Day 5 Blog

It’s amazing how everyone can put up a video in such a short time. Video from the experienced storyteller overwhelmed me on how they were able to manage all these rich contents and tell a story in such a short time. I liked the comedian video especially. The shots have various angles on the same scene and the interview and footage work together perfectly!

I’ve always thought shooting and editing a video require tremendous amount of works and knowledge, and it’s true! What surprised me was with the basic knowledge I learned, I was able to make a video that tells a story. It may not look perfect or professional however, it was a great video to start with. Even though I won’t be working as professional storyteller or video shooter, in the future I may use my camera and phone to record the little moments that surround me, and I can tailor them into a story or work as footage for future use.

Day 4 Observation

Trial-and-errors and practices make perfect.

Be prepared with plenty of B-rolls, it’s never enough.

Kodak Zi8 is not ideal for close shots. Any shot that’s within 2~3 feet would appear very fuzzy and blurry.

It's probably a good idea to over the interview questions a few times before the main shoot, otherwise there will be a lot of hum, oh, huh, so, ah, eh, or pauses waiting for you to cut out.

Shooting interview and footage at indoor easily let you forget taking some wide shots.

A great storyteller may not be a good video editor, vice versa.

Save constantly! The editing program is kinda tricky if you are unfamiliar with.

Use “+” and “-” to magnify or minimize the inspection of time line.

For Adobe Premiere:

ctrl+shift+z = ctrl+y (paste)

- ,+ = ctrl + "-" , ctrl + "+" (to fold, to expand)

page down, page up = next left or right clip

The diamond shape dot on sequence is called “key frame.”

Day 3 Observation

Don’t use jargon in the interview. It turns out it is quite hard for the interviewee not to use jargon. They are familiar with the terms they are used to say colloquially. If asking them to use words that a layperson would understand, it could make them pause, hesitate, and twitch before the words pop out.

Learned the idea about rough edit. I tend to compose the sequence on paper first then work on the video detail by detail starting from beginning. This time I may do rough edit first and see how I can tailor into a cohesive story.

Video editing is like writing code. You save a new version of file upon every milestone. This way you can always go back and undo or redo the adjustments.

Have backup plans or actors! The mystery and truth about this universe is, things probably won’t always work as you plan. Yesterday your No. 1 choice may say he’s free and gladly to take the shoot, suddenly today he’s got other plans and leaves you “Sorry, couldn’t help!”

Shooting process may take longer time than expected, but most of time you turn on the camera just trying to figure out what’s the best shooting position, the better light setting, the better angle on objects. All these find-the-spot processes actually drain a lot of battery’s power. This could be a problem if your camera’s power dies fast, you are not allowed to plug and shoot, and battery of camera is fixed inside that it wouldn't allow you to change it.

Shooting was fun but the work definitely needs team collaboration. Managing the setting, light, interview, and shoot all by oneself is a lot of work.

Day 2 Vlog

Growing up, what was your favorite story? Why? Have you seen that narrative show up in a new form on the web or in popular media? Similar plot, different characters?

Day 2 Observation

It’s weird and funny to hear about when shooting a video, using classic film term such as “Action” would create somewhat of anxiety to the interviewee. Instead it’s the best to say “Okay” or use some kind of gesture to give interviewee signal.

When shooting a video, it is always wise to shoot some wide shots to let audience knows where the scene is and some close shots to emphasize on what they are doing.

Newly learned techniques

1. Hook on something heavy under the tripod will help to stabilize.
2. Use cooking sheet to soften direct light
3. Clothe pin (C47) clip on back of clothe to tighten interviewee’s clothe.
4. JKL editing in video editing toolQuick keys: J rewind               K pause           L forward

Day 1 Blog Assignment

How does the context of where you see a story affect its impact on your personal engagement in the narrative.

Day 1 Observation

In today’s class I’ve learned in order to create an engaging story, there should have some emotional connections built in the story. How to resonate the viewers is the most important objective. This reminds me the video I did during Hanson’s class lack components that would trigger viewers’ emotion. However, without any background of training or senses, it was not an easy task even to just build a fluent narrative.

Surprisingly, the starting method to find the target audience of the story is the same as building a website or mobile application, which is define the persona. Find your target audience’s persona, this used to in the reading of marketing and business classes, but the idea is becoming ubiquitous.

Demonstration on Camera Height was very helpful. It gave clear understanding on how different angles and shots would give results represent various psychology moods. I’ve heard the Rule of Third as the golden rule to take a picture. Never had I thought it also apply in shooting video.