Time Profile Video

My profile video had to do with the passage of time and it was fun making it. Even though it was more work than writing, it was at the least, more fun and more engaging. I also believe it will be more expressive to followers. I had the creative liberty to express the passage of time in any way possible, and since time is always passing, it was at first tough choosing a concept from a variety of options. Pretty much any thing being shot could represent passing time. The easiest option was to be chronological, but I felt the need to be creative and was also required to be part metaphorical.

I chose to present time as a long existing idea, which now holds the human race captor, based on the structure of our modern societies. Even though it is currently impossible for individuals to coexist in any society without a subjection to time, the idea in the video is that the actor chose to use his time at his discretion and at the expense of other stereotypical activities that require time.

Shooting the video was a little challenging, but on top of that, it was a learning process. I’ve always possessed cameras but there are certain shots I never tried taking. Some of my shots required speeding up to allow time flyby faster and limit the total running time of the video to the time stipulated for the assignment. I had to keep the camera steady when shooting such shots. Any shake which could be acceptable at regular video speed was unpleasing when the video was sped up and so, I had to discard such shots altogether. Furthermore, some shots had to do with real characters in their everyday life. I felt guilty of taking peoples shots without their permission. It was a lot easier when I left the camera recording and walked away from it, but I would be lucky to get a good perspective without holding the camera or using a tripod.

Editing my video was a different ballgame. Creating a storyboard for the sequence before starting out on the computer really helped. The major challenge I encountered at this stage was with iMovie software limitations. iMovie is a video editing software with limited creative tools and it is preset for the amateur video maker which makes it very easy to maneuver. The mandate to use this software stifled the creativity and intensity I planned for the message. Also, in iMovie, the editor has no control over how files are saved. After exporting my final movie the first time, I realized that I needed to make some changes. By the time I reopened iMovie the last changes I had earlier made were no longer there and I had to start all over.

There were really no struggles encountered with  posting the videos online. I initially post it on YouTube. I already had a YouTube account Prior to this project. As soon as the upload was complete, I received a message that the video may not synchronize with the audio. It went on to suggest how I may rectify this problem. I however had a link to play the post and so I did. It actually played well. I also uploaded a copy to Vimeo after creating an account by simply following the on-screen instructions.


From my experience and even from reading about it, Vimeo and YouTube are at par because they both have merits and demerits. As regards the playback quality of my post, both sites rendered the same quality. Uploading wasn’t a hassle on either site, probably because my content had no fault. However, switching playback to a full screen mode while playing on YouTube caused the playback to restart the buffering process. On Vimeo however, the video Kept playing on full screen without a hitch.


From another standpoint, I picked the option to keep my video on YouTube private from YouTube search engine so that only people with the link can watch it, but by the next day, I already had 12 visitors while Vimeo, which had no search restrictions, had no views at all. From this, I can attribute a larger community to YouTube. Additionally, the embedded Vimeo playback on my blog displays no progress bar or icon over the video. It looked very clean and professional. Meanwhile, trying out with YouTube content not only had those embellishments over the video, but also had links to similar videos displayed after playback. This is an easy distraction, which will take visitors away from my page. In summary, based off my experience as well as my study, my choice on which site to use when posting a specific video must therefore depend on the specific purpose of the video.

Self-Portrait on Politics

Wale

Business – the new Politics

Our first concept tends to portray business as the politics of our time. Many successful business people discovered themselves at some point of their academic career and in many cases quit school to avoid missing out on opportunities. Eventually, due to their innovation, the following generations no longer have the opportunity to learn how to do things from foundation. Instead, they are mandated to use pre-formatted tools. They become tied to those tools after their learning process at the benefit of the established ones. They also fall servants to the the established ones since the chance of successfully implementing their own original ideas get slimmer and slimmer.

The images and videos we will incorporate will illustrate the following text;

• People of power decide our road to the future
• Often limited are the options they leave us to choose from
• Leaving out the road they took to where they are
• Forcing us by hook or by crook to patronize their ambition
• And when their fortunes are no longer under threat
• They can then prepare to publish their story
• Politics was originally for the public
• But this is the politics of the private sector

We Were all Born as Politicians!

Our second concept aims to present politics as a good quality that every one of us was born with. However, it is our resolve in life that tend to define us. We will use videos that communicate the following text to complete the project.

   We all want to control the road to our destiny
   We seek to stand out from the crowd
   We naturally evolved with a “me first” tendency
   Craving power is natural
   Some are more obsessed than others
   But we all live in a shared world
   The road for one implies the road for many
   Politics seeks to decide a road for all
   Some resolve their own inner circles first
   Others think collectively
   Those are the ones that stand out
   Politics is Natural 

Terrence

Sarif

Some Interesting Online Videos

Trigon Commercial

The idea behind this video was the power of Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield. This was symbolically represented by the cool and darkened ambience and dark color of the talent’s shirt. This power is directly expressed by the text that boasts that they possess all choices of doctors at Trigon. The music also complements the ambience. The fact that a kid was made to express some dissatisfaction implies truth. Kids don't express stories with such enthusiasm if it was staged. It must have truly happened. Overall, the concept applied in this commercial is very creative.

ZAZOO Condoms

The man represented in this video is obviously not prepared to be a father. Unfortunately, he did not use a condom to ensure that. Now he’s faced the challenges of being a father. The video of this man with his son at the grocery store shows a true scenario of an insistent child demanding what his parent cannot afford. The concept is very original, very creative and obviously attention grabbing. The colors in the background were similar to the brand colors at the end of the video.

McDonalds Commercial

This video is funny and still makes so much sense, even without text. From the start, we see the signs of a sour relationship between the lady driving and the man going fishing. The man looks fed up. Then, while fishing, the man had a close encounter with (presumably) a shark that bit off a chunk of the platform right next to him just to get a McDonalds pack he had. His next action was definite. He aimed to use the next of such opportunity to get rid of the lady while he steers clear while awaiting action. The video is hilarious and therefore memorable.

Never say no to Panda!

In this video, music was used creatively to complement fear. The idea is that the music runs when things are still peaceful, shortly before a wrong decision is fully assumed. The music stops for Panda to get even with every wrong decision. It’s funny and though impossible to force a brand on customers, but at some point watching these pack of commercials, I felt it was being hammered into my belief system that something is bound to go wrong if I don’t accept Panda when the opportunity presents itself. Text was used, for the punch line, and the punch line makes it memorable.

Google Chrome

This video is very colorful. It utilized a wide range of colors of the spectrum, which is characteristic of the google brand. It also utilizes “kiddy friendly music” to complement the “kiddy friendly colors.” These symbolize the simplicity of using their product. The music also seems to speed up along with the video right from after a hand’s input which is symbolic of a very simple input resulting in complicated, fast and automated processing. Everything resolved to a very simply organized scene. The only text used is of the brand name and product.