Hausy Puppy - Telling stories with slideshows and collages

I was at the opening night of the Hausy Puppy nightclub in Gothenburg yesterday. Quite an enjoyable evening, and lots of pictures taken. I put together a slideshow from the evening using Aperture. I hope you enjoy it.

Just because I like to experiment, here is a slideshow automatically created from a Picasa web album:

Here is a link to the album.

Aperture gives me a lot more control over the presentation, and I can add audio. With picasa, all I can do is organize the Picasa album so the pictures appear in the order I want.

The order of the images is what this blog post is about. If you got a pile of pictures, and want to turn them into a slideshow, how do you order them? Organize them so that they tell a story!

In both slideshows, I start off by showing very dark pictures: A woman sitting on a floor with a spotlight on her, a woman backlit by a single flash. Then, I have a picture with some people in, to establish that this is a place where people meet. Bar, people dancing, talking.

In both stories, the firedancer appears about mid through, to add a bit of action and spice the slideshows up a bit.

My Josefsson and Nora Santana Parra in the VIP bed at the Hausy Puppy night club.

Two women in bed always sets the fantasy in motion.The mask and lollipop makes it even better. My and Nora's ideas, not mine. I'll certainly remember for use in the future though.

To make the fantasy more convincing, I have darkened the soles of their shoes. I also added some vignetting to darken the edges of the picture.

I bet you did not notice My and Nora have shoes until I mentioned it. I may or may not have done other things to spice the picture up a bit. If I have, I won't tell you.

I also used this picture to foreshadow another picture: The last picture in both slideshows show My and Nora on the bed, and My has taken her mask of. Her wink is priceless. Of course, to see that picture, you need to watch one of the slideshows to the end.

A collage is also a great way to tell stories. In a two picture collage, I can show you a nice backlit picture of a woman, and I use the other picture to show you who the woman is.

When I got to Hausy Puppy and had looked around a bit, I wanted to try backlighting the dance floor to get some nice silhouette pictures. I asked a young woman to pose, and lucky for me, I had asked a professional dancer. I don't know her name, but if I find out, I'll update this blog post.

Bartender Jennifer Norrhamn

A collage can tell more complex stories. This one tells a story about the bartender Jennifer Norrhamn and her friends. 

I use the top left picture to show what Jenny does. It is pretty obvious she tends the bar. The top right picture tells us her work is needed and much appreciated.

The mid row puts Jenny in the center, and shows us she has friends. The third row tells us a little bit about her character.

Slideshows and collages are quick and effective ways of presenting stories. The difficult thing is crafting the story itself. Sometimes you craft the story first, and then, all you need to do is shoot the things you need, and piece it together. 

At an event like a nightclub opening, a wedding, or a convention, it's the other way around. You shoot first, then figure out what the stories you can tell with the material you have. Of course, some events are pretty much scripted beforehand, like weddings, and then you do have a main story to cover. Still, there are always unexpected things that happen, and that might be worth covering.