Composer’s Letter
Dear Reviewer,
The following is a story of my first journey abroad to a foreign country, Cuba. I, along with a couple of friends, spent a week on the island getting to know the lay of the land, interacting with people and animals, and unplugging from the U.S. grid. “A Blip in Cuba” is the sum of the footage I have gathered from our trip. It is a micro view of a micro-trip, or a blip. One-hundred and sixty eight hours spent on an island inaccessible to Americans for the better part of 50 years.
Visually the project moves through the bright public spaces of the capital city, La Havana, and the farmland of El Vedado. However, there are also moments where the camera moves into the semi-private space of a taxi and a warmly lit tobacco leaf drying tent. I struggled to only show portions of video where movement and action were happening. A woman retrieving a bucket of water with a rope, a spontaneous performance by hostesses, a man peeling tobacco leaves, and lots and lots of farm animals, all seemed more interesting than simple environmental videos of the wind blowing. Would you have cared to see more of the latter?
Aurally, music sets the tone for the images and provides the listener with a cultural reference by using Salsa, Rumba, and Chacha music to engage with Cuba’s popular history. If one were to watch the video without prior knowledge of the specific locations where these events occurred, they should at least come away feeling like they saw something in the Caribbean. The bright and lively tones of the trumpet and the soothing rhythm of the congas pair nicely with the visual stimuli. I included a track with vocals on it in another edit, and like the effect it gave, but decided later on to move forward without it because I felt like the music overtook the entire narrative. Do you think this is occurring in this edit as well?
The final video will include a voiceover narrative about our time in Cuba, one that tangentially relates to the video in a non-literal sense. There will also be subtitles to accompany the voiceover, in case someone chooses to watch without listening. I’ve been thinking about working in the natural sounds of the diegetic audio, to give more texture in the ear, but isolating a particular sound in an ocean of noise has proved to be tricky. I may end up using appropriated sounds for the dramatic effect.
- What non-speaking narrative devices do you think I can add to give a more complete experience?
- Are there any visual transitions that need work?
- Does the music overtake the video?