The triangle of my hobbies

 Was talking to a co-worker, who was intrigued that I had so many hobbies.  In explaining my pattern of hobbies to him, I realized that there's a "triangle" relationship to all of my major hobbies (writing and recording songs; hand tool woodworking; filmmaking).

I'm not going to draw out a diagram, so:  imagine a triangle, with the bottom left vertex being "creativity", the bottom right being "logic", and the top of the triangle being "technical".  Extend a line outwards from each of these three corners:  to "creativity" add "self-expression"; to "logic" add "problem-solving"; and to "technical" add "gear".

All of my major hobbies are an intersection of left-brain and right-brain activities (logic vs creativity), and all involve technical mastery of skills (e.g. playing an instrument; using woodworking hand tools).

The creative aspects manifest themselves in self-expression (emotions and ideas in the songwriting; storytelling through the filmmaking; and various physical forms (and creative decisions about shape, color, and general look and style for the woodworking.

Problem-solving occurs in songwriting (choosing the right notes that fit as a whole); filmmaking (various technical challenges, especially with my limited resources); and woodworking (creating something that's structurally sound and meets the needs, while using often "scavenged" materials).

Finally, all of these hobbies can be performed with a fairly basic set of tools -- but I tend to enjoy the gear (inexpensive, quirky stuff -- not the fancy expensive stuff) as well.  :)

So:  that's a diagnostic summary of (apparently) why my main hobbies are, indeed, my main hobbies -- and why other things (e.g. martial arts) have -- for now -- fallen by the wayside. 

--GG

 

What is the up?

 Huh!  Apparently I started my blog in April of 2006.  I've drifted away a bit -- but every once in a while I'll throw something online.  I don't do Facebook or Twitter or whatever is the popular social media platform:  I'm more "long form".

My last post -- back in October -- mentioned that I was "drifty".  Still am -- but getting better.  Watching more YouTube than I ought to -- but, it amuses me.  Still -- I ought to try to squeeze in something else between the time I get home from work and the time I go to bed.

Discovered Reddit about a month ago.  Dabbled in a few forums, but have settled on the filmmaking, cinematography, 8mm (film), and Super 8 forums.  I read the entries that sound interesting, comment on a few, and learn things I didn't know.  :) 

Am getting more into filmmaking these last few months, and am drifting away from woodworking and music:  haven't touched my guitar in months (but keep meaning top); haven't listened to LPs in perhaps a month (could do it tonight -- but really need to get back into a "nine to five" sleep cycle:  have been staying up 'til 2am-3am for the last week (most office workers in AU have Christmas through New Year's off).  

Spent my Christmas and birthday money on camera lenses and.... a smoke machine!!!  :)   Am editing the footage for my test/demo of the smoke machine, and one of the lenses, and am hoping to post them to YouTube in the next week or so.  Have already posted my "wide angle lens" comparison (nothing fancy; just something potentially useful for other beginners to reference:

 

I have eighteen (!!! - whoops!) micro-shorts where I've shot the footage, just need to edit, or add sound to the edit.  "Adding sound" is kind of the sticking point, as I don't currently have a good set-up for recording audio.  "Tidying my 'home office' space" is somewhere on my "To Do" list.

Lots of backlog -- but, I guess I won't be bored.  The backlog includes an edit I was doing for a video short of my kids, for my parents' birthday -- about half a year ago (whoops, also).  The edit has to be accurate within a frame or two -- but the software is getting laggy (I think due to saving all of the previous edits), such that it's hard to briskly scroll to to exact edit point -- so the work becomes tedious, and I abandon it.  I had planned to work on it during this week off -- but instead I ran errands, had a head cold, spent time with family, and shot test footage of my various film purchases -- not necessarily in that order.  :) 

Broadly, though:  things are going well, and I'm in a good place.  We'll see how 2022 turns out.  :) 

--GG

Video editing is addictive

Last night (Sunday night), I "accidentally" stayed up late editing video:

 

"I'll just import the footage, then call it good." "Well -- I'll cut them into clips -- and then stop." "Well -- and put the clips in the right order -- just so I remember what I was planning." "Oh -- I'll just clean up a few of the clips." "Just one more clip." "Aww... just one more." "Well -- now I'm just about at the end of the scene... may as well finish."

