I asked my closest unbiased partner (wife) to comment on the clip.
She didn't notice the wing strap until I asked about it.

Don't worry about it.

Thanks for input and good point -- I do get perfectionistic and tunnel-visioned when editing. Not only there, but even composing these posts at the forum...

Said unbiased, non-editor's lady's viewer input will be taken into consideration.
After all a film is for the audience, too :)

"I think the crossfade from the MS to the CU was too long - I'd nip at least a second off of that. "

I know and struggled with that. Problem is matching the body position of the first with the second -- they are from different parts of the footage. The CU is not a CU of the MS (hun--say whud? :)

Shorten transition in one, it's off in the other, and vice-versa. But I'll give it another shot. I'll try not to get, uh, too compulsive about it.
.
I've also toyed with a Sony white dissolve transition in there which gives a nice slow-flash effect which may fit in with the PI stuff that the clip will include.

The luminous PI effects themselves will only serve to increase emphasis on just what you all have said.
Her face is the real character in the shot, not the strap :)

Leave the strap in. It is true that many people will not notice it, but they will see it. That is good, because it rescues the clip from its pretentiousness. That little piece of reality (the strap) speaks to our subconsciuosness and transforms the clip from being just eye and ear candy to being - dare I say it - art.

The lenght of the crossfade must be in balance (or contrast) with what goes on in the rest of the video.
Tor

i agree entirely - it doesn't matter that it shows - and it shows you've watch the clip too often ;-)

however, what was the director thinking? i mean, it must have been pretty obvious in the monitor, he wanted that 'reality'? otherwise it would have been pretty bloody simple to have hidden it one way or another....

leslie

"...however, what was the director thinking? (...)"

As I said, it wasn't well shot at all, probably no director, just one person with a camera. And small budget.

But that you even think there was one, well, I'll take that as a small sign that I have managed to add a little class to it, and to the other three or so "best of" I'm working on..

I haven't even gone to town on it yet to give it more of my signature dreamy style.

Yeah, post-artist/editor's ego talking.
Guilty as charged :)

Still better than obsessing over a flimsy strap.
Which I only have to deal with in this created segment; the prop is gone in others.

I'm often accused of being a @#%$% perfectionist, and I wasn't bothered by the strap either.

I would have tested a morph instead of a crossfade though, it likely would look more seamless.

(And angels got wings only in the 10th century AD, when the early Christian church felt a need for a way to explain to uneducated people how angels could go anywhere quickly, without waiting for the next coach ride.

Before that, they were just luminous beings with a glow around them, mostly depicted as a halo (aura) around the head, rather than the ring floating above the head that was a later simplification, probably created by artists who never saw it and were just working off someone else's description.

The "luminous being" description also matches how other religions describe it.)

Q: How Would You Un-Strap This Angel Woman?

A: Probably with a generous combination of cajoling, begging, and alcohol.

:-)

Try as I have, I found this "unstrapping" workflow to be highly overrated.

>
Q: How Would You Un-Strap This Angel Woman?

A: Probably with a generous combination of cajoling, begging, and alcohol.
>

Jerry

That's it? You were worried about copyrighting that?

Yup, I was just waiting for this thread to eventually turn a bit naughty.

Granted, slightly racier visual material than usual here.
Not to mention my albeit gentlemanly yet subliminally suggestive wording of the Q.

Again, blame the writer and the editor.
And once again, guilty as charged, your Honor.

Let's just try to behave around my luminous being with faux wings, people, OK?
She's my freakin' muse :)

Another vote for leave the strap...it just looks like more underware....

Cross fade seems too close almost a jump cut... I'd try a zoom blur fade or something that're going to break your eye away from the first image and introduce the 2nd.

Reply by DGates on 9/27/2007 4:15:23 PM said:
"That's it? You were worried about copyrighting that?"

What sort of comment was that?

I'm re-working another part of this series I'm doing, though shorten the crossfade and use different transition. Just don't have time to upload the improvement.

Waxing Philosophic for a Moment....

This thread has been a tap on the shoulder to me due to multiple comments about getting to close to footage due to editing.

Manifested by this gotta-get-this-strap-out thing.

It's really hard to let go of workaholic tendencies for however dreamy or idealistic my creative expressions may be, I'm a craftsman at heart.. Visual excellence is important to me, but it can also be a trap.

No wonder I sometimes feel I'll never get this film done...

It's similar to when I've composed, created and arranged music and I can hear all kinds "what I could have done better," and yet the objective listener is oblivious to it.

I've got to keep a perspective that it's the big picture that counts. The parts certainly matter, but getting buried in minutia is neither productive nor healthy.

But I'm also relatively new to video/film editing compared to most of you and so it's also a daunting learning curve journey too. One step and day at a time.

So thanks for giving me some reality-check feedback.
I just have to find a balanced way to apply it.

To answer your original question of how to remove the strap the only way I can see is rotoscoping and not of the trivial kind either. You'd likely have to paint it out frame by frame. That's take quite some skill to get looking perfect.

Does it matter anyway?

Well I sure as heck noticed it and it's just totally unacceptable, you really must get rid of it or reshoot the thing. But see YOU damn well told me to look at it. That's it, it's now stuck in my head. You try to fix it and I'll be pulling the shot apart frame by frame and pixel by pixel looking for the slightest error.

So will you audience notice, will it really matter in the final cut. Well I don't think you can tell that from just one snippet like that.
You can get away with blue murder or blow the whole show with one seemingly minor glitch that takes you out of the story. Maintaining consistent production values seems to be the key. If all of your angels have straps and all look as well shot and beautiful as that shot then we just accept the strap and get on with the story. On the other hand strap or no strap that shot could blow the show if all your other 'angels' aren't as good looking and well shot.

So getting back to the strap and if it matters. I think it depends on if you 'tell' the audience to look at it or not. If you've told them through storyline that this is the real deal, she is a real, genuine angel they'll be looking damn hard 'cause that's a pretty big thing for them to swallow. Conversely your storyline might permit the audience to just accept that it's a story about angels and they can suspend disbelief and just enjoy the story. Being consistent within the context is what matters, knowing what you can get away with and what you can't seems to be the real skill. Also knowing what audiences expect to see can play a part. We see many things in movies that are in reality nonsense but the bar has been set and rocking the boat with the injection of reality can loose your audience.

Bob.

Bob,

Thanks for a thoughtful, thorough response. More enlightening film-making tips woven in there that I will take into account.

In this case, all things considered, the strap can be overlooked since the footage is only being used as a sketch pad, if you will. The ambiance and effects will be the primary focus in what I will try to show -- selling my particular storytelling and visual style.

Were I in actual production, etc. and if I'd even use such a prop (unlikely), I'd find a way to not have a strap visible in shooting scenes -- which as someone commented wouldn't be that hard.

Just dealing the the raw, inexpensive material I currently have, which is better than nothing or using stills..