iMovie is a software that can be very useful among
communication students. The potential to create great videos that portray a
clear message is pretty easy. The editing tools in the software are easy to
use, and if there are any issues, one could find the answers very easily just
by looking them up on Google.
The class was divided into groups, and was told to make a
video based off of a subject. The subjects covered things such as politics,
time, and abstract. The writer’s group was given the topic of abstract – a very
open topic that can be interpreted in many different ways. Having been a fan of
obscure comedy, the writer prosed the idea of doing a video that would
incorporate spoons into everyday life.
The ideas started spewing out – there are
so many day to day things that you could take out and substitute a spoon for. Just
think about all the material aspects you use to take you through the day. Some of
them necessary, while some we have for pleasure.
While the video was intended to be comical, it was also intended
for the viewer to look at this video and question their everyday “necessities.”
Living in a first world country, we can tend to take things for granted. In the
self-video the writer produced, there was a scene where he uses a spoon for toilet
paper. While this was a scene that most would laugh at, it is important to
consider how we could take something like that for granted. What if we didn’t
have toilet paper? What if random objects like spoons had to be substituted in
place of things we don’t have - just to get through the day?
Once it was decided as
a group that the spoon concept would be used, the group started to think about
what they would film. No time was wasted on the individual project, as the
footage from those were used in the final group video. Everyone’s ideas were
taken into consideration so that no scenes would be used more than once – every
person would be doing something different. Once that was taken care of, there
was more consideration as to how this would come together better as a group project
– how would they portray these separate individual scenes as a group project?
It was decided that the group would get together and film a
dream a sequence. The group would gather around a table, and eat cereal. However,
one person would not have a spoon, and would fall asleep shortly after
realizing there was no spoon for them. This was pretty easy to film, as the
group was able to meet in the library, and eat some dry cereal together. The writer
brought his camera and a tri-pod so that they would not have to ask anyone for
help. The group shot was filmed on a tri-pod, and then Dimitri filmed a pan-in
of Brett falling asleep – this shot really helped portray him falling asleep. Along
with that, the use of white fade in post-production really helped show the
start of the dream sequence.
The filters within iMovie were crucial to the group being
able to portray the video as a dream sequence. The use of heavy saturation,
flipping the angle, and transitions helped give it a “dreamy” look. In the beginning
of the video, a scene of each individual was separately shown to establish that
Brett was dreaming about both himself, and the people he fell asleep in front
of. From there, the clips were chosen at random. However, the use of the clips
of Najee were placed statically.
Najee’s role in the video came together late in the editing
process. Initially, his random facial expression shots were used just for
comical aspect, but then it was realized it would work out perfectly for
another reason. At the end of the video, Najee wakes Brett up and gives him a
spoon. The idea for Najee’s facial expression shots was that he was watching
Brett sleep in real time, and trying to make him wake up so that he could give
him a spoon. This became clear at the end the video when Brett is shown, and
you see Najee tap Brett on the shoulder and give him a spoon.
Group projects can be a bit of a hassle sometimes, but the
writer believes that this project went very smoothly. Often times it can be
hard to meet up with other classmates because everyone’s schedules are
different, but this group did not face that difficulty. Along with that,
working on a project can be difficult because one person tends to carry the
weight for the rest of the group, but that was not seen in this group. Everyone
was very eager to help each other out, offer new ideas, or help troubleshoot
problems. Brainstorming for the project was a great experience. It seemed like
every time someone had a great idea, someone else had an idea to make it even
better. Everyone was excited, and open to new ideas. Having all been
communication students for a few years, every student had a good knowledge of
video communication, which helped greatly to bring everything together.
Looking back, there are not many things the writer would
have done differently. The video came together surprisingly well, and everyone
did a great job. One thing the writer think’s that might have improved the
quality of the video was if some of the members didn’t use a point of view perspective
for some of shots. Some of cuts looked a little awkward going from point of
view, to a medium angle shot. However, everyone did well with what was available
to them.
The instructions were pretty easy to follow. It was a little
unclear what was due at specific dates, but it was not a big issue. It seemed
as though most students in the class were confused what they had to do, and
when it was due.
