Thread: It Seems London

Hi There,

I'm Henrique Santos and i'm a big fan of film editing and live in Portugal.
usually, I spend my time filming and to take pictures of many sightseeing places.
This time, i travelled to London with a friend, our favourite city in the whole world, and i made a little brief of our travel.
It's a lovely way to meet one of the most amazing cities in the Europe.
I hope you like it!

Hi henrique. I work in London, so I was intrigued to see what you put together. I often wonder how tourists see my home city, particularly as I take it all for granted.

I watched with no sound. I have to admit, your filming technique didn't work for me. I didn't care much for seeing your feet, and ther was far too much waving around. The edits tried to enhance the quirkiness, but left me feeling a bit sea sick. Above all, I didn't get the impression the trip was enjoyable!

What kind of feedback have you had so far?

Thank you for your opinion, Marc. just so I can improve my technique.
My initial idea was to break the traditional takes and transmit the feeling of being in london with those people, through a tourist perspective.
Perhaps the final wasn't what you expected when you try to watch a film about london.
I advise to watch with sound, you'll understand that the music and the film are strongly linked.
The trip was very enjouyable, we had a good time, three days of fun.

Well, it's certainly not an ordinary travelogue.

I thought you had some very clever transitions. I didn't like the backward motion it seemed to cheapen the piece, as if it's the sort of thing you do when you can't think of anything better.

It's the sort of video you can watch more than once and see new things in it. I like it a lot.

Thanks for posting.

Originally Posted by HenriquePalmaSantos

I advise to watch with sound, you'll understand that the music and the film are strongly linked.
.

For me, there was an over-reliance on sound. I like the concept of seeing somewhere through the traveller's eyes, but it was a bit too experimental for my tastes. I like to see people and places. The video gave me a sense of despair and dislocation, which is at odds with your 3 days of fun! If you wanted to paint a picture of a drunk stagger around a dull city, you hit the nail on the head. As a memento of an enjoyable trip, on the other hand....

Somehow I manage to agree with both Marc and Midnight nn this one. I too liked the quirky editing.
Whilst I'm familiar with London (living only 30 mins from Waterloo Railway terminus) I'm an infrequent visitor (maybe 3 or 4 times per year). This film actually captured some of the feeling of a tourist being plunged into busy unfamiliar territory - and it is, in many ways, a bit like being drunk. You don't see it like that, Marc, as you're familiar with it all. I also agree with Midnight about the reverse scenes - he's hit the mail on the head - they cheapen the film no end.

But Marc is also right about reliance on sound. There is no doubt sound is a big factor in film - at least hal of the resulting work is down to sound. But a common way to check one's work is to turn the sound off and see if it works without. This way you are ensuring the sound enhances what you've pieced together rather than repairs it. Watch this and some pro examples without sound and you'll understand Marc's point.

I saw the video after reading your reviews. In fact I watched with other eyes and felt that perhaps, beyond the already purposeful "suffocation" of images and movements, a typical flickering of a recording by hand with a DLSR not help against drunkenness.
About reverse takes, in fact it was on purpose, but apparently did not work as I expected = (
Maybe I was ashamed to shoot people and so I shot too many prominors and other things making the video less involved, what do you think?
Anyway, thanks for the good reviews, and now I can improve these aspects.
I'll be honest, I could not shoot much because the rain rarely stopped and the interest was more focused on visiting the city than shoot everything, and I used almost everything I shot on video.
I confess I did not expect pats and congratulations of the video in this forum because I wanted to hear constructive criticism from more experienced and professional looks.
Thank you guys

I like it. I like the glitch feel to the edits and think the music suits. Some of the camera work could have been a bit more stable and I would have liked more ambient sound than is present Not keen on the title.

Originally Posted by TimStannard

). This film actually captured some of the feeling of a tourist being plunged into busy unfamiliar territory - and it is, in many ways, a bit like being drunk. You don't see it like that, Marc, as you're familiar with it all. I also agree with Midnight about the reverse scenes - he's hit the mail on the head - they cheapen the film no end.
.

I may have had one too many in London, but I've rarely felt a sense of dislocation on holiday. Excitement yes. But never a feeling that my senses are overloaded, particularly when one European city pretty much has the same features as another: historic building, lots if traffic and crowded streets.

This is one of those videos that's fun to make, feels good to view, but adds nothing to your memories. Unless you really missed the squirrels. It!s rather like a scene from the new Sherlock series (if he were staggering through London).

My summary: it's artistic rather than technical. Yes, midnight, it's time for you to grow a beard.

Wow.......there was a lot going on in this short video !!!!
For me personally it was too much in terms of quick transitions from footage to footage .
I agree with Enc i too liked the audio and there was some great footage in this video like
start ..swans
squirrel on road
Telephone box
hand on railing. etc etc etc etc

I liked the speeded up escalator footage personally.

However to be absolutely honest it was just a bit manic for me.

But I also appreciate other people will love it.

You certainly capture a lot of London in this short 2 min video!!!!

I think your shooting style would work very well for a London night life video (ie) club scene as your quick transitions would work well capturing the atmosphere and excitement of London at night !!!!

Congratulations on you making your video and thank you for posting it here.