Hello Gang!
Whew – it’s been a challenging week! I’ve been unable to accomplish any single task, and have spent the week jumping like a frog jumping from lily pad to lily pad. Only I’m not a frog, and instead of lily pads, I was moving from problem to problem. It’s been a week of learning and lessons in patience. Technology was not my friend, and the result, I’m a bit behind on my #bellydancemakeupchallenge.
We Pause this Challenge for Technical Difficulties
My iPhone updated and my camera developed some unusual problems. This most recent video was shot last week Friday, but there were obvious problems with the camera. It fell into slow motion, at random throughout the clips I made! So I shot a “makeup” makeup video the following day, and the video clips all had the same problem, patches of random slow motion. I turned my phone off and on, I updated all my software and then shot the third video. And… unfortunately, it failed again! It was quite a frustrating three days!
Saving the Video Footage
I downloaded all the video clips to my computer and began to experiment with the problematic footage. After many hours of experimentation, I wound up cutting the video clips into tiny bits, and then I adjusted the speed of each one until it ALMOST sounds normal. I have learned so much about iMovie, and I couldn’t have gotten this video made without the help of the O’Reilly book, “iMovie: The Missing Manual.” Not every feature of iMovie is intuitive, so I have been very happy with this book. I bought my copy over on Amazon. This video has about 12 hours invested in it! So much time that I decided to ditch and reshoot the two other compromised videos.
Day 8 – Extreme Eyeliner (hooded eyes)
Broken iPhone? Tech support to the rescue!
So I talked to a tech support dude about the problems I was having with my phone. He talked me through a process that involved backing up, resetting, and reloading it. I’ve done a few test clips to test how well the camera is doing. Not only is the video fully functional again, my camera is now shooting much cleaner, crisper photos!
Resuming the Makeup Challenge
Because I spent SO much time on trying to make this video work, I’m behind in my “real” work, so I’m in catch up mode, and I will resume the #bellydancemakeupchallenge on Saturday! In the meantime, I’m working on lovely pink and purple belly dance costume. This is the preliminary sketch, with some notes about construction. I plan on sharing more photos as I make progress on this costume.
This particular costume will ultimately be composed of a bra and belt set, a chiffon skirt, and arm accessories. For me, the most interesting part of the costume is the skirt. This is a zero waste skirt style that I’m making with a lovely floral border print. Watch for more details about this costume!
While it’s a bit discouraging to have my challenge interrupted by technical difficulties, we’ll resume soon!
Dance Well, Be Well, Sew Well!
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
June 14, 2017