I felt that the first project was overall very rewarding to my growth as a student. Not gonna lie, I was completely stressed out over it the majority of the time, but that is because I am new to all of the technology we used to create our video. I believe that to truly grow, you must find yourself in uncomfortable or in my case, stressful situations. It took hands-on experience for me to really figure out how to work the camera. It is one thing to watch the technology guy explain it to us, but completely different once you try to do it yourself. I feel as if this was the hardest one for me and I hope that the next projects become easier because I will be more comfortable with the whole process. I worked in a group with Madison and Aziaun, and all I have to say is that I really lucked out with such great partners. All of us are willing to contribute and work together on our projects, and hanging out with them makes filming more fun. They are great people!
We hit a few small bumps during our filming that can be lessons learned. First, I think it would be a great idea if we started sooner. The first day that we could all get together, it was downpouring and I had to cancel my reservation for the day. We cannot control mother nature, so it’s better to be ahead of schedule in case something goes wrong. Then, I remember learning that we needed to check our equipment. The day we checked out the camera/accessories, I did check the equipment… once we got to where we were going. We were missing our camera battery! I walked back to the media center to retrieve batteries and whenever I got back to Aziaun she told me that we were missing our camera plate too! Lesson learned: check the equipment before leaving the media center! We then tried just holding the cameras and filming. No matter how still we tried to be, it was always a little shaky. Yet, another lesson learned, the tripod is a must!
For project 1, I felt that our biggest setback was time. There are things I would have liked to have changed before even seeing my classmates’ projects. First, I think it would’ve been a great idea to get more footage. In specific I would have liked to have gotten a shot of Mount Nittany, a mask sign, a Pennsylvania state university sign, and then more shots with people. Aziaun and I went and filmed students at a fair, but unfortunately none of our footage that day really checked out to the quality we would have liked to have put in the project. I know we would have filmed more if we would have had more time, so I just really think it’s important to give yourself plenty of leeway for filming and editing. Our group also struggled with knowing how to capture audio right off the bat, we had to film the old main bells about three times through trial and error.
An important skill that I have learned so far while filming was how to work the microphone/headphones while interviewing someone. I am now familiar with where you plug both extensions into the camera and I know that for the microphone the channels have to match. Another skill that I have learned is how to set up the tripod and then get the camera fastened into the tripod. Really, everything gets easier with practice! I also have learned how to be a better storyteller. I know that I want my footage to match the script, or vise versa, if I write my script second, I want it to match the footage. I think Matt and Jacob did a good job at that, especially at the beginning with the footage of Mount Nittany. I also want to give a shoutout to Eric, Casey, and Joe’s group. I really liked the way they panned at old main and I liked their scene where they showed the mask being put on!