It is now approaching the end of semester and as a result, the end of my DA, ‘Yeah The Boys’. I have made significant progress with the videos and have really got the ball rolling on video production. I have definitely encountered various issues and found ways around them in order to produce the best work possible.
One of the biggest challenges that I faced was using a microphone and camera. The first video I made I used a tripod, which, I have since not used. I found that it was difficult to set up and took up a lot of my time during the filming sessions. I have noticed however that it is super hard to hold the camera still, especially when filming the often 20-30 minute interviews, so I might reintroduce some sort of tripod, or even just resting the camera on a table with books, etc. to get that really well set up shot.
Another issue I ran into, and am still figuring out, is the sound of the camera focusing. Because the subject matter, which is usually the person, is constantly moving around doing their activity, I need to be focusing all the time and this creates this zooming in noise. Some of the best shots I have gotten, I have had to delete and scrap because the noise completely ruined the shot. I may consider in the future looking into using an auto focused camera, however, I like the ability to focus on what I choose myself; it gives me the most control possible.
I find myself using quite repetitive question/answers within each video, but even though I want to create differentiation within each video, I also need to remember that I am trying to create a running theme throughout the series and sometimes it will be repetitive. However, that being said, I may try to ask questions more specifically referencing that persons experiences and their involvement with the activity, that way, even though there is a similar notion of masculine norms and stigmas, its from unique viewpoints and fresh perspectives each time.
Going forward, I am going to make the final three videos of the series (Joe/Surfing, Marshall/Music and Seth/DJing) whilst doing the following:
- Changing up the video editing style to make each video super interesting and unique
- Asking more specific questions, rather than super general ones
- Using a tripod for interview questions
- Asking people to watch it and give me their direct and immediate ideas, responses and feedback
- Going off Angus’ advice, make it clear from the start of the video what will be shown and discussed, in attempts to maintain viewer engagement through the entire video
- Continue to share them on Facebook and YouTube J
Anyways, thank you for reading my blog post. I am sorry if it’s a bit brief; I have found the process relatively exciting and fun so not many complaints.
cava101eastwood 