Well, here’s my mash-up project. I am simultaneously proud of what I accomplished and disappointed that it did not quite live up to the expectations I set for myself. For instance, I was really going for a super creepy vibe. I wanted to take a kid’s movie and make it scary. Upon looking through my collection and reminiscing on how Willy Wonka used to actually scare the living s**t out of me (particularly the boat scene, which I emphasized,) I decided it was the perfect choice. I think many of the shots I chose were appropriate, however, something just seemed to be off about the rhythm of the final product. The actions didn’t quite match up with the music I selected.
The music itself proved to be another issue. I wanted to use entirely music from the original film. I did not want to use modern soundtrack music, because I felt their would be an obvious quality difference between the audio and video. Upon listening to the soundtrack originally, I found pieces that seemed adequate. However, after working the selections into video, the final product seemed a little lackluster– not as intense or dramatic as I had hoped. If I were to do this project over, (which, to be honest, I might just do for my own peace of mind) I would probably use music from a 70′s horror film. When I realized my music was less than satisfactory, I began to torrent the Carrie soundtrack, but it took far too long to download.
I was sad to have to shorten the song Wonka sings on the boat, but it would have made up about 2/3 of the length of the total trailer and became a bit monotonous. In fact, it became a lot more difficult to fill that part up with images than I had estimated. For the full effect, the images really needed to happen in rapid sequence– I’m definitely glad I sped the last part up (though Windows Movie Maker only allows 2x speed). It at least provided a little bit of thrill for the video. The last shot was also dissatisfying. Wonka’s scream seemed a little bit off, like it just got left hanging there.
The purpose of my mash-up was really just for entertainment. It’s not really supposed to make the audience “think” about any deeper meaning rather than the fact that you can re-arrange audio & video to bring a completely different effect. It mostly incorporated the elements of “fandom” and satire, which are both particularly prominent in the Youtube age.
I would like to say a special thank you to the maker of Scary Mary, without whom which I would never have this idea, as well as the creators of The Pirate Bay, HandBrake, μTorrent, and all my anonymous P2P peeps out their who let me leech off of their files in such a collaborative and participatory manner.
