Golf Saving The Day

 This pandemic has been very difficult for all of us in many different ways. Some people lost their job, some people lost family members, and some people just hated being isolated the entire time. During all this chaos it is important to try to find some positives that came out of this. For me, that positive was golf. Golf courses were really the only thing open during this time so I was able so spend majority of my time at the course.

One of the biggest things I took away from this project was the difference between being a media creator and a media consumer. As a consumer, I ingest a lot of content so I feel like I miss a lot of the smaller details that the creator intentionally puts in there. As a creator, I realized how difficult even the seamlessly easy tasks were. Something as simple as picking the background music was surprisingly hard. Trying to make the whole project flow together took a lot of extra time and intense thinking. The little subtleties, that all good projects have, took majority of the time.

Another surprise that I experienced while creating this video was trying to have the same lighting for all of my shots. I took majority of my shots outside and when I put all the videos into imovie, I realized that the lighting was completely different in some shots. This wasn't necessarily my fault it was just that on some shots the sun would be behind the clouds and in some shots it wouldn't. This changing in light really messed up the rhythm and flow of video so I could not end up using some of the shots that I took.

For the actual shots that I took, I tried to use many different shots with many different backgrounds. I wanted to have a different back drop for each of the shots where I was hitting the golf ball. I wanted it to feel like the viewer was moving along the course with me.

Overall, this project gave me a new understanding just how difficult and time intensive it is to make a good quality video. It is really easy to sit back and watch other videos and critique them, but whenever you are the one creating the video it gets a lot harder to see the flaws. As I continued through the editing process I feel like I made progress and was slowly but surely getting better.

Family Will Always Come First

For my video project over the one positive outcome of the pandemic, I decided to create it based on the valuable time I was able to spend with my family. While the pandemic brought many negative aspects into the world, one thing that remained positive during my experience was the extra months I received with my family that I never would have gotten had the COVID pandemic never occurred.

As I was working on the video, I was surprised at how many details went into creating a video in order ensure it is enticing and not bland. By just adding some background music and working on some the photos I had in my rough draft, it made the video overall much more enjoyable. 

By being a media content producer, it made consider many different ideas. I first thought about who the audience would be for my video and tried to tailor different parts of the video towards their liking such as the pleasant audio song I chose. I also spend a decent amount of time editing my script for the video as not to make it boring or go on at times so that the audience would remain engaged. 

Because of the reasons above, being a media content producer can be very different than a media content consumer. Being a consumer entails understanding why you are consuming the media product (video in this case), and knowing how it can be of use to you, such as for enjoyment or knowledge.                                            f                                                                                                         I thought the pictures I chose in my final draft of the video ended up working out well, as my video focused on my enjoyment of the time I was able to spend with my family, and I hope those pictures expressed how much my family means to me. Additionally by working on the storyboard prior to creating the video, I was able to make the video with much more ease than I would've had I not created a storyboard.                                                                                                         c                                                                                                     As for what I could have done differently, I believe I could have extended the length of the video and gone into more detail about how I spend my time with my family. Although, I gave some brief descriptions of the time spent, more detail can always be added.     c                                                                                                         I believe that this positive aspect of the pandemic for me was also a positive aspect for many other people during these crazy times. I actually did a bit of research before first creating my video and found some of the main reasons why families were able to connect more closely during the pandemic. It mainly involved having more time for conversations. Overall, I would give almost anything for the pandemic to never happen, but it's important to look for the positive things that come out of the worst of situations; and in this case, it turned out to be a very valuable thing. 

Positives of Quarantine

This news project has been one of my favorite assignments I’ve done this semester. I really enjoyed the process of making this video. I had a good time creating this video and learning how to use iMovie. I also found the project to be easier than I was expecting. I was expecting to receive a lot of criticism on my project, but instead I got small suggestions on things to change.

While creating my first draft I was nervous about the outcome of my video and if it would come out the way I envisioned. After starting the project, I felt more confident that Could create the clips the way I wanted. One thing that I realized that helped me early on is writing a script. I tried doing the voice over without writing a script and I found it very difficult; I stumbled over my words and I kept using filler words such as “like” or “umm”. Once I made a script, I felt more comfortable speaking and finished majority of my voice overs in one take.