And etcetera.  :)

 

--GG

 

Filmmaking as homework

 As I've mentioned, I'm getting into amateur filmmaking.

In 6th grade they had to shoot and edit a simple recipe for their foreign language class (spoken in that foreign language).

And then about once a year, starting in 7th grade, they've has some sort of assignment -- usually for English class -- where they've have to write and perform a monologue.

In all of these instances, I got to help with the props and staging (my wife tends to help with the costuming); lighting; camera work (including the camera angles and framing), and simple direction (e.g. conveying a mood; asking Socratic questions).  While they do the writing (at the front end), the acting (during the shoot), and the editing and any post-production (at the end).

It's nice having a hobby that's useful for my children's homework.  :) 

--GG

Biggest edit yet

 Whew!

I'm getting in to amateur filmmaking, and I just finished my largest editing job yet:  usually I do fun little micro-shorts -- about half a minute to a minute.  But this time the finished product is 3 minutes 15 seconds -- plus an Easter egg about ten seconds later.  That doesn't sound like a lot -- but that's me distilling down 54 shots, of about 52 minutes of run time -- not including eight additional shots (at about a minute each) that I reviewed and went "Nah".

It was on a tight deadline, too:  this recent Monday was a public holiday, so my church had a working bee to clean out a storage shed (about the size of a four-car garage) -- so I wanted to have the video ready for the "Announcements" section of the church service on Sunday.  So, about five and a half days turnaround.  

 I don't remember if I started editing on Monday afternoon -- but I at least reviewed the footage.  Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I stayed up past midnight, editing (although I did take time to have dinner, etc., before starting editing).  Probably four hours per night.

And then on Saturday I spent most (but not all) of the day recording backing music for the various scenes, and editing it into the footage.

And!  Just as I was adjusting the volume on the final clip (Saturday night -- or really, 12:50 Sunday morning) listening the the pitter-patter of rain on the roof -- the power went out!!!  Commendably, I didn't swear -- I just said "Aaaaaaggggggghhhhhh....."  So, I set my alarm for 5am and went to bed.  The lights came on around 3am -- so I went back to it (luckily, the components had auto-saved:  the editing software asked "Would you like to recover your project?" ("Yes!!!  Yes, I do.")

 Went back to bed; got up at 7am; drove my USB flashdrive in to church and handed it in to our pastor, who embedded it into the PowerPoint slides -- and came back home.

 

I'm writing this blog entry now because I'm not tired now.  But I know I will be in an hour -- at which point I'll go back to bed. 

 

Anyhow: it's not perfect -- but I'm pleased with it.  I'm happy with the video component; I wish I'd had more time for the audio (my quasi-military drumming isn't as crisp as I'd like) -- but people will be focusing on the visuals, so they probably won't notice.

I learned how to fade in and out, cross-fade, and insert audio: so, learnings.  And I got faster with using the editing software -- as well as making edits by instinct and not agonizing over the "edit points" so much (deadlines!).

It was fun -- but I wish it hadn't been such a crunch.  But -- I'm not "burned out" on editing:  so, that's good.  :)

I told my pastor she could post it to the church's YouTube channel -- which means I can't link to it yet (as I type this, everyone's at the church service).  I'll link it to this post later -- and possible a follow-up post.

Although, I'll then take down the link in a few weeks -- just for privacy reasons (I name the church and the location in the title card; if I every amass tons of subscribers, I don't want that information to be public).  ;)

--GG

Getting organized

I decided to tidy my "scripts and script ideas" folder on my hard drive:  it used to just be a folder called "Scripts".

