

Okay the Cuckoos have to be re-vamped but I'll need some help. Perhaps Lin will come up with something with animated gif but what about video, masked and reduced opacity to cut down the background. First we need some video.

Hi Guys, Thank you very much for your comments and input. Seems to be the cuckoos are the main issue. Yes they are a bit gimmicky but, I thought, a bit of fun. Ill have a go at making them more realistic but may need some help. I tried to get the first cuckoo to swoop rather than fly in an arc. I did achieve the flight path I wanted by altering the Centre figures in O&A for different keyframes but could not get the bird to point in the correct direction by adding the image as a child of itself and using Rotate. Ill review Lins tutorials on this and try again. I did think about Peters suggestion just to have them appearing at each cuckoo but as there are quite a few, I thought this may get monotonous but it would certainly be more realistic. Sorry Lin, no Cuckoo video but I hope somebody can help or I could do some Gull shots (I can recognise them). Original Cuckoo shots came from Google Images, so Im blaming them for any misidentification! I agree the fast zoom into the Cuckoo and wishing well shot does not work and I will alter that. However, the zoom outs I have used to give some emphasis to shots I particularly like when viewed full screen and the pans I have generally used for close up shots of plants of flowers where there is little other interest in the shot. I am reasonably happy with these although your comments may have an effect on future shows. ps. Sorted the flight path.

Have you not got cable in your area, I'm sure you would get a better deal. ps I've just seen your double on morning TV reveiwing the papers - a yorkshire poet but I didn't catch his name. Mick

Another of my little efforts where the music takes centre stage, this time by Delius (somewhst edited), and I have added some of my images of the English countryside that he liked so much, hopefully to complement the music. Comments and Suggestions always welcome. PC Download Mac Download

For goodness sake, Eric, it is a demo of the priciples not meant as a proper show. I can't beleive you do not understand that! But as you seem not to be open to any suggestions it is time time give up.

Hi Eric, I've done a little demo of how one could use still shots as cut away shots between clips of video. The idea is to hide what can generally be quite ugly camera movements when switching between long, mid and Close up shots whilst not having the problem of syncing the sound. The video is kept running throughout to record the music and the re-sizing of the various shots is done on the fly. The video is then added to one blank slide in O & A and the timing of that slide adjusted to the length of the video the various still shots also added in front of the video. The opacity slider and key frames are then used to bring the stills into and out of the video to suit. Of course it is also possible to edit the video either whilst taking it or later and put each on its own slide and treat as above. Took me about 90mins to record and edit. I just feel that this gives a reason for mixing still and video rather than just having chunks of each for no particular reason. Sorry, I can't find how to embed Youtube (help) so here is the link. Youtube Ps, if ever this orchestra is in your area I can highly recommend them.

Hi Eric, Please try to be a bit opened minded about this. Certainly I am not an expert but I have done a lot of video work in the past and my Pinnacle software (£95) confortably uploaded 60 minutes of video, processed it and downloaded 15 minutes of it quite confortably even though it took a bit of time (but not HD at that time but perfectly acceptable to watch on large screen TV). You could also strip out the audio. Anyway I am not suggesting that you video the whole show - just one tune or maybe two, say five minutes at the most which should be just right for an A/V and should not be much more than 2gb. You also miss the point about pans and zooms. the idea is that you edit these out as they are likely to be jerky and replace them with the stills. I don't think syncing the sound should also be a problem especially as slight imperfections would bprobably not be noticed. Tell you what - my wife Canon 1100D has video facility so I'll do a test and let you know how it comes out. give me a day or so. Best wishes, Mick

Hi Eric, As you know I am not a great fan of mixing video and stills but your band show could work if you used the stills as "cut away" shots between video shots, perhaps like this storyboard:= 1) Video Wide shot of band 2) Still shot of park 3) Video close up conductor 4) Still shot person in desk chair 5) Close up of Trumpeter 6) Still shot children playing 7) Video Tuba player 8) Still shot General spectators 9) Video close up trombone with gentle zoom out to show that section etc, etc. You, of course, keep the camcorder going to record the music but the hurried pans, zooms etc will be cut out and covered by the still shots. It needs planning ahead and a "storyboard" will help a lot. I hope this helps and if so look forward to the next time the band is in the park.

Barry, I was wondering where you had been lately - now i know. What a brilliant show and what a great advert for PTE. Not only that but it gives us lesser mortal great inspiration to improve our techniques. Thanks.

Hi Jim, I thought this might be a work in progress stretching over the next 3 months but can appreciate the work you have put into it to get it ready now. I hope you will be putting it on general display. Having done a small show for a Turkish Gulet website (for free), I know the problems with copyright music - you cannot take the chance with commercial work that the copyright holder will find out about it and it could cost the earth. I look forward to seeing your shows but also interested what other medium you are using to show your work. I have a Canadian lady friend who also has an excellent speaking voice for doing voice-overs - must be something in the Canadian genes.

Hi Jim, Looked at this when it was first on Beechbrook and thought it was an excellent A/V with a very good voice-over if slightly staccato in places. The photography was well up to standard and the whole worked well together. I think you could sell it to the cruise line. Now comes the difficult bit - another 10 shows. I really hope you have enough material to keep the interest going and will be interested to see the results.

Hi Daniel, I take your point in this being an important religious festival but I am glad things lightened up a bit later. I had another look at your show, this time concentrating on the photography and of course it was first class. I guess the morning light was a big help with exposures but they were all spot on. I seem to remember a similar show/s (I think it was you) where the light was much harsher and the walls even whiter and you handled that very well. I also enjoyed the soundtrack that added greatly to the show. Your English is much better than my French!

As a well respected contributer to this site told me "If it has pictures and sound then it's Audio/Visual"

Well! Never have I seen a festival with so many poeple looking so miserable. I really could not spot one that looked as though they were enjoying it. Maybe it has deep religious significance but if you cannot enjoy your religion, then what's the point. But, hey, great A/V and I will watch again with a little more detatchment from the gloomy faces and add a more positive comment.

Hi Ray, Thanks for bringing back many great memories of Madeira, our most favourite island resort. The island certainly has seen quite a lot of development since we were there but it was great to see the Levadas and the beautiful tropical flowers. A nicely put together show, if slightly long for the casual viewer, and nice relaxing music which exemplifies Madeira.

Hi Lin, Never could the saying "A picture is worth a thousand words" be more true than with your tutorial. Well done.

Hi IgOR, Done that and it appears that after several goes of downloading shows and the PTE download, the error window does not hide the option to"Run Anyway". So that is a help.

No that did not work. Not a problem unless it happens on other shows - I'll let you know.

Certainly an excellent demo of PTE's capabilities and expertly done if, for me, a little bit too much going on making it somewhat muddled. But why do I keep getting the attached error message appearing throughout the show? I am on Windows 7 and IE9

No Dave, it was a general comment not directed at anyone in particular.