Two separate edits of a sequence of your work. Embed two different edits of a key sequence in your media work and write a 350-word reflection on the aims, strengths, and weaknesses of each.  If you are working in another medium (i.e.: a photo essay, photographs), you might like to explore two different layouts or formats for the work to be presented in.

After our first rough editing, I don’t think we have achieved our goals. In the first video, we edited so many the lens of Melbourne central because we want to show the whole process of their painting through a fast-moving way, but that let the audience felt tired when they watched it. And the first video lacks some transitional lenses, such as we can take some scenery of Melbourne and recording some background sounds like bird sounds. In addition, the inconsistency of subtitles and mouths is also a big problem. Especially after we watched other people’s videos, I think our videos lack rhythm. We haven’t switched the length of each video very well. So, in the final editing process, we had dealt with these issues one by one. We cut most of the Melbourne Center lenses and pieced together other street artists’ paintings to achieve a smooth effect. At the same time, an interview about visitors’ impressions and opinions of these creators came up. We focus on editing the lens of interviewers and street artists to ensure that the rhythm of the video is smooth. Then we recorded some scenery of Melbourne at different times and recorded some bird calls and old tram sounds and added them to the middle of the video for the transition. In terms of subtitles, we also made corresponding improvements to make the whole picture more harmonious. Moreover, after we’ve perfected many details, we’ve added background music to the promotional film to make the whole video more professional and persuasive. We hope that after editing and improving, again and again, we can through this video to publicize the graffiti culture of Melbourne to more people.

Synopsis

As a unique culture of Melbourne, graffiti has become one of the most vitality parts in Melbourne. Walking through the streets of Melbourne, people can find diverse graffiti which conveys different concepts. It is a great backdrop for tourists to take pictures and is a special way for creators to express their spirits. This promotional video gathers the creative process of different street artists and shows inclusiveness of Melbourne for graffiti cultures has been demonstrated through these two interviews. Accompanied by the view of Melbourne and the sound of the ancient tram, this promotional video spread the graffiti cultures to the audience.

Filming: Xinyue Dai (Amy), Yating Shi (Poppy), Yuchen Chen (Rain)

Editor: Xinyue Dai (Amy), Yating Shi (Poppy), Yuchen Chen (Rain)

Music: Yuchen Chen (Rain)

A 350-word post reflecting on your semester – Review the Week 1 blog post where you outlined your goals for this unit. Did you meet them? What challenges did you experience? How did you overcome them? What did you learn along the way?

Review the week 1 blog post, I had mentioned that I am unfamiliar with photo essays, promotional videos, and short documentaries. Also, I mentioned my learning goals about this course which is how to make movies successfully, it includes lens analysis, shooting skills and editing ways and so on. Fortunately, before the end of the course, we had an exercise on photo essay and making a promotional video. I attach great importance to these assignments and am enthusiastic about it. I hope we can achieve the highest level through limited expertise and editing skills. At the same time, the corresponding difficulties will arise from time to time. For example, in the process of completing the photographic collection of like-subjects, because I am not familiar with the camera, some of the photos did not focus successfully, or some of the indoor photos were too dark. So, I can only adjust these shortcomings through post-production, these problems affect the quality of the final photographic collection. Moreover, in the process of shooting the promotional film, editing is our biggest problem. We are not very confident about the control of video rhythm, such as some lenses are too short and some lenses are a bit burdensome. After we watched other people’s video in class, we edited our video again and record some Melbourne’s view. When we encounter such difficulties, we would focus on discussing and even draw a draft map to help us clear our mind and then revise one by one according to the sequence on the draft. Sometimes we get some new inspiration by watching other people’s videos. I think these are all quick solutions to problems. In nearly a month, I learned the importance of video rhythm, because the comfort of rhythm can provide a good viewing experience for the audience. More importantly, a good editor is also the most important factor in completing the whole video, so, editing will be my next goal. In fact, sometimes a few simple fixed-frame lenses can be a good way to highlight the video theme. Therefore, in addition to passing the technical barriers, the sense and rhythm of the lens also need to be cultivated to make a good film.

A 350-word post appraising your final work – What was your intention with this work? Did you achieve it? What aspects of the work are you proud of? What media production skills do you need to improve?

The reason why we chose graffiti as our topic in assignment 4 is that graffiti as an indispensable part of Melbourne’s culture is very attractive to us. Compare with other countries, graffiti arts are not popular in China. Because of the historical background of our country, there is no such place and streets to allow people painting on the wall and it is illegal in China. On the other hand, due to the different ways of receiving education, some Chinese people cannot fully understand and integrate graffiti cultures. But in Melbourne, we can see the inclusiveness and freedom of the city from various graffiti designs. Everyone can show their creativity and imagination in graffiti arts and every graffiti has a different meaning include positive and negative. Finally, they turn these unique design concepts into a representative tourist attraction. So, we hope to make a 3-4-minute short promotional video to spread Melbourne’s graffiti culture. Even if this art is hidden in some corners or alleys, we hope that not only Melbourne residents, more foreigners can comprehend and appreciate this art through the video we make. Although there are many shortcomings, I think we have achieves this goal in general because we focus on the theme of graffiti and record the productions and interviews of some street artists. I think these materials might make our promotional video more convincing. During the shooting process, what I am proud of is that our cooperation is very smooth because we can solve problems effectively and quickly when there are disputes, like when we were confused and arguing about how to record graffiti in Melbourne central, we decided to shoot from different angles. Moreover, we interviewed a man from China, whose interview content is very important to our whole video because he not only praised graffiti art and mentioned a lot about cultural background. In terms of media production skills, I think we still have many shortcomings. It is hard for us to edit the effect we want because we are not familiar with software and cameras. Some blurred lens has no focus; some of the shaking pieces because we didn’t use the tripod. In addition, we haven’t used some editing skills skillfully, such as how to use professional noise reduction function or other technology. These problems make it impossible for us to make the video that comes to our mind. There are all things we need to improve, but after this exercise, I hope to have improved in the next video.

1. A 350-word post on collaboration – Did you have any issues in the making of your work? How did you overcome them? What makes a good collaborator?

In assignment 4, we are asked to work in a small group. Cooperation is a very important course in college because it is related to whether you can finish your assignment or get a high mark. In this exercise, our cooperation is very smooth but sometimes we also face many problems. The biggest problem we encounter is that everyone has their own ideas, sometimes it is difficult to unify. For example, graffiti is our theme, when we were shooting street artists in Melbourne central, we had a disagreement about shooting methods. I think we should focus on the details of artists’ paintings, but rain felt that if we recorded the whole painting process, it would shock the audience. So, we decided to rent two video cameras to record them from two angles. When disagreements arise, communication is the most effective solution. Also, how to assign tasks is also a challenge for us. Because we shoot a lot of videos, we need to divide the work of screening and editing the videos. So, each of us needs to roughly to edit more than 100 videos. But we haven’t considered is that in this process, the video may be duplicated or omitted. For instance, a shot you want to add is not in the video you are assigned to, so when we finally merge the videos that each one has edited it, it is also a big project, even a little waste of time and energy. So, we decided to work together in the final cut, which is good for the effect of the final video up because if someone comes up different opinions we can immediately try different methods, such as one person finds a better video and the other one can edit it. It is unavoidable to encounter contradictions in cooperation. Sometimes it is not beneficial for the work to stick to one’s own ideas. On the contrary, sharing ideas and communicating with each other may be more conducive to the completion of the work.