Within those folders, I have three in the "Under development" folder (one that's a feature length film, that I've been picking away at for a few years; one that's probably a 10 minute film short (with input from B-Man, a co-worker who's also into filmmaking); and one that's a music video (for a song that I'll write to suit the video -- once I clarify what needs to be done).

I have fourteen that are basically ready to shoot:  these range from 15-30 second quickies, to 2-3 minute micro-shorts, to one or two that would be 3-5 minutes.

 

And then four that I've shot the footage -- three of which I need to edit into narratives, and one that I did about a year ago, but I want to adjust the colors and record some music to go behind it (currently there's no audio). One of these four is the footage of two hourglasses and a metronome, which I shot last night.

Hoping to wrap up two from the "3_Shot" folder over the next few days, and post one of them tonight or tomorrow -- and the other Friday or on the weekend.  Just silly little things -- but they amuse me -- which is the point.  ;) 

 

Anyhow:  more ideas than I currently have time to shoot (and edit)... which -- like my songwriting, where I have a backlog of songs to record -- is better than having lots of time and no projects to do....   ;)

--GG

I am a filmmaker

 I am a film-maker.

A novice -- but still, a film-maker.

I spent about an hour and a half tonight setting up lighting and recording footage of a metronome and two hourglasses -- because I had an idea.  

And this weekend I shot footage for two micro-shorts:  probably each about 30 seconds.  

And on the train yesterday morning, I sketched out an idea for a silent movie type of micro-short, about two men in two boxes (you'll see).

I'm not in film school, so these aren't "assignments" or "exercises":  just converting my ideas into reality.

Having fun.  :) 

--GG

My first micro-short

Just posted my first (I guess) micro-short film to YouTube.  I thought my first micro-short would be this footage I edited last weekend, about a guy (me) sitting on a bench -- but I still need to put some audio on it before I present it.

Meanwhile, I told a co-worker that I'd post some test footage of a tunnel (underpass) that would make a potentially useful filming location -- but then I edited out chunks of walking, to make the footage go faster -- and then I added some title cards and end credits -- and then I threw down an instrumental backing track.  So, I guess it's an artistic film/micro-short (about two and a half minutes long).

 

 

Ayep.  :) 

 

--GG

Vacation ambitions

In Australia a lot of office workers get the week between Christmas and New Year's off.  In addition to this, I took a few weeks off afterwards. 

As usual, I have a whole list of things -- about 85 -- that I'd like to get done during my vacation.  Clearly, I won't get all of them done -- so unlike my usual vacations where I don't make a list, or I only make a vague list, I've done a "brain dump" of various tasks that have been hanging around; I then put them into a spreadsheet (which I've added to as I think of new items), and classified them in terms of priority, whether it's for me or for the family/household, whether it's for fun or a duty/responsibility, whether doing the task frees up a bottleneck for other tasks, whether this task has any dependencies (i.e. I need to do something else on the list before I tackle this item), approximately how many days the item will take (ranging from "0.1" to "6 days"), and whether it needs pre-planning because it has many "stopping points" (e.g. need to let glue, or paint, dry overnight) and thus I can't crank it out on my final day of vacation.

I also noted which of these are best suited to a few weeks of vacation, rather than being a "weekend" project:  these would be things that require momentum, and/or where I tear something apart and it's totally in the way -- and then I put it back together the right way.

And then, as my vacation progresses, I can filter on un-completed tasks, as well as other characteristics (e.g. priority; how long they will take).

I've included some "easy wins" (e.g. "trim my beard!"), so that I can rack up accomplishments during my vacation:  inevitably I end up disappointed at the end of a vacation because I haven't accomplished all the things I wanted to -- so this is a way of recognizing all the things I did manage to do.

In no particular order...