After my assignment was reviewed by my peers, I made slight changes to my video. Firstly, I added a title in the beginning of the video. I did this to prepare the audience for the media they are about to see. Without the title the audience wouldn’t know what the video is about until they started watching it. Another change I made was adding my name in the video. Relating it back to the first point, the audience would not know who I am since I never introduced myself in the video. Lastly I had to rerecord the last voice over because the audio was not good quality. After making these changes, I felt confident that I was turning in quality work.

The main thing I want to change is how I look in the shots. Personally, I wish that I looked more approachable and less stiff. I look at it now and Wished that I smiled and relaxed more. Another thing That I want to change is how I shot certain scenes. I think that some of the shots could be better. Though I want to make these changes to the assignment, I am satisfied with my work and what I turned in.

Overall, I think that this project was a great learning experience in seeing how news or video media is created. This assignment gives us a look into some of the things that need to be considered in video media such as camera angles, the script, visual aids (photos, clipart, etc.), and much more. I thoroughly enjoyed creating this type of media.

Improving Relationships

From making this video, I learned a lot about my life during the pandemic. From being sent home in March 2020, to now patiently waiting for updates from Trinity for fall 2021 semester plans, I was able to reflect on my life in ways I hadn't before. I was able to really think about the positives in my life even when things overall felt so negative. 

I was able to really learn about who I have been this past year. Seeing the clips of my family and friends helped me to see they are the ones who have guided me through all the negatives. I felt a lot of appreciation for them while creating this video. My life is very different now then it was at the beginning of the pandemic. I am so grateful for the positive relationships I was able to improve and build this year. 

Being on the producer side of video, my point of view was a lot more in depth. I filtered through a lot of clips that a consumer would never see. For me, that caused me to fall a lot deeper into the meaning of my video. I was able to look through all of my photos and videos from during the pandemic. The consumer only got short clips into my life, but I got a lot closer look at the positives I have and appreciate them. 

One thing I wish I could have done differently was the length of the video clips. Although I liked the amount of videos and way they flowed, I wish some clips were longer, to show the moments better. I struggled with this especially with clips of my family, because they were all pretty short and goofy clips. I no longer am permanently living with them and couldn't drive all the way home to get better clips, but I wish that was something I could have done. 

The video making process worked well for me. I hadn't created a video since high school so I was worried about refiguring out how to. The process of it went smoothly and I believe my editing was good. I luckily also remembered where to find non copyrighted music from a previous class I took. 

What fell short for me was how to change my video. On the critique day in class, I didn't really receive any explicit feedback. I felt lost and confused on how to change my video before the final submission. I only had my knowledge and viewpoint of the video to work off of, and I wish I had others.

Family Time is Such a Quality Time

This is my reflective essay about my short project video that I made in the class Media Texts. It was a good and fun project and I learned a lot from it. First of all I learned about Adobe Premiere Pro. I learned about how to make a video, I learned that though the covid pandemic has not been the most fun experience, I have had also such great times during it. The most important thing I learned and take away from this project is that Family is the most important thing in life. At least in my case.

First I will talk about how my experience was working with Adobe Premiere Pro. This was my first time working with Adobe Premiere Pro, however have I had a little bit of experience working on projects in other classes on making graphics and videos using Adobe Spark. Doing videos with Adobe Spark was a good experience but using Adobe Premiere Pro however abled me to do a video on a more professional level. There are so many things that you can do using Adobe Premiere Pro. Some things that I did for this project was to input pictures and videos into Adobe, record myself, and using pictures on the internet. Inputing all these files into Adobe worked really well and fast and it came out very nicely.

Secondly I learned that I have had so much fun during the covid pandemic and moments and times that I will always remember. For my video, I used pictures and videos from when covid started and all the way to when I came back to the Trinity from Iceland this January. There were so many pictures and videos that I had and it was very fun looking back at those memories. Converting the pictures and videos into Adobe worked really smoothly and fast. 

Thirdly I learned that family is the most important thing in life. I say that because those are the people who at least in my case are the closest to me and I enjoy most being around. When Trinity University´s campus closed I went back to Iceland. Spending almost the whole year of 2020 with my family was so fun and made me realise of how important it is to take care and be in good touch with your family. Without covid I wouldn´t have experienced these times with my family. So that time spending with my family was among the biggest positive things that I take away from this pandemic. 

I learned many things from doing this project. It was really fun making a video about a positive experience and including videos and pictures that bring back good memories. It was easy to follow the guidelines for the project and using Adobe. What suprised me was how good of a software Adobe is and how much you can work with it creating a very nice projects like this video. It worked really well to input all the pictures and videos from my phone into Adobe. The one thing that could have been gone better was that there were some pictures that didn´t fill the whole area of space when watching the video.

