Shooting video is always something that I love to do. I spent the last two years of high school and the first year of college with the video camera constantly strapped to my hand. So the thought of us having to go out and shoot a video was certainly something that peaked my interest. However, no matter how much I enjoyed it, the hardest part was the actually shooting the short viral video.
The first problem that I encountered in my “trip around Durham” was an self-depressing realization the digital video camera I have had since high school is no longer in any sense of a working order. Everything filmed is left with a streak of exaggerated colors and lines that certainly don’t belong in my digital world. So I was left with filming entirely on a camera that only takes up to 30 seconds of video in a painfully deflating quality.
The next problem I encountered was how to tell a story about the town of Durham. A topic the size of Durham needed to be better represented that a few select interviews. However, I lacked the necessary tools to truly depict a decent film of Durham that people would actually want to watch. So due to this little camera and no tripod, my focus quickly became a more mocumentary approach at illuminating the town at it’s (not so) finest. This approach gave me the opportunity to add much more humor to the short film, which (I hope) allows the viewers to focus less on the horrendous video quality. To compensate, I did much of the shooting from the window of a driving car, giving the audience the feeling of “being along for the ride,” and allowing the person to get a better feel of getting the full tour from a sarcastic college student.
The last (and biggest) problem that I encountered was having to use Windows Movie Maker to edit my film. I grew up on Adobe Premiere, so having to use to Movie Maker severely limited my creative ability. My computer has trouble running Firefox, so a huge movie editing program like Premiere was doomed. So many of the effects I would usually use were lost to do an initial running on a downgraded program. However, I did the best with what I could, and I guess I am happy with what I got.
Lastly, I wanted to address Fred Field’s visit to the classroom on last Wednesday’s class. I really enjoyed him taking the time out to come in and talk to us about his work in photography. His pictures were incredible, and his sense of humor certainly kept me entertained. I think the thing that I learned most from Fred was when he talked about being shy when he first started. I often get anxiety doing a lot of the work from journalism, but some of the stuff he said made me realize that it is never half as bad as it seems. He actually kind of inspired me. Thanks Fred.