Final Reflection

4. At the beginning of the semester, something we learned about was filming Over the Shoulder shots. In my Over the Shoulder video on my blog, Cody and I are the actors. In our scene, the over-the-shoulder shots go back and forth between Cody and me to depict a realistic conversation. Later in the year, we used similar shots in our Values Video. The best scene of this is when Cody helps Lisa up after she falls. Another thing we focused heavily on was Rule of Thirds. This concept is basically setting up a shot so that the most important aspects are in the visual focal points for the audience. Throughout the entire semester, I have implemented the Rule of Thirds in my videos. My Over the shoulder video with Cody shows this concept during our conversation. We placed Cody’s head in one focal point, and my head in another, so the focus would be on us as opposed to the scenery or other elements in the shot. In our values project, we also used Rule of Thirds, especially in our two and three shots. A good example of this is when Lisa in running and trips in front of the Jocks. She is in the right hand focal points, and the Jocks are in the left hand focal points, so they are both equally emphasized. Something else we learned late in the semester was the use of effects in a video. We first did this by doing Sandboxes in Premiere Pro. Demi and I worked together to create two completely different scenes. After learning how to use these effects, we used them in the rest of our videos afterward. In the Jabberwocky stanza video we were assigned to do, Cristabel and I worked on including special effects. One of the effects we used was turning a photo black and white, and making the blood the only part of the photo that was in color. Another thing we did was we made the wood swirly, and we also made a woman fade into the blurry darkness. In The Water is Wide video, we also used these effects. In the beginning, the photo of the little boy sitting at the window shakes calmly back and forth, to give the illusion that he is experiencing a flashback or a dream. Something I learned last semester was how to make titles. The best example of Lower-Third titles is all throughout my Cyberbullying Final Draft video. For every speaker, we have their name and title included. Another example (from this semester) is at the end of our Values Video. The lower third title reads “Lend A Hand”. 5. Some things I definitely learned from other people’s video were from their cyber bullying videos. Something I learned from Elissa’s video was the importance of music. The first draft of her video lacked music, which left an unestablished tone for theaudience. It made me realize that an audience cannot assume what your message is, but they can understand your implications through the power of sound and music. Just adding a simple soft, piano melody would have made this video a lot more effective in portraying its message. Something else I learned from this video is the power of footage. Thevideo simply had images as the video which became very boring and unrealistic. Footage keeps the attention of a viewer, and it also seems very real. Footage lets the viewer envision your message and lets the video-maker become personal with their audience. Cassie’s rough draft of her cyberbullying video made me understand the power of firsthand experience. If someone personally tells their encounter, like Rachel Alva who was cyberbullied, it lets the viewer know your video is meaningful and authentic. It also grasps the audience's attention to emotion, and realization that things like cyberbullying actually occur. It creates a sense of empathy. From Estefania’s video, I realized though this video that humor can truly supplement a message. Although cyberbullying is a serious topic, this group managed to insert comic relief. When Estefania narrates the introduction, it creates a fun tone with the music and her body movement/facial expressions. Another part where humor is effective is when Eddy arrests Cynthia because it is unlikely to happen, especially so randomly at school. In addition, I doubt a policeman dressed in regular clothes would arrest a teenager at school and take their phone away. Another concept was the input of adults. They used three different teachers (Mr. Parker, Ms. Mott, and Mr. Huerta) and let them explain what they think of cyberbullying. Often times, teenagers/students overlook the opinion of adults, but these adults had very valuable, helpful things to say regarding cyberbullying and sexting. I’ve also learned that planning is an essential part of making videos. If you don’t thoroughly plan out when you plan on filming, when you plan on rehearsing, when you plan on creating the actual video, you’re pretty much bound to encounter problems. Something I’ve learned is that proper planning means that I am ready to encounter anything that comes up, and not necessarily having everything go perfectly. A lot of times in class, we would watch films, and Dr. Achterman couldn’t help but stop the films and point out the various camera angles, music, etc.