To start my reflection, I think I will start with how my idea came to be and how the concept evolved, and then go more into the limitations that I met and how that ultimately shape my final product. Going into this project, and even before we started I had an idea of what I wanted to cover. Since coming back this semester I was extremely annoyed by the addition of “Reserved” spots in the SB lot in the fitness center. I found it annoying that these very limited spots that are extremely popular were decreased to make way for reserved spaces. I understand the concepts of capitalism, but what made me the most annoyed was that after two weeks it was blatantly obvious that these extra R spots were unnecessary.
The original spots are mostly unused throughout the whole day and I truly feel that the only reason the change was made was a money grab by Parking Services and the University as a whole, either to try and sell more R spots, or more diabolically, increase parking ticket revenue. The latter explanation is less pleasing but really makes the most sense, as these new spots are at the end on two SB parking rows that have historically been SB parking. This ploy works by limiting SB parking in a central lot on campus. People in a rush may just risk the ticket if they are late, and it may also confuse people that don’t realize the rows that start as SB spots, and are clearly labelled as such at the start of the row, suddenly change into parking for a permit that is over 4 times as expensive. Clearly, I am passionate about this ridiculous situation and could talk all day about it but I will move on to my video.
Initially, after seeing that many of the previous videos were about parking, I felt I should rethink my idea but since it was so specific to a recent change, I decided to move forward with the idea anyway. Being a regular user of YouTube I know what well-edited videos look like and foolhardily thought that I could easily mimic those styles with no background in video editing. I had a concept in my mind that I thought would be easily translated to the video and I was quickly corrected. Learning the capabilities of the software and not being able to dedicate all my time to one assignment, I decided on the genre of “YouTube conspiracy video.” These videos are infamous for mediocre editing, wild ideas, and heavy use of stock images. Using this idea, which matched perfectly with my skill set I proceeded to make my video in that style. Overall, I think the ideas and script for my video were pretty good for the three-minute time constraint, and the video and stock image editing is so bad that I think it makes the video a bit funnier, but I also have a terrible sense of humor.
Ultimately, the one aspect that I am disappointed by in my video is the commentary. I think the sound quality is pretty bad and it was difficult making the different takes sound alike but overall, I would say it is passable. The majority of learning in this project was with the editing software and I have a deep appreciation for people who edit and produce these internet videos. Even using the Rush version of Adobe Pro, there was a decent learning curve that I had to overcome. I feel that even after this one project my skills and understanding of videography has improved, if only minimally. This project gave me insight into the power that these softwares have and also into the amount of skill and practice needed to make content in this medium, which gives me a greater appreciation for all the people that do it for a living.
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