Day 1 of filming for Eagle Interceptor. I began by thinking of everything connected with the feelings and images in the music; located an eagle in some free wildlife footage, then made a list of things to film. I went to the park and filmed some 'flight' over the fields by merely running, and took my new action camera to test too. I recorded about 20 clips overall, some movement over fields, and some quieter parts too, various parts to use.
Here's a still from the action camera:
I also recorded some time-lapse clouds with my Brinno TLC200, a good but not exceptional camera, it's rather grainy. It is, however, the best time-lapse camera available, and easy to use.
The flight didn't work as well as it should. It's difficult to get right because I didn't want to include houses or fences or anything non-natural. I also kept the camera low, which made it impossible to view what I was filming. The action camera was disappointing in quality; it had tearing and was jerky, probably due to the way the films were assembled, from top to bottom, a technical restriction. It meant that everything would have a shaky and jerky look, no matter what. The best results from it were using the waterproof case, a test show under a stream. This might be its only use, but for £15, it is worth owning.
Generally, my trusty DSLR produced the best results. When I won the Cheshire Open Art competition I wanted to spend the £1000 money on an investment in my art, and this camera was that. It's amazing how useful its proved to be over the years. A Canon 1100D, the most basic model Canon make, and I know people with far fancier equipment who do nothing at all useful with it, yet I use this almost every day and have made countless films with it. It's probably better than the tools Ingmar Bergman had; what more do I need?
Most of the films I took were not useful, but I assembled what I had, then filmed myself playing the music, with audio playing to synchronise it. I then put any old thing together while listening to the music, to make a full first draft of the video.
I have that now, and will refine, refilm and keep polishing what I have. What I'm missing is some glorious, soaring gliding image for the chorus... I'm using my time-lapse footage for that but it's not quite enough...
I'm keen, as ever to finish this and move on. So much to make and film.
