For exercise 3 we were given the task of going out and shooting 5-10×60 seconds small videos, with a theme in mind.
I went out and shot footage of my suburb Coburg, with an industrial theme in mind. I shot cars, the road, buildings hoping that it would give an idea of what Coburg is like from my eyes. Yet when I looked back at the footage I decided it didn’t portray Coburg the way I wanted it to, in fact, it made it look a bit drab (on another note I do intend to make a film about Coburg and the wonders that it holds, because I don’t think enough people know how multicultural and fun Coburg can be). So I went and looked at the other footage that had been uploaded onto the drive at school.
I found a bunch of videos made by someone which focused mainly on the natural world. Reflections, the branches on trees, a flower swaying in the breeze. I thought about how peaceful and serene all the videos looked and decided to use those instead of the footage I shot. Working with footage I hadn’t shot was a pleasant challenge as I had to find meaning in it in my own way. I noticed how calm and peaceful all of the videos were, how tranquil everything seemed, how silent and appealing. Nature tends to be associated with peacefulness in my mind (although it can be extremely unpeaceful and terrifying at times) therefore I wanted to explore how I could make the footage acquired seem unpeaceful and somewhat uncomfortable to watch.
The duration of each shot allowed me with flexibility in the editing process, in terms of the way I wanted to piece it together. The length of the different shots start quite short and then fades to black. Then it cuts to the same procession of shots yet they change quicker, and this continues on until all you can see of the moving images are merely glimpses. I decided not to add music because the natural world around us does not have a soundtrack. Leaving it with just the background noise from the shot videos I believe, draws you in more closely. I played around with different filters, seeing how they affected the quality of the image, to see if they added to the message that I was trying to portray, but to me, it just took away from the beauty of nature. While editing it together I did realise that more footage of nature would have been better for the entire process, would have made it more engaging for the audience and would have made the whole film flow a lot better. I worked past this and got something I am proud of making yet I do believe 3 or 4 more shots would have made more like the image I had in my mind.
All in all, the exercise was a fun task to undertake!
