Sadly, at this stage, with only a couple of days to go before our project is due, i am not happy with what we have created.
You could argue is a good thing to an extent, you should always be critical. But i can’t blame anyone but myself for why i feel this way right now.
When we initially shot the content, I had the total responsibility for it. The conceptualising of the initial idea. What equipment to bring, the storyboards. And what days to shoot. Basically, content creation how i’ve always known it.
I Spent a good two weeks planning this thing out by myself, and while my group knew the idea and saw the storyboards, that was just about all i let on. I didn’t have any actors in mind, i didn’t ask them to share in that responsibility or the roles on set, because i figured as content creator, that’s my directive. It was minimal work to split out anyway.
While i did the best i could with what i had, Im only human, mistakes were going to happen in some area wether i wanted to or not.
My mistake was that i neglected to look at one thing in particular. Sound. I didn’t check the settings on the camera when shooting, and so the wrong input was registering, on which there was no microphone connected. Effectively, there was no sound in the footage i provided my presenter/disseminator for editing.
To counteract this mishap, we collectively came to the agreement that lets record the audio separately on our phones in our own time and put that in there, as opposed to reshooting the footage we all felt was good.
What i passed on to the editor beyond just the footage, was a task that she had not yet tackled, of manipulating the sound to fit the image, as well as adding ambience and tension. All things i have expirience, knowledge and resources to do something about, that our editor did not. I commend her on her efforts for putting it together, But the final product did not turn out how i personally hoped it would.
In full disclosure. I will edit my own version and publish on Youtube. Not to have it marked, not to say i do better work, in all likelihood i don’t.
It’s simply so that i have peace of mind, because i spent a good 2-3 weeks with closed eyelids visualising how it was supposed to look and feel. But after translating my mind-space onto paper and handing the footage it to someone else, i don’t feel it came out that way, i can’t fault anyone and will take the mark as it comes, i just want that visual for my own keepsake. Made in my own time.
In conclusion. I must say writing these blogs are to an extent cathartic. I have been beating myself up over this mistake for a while, but now, having fleshed out my thoughts on this blog, i feel a certain relief moments before clicking publish.
More than anything, its clear in my head the two things i can look at and get better at. Firstly, communication with my group mates, and saying that perhaps id like more help in a certain area at a later time.
And secondly, getting better about checking my settings before shooting anything so i don’t introduce errors i then will have to work around.
Kornelius Olsen.
