As our unit on video making is now coming to a close, it’s time for me to reflect on the skills I have gained throughout the unit. Our driving question for this unit is, “what makes a good video?” This past term we have been working on developing our video making skills while creating many videos including our live event, passion video, chemistry stories video and so many more that I will reflect on in this post. 

So, what does make a good video? Lighting, camera angles, consistent audio, good editing and music or interviews depending on the video. All these things I had to take into account when creating each and every one of my videos. 

 

Passion Video/ Tell a Story Video

One of the first videos our class had to create was the passion video and the tell a story video. We were asked to create a short 30 sec to 1 min long video about something that we are passionate about. We had about 30 mins to create our first video draft. In that time we had to come up with our idea, create a story, write a script, then film. Obviously our videos weren’t the best because we had little time to prepare and film. Over the next few days we had time to revise our videos and make them better. We improved our videos by adding things like music or voiceovers. 

I created my video about skiing. I talked about how long I’ve been skiing for and why I like it. 

My finished video draft:

 

 

Project Recreation Video 

Of course after doing videos nonstop throughout the term, I improved each time. I learned new skills throughout each project which made my next video even better. One of the next videos we created was the “Recreation Video.” For this project we were put in groups of four and had to recreate a short film called “Run!” as best we could. Watch the video below:

 

 

I learned different filming techniques throughout this project, like filming something with two cameras to get the same video but at two different angles. We used this technique to get the full effect of the person jumping in our video. Watch our recreation of the short film below:

 

 

Alberta Videos 

 

 

This year as you may already know, our class went on a road trip to Alberta. Read my Alberta post here. In Alberta we created all sorts of videos. The first video we created in Alberta was when we visited a Ghost Town. I created a silent film with my group members, Jordyn, Jason, Jackson, Caleb that took place all around the ghost town such as in the jail, stables, train station and the saloon. We added old sounding music to the background, sped up the whole video as well as created the whole thing in black and white to make it seem more like an old film. Watch our final draft below:

 

 

Another few videos we created in Alberta were the Enchanted Forest and the Identity videos. Watch my Identity Video below:

 

 

 

Watch my groups Enchanted Forest Video below: 

 

 

Live Event 

This project was where we had to create a video about us at a live event. I created my video on our schools Halloween costume contest. During this project I learned the importance of planning ahead, having and idea in mind before hand and planning out shots and a script. I realized this was so important because I had to redo my live event video on the day of our schools costume contest. I learned just how important it is to plan ahead and from now on I will definitely never plan my video and projects the day of.  

Considering the circumstances I am pretty proud of the video I created. However next time I will plan my shots and script ahead of time. Watch my finished video below:

 

 

Take Your Kid to Work Day 

This year all the grade nines in the school went with their parents or friends parents to their work for the day. I went to Derek Jansens medical clinic where he works. Dr. Jansen took me around for the day and showed me what he does for his job. I had lots of fun that day and learned a ton with Dr. Jansen and all the other great doctors who showed me around. To help recap my day at the medical clinic I created a video of my day there with Dr. Jansen. Watch my video below:

 

 

I am quite proud of the video I created for project. Especially because this video was kind of like a final exam for us. It gave us a chance to show off the video making skills we have learned throughout this unit. 

 

Chemistry Stories Video

This video was definitely different from the rest of the videos our class has created. We created our videos this year to tie into our annual winter exhibition. This year the exhibition was all about chemistry and we had to create videos to show how chemical bonding works as well as create a story that went along with our video. I worked in a group with Kiera, Alek and Emerson. Go check out my chemistry post here and watch our video below: 

 

 

I have gained many new skills as well as techniques from this past unit. My videos most definitely show improvement in my video making from the start to finish of this unit. 

I have learned many filming and editing techniques over the course of this unit. I’ve listed some of them below. 

J cut: Leading into the next scene with that audio overtop of the current scene. 

L cut: (essential to conversational scenes) The opposite of the J cut. Taking the current audio and transitioning with it into the next scene. 

Cutaway: When someone is talking cut to a scene of where they are so you get a better sense of their environment. 

Montage: Is super important when showing growth or change in something. Or getting ready for something to happen. 

Match Cut: Matching the characters actions into the next scene. 

Standard Cut: The ending of one scene and the start of another. Nothing in between.

Jump Cut: Taking one long scene and cutting it into multiple clips and then putting it all together into one scene to create an effect of passing time. 

Whip tilt up and down: Start pointing any the sky and pan down to the focus and then vice versa right after to create the up and down effect. 

Below ground: First shot start abound ground on ur focus and pan down to a neutral or dark spot. Second shot start on a neutral or dark spot up high then pan down to the focus. 

Whip Transition: Video your focus and then whip the video to the side creating a blurred effect. In the following video whip the camera from the same direction you wiped the camera out, inward to your new focus. This creates a great blurred translation and then you can’t tell where the video changes shots because it’s blurry.

Speed Ramping Technique: Talking a video and cutting it so it is fast and slow in certain parts to fit the music and whip transitions. 

 

Metaphor Machines 

One of the video projects that I didn’t mention in this post was Metaphor Machines. The Metaphor Machines was by far one of my favourite videos that I’ve created. Check it out below: