Stimulation vs. ?

[LumenLux]

But as we don't know the context of this show perhaps the hour + is nessary. However the audience will soon let you know if the length is right  . I have seen some very long 2 min shows, and yet seen some short snappy 12 min shows. Time + content is what matters,

Alan

Ah, a great subject. While Alan precisely said a lot, the comments of Roger and boxig are also very helpful. I think that three important factors are always in play :

1. The creator/author 's purpose .

2. The audience's expectations.

3. The creator's skill.

Now my most recent personal experience with dealing with this "problem."

Our most recent effort in Peru involved 30 volunteers who in 10-12 days were involved in many wonderful projects. Part of my involvement was to "document" the work, fun, and progress - via photography of course. So, 2413 photos came home with me. (Approximately 2000 from my camera, 200 from my wife's camera, and 200 from another photog.)

My "mission impossible", if I choose to accept it, is to put together a "power point" for the follow-up social gathering of the expedition participants. OK - a few considerations . . .

First of all, throw away that "power point" mentality - we've got Pictures to Exe!

Now, the first computerized slide show I ever did, used about 12-15 seconds per slide. Quick math: 2413 slides x 12 seconds = 8 hours. .. mmm. These people were really hard workers and endured long days even while being sometimes sick - but - no, I don't think they can take 8 hours of pure enjoyment of a PTE show - even of their own experience.

But - everyone does want to see their own mug at least once. And everyone wants to see the projects that he or she worked on. Everyone wants to see the wonderful little child or the hard-working Peruvian that worked side-by side with them. I want to show at least a little of the scenery.

So, I think, maybe we can handle 200 slides at 6 second = 20 minutes ... perfect, they can take it!

Saturday night 10:00 I start speed-sorting 2413 pix to find the 200. Four hours later I have made it through all 2400 photos. But then I look at the status line - I have narrowed it down to 786 photos!

Here I go again, but it is tough. Two many picturesque costumes, too many sincere faces, too many activities that need to be shown - for the worth of the good being done - even though not picturesque. Oh, and the other photographers will want to see some of their pictures.

By 5:30 a.m. I've been through the sifting screen two more times and I have 372 slides. I can NOT narrow it down any more and still meet my main purpose. Can I satisfy the expectations of my audience? Not sure what there expectations are. Oh well, that's the way it has to be. The expected companion video show by a fellow expeditioner won't be ready for the evening - so my PTE is the only game in town. Sure, the audience will be enthralled to see themselves for the now-requisite 37 minutes.

Now I realize, I have spent 7 1/2 hours sorting and will have roughly 4 hours to actually make the show for Sunday night premier. OK, so I can still break up the long show by manually varying display times, transition times, and effects. I can pace the music, add some variety. Oh . . . . the sound track . . . . that could take a long time . . .

Then I remember the honest retort of Olga (creative genius, world class photographer that she is) in this forum that she certainly never works under a deadline. And I realize, maybe that is my problem. That is why I never realize my perfect show - every presentation I make ends up being a compromise!

Sunday afternoon, compromises nearly in place: Soundtrack has been assembled and spliced - except for the last two separate mp3's - not time to re-splice, will PTE handle ok? Had to resort to auto-sync the entire show 372 slides @ 5.7 seconds each. (Good sleeping rhythm?) Not a single slide cropped or tweeked! Ah, but I did at least resize to 1024x768. And I tried to put meaningful sequence to the slides. It will have to do. Gosh, it would have been nice to view it all the way through before showing it to everyone else!

Now, where were we . . .

1. Did I accomplish my purpose ?

2. Will I meet the audience expectations?

3. Did I further my skill? Or did I compromise it all away?

Tune in tomorrow for the conclusion of this saga. (And the next subject will be - How long should a forum post be and still get read?)

No, here it is. The audience all seemed to love the 35 minutes and 21 seconds. Most everyone signed up to donate more $ to our organization in "payment" for a cd of the show. All of us felt good about what we had done.

Further observations:

1.The magnificent "home theater" had everything including lounge chair seating and twinkling stars when the lights went down. The rack of equipment offered sources of DVD, TV, Satelite, Aux 1, Aux 2, ad nauseum. But when I stuck my cd in the integrated PC, there was no sound! ! ! Guests were already running out of room for more food and begining to filter into the next big event. Only because I had my video camera with an appropriate cable was I able to patch in the sound and stave off the utlimate disaster - not being able to present what had actually been created.

2. The sound system made my sound track so wonderful that I could have probably shown just any bunch of slides and the audience would have enjoyed it - at least I could have!

3. If I had not allowed myself time to write all this here, I would have had a better chance of getting a show together for the current competition. And yes Dave, I understand I only have to use 15 of the 25 slides. Did the rules specify how many times a slide could be shown if the creation neeeds a little padding?

[ContaxMan]

"(And the next subject will be - How long should a forum post be and still get read?) "

Well, I read (and enjoyed) it all - very informative and thought provoking. Having just spent around 60 hours to produce a show of around 3 mins, I don't think I'll try a long one!

[Alan Lyons]

Glad to hear it all worked out in the end. I did a project last year which also involved a group of photographers. Add to that writers video workers poets and actors and recorded comments from the public and I understand what you faced in your project.

What I did in the end was compile the photos with some of the text to make a show running 20mins or so. This used music and the comments as the sound track. I then made a show containing any text not used in the first show. The video clips were kept as files and were connected to buttons on the "front page" of the project. All parts could be run from here and each participent got a CD as a momento.

I think the most importent element in a project like this is a long lead in time and the paitence to see it through.

Hope you have not been put off doing something like this again,

Regards,

Alan

[LumenLux]

Alan, thank you for your thoughts. I do indeed have additional projects to come from the same 2400 photos and about 4 - 8 hours of video. The event is about 6 weeks away and then various packaging of "spin-off" presentations. Your using the videos as options from the front page may be a great idea for some of what we hope to accomplish.