Whoo! Where do I begin…this has been a jam packed 3 months. I have sinked to the bottom of the ocean we are swimming but luckily I had a floaty. I lost my goggles, breathing mask and the actual group a couple of times but boy have I survived. I’ve learned so much in these last couple of months and know I have improved my skills. Everything that we have done has been a little more challenging but I know it will help us in the future.
VIDEO ESSAY:
It all started with the video essay. I went into the assignment thinking I was going to have a lot of time, but I was wrong. I couldn’t narrow down a topic and my camera and editing skills were not that great. I was scared but didn’t ask for help and tried to do it all on my own. I think I prevailed in some ways…for instance I met the deadline somehow! This video took me so long to edit and that has been my downfall this semester. I did the video essay very last minute on checking out j-school equipment. Despite the shaky shots, quick edits, and low nat sounds it turned out way better than I expected. Looking back at this assignment now I laugh because, it was really funny to do and I can see all my mistakes.
VO/VOSOTVO 1:
The International Jayhawk Festival was probably the best VO/VOSOTVO I have done so far. I had great shots from many angles and knew a little more about my camera. I struggled with editing this assignment too but slowly got faster this time around. I noticed I was running into issues with sound again and didn’t know how to fix it. Sticking to Collins plan A, B and C I never asked for help (I probably should have). This was also our first time presenting a script and I was super excited. I tried to so hard on my script that I kept overthinking everything. I wasn’t writing conversational and I didn’t understand. I was lucky to be working the event and got to shoot and edit a little early. This lowered my stress from the video essay so much. This was also our first time getting a soundbite. I was use to interviewing people in past classes, but I still ran into problems with the mic this time. I did not place the mic correctly on my interviewee so I needed to get more strict on that. I also needed to practice lower thirds and getting wide, medium and close up shots. At the end of the day I made something out of nothing again, and that’s what storytelling is all about.
VO/VOSOTVO 2:
This assignment was another thrown together idea, that turned out better than I thought. I know I keep my doubting myself but I can see improvement in every assignment. For this VO/VOSOTVO I talked about Downs Hall. I think my interview was pretty good but I needed it to be shoulders-up and not waste camera space. The topic I think was relevant and interesting. I also think I got good shots and told the story. I needed more faces in some of my video, but I think my creative camera side was shown here. I got unique shots, my favorite is the one in the elevator and just tried to have fun with this one. I got a lot of weird looks for filming in this dorm which might have hindered how much b-roll I got. This was my first time using a JVC camera as well and I ran into so many problems. I didn’t’ have the right SD card so I wasted a lot of time trying to figure out the camera and getting a new one. I really wish we could have presented this one in class because I felt like my script was way more conversational than my first VOSOTVO.
VO/VOSOTVO 3:
Last but not least, this was probably the funniest VO I will ever do. I knew the people very well that I videoed and they were lots of fun. Unfortunately they didn’t have great lighting in their house so my videos came out pretty dark. This frustrated me because this could have been very good b-roll. I think it still turned out great and wish there was more b-roll to shoot but you can’t do much with a video game. I got pretty good shots anyway in the dark and somehow got a smooth shot of the TV. I did my VO over the game Fortnite and it is super relevant right now. I think the class will like it, if I ever get to present it because I worked really hard to make my script conversational. This assignment felt like a breeze because I got my shooting done early but my downfall again was my editing, I finally mastered how to fix my sound so this assignment was a major turning point for me. For my VOSOTVO I got great shots again, probably the best interview so far, and really told the story in my editing. I can tell I’m getting faster, conversational and creative with every assignment.
One thought on “Reflection 2 – Jasmine Keys”
Jasmine,
Great work! You are slowly improving your writing, editing and performance skills. When I saw your first assignment, Video Essay, I liked it. But, I can agree with you that your edits were too quick, and it was a little bit hard for you to establish relationship with your audience. However, I liked the variety of shots you had, and good nat sound. Your next assignment, VO/VOSOTVO, was on a pretty interesting topic. Love the idea! Your edits were not as quick but still I felt like you tried to include as much footage as you could. But, I understand you: you probably were trying to follow Dr. Collins’s rule, “Say it, See it.” I could see that your audio was a little bit messed up; though it could have been fixed by editing. All right, moving on to your second VO/VOSOTVO, I could see some improvements. Great job on editing skills, having variety of shots, showing your story. The only thing that was a little bit off was the interview. As you said in your reflection, it should have been to shoulders-up and not waste camera space. But, I am sure you already knew and did not do it intentionally. Your last video assignment was really interesting to watch. I loved that you let your shots breath, instead of making them too quick. I also noticed that your interview set up got improved. So, you are slowly moving towards making your words perfect.
Awesome job!
– Aksinya
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