1. Mow yard (fairly completely)
2. Clean up fallen shelves area
3. Cut coardboard for Harry Belefonte LP
4. Gmpa T audio
5. Test and install UPS (power supply box)
6. Tidy the music rack behind the door
7. Test SM58 for resistance to wind
8. Repair cables (mine; church’s)
9. Test USB drawing pad
10. Go through porch boxes
11. Catch up on laundry
12. Book electrician for solar panel
13. B/U HD’s (incl. One at M&D’s)
14. Other clothing repairs
15. Clean out work bag
16. Tidy neckties
17. Clean off bench end of porch
18. Visit D. Bretz
19. Edit blue timestreams video (incl. Color correcting and audio track)
20. Exercise
21. Edit park bench hat-adjust video
22. Finish adze knob
23. Put chopping block on legs
24. Make axe handle for re-rusted axe head
25. De-rust misc. tools
26. Bat signal
27. Roald Dahl instrument
28. De-rust small ball pien hammer
29. Lathe the vampire stakes
30. Lathe tool rack/box
31. Repair wooden chair leg
32. Repair wooden table leg
33. Suitcase drum kit
34. Adze handle for addt’l adze
35. Finish drainfield box
36. Write and record Max dancing song
37. Healer woman song
38. Build lathe shed
39. Suggest getting windjammer/dead cat for SM57 (but first test SM58 wind resistance)
40. Contact Rob on Gumtree for old PC parts (ask if he’d take CRT monitors) (also the giant tower)
41. Clean out (and re-stock) back of car/car boot
42. Sorry, buddy Timmy video
43. PVC frame
44. Repair M&D bench
45. Bretz steps
46. Finish prepping the wood in the water-filled wheelie bin (to make a chair)
47. Uncover drainfield hatch near wattle roots
48. Lay out boundary line
49. Clear off kitchen table (and floor)
50. Edit Max dancing video
51. Healer woman video
52. Lathe those angels
53. Lay tiles around the garden edge
54. Set up recording area
55. Build lumber shed
56. Repair fallen shelves
57. Instructional video for PVC frame
58. Ronin video
59. Make chair from wood
60. Test anti-feedback EQ
61. Test Inkel mixer
62. Drop off used books
63. Give old computer stuff to the hobby guy
64. Go through addt’l used books
65. Log items
66. Bottle recycling
67. Repair soft toys
68. Video chat w/ D #1
69. Video chat w/ D #2
70. Transplant plants to down lower
71. Clean out misc. plant area
72. Get BroDave firewood for black plastic sheet - DONE
    
73. Hand-mow dog yard - DONE
    
74. Finish cleaning out CB’s office (incl. Stationary cupboard)
75. Clean out kitchen
76. Learn my camera
77. Trim beard - TONIGHT
    
78. Repair/change brake light bulbs in white car
79. Finish small two-peg coat peg
80. Slab four pieces of wood from blue bucket
81. Sharpen long ripsaw
82. Sharpen regular ripsaw
83. De-rust and repair mattock

A lot of these are 0.1-day or 0.2-day items -- i.e. it'll take me a half hour or an hour.  Others are modular, such as "Going through the boxes on the porch", where even if I don't finish the entire task, I'll still have made quantifiable progress.

Another consideration is that I need to decide whether to accomplish one or two of my larger-scale projects (which would take a week or a week and a half) -- or rather to stick to small and mid-sized tasks (i.e. 2-3 days max).  One consideration is that it's summer, here in Australia -- so the longer tasks tend to be labor-intensive yardwork (e.g. building a stand-alone shed for my extra wood) is better suited for a cooler season.

--GG

New PC

 Have taken a few photos to share -- but haven't got around to posting them:  been busy; also, our internet was down for about two weeks.

My current PC only has 2GB of RAM (I bought too cheap), so when I tried to edit video it would just lock up.  So I bought a better (used) PC with more RAM:  I just need to install (Mint) Linux and set the rest of it up (and probably some video adaptors:  can have up to three monitors).  I've been accumulating footage -- just need to sit down and edit it (but! have a few tasks I need to do before I'm "allowed" to do that).

--GG

Bokken telekinesis

Shot the footage back in Oct 2019.  My computer isn't powerful enough for editing video, so I hadn't got around to editing the footage -- but then a few weeks ago I discovered that The Girl likes editing.  Oooh!!!

