I think overall our whole team did okay. The maximum time was supposed to be 8 minutes, but we surpassed it by 13 seconds. Also, the audio was not level at all. It would be very loud then change to extremely soft the next segment. Despite that, everyone got their stories in the final video. I think the final video was okay, and not terribly bad, but we certainly have to improve some things. If we had worked faster, we would have more time to touch up and fix these things.
During the practice, we encountered many problems. I think the most challenging problem was finding a good story. At 8am, not a lot of places are open, and many people were not out yet. Plus, it started pouring rain. We couldn't think of any specific story ideas so we decided to go out and scout. First our team went out to Kalapaki Beach, only to find that it was raining and there were hardly anyone out there. Then we went to Harbor Mall to see if any shops were open. All of them were closed being that it was still early and that it's a holiday. Next we went to Anchor Cove. Yet again, no luck. It was about 9 o'clock and we still didn't have a story. We went back to the beach and finally landed an interview with a worker from Beach Boys. Though the interview didn't go as great as we expected. We decided we needed a better story. By this time, it was around 10 and we needed to get a story done. Our team took a gamble by starting all over, but I think it was worth it. We went back to Harbor Mall originally to see if the toy store, Beach Rail was open. We asked them, but they were busy. While we were there we discovered that Skinny Mikes, the ice cream shop, was open and they agreed to help us out! Other problems was that we didn't shoot enough b-roll and so we sent someone to go back while I edited. Also, we were one of the groups who didn't get their story in on time at 2.
Although we had some difficulties, our team also experienced some positive things. We managed to edit down our individual story to around 1:30, which was what they asked us to. We also leveled out the whole video so that it would be easier for the final editors to manage the audio. I think our story line was decent. It was about one of the workers at Skinny Mikes, Kristen Bernardo, who interprets 'Aloha Spirit' in a unique way. She used to be a hula dancer and is passionate about sharing the Aloha Spirit through her graceful movements to others. Most people define Aloha Spirit as the happiness and joy spread between others so it was really interesting to learn about her side of the story.
Lastly, I will talk about the things I am going to do to try and improve for STN. For one, we definitely all have to get our stories turned into the final editors by 2. Then, they'd have more time on trimming it down and leveling out the audio. For our smaller group, we have to work on making sure we have exactly everything we need before we leave. Instead of rushing, we should thoroughly make sure we have enough b-roll.