Video

CLARIN 2023 Conference Impressions video

Filmed in Leuven, Belgium, 2023.
Full production done solo.
Produced in 2023


The UPSKILLS (end of) Project promo videos

Video 1: Editing, clip selection, audio engineering.
Videos 2 & 3: Editing done by me. Recorded by the participants.
Produced in 2023


Presentation clip for the Department of Translation

Concept, script, audio recording and engineering done by me.
Animation and production by Ivan Umer @fun.avi.
Voiceover by prof. Damjan Popič.
Produced in 2020


DigiLing Promotional Videos

Concept, script, clip selection, video editing, post-production, voiceover, audio recording and engineering done by me.
Additional motion graphics by Ivan Umer @fun.avi.
Produced in 2022


Tempo – The Language of Time

Produced in 2018

About the creation process:

Concept

This video was made as part of an assignment during my BA university studies at the Department of Translation. The initial guidelines were to make a TED talk on a topic of our choosing but due to me not being a huge fan of the format and my inherent reluctance to comply, it morphed into a video.
I was graced by the supportive nature of prof. Popič and prof. Gorjanc who allowed me to do my own thing.
The creation process took place over several warm nights in May and June 2018.
At the time I was fascinated by the idea how human time perception changes with aging. As a 10-year-old a year represents 10 % of our life. When we turn 50, a year represents just 2 %. At the time of writing this text I’ve came across this website that offers a very neat visual explanation of the concept.

Track

The video production began with the audio. I wanted to reincorporate this concept into a song, so I created a click track that started at 100 bpm and finished at 300. I switched the click with clock ticks and started writing the synth lead ideas. I settled on using three VSTs – SQL8, U-NO-62 TAL & Synth1 by Daichi.
At this point I think it’s important for me to state that I’m a drummer, not a musician, so the music was composed by ear, and I apologize if anything sounds “wrong” by traditional music standards. If it does, I’d kindly ask you to interpret is as a conscious decision not to conform to traditional music standards.
I programmed the drum beats in conjunction with the synths and added some embellishments. Due to time constraints, I did not do any mixing or mastering on the tracks except for adjusting some levels on synth-heavy parts.

Video material

I first developed a general idea of what I was going to make – a video essay about time. I therefore started looking for royalty-free stock footage that was of acceptable quality and somewhat related to the topic. After collecting several clips, I then moved to sorting those into individual sub-topics.

Script

Given that I was limited by the video material the script was constructed by adhering to the aforementioned sub-topic blocks. It is structured in 4 parts.
Awakening from the dream of life (a tribute to the eponymous song by Schammasch) outlines how we aimlessly roam between nostalgic memories and naïve future expectations, oblivious to the ever-fleeting present moment, which we can experience only when awakened from daydreaming.
Invisible to blind eyes focuses on our anthropocentric outlook on all being, forgetting we are part of the same life organism that is ever-present in nature. We are more akin to machine than something truly alive.
Enslaved by time covers the idea that we invented timekeeping machines to which we fully conformed. As a night owl, it was very tiring for me to adapt to the world morning people created while we were sleeping. Jokes aside, I still believe that the societal framework of e.g., 9–5, absolutely does not work for many people. This passage evolves to outline how our worries, our perpetual lack of time and our hypocritical wasting of this precious resource are just concerns of an irrelevant life anomaly that hopelessly strives to find meaning.
Aeons wraps up the video by stating how every second of our being is a fleeting moment in time, passing faster every year. Memories will fade while the future will stay unpredictable – only the flame of the present moment can burn until it’s extinguished by the winds of time.

Voiceover

The VO recording process was … very DIY. I created an impromptu vocal booth made by stacking pillows into a cube. I placed the text inside this booth, with my phone’s microphone facing me while I was speaking, trying not to wake my flat mates at some ungodly late hour.

Production

I started by roughly lining up the VO to the music. I proceeded to the video assembly, choosing appropriate clips to match what was going on in the script. This puzzle took a while to get somewhat right. When things were lined up, I started polishing the transitions and finely editing the actual clips. The last part was adjusting the VO levels and creating the graphics.

Future

To be honest I did not watch the video since showing it in class, but I overall feel it was a nice conclusion to my BA studies. In the future I might re-record the VO with minor edits and give the backing track a rework, with added stereo width, processing, and a proper mix.

Well, that was long. If you’ve come this far – thanks for coming to my TED talk.