So:  below. 

Basically, instead of learning how to juggle, I've been trying to teach myself how to channel my "chi" to move objects.  It's coming along.




--GG

P.S.  Within the video, I mis-spell "telekinesis".  Ah well. 

Completed the one-thirds and shot some footage

A little bit during my lunch break, and the rest after work:  finished the remaining one-thirds of that box of The Lady's project from about 1997.

After work, I shot some footage for Father's Day for my dad, for this coming weekend:  The Girl is using my "good" camera and my "good" tripod (nothing fancy; but it's solid).  But both D4Darious and ponysmasher (YouTube guys that discuss filmmaking) say that you shouldn't let your lack of gear keep you from shooting movies.

So, I used my AU$98 off-brand GoPro, and my AU$15 (not very good) tripod, and shot some slo-mo, backwards footage of the kids. It came out pretty well -- esp. since B1 (Blondie Boy) suggested that it would be more interesting to drop the word cards instead of set them down (like I had envisioned) -- and then The Girl expanded on that by suggesting they throw them up in the air.


The editing was by The Girl, on her computer:  I think I went too cheap with my used PC last time:  it only has 2GB RAM, so even though that's enough for recording and for editing audio, when I try to do video work it seizes up.  I've been meaning to pick up some more (old!) RAM -- but then COVID-19 came around.  Plus, I think the most I could fit in would be 4GB -- and I'd like to shot for at least 8GB.


--GG

Film experience with the Easter trilogy

For the last year or so I've been doing a fair amount of (unstructured) learning about film-making and video production:  I've read a few books, and watched a lot of YouTube tutorials:  the topic is very suited to the medium; can show examples of shots, depth of field, and etc.

But, I haven't had a lot of hands-on experience.

However, this whole "C-19" thing has changed that:  because my church (like all other churches) is currently not allowed to hold "in-person" services, we've shifted to an online format.  And because our vicar knows that I know a little bit about video things, I've been asked to assist.


They had already shot a few services before I was brought onboard, but it was fairly low-tech:  using a smartphone, and hitting "pause" each time they changed shots or location.

The first thing I was asked to do was assemble an equipment list.  I knew that getting decent sound is important, so I suggested getting a small stand-alone voice recorder:  it has a built-in mic, but also has a mic input for lapel mics (we've ordered them; haven't yet arrived).  Because we have a limited budget, instead of ordering cameras that can zoom, I suggested getting some inexpensive (AU$99) "action cameras" (i.e. GoPro-style) with a fixed focal length:  my reasoning is that we would just set up the shot by moving closer to, or farther away from, the subject.  And instead of zooming, we could just pick up the tripod and walk forward.  And they had surprisingly decent resolutoin.  We also ordered three tripods.

Since it's important to have decent lighting, we also purchased some AU$30 LED worklights from the big-box hardware store:  they're clip-on, rather than having stands -- which I figured would let us mount them to ladders and other tall things.  And we'd also need a few extra power strips/power bars (whatever you call them), with on/of switches -- because the $30 lights are too inexpensive to have their own switches.

CF, who is on the church council with me, was kind enough to do the "shopping run" for all of these things.


And then we did some shooting:  three separate days of production.  The early morning segments occurred without me (fine by me!).  But the "main" shots were during the day, starting around 10am.  Similar to a television production, we shot a few days in advance:  on Tuesday we shot the Thursday installment of the "Easter trilogy"; on Thursday we shot Good Friday; and on Friday we shot Easter Sunday's footage.  This gave CF (who was kind enough to learn how to do editing, so that I didn't have to!) only a day or two to do the editing.

I was pleased to discover that my year or so of learning about film making provided some context -- e.g. the subconscious symbolism behind shot angles and framing; "more light" is usually an advantage; how to get decent sound; and getting a good "performance" from the actors.  So I ended up serving as kind of Director/Director of Photography.


