Remember the scene in Dirty Dancing when Johnny puts Baby’s hand to his chest to feel his heart beat? Well, that’s really what you have to think about when you’re working with images and sound. Make the music bring the images to life.
Whatever you’re creating, find music that best expresses the mood you want your piece to have. No copyright infringement so if you’re bored with the selection provided by Mac, another good source for royalty-free music is Freeplaymusic.com
Now that you’ve got the heartbeat of the piece, you can lay out tracks and adjust them to match the music. Follow sound cues. When there’s a change in the music, you’ll want a change in picture. This also applies to transitions. Just because you’re using stills, don’t think it’s a cross-fade or nothing. FinalcutPro has a lot of transition options – and I highly recommend staying away from swipes, wipes, swirls, spins, irises, page turns….It’s all right for your home videos and cutesy stuff like that, and even more serious pieces will occasional find a reason for it, BUT, in general, stretch yourself to go beyond the obvious. Take a risk. There are no rules. You’ll know when something doesn’t work. And if you don’t know, throw it out there, someone will tell you.
Back to point, here’s an intro piece to a documentary on transgender. Pacing, image changes and flicker affects are all moved by the music.
Credit:
Jillian Sloan
*1950’s video edited by Nancie Dodge.
