Hey, everyone! It’s been a while! I’m back with a Humanities Post about the most recent  unit we have been working on. For this project, we went on a journey to the capital of our home, beautiful Victoria BC. We call these our field studies, which include trips such as Oregon and Alberta, and of course Victoria. Now of course we were not just travelling all the way to Victoria for nothing, what would be the point in that? We went to learn about the history of this province as well as how we can connect people with this history. Therefore, we each got assigned different places/ people to research and create a video answering this driving question, “How might we help visitors to Victoria connect with BC’s history?” Well, you are about to find out! I’m going to kick it off right away with my video so you have a better understanding of what exactly I am talking about!!

PLANNING

I researched a man named Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie who was originally from Britain but came over when BC was a brand New Colony and brought with him a great court system and our very first Chief Justice. Wow! I’m surprised I just summed up who this amazing man was in one sentence, but that’s not what this post is about, it’s about what I learned! If you want to learn more about specifically Sir Mathew Baillie Begbie, watch my video up above or check out this short video.

When I created my script and shot list based on my research I didn’t realize how important it would become later in filming stages. 

The most important lesson I learned from writing a script and shot list as well as collecting research, is to be as specific as possible, it is better to have too much script than not enough! It came in handy when I was doing On-Location filming because whether I knew what I needed to say or not, I could always double check and my finished project made a lot more sense when I was prepared and knew what to say, which leads us to our next step in the production of my video, Filming.

FILMING

One of our stops Ross Bay Cemetery, my main filming location!! We were given a history tour of the grounds by a wonderful guide named John of The Old Cemeteries Society of Victoria where a lot of the research I had done on Sir Begbie was confirmed which was very reassuring. Once that tour was over, we had a mere 15 minutes to film!! I was running around like a mad woman trying to get my shots and I did!!

But I didn’t realize until after I had all my shots that they weren’t the best quality, though it was too late. This was a hard lesson to learn since there was nothing I could do about it until my next filming project. This lesson, was the rule of thirds. The rule of thirds is where the main subject should be placed on a grid when filming. It would look a little something like this:

It really upgrades the quality of your video just that much, it is much much more appealing to the eye, and it is how proper professional films are filmed. This is definitely something I will be inserting into my next filming project to make it perfect!

EDITING

Once our wonderful trip had ended and we were back home, it was time to edit all that film. It took several drafts to make it perfect though.

I showed this draft to a few friends and I immediately got feedback, which is a good thing! The audio (music and voice overs) was inconsistent, a few of my clips were hard to understand, and I didn’t have much of a conclusion. This is Draft 2:

Draft 2 was much much better since I refilmed the clips that couldn’t be understood and added more of a closing but of course, it is never enough! My intro scene was cut off at the top and I could still make my closing shot stronger, more like credits.

Draft 3 was very very close, there were a few little tweaks I made to the titles but I wont show you all of those, you can just check out my final copy for what it looks like now! I learned that taking critique is very important. It made my video ten times better once i listened to what people around me were saying and changed those things immediately.

CONCLUSION

 

I think he biggest lessons I learned come from the prep and production of my video. From the planning portion, I learned just how important it is to have a detailed script and shot list since it makes it a lot easier to film on location and be prepared.This preparation is part of the quality of you video, but another very important part is the way you film. I learned about the importance of the rule of thirds from failing. I definitely didn’t use the rule in my filming for this video but after seeing examples of how much better clips look when using the rule of thirds, it is definitely something I will use in the future.Taking peer feedback isn’t something that should be forgotten a bout either. It is so crucial to take these words of wisdom from people around you and change the parts that can be. Each totem you improve a part of your video, it is more enjoyable for people around you to watch and you will usually be more successful.Our field study to Victoria was definitely fun and exciting, but most of all it changed, not only the way I see our province and how it was formed but, how we can connect visitors with the History of BC and Victoria through film.

~Jordyn