My tribute video to the now-closed melt shop (the steel mill where I worked)

[entropic remnants]

My tribute video to the melt shop is finished and you can see it on YouTube. I recommend you stream it in HD if you can -- it's an HD hybrid video.

 

[entropic remnants]

Well, it's not popular with the Illuminati of photography and I've already had to explain myself on the concept, so I think I'll do the same here, lol. Here's my answer to a chorus of people who found it pretty bad on serious compacts -- and that's okay, but I do want to explain the concept here since I think everyone was expecting one of my "arty" pieces rather than a head banging music video, lol.

Well, that's obviously a disappointing response, lol -- but you guys aren't my audience. At the expense of looking like I'm justifying what I did, let me articulate what this is and isn't. It won't change your perceptions but that's okay.

• The melt shop folks are edgy people to begin with and this was a roller coaster ride through our world. It is not an ordinary place.
• All of those photos are in other sets which my target audience has already seen and have links to. If one wants to "see" the photos rather than get hit in the head with them, there's a place for that, lol.
• I was not going for a heart-string tugging video. Just something fun.

Apparently it can't stand on it's own since it seems everybody here doesn't like it -- I'll have to wait and see what comments I get back from the people it was intended for. Thanks for taking the time to detail what you saw from your perspective though.

Specifically though for Ray: if I lingered on those human faces I would have been putting way too much emotion in the video and that was simply not a goal at all. I have the steel mill portraits set for that. I didn't want a "powerful human story" to be the theme -- just wanted the lightest touch of that. Again, just a roller coaster ride down memory lane for head bangers, not an introspective art piece for thinkers.

 

[Isoterica]

Liked it there, like it here too, just sayingggggg....

 

[entropic remnants]

Liked it there, like it here too, just sayingggggg....

Ha ha, thanks! Nobody has jumped on it over here... yet, lol.

 

[Isoterica]

I know, so I decided to 'baptize' the thread

 

[pniev]

Hi John,

I've seen your photos and the video is a great idea. You must have had had some fun in harmonising the photos and the music. ;-)
And probably you intended it to be upbeat instead of melancholic, which I understand. So I like it (although I don't particularly like the music. I wonder how this would go with Linkin Park)
The funny thing is that I recognised some people from the photos, despite the fact that the photos switch so quickly. Our non-conscious brain at work!

Great work (and it must have been laborious!)

Peter

 

[entropic remnants]

Hi John,

I've seen your photos and the video is a great idea. You must have had had some fun in harmonising the photos and the music. ;-)
And probably you intended it to be upbeat instead of melancholic, which I understand. So I like it (although I don't particularly like the music. I wonder how this would go with Linkin Park)
The funny thing is that I recognised some people from the photos, despite the fact that the photos switch so quickly. Our non-conscious brain at work!

Great work (and it must have been laborious!)

Peter

Thanks, Peter! The Benjamin Gate is an acquired taste in my experience. I got the first album from one of my daughters and they grew on me, but I decided to inflict them on the world at large, lol. There's a lot of great stuff hidden in their lyrics and the lyrics had a couple of things that hooked into the video so I couldn't resist.

And yes, it's supposed to be entertainment and not art -- but that's my way of doing a tribute in this case. I went to a meeting about COBRA benefits (if you're not familiar, a way to continue your medical benefits after layoff) and even a guy I'd never met came up to me to tell me how much he liked it and watched it several times already.

So, although I understand some of the criticism form others based on expectations, and Isoterica's excellent technical criticisms over on Serious Compacts (she really nailed it on a bunch of things), it is having the desired effect for my target audience so I'm grateful for that.