On Friday, the entire cohort of those who did Tech this semester presented their projects at a Presentation of Learning (PoL). It was awesome seeing all the cool things that people had been working on, and chatting to guests about the projects. There will be two blogs about the aftermath; this one shall be a reflection on the project, while the second will be trying to do some cool spreadsheet functions one of the guest speakers showed everybody.
Before we get to the reflections though, I would like to take a moment to give a huge thank you to Liam Mulligan for being my guinea pig for this video. It was super awesome working with him, and his experience with videography also helped me keep on the straight and narrow while we were filming. He is also an awesome composer and performer, so go and check out his stuff here!
But for now, the reflection!
Reflection
The format for this reflection is nice and simple. I will list the issues I faced, how I overcame them (or learnt to live with them), and how I would avoid these in the future. Then, I will talk about the things I thought I did well and was quite proud of.
Issues
1. How to be on camera
There was a lot more to this than I expected. Although I had done shoots in the past where I had been on camera, I was always being directed and scripted. To direct myself while in front of the camera, and know what to say and how to say it, is very different. One of the hardest videos to edit was about the bow hold, which was one of the first videos I did. This was because I would reduce the volume of my voice as I finished a topic, and would often turn to prepare for the next thing. This made nice clean cuts between topics really difficult to make work, and looks very sloppy. There were similar issues with all of the videos that included Liam, as I would often stand in the way I would with a student, rather than the way that was necessary for the video.
There was also the issue around a lack of script for the introduction and practice tips videos. Although I did have a script for the introduction, there was no good way to position it that allowed me to look at the camera and read the script at the same time. I was particularly thinking about this because when I edited the practical videos, I could notice that I was looking at the view-port and not the lens.
How to get around these problems in the future? First, let's look at an example that shows the good reading of a script and looking at the lens at the same time.
I’d like to just take this moment to give a shout out to the awesome The Great War series that this video comes from. It followed World War 1 by the week exactly 100 years after the event. It is extremely well presented and researched, and I recommend it to any teacher covering World War 1 in classes. They have even begun doing specials, such as these, about the aftermath of the war. Check it out!
Anyway, this is the model video we will be using to discuss ways I can improve my own video series. Let's have a close look at Jesse’s (the presenter’s) eyes. Now I could be wrong here, but to me it looks like he is looked every so slightly above the camera, so potentially a rolling script could be positioned here. The other alternative is of course that he has memorised the script, and I just need to get a lot better at script memorisation! Maybe some acting classes are in order…
Jesse also speaks at a comfortable pace and balanced volume, making him easy to understand. There are very small breaks after each of his sentences, and longer ones when he moves onto the next topic. These are all rather basic rhetoric techniques, but it is important to actively use them when sitting in front of a video camera. Of course, the only way to improve this is to practice.
To improve the practical videos, I really need to have a script. It can be difficult to do so as I am working with someone else, but it would allow me to maintain a good structure to my video and ensure I say everything that I need to say when I need to say it. This will make the editing process so much easier.
2. Camera angles are harder than you expect
Camera angles make a huge difference to how professional the final product looks. I felt I always made the camera too low, and that my head was too high in the frame. This could have been solved by spending more time getting camera angles right, and once more, walking in with a better plan of how everything should look.
Close ups were also difficult. Although I did have access to two cameras, I decided for ease to only use one, which was a huuuuge mistake. Again, with greater planning I would have found a good way of making use of both cameras, making the videos much more clear and therefore much more useful. As you can probably tell, these camera issues could have been dealt with if I remembered that…
3. Making recordings always requires more time than you expect.
In this case, I do not necessarily mean that an individual recording session takes more time than expected, but rather that finding out everything required to get that perfect shot does. This includes scouting the location, understanding how the lighting looks in the location, how the different heights of those camera will affect the shot, and all the similar problems that can arise. This means finding time to get into the space and do a pre-project recording BEFORE the day of the actual recording. Unfortunately in this situation, things outside of this project took precedence when I was hoping to be working on the project, but that is something that needs to be planned for. This can be made easier by having a project timeline (which you can find out how to do in a spreadsheet in the next blog…)
4. Use visual resources to reduce the amount of filming
That also means factoring them into your plan, and making them beforehand! When you watch most educational YouTube videos, you don’t realise how often creators use this technique and how much time and effort it saves them. I only realised this when I was about to work on a video about how to work on reading music notation. I had my camera pointing directly at a piece of music sitting on a stand as a talked behind the camera, then remembered I could do the same thing a lot easier with a screen capture program! When you don’t need film, or don’t need to talk during the filming, don’t do these unnecessary steps. Why show your face as you describe an object when you can show an image of that object on screen? If you are talking about an action, why not just film that action and then do a voice over after? This reduces opportunity for desynchronising between audio and visuals, and makes editing a whole lot easier. I really wish I had done this for this project as I would have saved me a lot of time, allowing me to make more videos!
Just to show what I mean, let’s return back to that great war example. Often in the Great War series, the host will read information while footage is shown, or portraits of the person being described, with quotes from individuals also being displayed on the screen. This not only makes the content more engaging and easier to understand, but also has the added benefit of making the actual recording of episodes easier.
Good Things
I think the thing I did best at, and am most proud of, is my editing. I felt I did a pretty good job of editing during this project. Although the videos were not always the best quality, I felt I was able to make them more coherent and easy to understand.
1. Cuts between angles and shots
I was really pleased with my ability to cut between angles and shots. I was often able to find a good place to make a straight cut, I felt that I used fades between shots really well. I also was able to arrange shots in an order that made coherent sense, so that at no time the viewer is confused with what is going on.
2. Graphics and multiple shots during the tutorials.
I am really proud of how well the two shots at once work in the posture video. I felt that it really helped showing both the upper body and feet as Liam adjusted his posture, and although the two are not entirely synchronised, I feel it was still effective.
I’m also super happy with the growing tip list in the practice tips video. I spent a decent amount of time finding the perfect length for the tips to show on screen, and finding the perfect time for them to appear. I feel they fit in perfectly with the video, and add rather than subtract from the flow of the video. I am especially happy as these were not planned, but something I decided to do as I was editing the video!
3. Intro and Outro Graphics and Music
There is a lot I like about these. Actually I personally think these are the best parts of my videos, but oh well. Again, I worked hard on making sure they were exactly the right length, that the music and text and background faded in and out at exactly the right time and that the text was perfectly positioned with the right size and colour. I am also very proud of the timing of the outro music, fading in just before the end screen pops up. It really rounds off the end beautifully and makes the video seem that much more professional. Also, quick but huge shoutout to Quart-ed for recording my music that I used for the intros and outros! You can find out more about this awesome quartet here.
Conclusion
Overall, I am really happy I did this project. I learnt a hell of a lot, did some things I thought were really cool and hopefully created something useful to others! I have really developed an appreciation for the art of videography, and hope to expand on this series in the future. Many of the guests at the PoL thought it was a really cool idea, so I hope that by making more videos I can help more people.