Monday, January 23, 2017

Doing Justice to An Extraordinary Story - Living in Italy

I have spent the last few days working on a show dealing with the delicate details of each aspect to make certain that it is as perfect as I am capable. As you know I am the first to admit that I am one of the least "perfect" people in the world, and furthermore find myself incapable of perfection. Even the thing that I most pride myself on - being a great teacher - I am incapable of teaching the "perfect" lesson (if such a thing exists). Yet this weekend I tried so hard to get it all right. Here's the story.

Ric Hirst, my friend, role model, and fellow Italophile, agreed to a project that I wanted to do for some time; that is to tell the story of his and his wife Sharon's amazing experience of buying a house in Italy and living there for five months of every year. Now that I am doing shows at home, it seemed easier than ever, requiring him to simply sit in one of our really comfortable living room chairs and answer a few questions, letting that lead to wherever it went. We did that last week. His part, three
10 - 15 minute segments, form the basis of the biographical sketch, that, I believe, is a wonderful recounting of an incredible story. I then did the introduction and conclusion on my own, and putting it all together, I formed a 40 minute show that, I think, is one of my best.

The problem has been to put photos in place which appropriately convey the message Ric is trying to impart on the audience. It is not as if we conceived the idea and then took the photos. On the contrary we did the videotaping and then tried to find the images available to us, and subsequently the really hard part was putting them in a place that made sense. I spent four hours yesterday trying to do this, becoming so frustrated at times with just about everything. I re-taped the intro and outro several times continually running downstairs to the living room. My level of intensity is clearly documented on the camera's memory card in which there are 18 different segments, subtracting the three that Ric did, I worked through 15 different versions of my solo performances!

I think I am finished. What the viewer will see and hear is a passion for Italy and life that may motivate some people to actually purchase property in Italy. What is remarkable is that Ric's descriptions of the overall experience so eloquently expressed, almost poetically at times, beautifully captures a devotion to a project that occupied Sharon and Ric for a over a decade. Some of his stories about his neighbors and friends parallel my own experiences with our friends to a slightly lesser degree. Each reference to someone in his town of Roccalvecce reminded me of our own friends. The town of Roccalveeece comes to life with the excitement and love he generates is his discourse. What made my work so complicated and difficult was that I felt compelled to portray the story as close to the actual experience as possible. Throughout my experience of putting this together, I kept seeing Sharon's and Ric's faces and felt their passion. If nothing else, that provided my motivation. One of the advantages I did have was the fact that Laura and I had spent some time with them at their home in Roccalvecce, and travelled around that region of Italy. We saw up close the pure excitement they experienced.

Here is the link to the show. I hope you enjoy it.

https://youtu.be/ur8nEuApLf0

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

New Territory - Feedback Requested

I know people don't like to write to me when I request feedback, but really this one time I would like to here what people think. The show that will soon to posted to Youtube was a difficult one to put together. I did many new things like focusing extra long on maps, showing photos without commentary attached, and moving fast from place to place. I would like to first explain why I did what I just described to you.

I want people to travel around Tuscany; that is the theme of the show. I seek to show people how to do that by train, bus, and car. Designating five major areas and then narrowing that down to a few places within those groups took a lot of planning and time. I know as well as anyone how difficult it is to focus on places with which a person is unfamiliar, and because of that I created detailed maps to facilitate that process. Therefore, there are times when I am narrating, that a map is on the screen for a long time, much longer than I ever did before. I don't want people to get bored, but I find that a necessary evil if people are serious about traveling around Tuscany.

Second, I talk about an area of Tuscany generally during the map/landscape phase, but when I actually show photos of the further landscape and towns, there are periods of no sound. I thought about that for a while that rather than just some trivial banal narration, I would let the images speak for themselves. Remember that all these areas have been spoken about extensively over the course of the five years of Alan's Italy.

Third, I move quickly. I am talking about quite a few towns and since I had covered most of those (if not all) in older shows, I did not dwell on places. If a viewer wishes more detail, then I suggest going back through older shows, finding the appropriate number, and spending more time with my narration.

So, there it is, and I would like to know how people, especially some of my viewers (and readers) who have come all this way with me feel about how this all looked. As I said, it was difficult to cover so much. The reason for the show to begin with had to do with the previous show, 134 on the Tour of Florence where I did not do justice to Tuscany, but simply placed it in that group of five things a first time (or second or third) tourist could do after the initial two days which I considered "mandatory."

The show will be up soon. Please have a look and send me a line either on Facebook or at Alansitaly@gmail.com. Thanks for your patience.

