Canada Eh!

     Oh Canada! It is such an amazing place here. Canada is such a wonderful place and I’m sure it has different meanings for everyone. Canada for some people could be the place where they were born and raised like me. It can also be a place they went to for a vacation or a place they moved to for safety or freedom. It can even just be a place full of moose and maple syrup to some people. Recently I was asked a question that seems very simple. “What does Canada mean to you?”. Seems like an easy question right? Well it can be but not when you only have 30 seconds to explain your answer. You may be wondering why I only had 30 seconds so I should probably explain.

In class we were told to answer the question “What does Canada mean to you?”. The purpose of answering the question was for a project/contest. The contest is to create a 30 second or less video answering the question and showing your Canada. When I first heard the question I thought it was going to easy but when I heard I only had 30 seconds I got a little scared. I really wanted to tell a story with my video and I knew it was going to be hard to do but before I started worrying about the length I had to come up with a story. I really started thinking about what I love most about Canada. I also thought of Candadian things I like to do. My favourite thing to do in the world is go to Vancouver Canucks  games. I love the atmosphere and the sportsmanship you see on the ice. I really wanted to incorporate this into my video so I tried to think of a story from one of the games I’ve been too. As soon as I started thinking about the Canucks I came up with the perfect story to tell.

I decided to tell the story of the game when Henrik Sedin scored his 1000th point. I chose this because of the happiness I felt watching this event and because of how I feel it showed part of what it means to be Canadian. The feeling I get whenever the Canucks score is pure joy and excitement and watching Henrik score his 1000th point was just magical. What really made me choose this story was what happened after he scored which you will have to watch my video to find out.

What Canada Means to me Video
When I first started creating my video I thought have how I wanted it to look. I wanted a bunch of cool hockey shots. I knew that I wasn’t aloud to use any copyrighted material so I would have too take my own photos. It’s very hard to get good closeup shots of the Canucks playing because front row seats are very expensive. Luckily I have sat front row at a few Canucks games before so I already had tons of photos. I also had photos from when I had sat in other sections in Rogers Arena. It took me quite a while to go through all of my photos but I eventually chose out all of the photos I wanted to use. I knew I wanted a few more long shots and I wanted to try to record the Canucks scoring a goal. Coincidentally I was going to a Canucks game before the first draft was due so I was able to get the long shots I needed but I didn’t record a goal. I then edited the pictures and videos and made a first draft video. It wasn’t very good because I didn’t have a ton of time to work on it and I didn’t have all of the shots I wanted.

First Draft of Canada Video
Before the second and final draft was due I was going to one more Canucks game. I really wanted to make sure I knew exactly what shots I needed before I went so I started to put my final draft together. I decided that I wanted to get a few more long shots so I could get the perfect one and I wanted to record a goal. I took the long shots at the beginning of the game and then I got really into the game and forgot to try and record a goal. There was about 10 mins left in the game and I remembered and pulled my phone out to try and record a goal. Only seconds after I had started recording the Canucks scored and I was very happy to have recorded it. I now had all of the shots I needed and could make the final draft of my video.

I put all of the pictures and videos together and I thought it look good but it need more. I used some different apps including Snapseed and Font Candy to make the pictures cooler. I even used my favourite app ever, Explain Everything , on one of the pictures to make a small video clip. I also needed to find non-copyrighted music to have in the background which took a long time to find. I eventually put everything together but I decided I didn’t like the way I told the story enough so I re-recorded that. Finally my video was done and I very much liked the final product. I used a ton of my different skills on the iPad and in different apps to make it a very cool video. This was a very fun project and I’m excited to find out who wins the contest. I highly recommend you enter the contest because there are some amazing prizes and it is a very fun thing to do. If you would like to enter go to Here’s My Canada to find out more details. There is still over 150 days left to answer so you have tons of time to make an amazing video. Please vote for my video so I can win prizes! VOTE HERE!