BSC: Quarantine & Me

    Creating video content can be a daunting task but compiling that video into an appealing piece is another task all in itself. There are many subject matters to consider but the project ‘BSC: Quarantine & Me’ is from the point of view of a college student while in quarantine. The content, storyline and production were all completed in a South Buffalo apartment. With limited space, this project was completed with a cellphone, a laptop and a desire to show a personal flair for conveying my daily life.  

     Perspective is all about an individual’s way of seeing things and this project tapped right into the heart of that concept. In order to offer that perspective, it is imperative to create structure to the story you are trying to tell. When creating this structure, you must analyze the components of your day that consume the most time. This will tell you what to start to focus on and portray to the audience. It can be daily habits, crafts or anything within your space that is important. For some, not all their personal content is preferred to be shared with the public, especially on a popular host like YouTube. For me, I was happy to share the content of my day-to-day life with others.

       Taking videos to later compile seems like an easy concept but you can run into obstacles once you get to that later stage. My main obstacle of this project was in reviewing the footage once I was ready to edit. The footage was shaky and often stalled in many of my original clips and this delayed the editing process. On one hand, it caused delay but, on the other hand, it was an opportunity to correct any images that were not satisfactory. I reshot scenes that weren’t quite fitting and this was a perfect opportunity to restructure the original idea.

     Editing the videos was not difficult because I have experience with music editing programs, and it was a very similar structure. It took me a few minutes to gage the platform and move around in some of the features but I caught on quickly to the main components that I would need to use for this project. For some, the task could be daunting because the software is not necessarily ‘easy’ to navigate. Even with instructional videos, working with this program could be cumbersome for individuals. Inserting the intro and exit credits was the most difficult part of the editing process for me. I had to figure out how to incorporate them without causing too much disruption to the film concept.

      I found no real issue with sharing the content of my space because my life is ‘kid-friendly’. I have a child that has many toys and activities, so it was a joy to display that for others to see. In addition to that, I shared my art projects, collectibles and antiques. These are all things that I am proud to have and even more proud to share with the public.

        I had no issues sharing the video, both full-length and teaser, to social media. Because of the audio, even though it was legally purchased, there had to be a disclaimer added to the file to avoid in any copyright claim issues. Each file uploaded without issue and the first video uploaded has received over 30 views.

          I thoroughly enjoyed this project as I have always wanted to learn video editing. My nature is to get discouraged if I cannot learn a program immediately and my ability to pick this up quickly made the task satisfying. I decided that my first edit was not quite the perfect representation of my quarantine life, so I recreated it and made adjustments based on what I wanted the end goal to be. This made the experience that much more satisfying because I realized how quickly you can start over if necessary.

         

 Sharing media with the public can be intimidating because of the many layers. You must have content that is interesting to others, but you must also layer it together in a way that is visually appealing. You can learn programs and technical styles from many different mentors or platforms but the most basic of the need for a successful media file is the style and way it is presented. That is most truly an art form that cannot be learned. Like with most things nowadays, you must tell a story in order for something on social media to be affective. Telling a story about yourself may not always be intriguing to another, but if you are able to complete a compelling storyline, you are sure to grab the attention of an audience.