Friday 16 April 2021

Do You Know What a Door Nail Is?

We've made a new video, a couple of minutes long, about door nails. Check it out, they are more interesting than you might think.


 
To learn more go to our previous post on door nails [link].
 
We've decided to make little videos as a means of feeling like we are working. A friend very kindly lent us two cameras, a microphone and a light. We already had a tripod, and bought a lapel mike and some video editing software. 
 
The process involves writing a script (to prevent me umming and ahring my way through my lines), then filming, often in multiple takes, then recording the voice overs. Simon then puts it all together, with much cursing and swearing, so that it looks and sounds presentable. We want it to be friendly, but not wobble cam. Unfortunately it does mean we lose a certain amount of spontaneity. 

One of the decisions we really struggled with was what I should wear. In the end we decided on bright bold colours and these loose jackets which hide the Zoom microphone underneath, on a belt round my waist, and the lapel mike on my scarf. 

Simon calculates that it is about an hours work for every 10 seconds of finished video.
 
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For details of our private guided tours of chateaux, gardens, wineries, markets and more please visit the Loire Valley Time Travel website. We would be delighted to design a tour for you.

We are also on Instagram, so check us out to see a regularly updated selection of our very best photos. 

7 comments:

HuubToussaint said...

these are interesting videos! well done.
a ha... looking forward to a video on the making of these videos .....

Sheila said...

Enjoying these videos, S&S. Easy to imagine all the work that goes into making them. I particularly appreciated how images were "implanted" on top of photos in the Boussay video.
Always wondered about dead as a doornail.

Simon said...

Huub. You really don't want to know....

chm said...

Interesting video!

Sally said...

Susan, Loved learning about door nails...! The next time I hear someone say “dead as a door nail” it will remind me of your video and I will expound about how much I know about door nails...! Can’t tell you how much I loved your Boussay video, especially at the end when you showed Humeau and my memories came flooding back as a place I lived and loved...! I think your videos are great and you do a wonderful job Susan as does Simon filming. Love your colorful outfits Susan and your hair...looks much longer than I remember...? Thank you for your time and effort in these videos and bringing us such interesting “snippets“ as you call them to our attention. Please give my regards to those we know... stay well and safe... Sally

Susan said...

Huub -- we have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the videos, so I don't think you are going to see a how we make them version -- too much strong language.

Sheila -- thank you very much. I don't think many people realise the origin of dead as a door nail.

chm -- thank you.

Sally -- I'm glad you caught this and got to see Humeau. My hair is in lockdown mode -- I haven't been to the hairdressers for over a year.

Katie Zeller said...

I find them every spring in my potager. I always wondered why the tips were bent.
Very interesting.

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