I have been experimenting with the idea of superimposing a diagram showing the progress of a pair of bells along their lines, on top of the animation from Handbell Stadium. Here is what I have come up with, showing the tenors for Kent Minor. There is also a commentary on the work of the bells.
The process of making the video is a little more complicated than I would like.
- Record Handbell Stadium ringing the method, using the Open Broadcast Studio (OBS) software to capture the video and audio from the computer.
- The method diagram animation is produced by a separate program, which uses eBells to drive the progress of the coloured blobs along the lines. I play back the recording from Handbell Stadium and ring along with it, using OBS again to record the diagram animation.
- Using iMovie, I combine the two video recordings, positioning the diagram animation within the handbell circle. I tried for a while to make the diagram transparent, but I haven't worked that out yet. Some editing is required to synchronise the beginning of the Handbell Stadium ringing and the diagram animation.
- Again using iMovie, I record the voiceover.
I tried generating the animation automatically, without using the eBells for timing, but although I set the same peal speed as in Handbell Stadium, by the end of the video there was a significant difference between the motion of the bells and the animation of the lines. It seemed simpler to use the eBells than to try to get to the bottom of that problem.
The next step is to make similar videos for the other pairs in Kent Minor, and then maybe do some other methods.