Evaluation: project1

Evaluation: Project 1




The aim was to produce upto 3 short videos of less than 5 minutes each using edited and altered footage of murmurations (flocks of starlings) taken at Shapwick Heath Somerset. A yearly winter phenomenon visible over the reed beds.

I was inspired by a video I had seen which showed the flock of birds forming unpredictable sculptural shapes as they settle before bed/at sunrise in order to fend of predators in the same way schools of fish form 'bait balls'. The footage was mesmerising.


The aim of the videos was to try different edits with or without sound, manipulating the footage where appropriate to elicit different moods that I associated with watching the birds in flight in-situ to produce 3 videos around the themes: anticipation/anxity, beauty and surrealness.

 I knew I wanted to concentrate on the shapes, movement and contrast of the birds against the sky. I was unsure about using audio.

The aim was to obtain enough usable footage that would not be too time consuming to view and edit. I used a digital SLR camera with a zoom and portable tripod. The footage was filmed over 2 separate dusks on locations in Shapwick heath in January. It was exceedingly cold, I had not filmed birds in flight before, the murmurations last only up to 20-30mins around sunset so timing and being responsive to the flocks was crucial.

 The most spontaneous part of the project was hoping that the tripod, film ISO and manual zoom setting would manage to capture some usable footage. In advance I knew I wasn't ideally looking to shoot traditional views of the murmurations in context, i.e , not with recognisable trees/clouds/colour graduations from the sunset.

The main obstacles to producing a final video were, my inexperience of editing and using imovie and my patience.

I used an instrumental video piece of music by a friend that had a variable pulsing rhythm and varying crescendos and pace to use as a skeleton to start putting video footage in order, practice editing using varying speeds and reversal of film footage. This enabled me to play with the options available. No usable audio was obtained from the original footage as there wasn’t a technical microphone available.

It soon clear how mindboggling the number of editing options would be. Without a narrative or storyboards (I was reliant on the footage I managed to get) I decided to concentrate on using the most visually pleasing footage. This was shots that I cropped to make sure only the birds movements were visible, nil horizon or landscape features. Short clips were used, this was down to creating a short piece but also due to the small amount of usable footage that wasn't blurred/camera shake.

My patience was limited due to usually being energised by chance results from spontaneous image making whether drawing/printing or photos. Once I reminded myself that the spontaneity/creative side had been influenced by my choice of location/viewpoint and filming then I felt less frustrated by the need to be so controlled and decisive about the final cut. After discussion with tutors, paring back the number of possible editing decisions meant that I could concentrate on just using exposure/saturation, speed, and desaturating the footage, to produce monochrome abstracted video showing initially unrecognisable moving forms that at some points are more obviously wing shapes.

The main hiccups were deciding transition speeds, I filmed short segments with lens cap on to produce usable black footage that I cut and pasted in between shots. Having not edited before I had to guess from viewing the footage, what length of breaks in between felt right and didn't detract or distract from the main footage.

Setting footage to music was constrained by accidentally shifting the music out of synch with footage I had 'lined up' with the changes in tempo and music and was a frustrating time consuming process that I felt wasn't moving my project forward, so I concentrated on an abstract piece.

I'm happy with the final footage that has lasts just over a minute and a half, comprising of 5 separate views of flocks at separate speeds and zoom. I felt I created a video that is a bit unnerving from it's initial shot that does not clearly reveal it's context. The speed and zoom of some of the shots can be disorientating but hypnotic. The lack of colour and landmarks adds to the abstract quality.

I don’t think that obtaining more footage to edit would have improved the final piece and would have made the whole process more time consuming and complex. I've learnt how to edit and more about the possibilities of using video, it feels limitless, requires patience, planning and clear idea of what the end video should look like. By keeping a video simple I think I got more interested in manipulating the visual effects with different types of projection/installation. Exploring this will be my next project.