Good movies and videos that I have watched over my life time are good and successful because a lot of work has been put into the movie. It´s easy to be a media consumer watch a video and enjoy it. By being the producer and creating a video is a different story. I realised that there is a lot of work that needs to be put into it and a lot of small steps and technique that I used that made my video better and more creative. It was really fun making this video and being the producer but at the same it´s way more work being the producer than the consumer and more thought process needs to be put into the work. Working with Adobe Premiere Pro was a very good experience that I will most likely use in the future creating a good video. 

How Small Businesses Reinvented Themselves Creatively

The pandemic has been tough on all of us, that is no secret. Since last March I think a lot of people have spend more time than ever before on social media. During this time I realized that a lot of businesses reinvented themselves. I saw a boom in creativity in the videos and photos they posted and how they started interacting with their audiences online. I've always been attracted to content creation in social media, and this past year has shown me that there are many more ways to expand and grow a business through this channel, which is why I choose this theme to explore more in depth in my video. 

The main thing I learned after filming and editing the video was the impact that a simple decision for a shot can make when creating content. For example, once I finished filming and putting together the main narrative shots were I am featured talking, I knew something was missing. I watched some mini-documentaries on YouTube for inspiration and found that many included text on top of the main narrative to emphasize some points. Once I included some key words on these videos, the difference was clear. The video was now much more engaging as viewers had something to look at in addition to only listening to me talk.

For the planning of the video, I created a storyboard. It took me a really long time to finish the storyboard, but I think that's what made the filming and editing of the video so easy and not so time consuming. For the type of shots I choose, I looked at the article titled "The Basic Building Blocks- The Different Shot Type Families." For the video shots that featured me as a narrator, I choose the Medium Close Up shot because as the article states, "the audience is supposed to be watching the human face at this point in the framing so actions or objects in the surrounding environment hold little to no importance." I wanted special attention from the viewer during those shots because it included the most important points of the video, so this shot was ideal.

I am very content with the final product of this video project. However, that is not to say that there is nothing I would change about it. For instance, the fifth shot of the video features my phone scrolling through Instagram and the image looks a little blurred. When I recorded this video I was too focused on the posts I was clicking on Instagram, rather than the image itself which could be more focused. This way, the viewer would definitely feel more connected to the narration in the background that talks about what small businesses create on social media.

Moreover, after looking closely at the video I can see that some sound editing would have made it better. There are times that the narration does not match the images exactly. Sometimes it starts a few seconds before, or ends too soon. On the sixth shot for example, my narration about the product that the business Milk+T created during the pandemic, begins before the image of the product itself is shown. Although it sounds somewhat insignificant an edit like this, if the sound matches the images it makes it easier for the viewer to stay engaged.

Putting a whole video together from scratch is not that simple. Planning the video before you begin filming is extremely important and smart. To me, the editing process was hard, and attention to detail would have resulted in a better final product. However, after this process I know I am better equipped to analyze videos I see in the media better and smarter. 

Zoom University

For this project, Professor Liu instructed our class to create a two to three minute video regarding The One (Small) Positive Thing about the Pandemic Experience. In other words, we were required to think of one thing that we liked or had a positive experience on through the time we had to socially distance ourselves as well as attend classes, meetings, and events on the video conference platform of Zoom.

My goal was to create a video that not only was elegant and visually pleasing but also one that was relatable to the viewer. I understand that the pandemic was a serious situation, but I see how important it is to bring a positive attitude and make others feel good and laugh, therefore I wanted to make this video slightly comedic in the end. 

It is fascinating how different it feels to be a media content producer than that of a consumer due to the fact how I not only have the creative freedom to do anything but also because of how everything in the video has a purpose. This project allowed me to have a greater appreciation for media content producers and their works of art. 

Without a doubt, I had the most fun on this project due to my recently found interest in the way certain media texts are filmed. From the beginning of this project, I knew I wanted to draw inspiration from a list of film directors and producers I enjoy. I recently finished watching Zach Snyder’s Justice League on HBOMax and I thought the film, in terms of how it was filmed, was a masterpiece. Additionally, I paid homage to certain iconic films such as The Sopranos and Star Wars.  

