Alternative intro video with localised footage
When deciding to concentrate on smaller projects for This Video Works I wondered whether to position the business as less London focussed. The intro shots on the video that explains what we do starts with the Millennium Bridge, move to Regent Street and into Chelsea, so when I came across some unexpected footage of crowds I’d filmed from my bicycle this June on a bridge in Stratford upon Avon, I made an alternative version.
The bridge is pedestrianised and was also crowded so I pushed the bike across unaware it was still filming and the results were quite interesting.
The footage wobbled, swung about and showed a chimney in the background at a very strange angle. I corrected all that (it still sometimes flickers on load in Safari on a Mac in the UK but not in the US where hosted, which I haven’t quite figured out yet) and put together an alternative intro, purely for fun.
I’m guessing it is down to nobbly tyres on the bike and not really having the camera I would have normally use to film crowds as it is more designed for under water and wildlife use but still I was a little frustrated at not being able to completely remove the wobble (yet – the wobble only shows on Apple Safari browsers for a couple of seconds, and only in the UK, it’s fine in the US and yes, so far I’m stumped as to why!) and all the software I use to smooth footage only accentuated the issue!
But it gave me the idea to add another alternative Stratford footage, based on library footage from Westfield Stratford, which shows the value of being able to use stock footage where appropriate, particularly in retail.
