Question here from a layman who is not a photographer or videographer...
I've noticed that quite often when people are sharing videos of railways online which they've filmed themselves, these videos often consist of a long time at the start where nothing at all is happening.
For example, I've seen a fair few where a steam railtour is being filmed. You sometimes get 50 - 70 seconds of just still scenary (no other trains, nothing occurring, just trees or whatever), before the train comes into sight round a curve, thunders past and is gone in 20 seconds.
Now, to deal with the obvious: they can't help the fact that a train, railtour, loco or whatever will pass in just a few seconds, and of course they'll stop filming after it's passed. But I just can't understand why so many have this disproportionately long build up where nothing happens. It's a few seconds' work to crop a video taken on your phone.
Can anyone explain to me why this is... is it supposed to create tension, or is it a fashion/trend with railway videos?
I've noticed that quite often when people are sharing videos of railways online which they've filmed themselves, these videos often consist of a long time at the start where nothing at all is happening.
For example, I've seen a fair few where a steam railtour is being filmed. You sometimes get 50 - 70 seconds of just still scenary (no other trains, nothing occurring, just trees or whatever), before the train comes into sight round a curve, thunders past and is gone in 20 seconds.
Now, to deal with the obvious: they can't help the fact that a train, railtour, loco or whatever will pass in just a few seconds, and of course they'll stop filming after it's passed. But I just can't understand why so many have this disproportionately long build up where nothing happens. It's a few seconds' work to crop a video taken on your phone.
Can anyone explain to me why this is... is it supposed to create tension, or is it a fashion/trend with railway videos?
) to these videos which you are asking about? In some cases at least, it is because the train can be heard long before it can be seen, and those with good audio skills often like to capture the ambient sound (birdsong etc) for a few seconds even before the train begins to be heard.
