Tatanka The Story of the Bison

by **internut** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 9:55 am

The topic of this show is the monument commissioned by Kevin Costner shortly after the filming of "Dances With Wolves" in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The site is a popular attraction for visitors and locals. Running length is approximatrly 6 minutes. After recieving feedback on the original posting I have revisted the content of the show and this is a revision. I would appreciate any suggestions you might have for further improvements.

Revised December 17, http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewsho ... 0849&alb=0

This revision I added additional voice overs to help explain the context of the show. I hope you enjoy it.

by **BarbaraC** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 10:22 am

You had everything you needed to create a story, but for one thing: the actual story. Those sculptures depict the hunt, but the method of hunting--however distasteful some might find it--needed illumination. An Indian dwelling was likely to be covered in buffalo hide, and there were the poles, ready to be covered, but it wasn't mentioned. The Indian depended on the buffalo for food and warmth. Tell us the story!

Your pictures made me want to go see both South Dakota and the sculptures.

Barbara

by **internut** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 7:14 pm

Thank you, Barbara,

I appreciate your comments. I thought about including more background information within the show but I thought it might be distracting. The importance of the buffalo to the Native Americans of the plains is a very interesting topic. I tried to portray the escence of the monument and perhaps to peak the viewers interest inspiring them to do more investigation on the subject.

by **saintkelley** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 9:49 am

Good photos, but a bit disjointed in the way the show goes from sculpture to tepee and back with no overt explanation. Telling a more coherent story would fix this. And this would be a very good and important story to tell.

The copy at the beginning was bunched up and not terribly easy to read...it would be better have more space between the lines or even do a voiceover and read the words.

It looks like an awesome scupture to visit...I wonder how the local Native Americans view the sculpture?

I really enjoyed the music!

Kelley

by **internut** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 1:11 pm

I appreciate your response. I plan to try and correct the items you mentioned. The staff at Tatanka is made up primarily of Native Americans. The mock village they have erected is to portray what a typical village may have consisted of. The subject in one of the slides is an actual Lakota Chief, one of the last remaining. They give hourly talks and answer questions from the guests. As you tour the grounds, they have speakers concealed in the tall grass, music much the same that I have used, is playing.

by **alcain** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 1:39 pm

The copy at the beginning was bunched up and not terribly easy to read...it would be better have more space between the lines or even do a voiceover and read the words.

My thoughts exactly.

There is some wondeful photography. I liked the music. I don't know what your voice sounds like, but I think a methodical, instructional and interesting voice over would make this show ready for National Geographic. Please consider giving it a try. It would give you experience in this type of show, and we all would benefit from it. (Barbara C and I have the right recording equiptment - feel free to come by and use it!)

Blessings, ~al

by **BarbaraC** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 3:14 pm

alcain wrote:(Barbara C and I have the right recording equiptment - feel free to come by and use it!)

The heck with that. I'll bring it out there to South Dakota. I'm due for a change of scenery.

Barbara

by **internut** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 8:20 pm

A nice long weekend ahead so I am going to experiment with the voice over. I was planning on using the utility included in the PSG program. If I don't get the quality I am looking for I will look for a suitable program. If anyone has experience with doing voice overs I would appreciate any help. I appreciate the encouragement.

by **alcain** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 1:05 am

Audacity is a freeware sound program and is awesome in it's features and quality. ~al

by **BarbaraC** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 7:40 am

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

A lot of people here in the forum use Audacity, so you'll have access to any help you require with it. Don't use Producer as a sound editor because it isn't built for that kind of job.

Barbara

by **internut** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 3:18 pm

I have revised the show implementig many of the suggestion that I had recieved including a voice over for the introduction. I very much appreciate the comments and suggestions that you were so kind to offer. i hope you are interested enough to revist the show and extend your thoughts on the revision.

Happy Thanksgiving.

http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewsho ... 1205&alb=0

by **BarbaraC** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 4:00 pm

Much better. Now all you need to do is add a few more descriptive captions. For instance, the sculptures show the danger of the hunt, one of the horses being rammed into by a buffalo. I don't doubt that Indians periodically died in the act of trying to provide for their families and tribes. Also, a few words about the Indian dwellings would add to it. That's all I think you need: just a bit more explanation, and you'll have it.

A question: Somewhere in the dimmer areas of my mind is the notion that the Indians didn't have horses before the Spanish arrived here. If this is so, I wonder how they chased the buffalo into those pits. On foot? That would have been even more dangerous.

Another thing, and this is for anyone who's been near a buffalo herd. Not far from where I live, there's a buffalo farm. I've been there, and I'm here to tell you that the farm stank beyond all belief. Are buffalo just plain stinky animals, or was it the fact that the ones on the farm were penned in too closely?

Barbara

by **Hemo2** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 4:31 pm

internut, I enjoyed your show. It has a nice pace and it's easy to hear the sounds from the past while watching it.

Barbara, if you hurry and come to South Dakota before Dec. 26, you can catch all the Christmas trees setup here in Pierre at the Capitol. They're beautiful (again) this year. I've taken several photos and will be sending a DVD show with my Christmas card to relatives that couldn't make it.

Keith

by **BarbaraC** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 4:45 pm

Keith, send us a show too.

I've always wanted to move to the upper Mid-West. I can't say exactly why other than that I'm tired of growing moldy in the damp of the East Coast. Also, my son, who traveled all over the area, told me the people are different there--friendlier, more real, than here in NYS.

Barbara

by **Hemo2** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 7:14 pm

Barbara, I haven't made a lot of shows, but I've never posted any. I only have access to a few copyright free songs to use in shows, so all mine generally have copyrighted songs in them. A lot of the copyright free material I've sampled I don't care for, or am not willing to spend the money just for personal use like I do. I used a great song in this christmas tree show, but it's copyrighted and the Photodex terms of service states that you must have the legal right to upload content and that it doesn't infringe on any copyrights. Thus, I take that to mean I can't upload any show with copyrighted music in it. It's a bummer because even though the images are a great portion of the show, the music really makes it what it is. And the best music is of course copyrighted. I just make shows for my own personal use or for family, so I don't mind including it in these shows. But uploading on the internet seems a bigger step than I'm comfortable doing.

That's nice what your son said about people out this way. (Did he tell you there's miles and miles of "nothing" out here too?) A few years back, my parents went on a vacation and went to New York City. They're not spring chickens anymore so I wondered how the driving would be. My dad said he was pleasantly surprised when he went to switch lanes driving. He said even though it was packed there always seemed to be someone nice enough to let him in, so there's good folks everywhere I think.

You're moldy and damp east coast might seem like a paradise if you experienced one of our 'real' South Dakota winters. It's been quite mild here during the winters these past years, but some years we've had a stretch of temperatures where the high temp doesn't break 0. If you've ever gone to work when it's -20 with a -50 wind chill, you begin to wonder "Why do I live here?!". But I don't care for the crowds and big cities, so I'll put up with it.

Keith

Tatanka The Story of the Bison

Tatanka The Story of the Bison

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