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Final Project

Final Project: Personal Narrative

Before:

I thought it would be fun to summarize my day in little video clips. I was hoping there would be funny conversations with my friends, because we think we are very funny people and always joke about having a reality show. I knew that I would be going to a fundraiser at Donatos that night and thought showing that experience on camera would be interesting.

During:

I was surprised at how uncomfortable it was at times to film myself. There were times where I was walking with the camera, trying to get good video but also trying to hide the camera. In class there was the pleasant surprise that my camera made a beep every time it records or stops recording. As you can imagine teachers do not like when you randomly beep in class, so filming during class was a little challenging. At work, I also felt uncomfortable filming. I didn’t ask my boss for permission, I was only filming my face, but we work with very confidential information so I felt a little uneasy having a camera in the office. That night I went to dinner with my mom, having a camera while I was trying to talk to her, eat, and drink was another problem. I ended up using my phone a lot since it had a kickstand to help hold it up.

During filming I didn’t really have any thoughts about the project, I guess because I hadn’t seen it yet. I was also busy that day and didn’t really focus on how I was going to prepare the video or what the focus would be.

After:

            After watching the footage, I think the biggest surprise to me was how much time I spend alone during the day. On an average day (this Thursday being average) I have 2 classes and work and sometime of meeting or dinner plans after, with very little time in between each event. Of course I am with people in class or walking to class, but I actually only talked to another person once in each class and once on the way to one class. It is almost sad how I can be at a place with so many people and just put in my headphones and ignore everyone. At work, I talk to my coworker a little, but we cant even see each other because of the wall separating us. My only real conversations during the day are conducted over the internet through e-mail or from cell phone to cell phone. This is interesting because as soon as I was done with class and work, I went to dinner with my mom and wasn’t alone the rest of the night. I got ready with my roommate, went out with my friends, and went home with my roommate. At this point in the night, I only used my phone to find people, not to hold conversations.

            I decided that every time I was alone, not speaking to anyone I would make the scene black and white, and speed it up. This represented the fact that when I was by myself I was less happy and that this part of my day wasn’t as important. Every time I am with someone I changed the video to color and slowed it down so you could actually see the interaction and hear the conversation. In some cases the camera didn’t pick up the conversations well, unfortunately, and it was almost distracting from the video trying to figure out what was being said. In these cases I took out the sound and added music. This helped to keep the focus on my facial expressions, which were usually happy during these situations. The music I added were all songs I think describe me, or my friends have said describe me/my life. I think the music helps to explain the video, since there is no blatant message in the title or the end of the video. The last part of the video is all screenshots of my friends from the footage. As I was editing the video there were so many times that I wanted to take a screenshot because I thought that moment was a perfect representation of that person. That sounds really corny, but I don’t know how well staged pictures do of representing someone, and I think these pictures actually did a good job.

            Overall, I think the meaning of my video is that the best parts of life are not the things you do but the people you do them with. That may be cliché, but if you watch my personal narrative you will definitely agree.

What to do?

Original Idea: Video tape what I do after I take too many shots.

Analysis: I like the thought of the idea and it could be really fun, but I also think it could turn out too cheesy and ridiculous. I want to show a video of my life that isn't staged photos and videos, but naturally (from my perspective) the things that happen. Thats the best part about pictures, remembering how you felt when they were taken. And that is what I want to show.

New Idea: Take a 5 minute video clip every 30 minutes. Starting right as I wake up (8:30 a.m.) then I will take the next one at 9:00 a.m. all the way until I fall asleep. My target day is Thursday (tomorrow).

My schedule for Thursday:
8:00-8:30 a.m. - Wake up
8:30- 9:00 a.m. - Get ready
9:30 to 10:55 a.m. - Class
10:55- 11:15: a.m. -Walk Home
11:15 - 11:30 a.m. - Drive to Work
11:30 - 2:30 p.m. - Work
2:30 -2:45 - Drive Home
2:45- 3:30 - Lunch ?
3:30 - 3:45 - Walk to Class
3:55- 5:15 Class
5:15 - 7:00 - Dinner
7:00 - 3:00 a.m. - Go out?

Analysis: We will see how this goes?

Failure Blog

         Looking back on this semester, I believe my biggest failure was not planning properly. When I am first assigned a project my head starts spinning with crazy ideas. I usually pick one of them and begin attempting to complete it. Eventually, I finish the project and I review it. At this point I usually come up with a brilliant new idea and have no time to complete it, or the time for the photo/video has passed. If I could go back and re-do every project, I would sit down and brainstorm for 15 minutes before each one and come up with the best idea then.

        

         Reflecting on this failure has shown me that I come up with the best ideas after I think about the project for a while. From now on when I want to do something creative, I will plan more before attempting to complete the project.

         Also thinking back on this project I realized my favorite project of mine was the “Walk to class” project. I liked the fact that I had multiple pictures and could arrange them in any way I wanted. I also liked that when I took the pictures all I had to do was take pictures of everything I saw, instead of thinking about the reason behind each picture.

         This project which I consider to be a successful one has shown me that when I have a very defined prompt I am less likely to dislike my project once it is finished. This makes complete sense and is actually a very common subject of consumer behavior. When given more choices consumers are less satisfied with their purchases, as opposed to when they choose from less options.

         If I had to change or re- do a project. I would re- do the video project. After seeing the other projects I thought of a lot of better ideas that could have improved my project. I think the video project was awesome and I wish I could have done something I was happier about.

MP5

I started by thinking about the words I was assigned, chip and suspend, and what they meant. While taking my dogs on a walk, I was thinking about what object I would use. It hit me that I should use my dogs as  my object. My dogs are a huge part of my life and my family, and they are also some of my favorite things to photograph. My next step was to follow my dogs around with a camera and wait for them to do something suspenseful. When my dog, Gracie, started running around I really liked the way the fur looked in the light, and as it moved.  I finally got a great picture of her jumping, suspended in air. Until I left for my trip I had not decided to change the background, but when I was on the airplane I had an idea for the background.

I decided to make Gracie suspended in air, behind a chipped glass window. I think this picture is really cool, it doesn’t necessarily mean anything but I like everything together.