Saturday, January 15, 2011

Promise of a Man

Well, here I go again with another video using a Neil Young song. I really don't go around thinking, how can I bring my love of Neil Young's music into my Richard Armitage obsession? Honestly, I do think it is rather odd myself. But this is how this particular video came about. 

As I may have explained somewhere before, I live in a very small town in Northern Ontario with very few outlets for those with a love of art and / or music.  However, we are lucky enough to have other music lovers who band together and bring talented people to our neck of the woods.  One such couple host a music night in their home for travelling musicians who are making their way across Canada singing in bars and various other venues. They invite around 50 paying customers to their home for a "House Concert" and we get to hear exceptional, though not very well known musicians perform in very intimate, friendly surroundings and get to have a chat with them during the break (usually while we are purchasing their latest CD).

One of the latest musicians to visit performed many of his own songs (which were excellent) but he also sang quite a few of Neil Young's songs, (some of which I was not even familiar with).  When he started to sing "Harvest" I was very pleased, as it has always been one of my favourites.  As I listened to him singing the lyrics, I could suddenly see Dawn French as the Vicar of Dibley longing for a love of her own. Of course what better "Promise of a Man" than the handsome stranger Harry Kennedy as played by the always delightful Richard Armitage (may he soon play another handsome stranger).


This may be the last video I ever make!  I have grown tired of Windows moviemaker and my thoughtful and generous husband very kindly bought me the Sony Vegas Platinum professional edition! for Christmas.  I am embarrassed to admit that it positively terrifies me! It does not seem very user friendly and is waaaay beyond my meager vidding skills. I feel like I went from Kindergarten to Graduate school with nothing in between!  
I will do my best to learn how to use it, but it will be a loooong learning curve.
Meanwhile, I will continue to enjoy fanvids from many other very talented vidders out there and hopefully I will be able to find a mentor to assist me in my quest for knowledge. :)


11 comments:

RAFrenzy said...

I love Neil Young, so keep at it. :D

On the vids, I'll bet Elvira has some good stuff on her site, and I'll also bet she would answer some questions. Just a thought.

Christian James said...

Hope you get on with your new Sony, as I liked the way this post is set out and your movie making skills are great.
Neil Young is brillaint, like a few of his songs.

Anonymous said...

Adorable! Gotta love Harry. Good luck with the new software!

Phylly3 said...

@Frenz-- Thanks for the support. I think I may have to prostrate myself at Elvira's feet. :)
@Christian -- Thanks for the compliment! Nice of you to drop by, and also to find another Neil Young fan!
@littlevic -- Oh yes, Harry is just dreamy. Thanks for your good wishes!

Ann Marie said...

oh Phylly, this was sooo sweet, please don't let it be your last vid.

Your sweet voice, as an artist, should still be heard.

Phylly3 said...

@Ann Marie -- Thanks so much for your vote of confidence. It will definitely be my last slide show, but who knows how long it will take me to learn this new program? I don't know if I am motivated or not!

Fanny/iz4blue said...

New software!! My hats off for your beautiful slide fanvids! I love this story and have done a few house concerts too. I don't get out as much as I wish to listen or view performing arts.
I'd love to take a vidding class with you! I've been thinking about it reading all of Elvira's tutorial's, let's just say! No software (except for WMM) or knowledge of it. But I do have the diskspace!! *_* Got any clips yet?

RAFrenzy said...

@Phylly, I hope you get over the intimidation. I imagine you have some great stuff in you. Of course I understand it's an addictive hobby. That's one reason I haven't gotten into it. Don't trust myself. LOL!

Avalon said...

Good luck with Sony...I did not like it. We have several video editors on family member's computers and I tried it and couldn't use it. I take my clips straight from the dvd, so they are in HD, and edit them in Corel. Sony and several other video editors, including Adobe, are not compatible with vob. files (even after I have scrambled the copy-right). Corel and Cyber Link are the only two I have found that will work, but I do not care for Cyber Link for other reasons. I know that you can change Vob. files to Mpg. or Wmv. files, but once you do that, you downgrade the HD.

I hope Sony works well for you. I am very much looking forward to seeing your new videos!

bccmee said...

I ♥ Harry Kennedy. This is such a sweet video slideshow. I truly look forward to your foray into vidding! According to the Sony website, there is a "Show me how" button on the software which gives video tutorials which will hopefully get you started. When I teach classes on computers I always encourage my students to take risks and make mistakes, otherwise we won't create new ideas. Half of my videos are purely accidental, LOL!

Have fun and good luck to you.

Phylly3 said...

@iz4blue--Not really any new clips. I'm not sure how to get proper ones. I don't know how to make them myself. I downloaded a program Handbrake which I can't make heads or tails of!
@RAFrenzy--Man, I don't have time for all the irons I have in the fire. I'm gonna get burned!
@Avalon-- I understand what you mean! I am thinking I need a different program to bridge the gap between WMM and this one. The learning curve is just too steep!
@bccmee-- Aww! Thank you very much. I do love smiley Harry ;)... Ooooo! You teach computer classes? Well hulloooo there! I may be asking you some questions soon!