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Die Hard Fans

For a brief period yesterday show # 134 was posted on Youtube. In the short time it had 6 views. I watched it on Youtube and realized that between the showing of 2 images, I could be seen at my computer, my current method of videotaping segments. Then I saw this again for another pair of frames. I removed the video from Youtube and tried to change the IMovie Project by fitting the frames better. I absolutely could not and then realized there was a flaw in one of the maps I was using. I switched maps, and the problem solved, I went through the 2 1/2 hour process of downloading this new version to my computer and then uploading to Youtube. Anyone who saw the original and then the replacement may have noticed. Indeed one of my fans, who watches as soon as the videos are uploaded, saw the error, but liked the presentation anyway. I then removed it and he said he would watch the new version; he indicated that he found the flaw. I then told him that there was still one uncorrected error and challenged him to find it. It was not necessary to watch the original to find the flaw in the current version. Anyone who finds it, gets a free trip to Florence with me escorting them on a four day tour. Only kidding!!! I should be sent to Florence for spending so much time on one show, one of the longest periods of all my shows proving once again that when I do not work, I can sit in my den creating more shows with greater regularity.

Anyway 134 is now complete, even if ten flaws are found. The problem, incidentally, was that this was just a very complicated show to create and over an hour for the first time in a long time. In fact, the diehard fans could go back through all my videos and try to find the longest show. No prize, however, other than the intrinsic joy of it!

Monday, January 9, 2017

"The Tour of Florence" Drudgery Completed

After several days, about three dozen takes on perhaps a dozen videos, intense editing, and enough second guessing to last a lifetime, I finally downloaded the finished product of show 134 from IMovie to my desktop awaiting the "appropriate time" to upload to Youtube. It is the best I could do, although I am not and probably never will be totally satisfied with the finished product. It just kept going on and on and on. It's hard to take someone on a few days tour of a place to which I have traveled for 25 years. A friend suggested breaking it down into two parts, which I considered, but then decided that the whole thing needed to be one continuous video presentation. My organizational skills composing the show were working very well, thank Goodness, and yet no matter how many edits and switching around I did, I just was never truly satisfied. But what I now have, all one hour and change of it will be uploaded to Youtube soon.

The show breaks down the "perfect" tour into three parts. The first day introduction to Florence with high up views from the Piazzale Michelangelo and the rooftop lounge/bar of the Hotel Croce di Malta, and then low down views of the two most famous piazzas, della Signoria and Duomo topped off with dinner at my favorite restaurant, La Spada. Day 2 takes the viewer to the two most famous museums in Florence that are must sees even if a person hates museums, the Ufiizi and Accademia with lunch wedge in between, at Trattoria Alfredo and dessert at Vivoli, the world famous Gelateria. Then for the rest of the tour I give the viewer several choices drawn from shopping, strolling, museums, churches, and Tuscany side trips. By the time I reached the third part I had already consumed about 40 minutes of air time, so in the remaining 20, I managed to cover a lot of ground.

The finished product is, I think, an excellent summary of how to spend a first trip to Florence, rigid in some ways and very flexible in others. I hope it serves to help people plan a first sojourn to one of the world's great cities. It is honed from extensive experience and knowledge of my beloved second home. Again I indicate to anyone who needs help to email me with questions at Alansitaly@gmail.com for free advice.

Coming soon!

Monday, January 2, 2017

Show # 133 is up and running

Please enjoy Alan's Italy Show # 133: The Peggy Guggenheim Museum with Sevan Melikyan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsD3KzQ_TVU

Sunday, January 1, 2017

The Waiting is the Hardest Part

I like Tom Petty, so the title of one of his best songs is the title for this blog. The show is finished. That's the good news. I sent it to Sevan for his approval; that will hopefully not be the bad news. I probably worked harder on this show than any other over the past five years. I estimated that perhaps ten hours were spent on all the various aspects of the show, from the original discussion with Sevan, the day we shot the videos at my house, the placement of the photos at his house, the editing of the photos, the editing of the IMovie presentation, the addition of the "flourishes," reworking the intro and outdo, some temper tantrums on my part, etc. The finished product is, I believe, very good. For anyone interested in knowing more about the life, times, and fabulous collection of Peggy Guggenheim, it is an hour of viewing well spent.

I now move on to my next project which will either be the beginning of the "Perfect Tour of ______" with my version of the best way to see several places in Italy including Florence, Venice, Rome, Milan, the Amalfi Coast, etc. or Alan's Discovery of Botticelli following in the footsteps of the shows I created on Michelangelo, Ghirlandaio, and Raphael. It will focus on the progression of the viewing of almost one hundred works of Botticelli by me over the past 25 years of my Italian experience ending in upstate NY where I recently saw a piece by the great late 15th century master. I will probably do Botticelli first since all the others are so closely related.

In the meantime look at my Youtube Channel for updates, and perhaps # 133 will appear soon.