One thing I'd like to improve on for the second quarter is filming better interviews. More specifically, compressing the shot and the audio. I learned about compressing at the Hawaii Creative Media summer camp. Click here to be linked to their website about Compressing an Interview. When I say compressing the shot, I mean blurring out the background and focusing on the interviewee. When an interview shot is compressed, it looks clean and professional, and you're able to pay attention to the interviewee more. Another positive outcome of compressing the shot is that if there is something distracting going on in the background, it will be less noticeable compared to a shot that is decompressed. In first quarter, none of the interviews we shot were actually compressed. The problem was, we didn't give enough distance between the camera, subject, and background. This caused the shot to be distracting and overwhelming because you can see so many things going on, rather than a compressed shot where you only see the interviewee. So to improve the shot this quarter, we will try to compress the shot by distancing the camera, interviewee, and background. Another thing I'd like to improve in filming interviews is the audio. Last quarter, one of my interviewees audio was way too loud when I played it back while editing. I used the DXA-SLR Mini Box for all our interviews we shot, to listen to the audio while recording. The problem was, because I'm not familiar with using it, I don't know what all the switches do, how to control the audio, or how to know if it's being recorded too loudly. But that's no excuse, so I asked Kaden to teach me and he did (Thanks so much Kaden!). Now I know what the gain switches do, and the L and R control knobs so Herenui and I can improve our interview, b-roll, and nat sound audio.
Another thing I'd like to improve on for the second quarter is meeting my deadlines. Last quarter, Herenui and I met our final video due date, but the journey to get there wasn't so smooth. We missed the due date for scripts, and we were late to finish filming and start editing. I'm going to do everything in my power to ensure that this will not be the case this quarter. Herenui and I have already started to prove that because we have gotten our T.I.A.S. and our 5 Points finalized. We also have a list of possible people we could interview, and are trying to keep ahead of our deadlines and not slack off. This means, no procrastinating. However, this quarter will be difficult because the place we are doing a story on, Lanakila Kitchen, is only open from Monday-Friday 6:30 AM – 2:30 PM so we'd only have Wednesdays. But nevertheless, I still plan to be ahead of the game and meet every deadline by being productive and not procrastinating.
The third thing I'd like to improve on for the second quarter is avoiding editing mistakes. Last quarter, I was making the final revisions to the video and when I was finished, I didn't bother to watch the whole thing again. My laziness caused some sloppy, careless mistakes that I didn't notice until I re-watched it a few days after the deadline. For one, I accidentally trimmed off one of my interviewee's lower third. This could have been prevented if I just would have watched the video again, then I would have spotted the mistake and others too. So for second quarter, I will avoid editing mistakes by not being so lazy and re-watching the video each time revisions been made.
In conclusion, I intend to improve in the second quarter, more specifically, the three that I talked about in my blog. I want to improve the compression and audio of my interviews, meet my deadlines, and avoid editing mistakes. The second quarter has started, and I don't plan to re-live mistakes, so I will try to improve and strengthen my work. Thanks for reading! Bye!