Video Semester 2 Final Blog

Music video

At the beginning of 2nd semester, our first entertainment project was to create a music video. We had to pick a song and watch the video for the song and other must videos similar to it for inspiration. After we did that, we had to decide if we were going to recreate the original video. or go off our own ideas. My group chose to make a music video off of Justin Bieber's "Company" song. This project took about a month i would say. Overall this was probably one of the easiest projects this semester, but i still faced some challenges along the way. the scheduling was pretty tough, so i wasn't able to make it to most of the filming outside of school, but i did whatever i could at school. Through this project, i learned how hard it can be sometimes to collaborate with other people, especially when you don't agree with their ideas and they refuse to meet in the middle. And of course my video skills got a little better when it comes to the technology. the only feedback given was to use a more stable thing, like tripod, so it is less shakey and to have taken out one of the parts at the very end that didn't make much sense. This project turned out very well at the end and i really enjoyed doing it. 

High School Trailer

Towards the middle of 2nd semester, we got started on our next project, which was to remake a high school trailer. My group decided to remake a tailer called "Teen Spirit". This was one of the funniest projects that we have done all year, in my opinion. I was able to make it to every filming and do most of the scheduling so i felt very involved. This took about a month and we turned it in even a little after the due date because of how long it was taking. Like all projects, there were a few challenges along the way. First, their are a ton of costume changes in this trailer so we had to make that work, which was actually a lot harder than it sounds. Then, on of our main cast members, is a very busy guy, so we had to make most our scheduling work around him which was a little bit difficult as well. One of the last challenges was that there was a party scene in this movie, which is really hard to do when you only have time to do it at school. So that took a while but after we overcame all of those challenges, it turned out well. I learned that i defiantly need to work on time management and turning things in on time. Overall i think people liked the video a lot so we didn't have much feedback, just that some of the audio/shots were a little bit off. But like i said, this was one of my favorite projects and i think it turned out very well. 

Short Film

The very last project we had in video, and the one we just completed, was to create a short film. In a way this was one of the easiest but also hardest projects and ill explain why. This project also took around a month. It was easy for me, because we got all of the filming done in one day and it was a day i could not make it. So i didn't even film. Also, i was not one of the main editors, so i didn't have to worry too much about that either. So in those easy it was very easy. But this was also very hard because of the preproduction. We started off this assignment by creating a treatment, that we didn't even know if we were gonna use it or not. The treatment took me an insanely long time. I think it took so long because i am not a writer at all. That is something i actually struggle with. But after we made and shared our treatments, we had to write a whole script for it too, which was pretty stressful in my opinion. So after writing the script and treatment, we didn't even end up using it. So i didn't really see the point in that and it just caused me unnecessary stress. Besides all of that, this was a pretty easy project and it turned out amazing. I had some pretty great group members too so it made it even better. The only feedback we were really given was that it was a little violent and we had to edit some parts out so it was less violent. This was a great project and a strong way to end off the year in video.

Class Time 

For the most part i used my class time pretty well. I was usually pretty busy so i never had a lot of free time. But when i did have a lot of free time, i would not do a whole lot. If i was 100% caught up i would hang out or do other class work. I could have used that time to make sure everything was as good as it possibly could be and as improved as possible. I guess if i were outside of class, i could always make sure i had all the perfect shots i need and if not, then get them or just think about using video in different situations/places. 

Strengths

As a video student and as an employee i have a few strengths. Some of my strengths are collaboration, leadership, and communication. I love to work with other people all of the time. i usually prefer to work with others and when i do, i like to believe that i am pretty good at listening to their ideas and including everyone all the time. I am also good with leadership. I love to take the lead and to be in charge so i have never really had much of a problem when it comes to leadership. Another of of my strengths in communication. I do a pretty good job at talking to people, and letting them know what i can and cannot do. I think communication is extremely important in everything we do. Even though i do well in these things, i still continue to work on them and always get better. 

Weaknesses

We all have areas where we could improve. A couple of my areas are project management and technical skills. I have never been the best at turning my projects in on their due date or before. I try to and i know that i could, but i don't always try hard enough and i could definently do better. I have been working on it this semester and will continue to work on turning things in on time and sticking to a schedule I've made. Another area of improvement is technical skills. I have a hard time with editing and being able to work the camera right all of the time. I have gotten a lot better with it this semester but i could always do better. I am not going to be in e-Comm next year, but i will still work on my technical skills wherever i can.

Summary

This has honestly been a great semester. I have accomplished so much and had so much fun. I am going to miss this class along with everyone in it a lot and am actually kind of sad that the year is coming to an end. If i could change anything, it would just be to stay a little more focused and make sure i get everything turned in on time. I have learned, progressed and green in every area this semester. Mainly i have just had a really good time. This semester had a lot less stress than last year and its just been relaxing and the project we have been doing have ben fun. I will not be in e-Comm next year but i hope for all of my classes to be this fun., even though i know they probably won't. this has been a great year, i am sad to see it ending but it was fun.