Thursday, October 15, 2015

Editing Tricks for Amateur Vacation Video #160 - Scandinavia Cruise (#5 of 10)

Scandinavia Cruise 2005:  Talinn, Estonia (#5 of 10)

Looking through a porthole, Steve wonders "What's the name of this city?"  Our typical newsreel music is missing, replaced by the instantly recognizable introduction from Bob Dylan's Rainy Day Women #13 & 35.  As this two-minute video continues you'll notice the music is karaoke style with no vocals.

You'll be interested to learn that thee original version of this video included Dylan's "melodious" crooning.  As I was creating this chapter, I wrote to Mr. Dylan and Dwarf Music (his publishing company) several times for permission to use his original recording.  They chose to ignore me.
Although I'll earn nothing from this video, I would have gladly paid a small fee.  Even an outright denial would have been gentlemanly.  But being ignored really ticked me off.  
So don't kid yourself, Dylan has "sold out" to "the Man."

Naturally I wasn't able to post the original on YouTube; instead I hope you sort-of enjoy this karaoke+subtitles.  Have fun, sing along!  

Estonia is emerging from the Soviet economy; one of its great successes is the warm-weather transformation of walled city Talinn into a medieval village.  While this music creates a slower pace when compared to the preceding chapters, there are some fun scenes, cuts, and surprises.  Note the cynical copyright notice just before the video ends.

Comments:  
  • The opening video was not actually shot through a porthole.  It uses the editing software's vignette feature.  Sepia color is an editing software video filter. 
  • My subtitles differ from the words that Dylan actually mumbles in his recording.  If you know the original lyrics or listen to Bob singing while watching my video, there are some plays-on-words that are pretty funny and make this chapter worth watching.
  • I like the original version, which included Dylan's voice.  This sound edit is a poor substitute that was created solely for the benefit of HENBC.com readers.  I hope it  provided some continuity and completeness, and perhaps you've garnered some good while watching the crippled video.

Lessons Learned:
  • Don't lock-in to music that might not be available.  When you can't get copyright clearance, your choices are limited and often unsatisfactory.
  • " 'Estonia' sounds like 'They'll Stone Ya' "  It's such a perfect play on words that I couldn't dream up an alternative.  That's one of the reasons it took seven years to edit the raw footage!

Suggestion:
  • If you own a copy of Dylan's Rainy Day Women #13 & 35 try playing it while watching this video.
  • I admit failure here.  What if you are in the same situation?  When you hit a brick wall, can you abandon your original editing idea and move on?


Next up:  We "Rush-in" then "Rush-out" of Saint Petersburg, Russia.


FYI:
All of the Scandinavia trip chapters have already been loaded onto YouTube.  Individual chapters may be viewed on one of my YouTube channels: HENBCtravel
The combined 30-minute video is also available here.

Copyright Considerations:
This original audience for this video was friends and family who would view the DVD in my living room.  That group sees my productions unencumbered by copyright legalities,  For internet purposes, I have removed identifiable music that would otherwise be used without permission.  
Copyright compliance can be a real pain-in-the-neck; I try to comply but the system often presents unreasonable challenges for no-budget amateurs.
I own several hundred tracks of royalty-free music via SmartSound that I try to use in my productions.  There is no easy way, no safe harbor for little guys like us who need permission to use a bit of commercial music to create a fun little non-monetized movie.  Is it any wonder that many in this situation choose to go to the dark side?


No comments:

Post a Comment

Please post your comments and share your ideas: