Versailles: Friday, July 20, 2010
Today started with a short subway ride to one of Paris’ train stations to catch the train to Versailles. Versailles is some 80 minutes or so by train to the west and a little south of Paris.
I think Gilbert in is book Living With Art best sums up the opulence of Versailles when he writes, “the Baroque style was characterized by ornamentation, dynamism, theatricality, and overstatement. What could better exemplify this style than the reign of Louis XIV and the Palace of Versailles?”
Seeing the lifestyle that Louis XIV and then Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, there is no wonder why the French Revolution came about with the starving masses in Paris who couldn’t even buy bread. Upon hearing this, Marie Antoinette states her very famous line: “Let them eat cake.” Undoubtedly, she had plenty of cake as well as other foodstuffs to eat while living in one of many palaces at Versailles.
As I mentioned in my previous day’s journal, each historical site has their own rules for what you can and can’t do as far as video at their specific site. There was no problem shooting video at Versailles, as long as you do it without a tripod. This presents a major problem for the videographer in making sure that the talent they are shooting will be seen in the final product with as little handheld camera movement or shakiness as possible. Over the years I have found out that if you zoom your camera’s lens to it’s widest possible, and then place yourself in the proper location in relation to your talent, your audience should see minimal unwanted camera movement. The moment you begin zooming in on your talent, you lose camera stability.
We had another gorgeous azure blue-sky day to shoot outside after we had shot video inside the main palace. The main issue with shooting inside the palace was the mixture of daylight coming into a room that was already lit with incandescent lighting. With the daylight overpowering the artificial room light, it caused some rooms to have a bluer tint on the video and not allowing the room to be shown in it’s natural color. To overcome this, it is best if the videographer has any exterior windows to his or her back.
The enormity of Versailles is just overwhelming for anyone who visits. The entire estate comprises some twenty-five square miles. The gardens are the envy of anyone who enjoys gardening. And locations to shoot video are never ending.
If you ever visit Versailles, you might consider renting one of the electric golf carts to assist you in getting around once you get out into the gardens. And the end of our time at the palace we found ourselves walking some thirty-five minutes to get back to the main palace.
Just wish we had more time to spend, but we had to catch our train back to Paris!
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