I wanted to take Zack Snyder’s artistic choice to use a square frame for the video and implement that in my own project. The reason I did this is that I wanted the viewer to be focused only on the Zoom university student. Additionally, I used a noir filter in the video because the colors in my apartment are not only distracting but also unpleasant. With the combination of a black suit and tie, as well as the noir tint, I believe the film gave a sophisticated-like tone, similar to that of Zach Synder’s Justice League: Justice is Gray. The darkness due to the noir filter in the video also symbolized the hard situation of the pandemic, emitting a tone of sadness and loneliness as well. 

For the ending, I wanted a sharp cut to black the moment the Zoom university student broke the fourth wall and directly addressed the viewer. This is to build a feeling of a cliffhanger, hopefully leaving the viewer with the desire to see more. The decision to cut to black is a reference to the season finale of The Sopranos. Additionally, when it came to choosing how to present the credits, I wanted to also pay homage to the great George Lucas' Star Wars and their credits. 

What surprised me was how relatively quick the filming took place. What worked for me the best was combining different camera angles so that the viewer constantly is hooked to the video. What did not work for me was the fact that I did not do the overall outline until after I filmed the video. I kept my vision mostly in my head until I started filming, but if I had an outline beforehand, I would have been able to record the video faster and with better precision. Overall, I had a wonderful experience learnings the basic idea of what it is like to be a media content producer and I hope you can see what my positive thing about the pandemic experience was.

The Covid Education: Learning How to Wash Our Hands

My video project was about how we learned the proper way to wash our hands during the pandemic. I saw the video as being funny and  lighthearted, as well as being informative.

As consumers of videos, we forget how carefully thought out and contrived every moment is. Being a producer made me realize all the decision making that goes into the aspects of videos that just seem natural. 

One thing that requires more thought than I knew is choosing the types of shots. In the past, I have never really considered what the different shots in videos portrayed. I simply took them at face value.

However, in making the video, I had to make decisions about how close up the shots were, what they focused on, etc. From those decisions, I realized that I was trying to convey messages with the different shots.

For instance, in the opening scene, I have two people touching a refrigerator. I start with a wide shot to set the scene of what is happening.

I then switch to a more close up shot of a hand on the refrigerator handle. From just the initial scene of people using the refrigerator, the purpose of the scene might not be clear.

However, focusing on the hand makes it clear that the purpose of the scene has something to do with the act of touching the refrigerator handle. In this case, the small act of adding a shot narrowing in on the hand introduces the topic of handwashing in a way that would not be possible with just the initial shot.

Looking back on the video, the best part was the content, especially the writing, itself. The topic I chose had the potential to be very serious and even boring. Therefore, I made a concerted effort to make the video more light and comedic.

I came up with responses for the interview questions that were a little exaggerated and joking. I also had Cayden, the second person I interviewed, sing aloud while washing his hands. Not only did it convey how people should wash their hands, but it also made watching someone wash their hands more entertaining.

The majority of what I believe I could have done differently is on the editing side of the production process. I would have liked to do more editing, but computer work is not my strong suit.

For instance, I would have liked to have some transitions, but I did not end up adding any transitions because I was worried about time and messing up what I already had.

Additionally, I had some technical issues with my text slides. I would have like my slides to be full screen, but the best I could do was make the text legible. 

There might have also been an opportunity for some background music. However, I had a lot of speaking throughout, and I did not want the music and speaking to compete throughout the whole video. I think background music, while can be played throughout, is most effective when used for B roll, and I did not have any B roll without associated audio.

Not having background music affected the tone of the video. The background music is just one example of how I learned that every decision made in the video, even ones I might have changed, affects the storyline and tone of the video, whether the audience realizes it is happening or not.

The Sunny Side of COVID-19

With my video, “The Sunny Side of COVID-19”, I highlighted how many people took advantage of their new free time to be more active outdoors. I picked this topic because I was personally affected by COVID in this way. Before making my video, I had to alter my mindset towards the COVID-19 virus. Originally, all I could think about was the negative effects and how much I've missed out on this past year due to the pandemic. However, this assignment’s prompt forced me to reevaluate. After brainstorming, I was surprised at how many ideas I came up with but ended up going with the nature theme since I already had videos that fit this topic recorded this past summer.

After deciding on my topic, I created a storyboard that summarized my plan for the video. Before this assignment, I did not know this was a critical step in the process. Through this process, I have learned the importance of a variety of shots. In our class reading, The Basic Building Blocks-The Different Shot Type Families, the author explained how to use different shots and what effect they have on the viewer. I was able to use this information when deciding how I would film my beginning shots and interview clips.