Example:   For the "stripping of the altar" scene, where we remove all of the accessories from the altar as we enter the period of mourning (because Jesus has been crucified, and not yet risen), I suggested that we keep the camera rolling, and remove a piece at a time -- but edit out the bits where the person is removing the items.  This would give the impression of the pieces mysteriously disappearing.

Similarly, the shot ends with a single candle remaining in the middle of the altar.  The creative question is, what mood are we trying to evoke?  If we do a close-up of the lone candle on the altar, that will feel intimate and comforting (which might be good, in these COVID-19 times).  Or, if we do a wide shot of the bare alter with a lone candle in the middle, that will feel lonely and sad -- appropriate for a period of mourning.


I also suggested to the vicar that it would be consistent with the medium (YouTube) to treat the sermons more like a video blog, and make them more "musings" than formally standing behind the lectern.  So she ended up shooting them from her desk or sitting on her sofa, and then CF edited them into the "church service". 


And, just little things like suggesting we "cut on motion"; the "180 degree rule" when changing angles to shoot the same scene; creating a shot list from the "script" (the vicar cringed a bit when I called it a script:  "It's a litergy, not a script"), crossing off each "scene" as we went, and getting all the shots from each set-up before changing the camera positions.


The type of advice I provided turned out to be similar to when I was producing the audio recording of my congregation singing Christmas carols, about half a year ago.  So, it suggests that I'm decent at that end of the business:  the "vision", the planning, getting good performances.

What I'm not particularly interested in is the fiddly bits -- the editing, computer-based visual effects, and (in audio) the fine-grained tweaking of pitch and timing (which I also have philosophical issues with).  This is consistent with woodworking:  I like the planning, and the general building -- but I'm not interested in doing time-consuming inlay work or intricate surface carvings.  (Urgh.)  In part this is because I have only a limited amount of time, and I know that if a project extends beyond a weekend (or a period of vacation), it's likely to fall down the list of priorities and (literally) languish for years:  so I need to crank it out.

Similarly, Chris Schwarz noted that in a project, the final 5% takes almost as much time as the first 95%.  From my perspective, this means that I can finish two projects "pretty well", or one project "well".  So especially if it's something for my own purposes (e.g. an equipment rack, for music gear), I go with the "pretty good", with twice the productivity.  Maybe when I retire,I'll do something more fiddly.  (NB:  In contrast, my brother says he enjoys the precise tasks.)  :)


We had many learnings along the way -- such as the action camera screens don't correctly represent the framing of what's actually captured:  so we learned to add a substantial margin at the top and bottom of the screens -- and then CF would crop it down in post-production.

Hat-tip to CF for also progressively figuring out ever-better ways of integrating the footage with the text that the viewer would read (as she/he followed along with the hymn or Bible readings).


--GG

DIY video lighting from LED Christmas lights

This is a vague sort of instructional blog entry on making some DIY video lighting out of end-of-season discounted LED Christmas lights:  it's a proof of concept that turned out reasonably well.


I made three attempts:

-One with a single strand of blue lights

-One with two strands of "icicle" lights

-One with three strands of four-color "icicle" lights.


The "traditional" strand of lights was the easiest to work with:  however, I was stuck with whatever failed to sell during the Christmas season, and was therefore available on the clearance rack.


Here's the basic approach:

1) Get a sheet of plywood that corresponds in some way to the length and format of the Christmas lights:  for example, if the lights are in "icicle" layout, then the height of the plywood has to be enough to accommodate the "dangle" of the icicles (e.g. the white lights, photo to the left).  Note also that the size of the light source makes it "hard" or "soft":  a small light source gives crisp shadows, while a large light source makes it more diffuse (and softer shadows).

2) Get some sort of wood and make a simple frame on the back.  Nail and/or glue it to the plywood.  Note that whereever you plan to install a nail, you'll need to back it with the wood.  Note that I used really thin plywood (about the thickness of a clipboard -- but, free!), so I had to use "proper" wood as a frame.





