thanks James... glad you like it... for the first of the two Irish stories I used the defaults all the way. In this one I did them all, so maybe I'm being subtle... just trying to slow the movements down to align more with the music.

The video was shot on a mini-DV camcorder and the DVD is in full color. I told PS3 to apply the sepia tone effect to all the pix, then pulled the one picture of the 4 leaf clover back to normal... for at least a little touch of green.

Not fair, John, playing that girl's lovely version of Danny Boy--with that music, I'd weep and applaud a video of grass growing--but why in the name of sweet Jesus on a raft did you end the piece almost in the middle of one of her words!?!?! (I had no doubt you were doing the zooming with that long and languorous descent to the sea that ends the piece--whose effect I say again you undercut by not letting that darlin' girl finish her song!)

I'll revise it to let her finish... yes, she did finish... I cut her short by over-pruning the body of the story.

Sorry for being a grouch, John (I just got back from two hours at the bloody dentist)--I don't do smiley-faces but consider one done. I know you don't like to think of yourself as an artist, but I think I see you poking your nose out of the closet.

hmmm... letting her finish the song means another 2-1/2 minutes added to the story... maybe just finish the sentence, the stanza?? Nope, I'll let it go to the end, but it'll take a little more thought than just extending the duration of the last picture.

you couldn't be a grouch if you tried...

How about filling the 2-1/2 minutes with a selected still overlaid with slow scrolling credits? It would be nice to see the song out.

We're thinking alike.... scrolling text of some sort, maybe not credits.

I especially liked the continuous zoom-in because it made me feel as if I were walking down the winding pathway to the sea.

Hi John... when you're ready for another walk, the rest of the song is there.

That's it - a true sensual delight. There are so many elements to this that it's difficult to know where to start. I thought that viewing in full screen, with the loss of definition, would detract from the visual experience but the result is in fact an 'impressionistic' effect that, for me, works very well. As John pointed out, the slow passage down the path to the sea creates the illusion of descending to a long awaited destination and the frame at the end of the descent makes it all worthwhile. The inclusion of the scrolling text at the end could have detracted from the experience but in fact it rounds it all off nicely. with a stack of relevant and appropriate information. And, of course, we get to the end of the song sparing poor Ray any further anguish.
Seems to me that PapaJohn has revealed a previously hidden talent for the artistic - as Ray hinted at earlier. I love this piece and had hoped to grab the wmv for storage in my 'Vault of Hidden Treasures' for private viewing but, unfortunately, it's not available for download.

Right on, John! I, too, thought a longer scroll might be the solution, but I didn’t want to get in the way of your finding an alternative. I think what you say about the listener/viewer’s choice to play it again is just right. (You may recall that I tried the same thing in a clip—and strange but true, as they say, with Danny Boy—about which it was said that listening to the lyrics and reading the poem created conflict. My thought then was as yours is now: then play it a second and third time until you get it.) Your choice of the Wikipedia text couldn’t be better. (Another aside: my clip was about my son Danny and so I was surprised and happy to learn from your scroll that the relationship of a father to his son Danny conceivably was the source of the song. Wow!) One teensy-weensy artistic touch to your video would make me content: can you, the way I think Brian F. did at about .08 on vimeo.com/2045561 Photoshop the shamrock so everything surrounding the green becomes sepia? I think the shamrock would jump out even more while the entire image would blend with the rest—as it is, I find the full-color image a bit jarring. I will fully understand, though, your inclination to stay in the closet. As long as Bernadette is willing to serve you three squares a day there, you’re in good shape.