What are some great creative video clips that assemble a variety of resources in elegant ways?

May 9, 2012 9:03 AM

We are making a short video for a fundraising campaign for our online service. We want to include some existing videos about our website made by the TV, as well as some pictures. I'm looking for ideas about how to beautifully arrange and connect them. What are some great creative video clips where creators assembled a variety of resources in elegant ways?
posted by vladimirfrolov to Media & Arts (2 answers total)

Best answer: It's usually a big challenge to "sew together" different elements that are from different sources, mediums and styles into a coherent whole. I would look at ad agency and motion graphic reels as well as documentaries to see how they handle the combinations of elements into one piece.

You need to have a structure to build the piece off of, even if the structure is simply open, middle bit, and close. Here is an example of a reel held together with two elements that bring all the bits together.

One part is the song that ties the diverse parts together- continuous audio "smooths out" what would be jarring transitions between elements. The second part is the use of the calligraphy shot to create a structure for the piece.
posted by jade east at 12:39 PM on May 9, 2012

Best answer: Using a common music bed is a great idea. It gets harder if you want to feature the audio from each clip (more so if the individual clips have music). I think your best bet then is to approach it as a sound collage (almost like a Beastie Boys song). The alternative is to split up the clips with some graphic element. I would suggest using an audio element with the graphic so that overall the sound doesn't get too choppy. For what it's worth, here's a link to my demo reel made up of clips from various commercials that I've edited.
posted by DaddyNewt at 2:38 PM on May 9, 2012