This story is about the death of my mother and how it affected me. I want to start out by saying thanks to all of you who told me they were sorry for my loss. But this happen 32 years ago so the wounds aren’t really fresh. I guess the reason I told this story is because I’ve never really talked about it much over the years and this ended up being a good way to get some feelings out……me not being much of a touchy feely type of person. :)
The story turned out to be a bit longer than I anticipated; I guess I had a lot to say. I appreciate the feedback on my storyboards and incorporated some of the ideas such as cutting down on some pictures and just letting an image do the talking in some parts. I also liked the suggestion that Cindy had about looking at it from my mother’s point of view and is this the way she’d want me to remember her? For me this is more about my feelings of her leaving unexpectedly. I think in the next version I may incorporate looking at it from her point of view somehow.
My Story from Michael Schwind on Vimeo.
Mike,
ReplyDeleteGreat story. One suggestion is that at the 2:38 mark, you might want to include a picture instead of the black screen. I understand that you are trying to show how your life changed drastically at that moment, but the black screen seems almost disjointed from the rest of the story. Maybe you could include a picture of a hospital or something.
I think you did a wonderful job on your story. I am sure it was hard to share such a personal experience. I could really tell your emotions in your voice. If you had one, it might be nice to add a candid photo of you and your mom doing something together. Just thought that might visually show the connection you two had.
ReplyDeleteMike,
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you did the beginning with the picture of you at the table and the pictures of the other family members appeared around you then came to the forefront as you talked about each of them. Very nicely done. It really helped visually make the connection of each family member. It looks like you can achieve some great effects in After Effects – I still need to check that out.
You did similar effects throughout the movie and it worked throughout the movie. I think the way you did it allowed you to include many photographs without it being overwhelming.
The image of the tombstone seemed out of place and too stark for the beginning of the story since this is where you are talking about how happy life was. And I like Cindy’s suggestion of trying to think about how your mom would want to be remembered. Or maybe how she would fell about you even though she is gone, how her influence in your early years helped make you the person you are today and how proud she would be of the man you became.
Mike,
ReplyDeleteThis is a great story, and I'm sure it took a lot to be able to share something so personal. I loved that you had several different pictures up at once, and would bring whichever one you were focusing on forward. It gives the viewer a chance to see multiple pieces without a bunch of transitions, and yet, you still make it easy to see which one you are talking about at each moment.
My one suggestion would be the same as Charity's. The tombstone at the beginning seemed kind of out of place to me and like it didn't fit with the rest of the video. I understand it's about the death of your mother, but it just seemed like an odd way to start it.
Other than that, wonderfully done!
Very nicely done. I like the black clouds you incorporated into the video. It really helps enhance the mood. Even though this happened long ago, your tone and word choice conveys the emotions well. I agree with the others about the tombstone. I liked the concept when I read your script, but I don't think it worked with the rest of your story.
ReplyDeleteA question for you about creating your animation in Flash and then getting it converted to a format that can be uploaded to YouTube? How are you converting your Flash files and to what format?
ReplyDeleteAny help would be appreciated.
JD, I bring my Flash swf files and audio into After Effects and produce whatever format I need out of there. I've been making .mov files and uploading them to Vimeo which is my video hosting site. But After Effects can produce any format of video you want. Hope that helps. mike
ReplyDeleteJD, I bring my Flash swf and audio files (mp3) into After Effects and produce my video files from there. I've been making .mov files and uploading them to my Vimeo video hosting website. But you can make any type of video format you need out of After Effects. Hope that helps. mike
ReplyDeleteJD, I bring my Flash swf and audio files (mp3) into After Effects and produce my video files from there. I've been making .mov files and uploading them to my Vimeo video hosting website. But you can make any type of video format you need out of After Effects. Hope that helps. mike
ReplyDelete