Always Gingerly

This may be the first video I have planned, shot and edited but I can definitely say that it won’t be my last. I’ve always wanted to make videos, as my passion lays with film, and someday I hope to create my own, but with a lack of confidence over the past few years has left me always thinking what if…

As you can see throughout the short video, one thing stands out, and that’s my confidence. I wanted to express to the audience how comfortable I am in front of the camera, sometimes in a social setting or even in my classes at University, I may seem a little standoffish, or shy, but here I wanted to show how I really am, confident and quite a smart ass. (Says, my Mum.)

I had so many ideas going through my head for what I could do in this video, and I loved most of them and wrote them all down. But then I realized that I wasn’t making a Hollywood film and I didn’t have million dollar cameras or budget.

I decided to stick to the basics and use the setting of my house, where I spend most of my time. The background was nicely styled by my Mum who was very proud of her work and enjoyed how it looked in the video. I did this, as it seemed very sophisticated and went with the vibe I was going for with for the video.

You may be asking yourself, ‘Jesse, why are you wearing a suit?’ and the most straightforward answer for that is, I wanted too. When I wear a suit, confidence oozes out of me, I feel good and I thought I needed it to show you how I wanted to present myself.

The way I position my camera was quite difficult as I was trying to get the perfect angle, or trying to make things look symmetrical and in the middle of the frame (inspiration of Wes Anderson.) But struggled as I am a rookie, but did try my best with the use of a lot of tables, books, and blu tack.

The pre-production is where I spent a lot more time than I thought. I decided to write a script and memorize it. By doing this I was able to look into the camera, and in my opinion, interact with the audience better.

The script I had written was 2 pages of dialogue, but only 1 was used. I had finished my filming with over 10 minutes of video and had edited the best bits to 5 minutes. So for a first-time editor, I struggled with being able to let go of certain bits in which I had filmed.

With the audio, I recorded it through my camera, and through a microphone on my iPhone. In different takes, depending on the placement of each of the devices, I had to too listen and see which audio fit my video the best, and sync them with the filming.

The hardest lesson but definitely the most satisfying lesson I had learned throughout this first assessment was the tool of editing. I had always wanted to try it and respected people who did it, but now it has me hooked, and I had found it quite fun to do towards the end of it.

For someone who wants to be in the business of making videos and films for a living, this was a big step in the right direction for me, and I look forward to what the future holds within this subject and for the rest of my University course.

-JKM.