Catch me at Cannes

Making a movie is a thrilling yet daunting experience and is not for the faint of heart. From beginning to end, first take to final cut, the effort that is required was not preconceived. When the final product is finished and the video can be watched in its entirety, there is a feeling of satisfaction. But the efforts and struggles cannot be discounted, even for a short video project such as this.

The Issues

Complications will present themselves right off the bat. Whether it be lack of equipment or poor lighting, the challenges seem to make themselves present at the worst times. For instance, a self-shot is being filmed and little to no lighting is present. This causes an underexposed shot that lacks color and vibrance and may cause the subject to be unrecognizable. Lighting is key to a good shot. With good lighting to saturate the colors and balance the scene the viewer will see these differences whether they realize it or not. Issues with shooting seem to most often have to with equipment. Using a phone is good, but most phone and mobile cameras shoot in resolutions higher than 2,000 pixels nowadays, this leads to problems during the editing stages. Not including sound or a voiceover allows the elimination of dialogue and makes the editing process much easier. As most microphones built into phones and video cameras do not have the capabilities of professional lavalier or boom microphones, the sound quality typically comes out noisy and grainy. Without sound to deal with, usually music is the way to go to add depth to a video. As for the editing stage, this is where the magic happens, but it is also where the majority of problems occur. Depending on the resolution of the video, transcribing the files may be necessary unless the computer can handle the file size at a reasonable speed. Once the files are ready for editing, knowledge of the software is all but necessary. Premiere Pro is quite intuitive and allows the user to ask for help and direction when looking for a specific effect. If an effect cannot be found, a simple Google search or a video on YouTube will usually provide instruction. A lack of knowledge with the software will definitely limit the success and depth of the video production process, and lead to a lack-luster final product. But if the research is done, the versatility of most software will allow for a range of effects to take place to add depth to a video. The most influential issue present in a video production task would be transporting files for editing or exporting. Due to the massive file sizes of higher resolution videos, it can be almost impossible to move files around if the computer holding them doesn’t have the space or processing power.

The Experience

Recording ones-self can give quite a bit of perspective. Depending on what the objective is, a person will find out a lot about how they react to being put on the spot. Discovering that maybe they aren’t the worst actor after all can be a good possibility. In this case, when Cody filmed an individual, self-portrait style video, he didn’t even know where to start. He had an entire folder of footage compiled of random clips that vaguely had to do with him. After reflecting on the concept of expressing himself in an abstract way, he came up with an idea that helped mold the direction he wanted to take. He enjoys humor but may not be the gut-busting comedian that is popular today. Drawing inspiration from memes and other funny short videos, he wanted to do something original that also displays parts of who he is. By implementing basketball, we can see a few different sides of what Cody is. The hardest part of making this video was getting the correct angles shot to make the flow of the video consistent. Having to change, shoot, and re-change into different attire seemed exhausting but necessary. The shots had to be on-point and the editing was next. Trying to edit one’s self to look as if they are having an actual physical interaction with one another is difficult. Cody needed himself to look as if he was actually there playing basketball against himself. Once the editing was complete, choosing and editing a soundtrack to play behind the video was the easiest task. Overall, the experience of editing a video of one’s self gave plenty of insight into how that person reacts to being on camera for themselves.