The Threadbare Bugs go to the Movies!

For the last couple of months our computer has had a bit of a melt down. Weird things kept happening to the screen and it would randomly shut itself off. Gary finally got to the bottom of the problem and discovered the graphics card had gone kaput. He found a way to keep it all working but compromises had to be made in terms of the quality on screen and some programmes were no longer usable. (Hang in there, this story is going somewhere)

So thanks to my lovely techie geek I could still write and post my blog without having to leave the house to borrow someone else’s computer. I did have florescent green stripes across my screen and all the fancy fancy programmes were gone so it was back to basics for us.

When I finished the Threadbare Bug section of the blog I wanted to show you this little short I had made but Gary told me that, unfortunately the graphics card was a must for using the movie maker programme I had used to put it together. I was very disappointed but moved on to the next phase of the blog anyway.

Gary got a graphics card as a Christmas present (lucky boy!) and finally installed its shiny goodness and we are back in the game. There are no more green pinstripes and most importantly, the computer is back to its all-action self.

By now I think you will be familiar with the bugs and, indeed, the photographs of them that I have used in this little three minute movie I made. But I thought it might be interesting to see them from a different perspective.

A few years ago, a friend of mine was thinking of going back to college to study film. She asked me if I could give her some advice about putting a portfolio together since I had successfully been through the process myself. I readily agreed and we worked and talked together over a couple of weeks.

She showed me an editing programme she was using to cut the film together that she was using to apply to the course. It was a whole new world to me in terms of transitions and effects, sound and visuals. I discovered we had a similar programme on our own computer. Gary went to work one morning and I think I sat at the computer all day playing with this new toy. By the time he got home I had made my Threadbare Bug movie and I was thrilled with myself.

I think I used every wipe, pan and fade-in that was available just through the sheer wonder of experimentation. I don’t think I’ll become a famous director anytime soon but I still love it because I had such a good time making it.

Gary studied animation in college and he contributed a couple of tiny creations of his own to bring it all together. The music is by the composer Claude Debussy and it is called Suite Begamasque Prelude. I think the twinkling notes sound like tiny insect feet scampering across the screen. I was also able to incorporate text into the film, so I used small excerpts from the pieces I wrote for the bugs to add that other dimension to the work.

So if you have a few minutes (3.12 minutes to be exact) maybe you would like to have a look at my Threadbare Bug movie. I don’t think it is long enough to bother with popcorn but maybe a cup of tea would be nice.