Wow, so my first ever video created by me and uploaded to the internet. I’ve made videos back in VCE but none that required me to upload them and reflect on who I was intending to portray. What made this even more difficult was the fact that I was supposed to portray myself. Even then, when I attempted to explain what I’m currently doing, what my interests are and my aspirations for the future I began to play a character – something that just kind of happened. I still managed to convey the busy nature of my life however, with those quick-as-a-whip pans between each shot and the multitude of routines I put myself through shown by my changing outfits and different props. I even managed to emphasize the mixture of physical activities and study that I am constantly balancing by wearing glasses in some shots and then a singlet in another, things I don’t even wear ever. Overall, I still wanted to convey that among the multiple directions my life seems to take, I still don’t have a clue about which path I’m going to end up choosing and that’s why I chose to conclude the video with the statement that I did.
On the more technical side of things I learnt that it is simply much better to record audio on your phone in a still environment with good acoustics to later put into a video rather than trying to record as you film. I also learnt that it is extremely helpful to make an all-in-one document that contains your script, shot list and other to-do’s so that when you’re tired and haven’t had time all week to film any of your project you can simply refer to this document and piece together your video like it’s an instruction manual. In regards to the length of my video, I decided keeping things brief and fast-moving would engage an audience better than resorting to sitting at my desk talking into the camera off a script in front of me. The video is long enough to include all the occupations that make up my identity and sum up what I plan to do with these random skills I’ve learnt, but at the same time does not drag on to include anything more than a simple introduction of myself.
The biggest problem I faced while filming this was the issue of time and balancing appeal with efficiency but I think ultimately I learnt that this challenge can be overcome by first and foremost ensuring that it is indeed the quality of your video and your choice of storytelling methods that will make a video worth watching. In conclusion, playing yourself without emphasizing the interesting parts of your life is hard and remember to put quality over quantity when it comes to video-making.