While making this video, most of my time was spent editing clips together, rather than the actual filming like I first predicted. I already had many videos previously filmed over the course of the previous summer, however, cutting them all to an acceptable length was very time consuming. 

Surprisingly, my video editing skills improved quickly as I learned how to navigate through the iMovie software. One mentionable success I had was learning how to correctly record a voiceover, which was an essential task in my video. Using b-roll narration while other clips were playing in the foreground became increasingly important as I realized I could verbally describe how the videos connected with my message. 

I was also pleased with my use of many short clips rather than focusing on a few outdoor activities. Although each video was connected through the central theme of people getting active outdoors, there was a wide variety of activities, emphasizing the point that people were not all doing the same activities during the pandemic. With my use of videos involving a mixture of activities, I was glad to use classmates’ critiques in grouping together similar activities. This allowed for some structure within the larger project. 

While editing my video, I learned the impact and importance of music on generating an emotion on an audience. music can have on videos and films as in this case it generated important emotions. In my video, I chose to have the song Summertime Rain by Little North Fork playing in the background of the entire film. This choice created a warm and calm atmosphere. 

However, it was very difficult to film the interview parts of myself. Since my theme involved nature, I felt these clips needed to be filmed outside. Unfortunately, wind and other sounds associated with the outdoors, such as birds, planes, and lawnmowers, could not be excluded, forcing the audio during these clips to not be as clear. Another problem I found with these same clips, was that the person speaking, me, would mess up many times, forcing me to retake the videos tens of times, and hours of filming for five seconds worth of usable audio. As a consumer, I never realized how much time goes into making such a short video. 

After reviewing the final product, I wish I would’ve had more diversity in terms of shots. Most of my clips were filmed in a medium long shot angle. This is simply because it’s the most comfortable and natural distance to film when taping subjects that are moving or doing an activity, and most of my videos were not originally recorded for the purpose of this assignment. If I were to do this project again and with more time to film, I would diversify the angles of the shots to be included, allowing the entire project to have more variety. 

Overall, I enjoyed this project and I learned a lot about being a content creator. This process was very challenging but learning about the obstacles that come with producing a video has allowed me to have a new appreciation towards video editors. I was allowed to reflect on and alter my attitude towards the pandemic while expanding my skills and knowledge of video editing. Using my own videos of my friends and family truly made me realize how many memories the pandemic has brought myself and the people I love. 

The Efficiencies of Online Class During the Pandemic

For our short movie project I was tasked to create a small film that detailed a benefit that I have experienced during the pandemic. After some deliberation, I ended up choosing to create a film about the efficiencies of getting to class.

When deciding how I was going to best capture these efficiencies I thought it best to create a contrast between my experience of going to class in-person versus over zoom. This decision is what made up my framework for the majority of the short film. An example of this contrast is me hiking up Cardiac Hill trying to make it into my in-person class versus me walking to my computer to make it to the virtual class.

Throughout the process of creating the short film I realized some of the differences between being the movie producer and the consumer. The producer has to consider many important aspects when creating a visually appealing and impactful film such as camera angles and narrations. In comparison the consumer only has to find the film appealing. The goal of the consumer is not to worry about how to convey a message. It is merely to understand the film and hopefully absorb the message being conveyed.

While designing the short film one thing that surprised me was how difficult it was to find the right camera angle inorder to best capture the scenes and make their transitions smooth. It seems easy at first but creating a perfect scene requires prior planning and preparation as well as an understanding of how the different camera angles can affect the scene. Additionally, the producer has to consider the lighting and audio involved with the scene. Because I wanted my video to emit a positive mood I made sure to have all of my scenes well lit.

I thought that most of the transitions in the film worked well. My favorite was the transition of the car pulling out of the driveway as I rushed off to class and then cutting to the inside of the car as I pulled up to campus. On a similar note, I thought that the two sections of the video (going to class in person and over zoom) fused together quite well. By starting both sections with the wake up alarm in my bedroom the audience instantly knows where the scene is taking place and is able to experience the stark contrast between the two sections of the film.

One element that would have been a good addition to the film is a sound track. The problem that I kept running into was that the music was overpowering the narrations and comments that I made throughout the film. Because of this problem I decided to not include the soundtrack with the film.