Reflection

When I first heard about the project from my teacher, it sounded very fun. However, when my teacher told us to begin researching I was a little confused about what, we were given vague details because of Cambridge rules. From this hard stomp in the beginning I knew I would struggle a little on this production. In my first blog 'Research/ Planning’, I gave little details of what I think I would need in a commercial about me, like music, imagery, and possible motivations. It was not very difficult at this point but I still had no idea of what I wanted to include so I mostly surrounded the blog with information on what artist or genre I would use. I included music from alternative indie and some artists like Hozier, Imagine Dragons, and Nirvana. I do enjoy that type of music but when discussing with a friend, I was recommended a classical song. I was interested in a new type of music, especially for studying. The artist in particular that led me into a rabbit hole of other artists is Samara Joy. Her music in particular was very slow, with a catchy instrumental playing along. This helped in my commercial because along my day you can relate the music to the chill vibe of the actual video. The actual planning of my video began two days before I decidedly started filming. The idea randomly came along to me when discussing it with my friend. We were both a little confused about the limits of the project and exactly how we would be able to capture, “who we were” in under 5 minutes. The statement “all about me” sometimes feels impossible to showcase. I made statements like I can't take someone through my whole life showing my everyday life and they probably wouldn't know the complete me still. That was when I got the dramatic idea to record my video from my perspective. The point of view of my life felt the most personal I could get telling someone about myself. Instead of forcing viewers to read a screen and watch photo clips flash across the screen with an exciting song. I truly showed my 17-year-old, fast food working, unproductive, over-procrastinating life. Though the idea does sound dull, I had a little clip of happiness in the end to reveal me with friends and the scenery of the beach (the final shot). I was so excited to start filming for the first day on Monday and end on Friday. I believed it would be the easiest thing to do to just hold a camera at my eye view and walk around. However, I was humbled on my first day of recording, it was a little awkward for me to hold the camera so high in a crowd of people. That's when I started to hold the camera a little lower so I could see and also not draw too much attention to myself. Day 1 of filming went just as I explained, completely and in chaos. I forgot to record so many important things like walking on the bus, walking to certain classes, doing certain class work, and even after-school things I partake in. The lack of footage from my first day did make me a little nervous for the rest of my week, but I promised myself I would do better the next day. Day 2 was a little better. I still proceeded to forget to record, but my main issue was that others shared their ideas of their video, which was to upload photos from 30sec to a minute. I had a short dispute with myself if I should switch my idea and copy everyone else, but I’m the last minute my judgment got the better of me and I decided to keep my creative idea. I wouldn’t want my video getting lost amongst the same video clip slideshow being played two hundred other times. Day 3 consisted of me recording the majority of the work I was doing, like homework or notes. It seemed impossible at first because I had only one working hand while the other recorded. I don’t have access to fancy cameras and other technology to make my video more advanced. The best option was my hand. I was recommended to tape the camera to my head but I believe it was just a silly joke, so I opted out of that idea. On day 4, my Brian was a little scattered because of how much I was receiving from teachers, if I had any time left over from online classes, and my everyday teachers I was just doing homework. I still felt like I was missing a lot and I only had one more day left to record. On day 5, I repeated to myself multiple times I would remember to get clips I somehow forgot to get the last four times. I pulled through and got some good clips, like me walking into class or video shots of the stray cats I feed outside of my house. Though my favorite clips would have to be of me feeding the cats, I think many people can’t relate to helping as much as possible. Another of mine at work, the clip makes me laugh a little every time I see it because of how much I struggled to hold my phone and the mop at the same time. Though the ending clips complement the commercial the best, when I’m in a peaceful state that is how my mind feels. The beautiful sunset along with the crashing waves, gave me a state of serenity, and in that moment of filming I thought “Wow it’s done”. I enjoyed this, especially because it pointed out many things I wouldn't have taken into account about my day, so I guess everyone learned something about me, no matter how minor.