Two videos I made on YouTube

[soylentgreen]

Hey, I had finally been screwing around with one of those slideshow apps to make some shows of my father-in-laws nature photos and piano music....real Miramar/Windham Hill material.  It's been a real gas.

But I wanted to poke around with other areas that interest me so I concocted two vids to see what I could come up with.  My machine's pretty old(4 years..an eternity in the computer realm) so it doesn't handle advanced video clip work and barely handles ProShowGold's slide environment without overloading itself.

I just thought I'd see what people might think of 'em.  Any criticism is fine as, let's face it, if I were too thin-skinned about it, I most certainly wouldn't have posted 'em on the internet for all to see.  Honestly I'm more interested in getting the subject matter some exposure.  Well, anyway...

This first one's a short music video about the Essex Mountain Sanatorium that was unfortunately torn down some years ago.  Closed down in '82 and slowly torn down with it's final razing around 2002, I had quite a few visits to the abandoned asylum over my late teens and twenties and it never failed to leave an impression on me.  Of course, this was over a decade before urban archaeology and the appreciation of decaying hospitals really took off.  For a good cry, check out SESSION 9 and then read what's become of that beautiful Danvers State Hospital! 

The music is Wojciech Kilar's lush and haunting theme from THE NINTH GATE.  As I mention on the youtube page, check out http://www.mountainsanatorium.net/ for the first and last word on this page in American medical history.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC20wcLKGxg

sometimes my browser doesn't want to deal with remote youtubery so here is the hyperlink for the vids page: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC20wcLKGxg
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This second one I whipped up quick and dirty with pics I could find around the net.  It's a bogus commercial spot I created for the Holocaust Museum in Washington.  I used the noted 'poem' from Pastor Niemoller(that's his recurring visage in the video) as I believe it's point is just as timely now as it was then. 

The music is from a source almost 180 degrees away from the subject matter.  That being said, once I heard the cue, I couldn't shake it's insistent strength.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5p_K5h6KhY

Again, the link for this vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5p_K5h6KhY
Anyway, any feedback is always welcome.  As I'm new to this kind of stuff I can only learn more and assimilate criticisms.

And if you care to this is my youtube page(hub, channel, whatever the hell you call it!) http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=detectivethorne where you can see all the crazy s**t I dig on youtube. 



[note]Andrew or Mods...if this is in the wrong area, please feel free to move it to the appropriate spot.

[BTM]

Cool videos!  I went by added comments to both.  I really liked the second one, very powerful stuff.  I gotta admit, the "opera" stuff in the first got on my nerves though.. Still, it lead me to check out the site and learn a bit more about the Sanatorium.

Hey, was that where they filmed Session 9?

Doh, wait, did some more research, the place I'm thinking of is the Danvers State Hospital, in Massachusetts.  Weird how many similarities both buildings have though, built the same decade, both mental institutions, both recently torn down, etc. 

Weird, huh?

[soylentgreen]

Thanks for the input BTM. 

Even my wife thinks the NINTH GATE cue from Essex Mountain video is too languid.  I admit, I'm usually not that fond of 'vocalise' themes(outside of Morricone's spaghetti western scores!), but the sad sound of hit me as very close to what it felt like to roam around that place.

Essex Mountain was closed up rather hastily so there were all sorts 'relics' floating around.  Some friends of mine considered a score to snag some toe-tags from one of the rooms.  I really didn't feel comfortable with absconding with souvenirs.  At the time it felt a tad like grave robbing.  I used to have the same opinion of salvage on the Titanic.  Now, years later, with the whole site razed to the ground I regret not having something to show people. 

On the Danvers Hospital...what a beauty, no?  Essex was a fairly standard layout, very modern(by the standards of the time) with little need or desire for artifice.  But the Danvers complex was anchored by that gorgeous Kirkbride building.  Imposing from the ground level and haunting from the air.  Kirkbride Buildings.Com is a great place to check out the whole story.  They became quite a common asylum feautre for a time.  It's hard to believe that Dr. Kirkbrides intentions in the layout scheme were not guided by 'looks' but curative effect, yet they ended up being some of most impressive sights in institutional architecture.

[trekgeezer]

Those video are quite powerful and I liked your music choices for both


I found the following site a few years back. I really enjoy looking at old buildings and imagining what it must have been like being there when they were in their prime.

I think you'd enjoy checking out the photo essays.

http://www.oboylephoto.com/ruins/index.htm

[Rev. Powell]

Very good job on both!  I checked your youtube page to see where that Holocaust music was from.  Quite a surprise! 

[soylentgreen]

Thanks so much for the kind words guys.  I'm hoping to improve my skills with our new machine.  Video work and more complex music integration, which on the old computer was a labor(when it was possible at all!), should be much more fun.

trekgeezer- I have O'Boyle's Modern Ruins site already in my urban arch favorites folder, but I always appreciate a recommendation.   Sadly, on looking at some of the other favorite sites on the subject I'd amassed, quite a few have gone 404!