3) Drill some holes for hanging the completed project.  I suggest having two loops of cord at the top, and two loops of cord at the bottom:  two at the top helps to distribute the weight (when hanging), and helps to control the direction; two at the bottom lets you angle the board, if desired.

4) Paint the front of the board silver or white, to help to capitalize on the "wasted" light that shines backwards towards the plywood.

5) Install nails wherever you want to wrap the Christmas lights -- being sure to put large washers under the heads, so that the lights don't fall off the end of the nails.  I also suggest using a block of wood (or a thick book; or whatever) as a "spacer" to measure the approximate depth of the nails, thus keeping them uniform.

6) Wind the lights in a way that makes sense:  to the left is the blue lights, where the plywood is small and thus only needed a few nails for stringing the lights.  A consideration for the four-colored lights (see below) was that I tried to space the nails such that the layers of colors aligned (e.g. red on top of red) -- which somewhat worked.  I then bundled them intro groups, per color, using gaffer's tape (like duct tape, but with less sticky residue).

Here's the green, and the blue, lights from the four-colored light set, with the red and the yellow lights hidden:

And, with them turned on (note the towel dampening the yellow and the red lights -- although you can still see them shining off the back; would need to have the towel hang all the way down):

If you use multiple strings of lights, you can vary the intensity of the unit by how many of the strings you plug in.

What I found is that the single strand of blue lights seems as bright as the two sets of white lights.

The multi-colored lights are "okay":  I grouped the colors, so that I could "dial in" different colors (e.g. red + yellow), by draping the "unwanted" colors and covering the top edge with a heavy towel.  But because there's four colors per strand, even with three strings of light, a single color is only 3/4 the intensity of the single blue-only light (1/4 of a strand per color, times three strands).


Finally, here's a shot of the green strands, and the two strands of white lights.

I think the white lights were the most successful in terms of trying to emulate "standard" video lighting:  it ended up being reasonably powerful, and (because of the surface area), reasonably "soft".

The blue lights were second-best:  due to the small board, they're concentrated -- but they're reasonably powerful, and (as per the examples below) could be a useful "effect" light.

The multi-colored lights could be usable -- but the light intensity is fairly mild, and thus are more of a subtle accent.  In order to be bright enough to be noticeable, you'd have to use them fairly close -- but keep them out of the frame.


Lighting examples: 
 
Blue light on one side; white light on the other:

Room light (i.e. ceiling light fixture), plus (I think) blue lights on one side (from below), and green lights on the other side:  

Blue lights on one side; I think red and yellow (from the four-color lights) on the other (dangit!  should've taken notes), and (I think!) a bounce light from the ceiling (a LED "shop light"):

White on one side, green on the other:

I've also included a YouTube video I posted, showing the end results.  The video quality isn't the greatest (esp. the first clip; ironically, I should've used some lighting).  But I prioritized "getting it done, and posted" rather than delaying to re-shoot -- and then never finishing.

Shot with my seven year old, $50 Android phone.  ;)



Ayep!


--GG

Two possible hats

Went to Bunnings (large hardware store) today, with The Lady.  The Lady was looking through the flowerpots aisle, and I found these two:

Potential hats for a music video -- perhaps as a nod to Devo's "power domes".

Bought the green one, which was reasonably priced:  the clear one was oddly expensive -- something like AU$25 -- which seemed too high for a "joke purchase".


--GG

A new realm

I know a reasonable amount about recording audio, based on about twenty-five years of reading and experience -- but for the last few months I've been also been watching YouTube tutorials about various aspects of film-making.

I think I'm starting to get the notion (I haven't actually tried applying my knowledge, yet) -- but it's interesting to me how much I don't know -- in terms of both technique and terminology.

Some of it has interesting parallels to recording:  for example, choosing a lens is a little like selecting the right microphone; lighting is a little like room treatments and reverb; color temperature is a little like EQ.  But these are only approximations.

Am considering buying a "decent" camera (i.e. one where you can swap out the lenses).  Maybe for Christmas...


--GG