2.s971 Class Tumblr

Wow! What a class. I am amazed to have learned so much. After watching my finished product multiple times, I am struck with how true it was that the process of getting here was not a sequence of explicit steps but rather a mishmash of several things happening at once. I was constantly reworking my script and altering it to best enhance my visuals (or vice versa).

My main goal was to impart the information in a way that was true to my personality but still managed to capture the attention of and inspire curiosity in the audience. I believed that I have achieved this goal. I structured my video in the following way: (1) inspire curiosity about black holes, in particular the question of why black holes are black, (2) explain the role gravity takes in black holes, (3) begin to deconstruct the myth that gravity only affects mass, (4) explain why gravity affects massless light, thus making black holes black, (5) leave the audience with a little something extra, to encourage further discovery on their own. With such a structure, I was able to answer all the questions my video proposed in a clear and logical yet natural manner, and with the choice of medium (animation), I was able to give my audience what a blog post would not - a visualization of the warping due to gravity.

However, my learning wasn’t restricted to the making of my video. While directing Teryn’s video, I realized the amount of thought that needed to be placed into the set-up of each shot. Because Teryn’s videos mostly consisted of shots of her speaking to the camera, it was important to keep in mind her stance and the background, so that there would be enough of a difference between each shot that a jump cut would not seem awkward. We experimented with camera movement to add interest to each scene (for example, moving the camera from her face to her computer screen and back again), as well as with different poses to add personality (for example, sitting with her legs propped up to emphasize the perceived laziness of the procrastinator).

Wow this was definitely one of my favorite classes that I have ever taken. I am a science major and music minor so I have always been interested in the potential intersection between the sciences and the arts. I have never been in a media or film class before and in fact I am notorious in my family for being the one who should NOT take photos or film the family videos on birthdays. 

When searching for a class over IAP, I was looking for something different that would take me out of my comfort zone. This class definitely fit the bill and although it had its challenges, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and I have learned a ton. For one, I have a much greater appreciation for film now. It may be a bit naïve of me, but I never realized how much thought and work truly goes in to shooting a mere 10 seconds of film. After having had the opportunity to see the perspective of being behind the camera, I now realize that there are so many angles and ideas that go into making film. I have also come to realize the beauty of peer critiques. The more people who critique and offer different opinions, the better the final product will usually be. Peer critique definitely helped to improve my final project.

Overall, I am very proud of this semester. There are several things that I think I did fairly well with in this class…

1. I am proud of persevering with my project. I definitely struggled a bit with deciding on a topic to make my video on in the beginning. I went through several script ideas before I finally decided on the topic of procrastination. I was a bit frustrated at one point, but I have learned that sticking with something is an extremely important skill to have. The final result of hard work is generally worth it.

2. I am proud of speaking up in class more. I am not exactly the best with public speaking so the day that we had to read a script in front of the class was a bit nerve-wracking for me. Yet, I have come to realize that practice with public speaking is just what I need! The more I speak, the less scary it becomes.

However, if I had had more time, there are many things in my final project that I definitely would have tried to improve.

1. I would have re-written my script so that there was more of a point of making it into a video format as opposed to a blog post. Perhaps I could have explained the biological mechanisms behind procrastination more, creating more visuals/animations in explanation of the biological mechanisms. There was one point in my film that I revised from the draft to show an animation of the neurological mechanisms behind the release of dopamine from the brain. I felt like that point was much better than the mere head shot of me speaking into the camera that I had in my initial draft.

2. I would have altered my script to explain the scientific terminology a bit better and I would have also made the script a bit more exciting. I feel as though parts of my script/film are still too long and are not “snappy” enough. There are many parts of my script, which I could tighten and/or make clearer. For one, I think that I should have explained dopamine in the context of procrastination more. For instance, I could have explained how the “addiction” to the dopamine kick that you receive from doing another task that you would enjoy more (e.g. procrastinating) is what continues to make people want to procrastinate.

3. I would have worked a bit more with the clips of my film. Although I believe that I improved it from the rough cuts, I still think that the transitions between my ideas and scenes are a bit choppy and disjointed. When I was writing and filming my final project, I was trying to get as much information as I could in there, but I should have paid more attention to making each idea flow into the other.  

4. I would have tried to write my script so that it was more “conversational” as opposed to “academic” sounding. I kept slipping back into more textbook rhetoric when writing and filming my script simply because that is how I am used to writing about science.  

5. I also would have taken the time to play around more with the editing and animations. After watching other people’s final videos, I realized that there were a lot of things that I could still learn about not only the scripting and filming process, but also the editing of the video itself. I tried to not make the visuals that I did have too distracting just because we discussed in class that the visuals should not distract from the final project, but I still think that I could have done more.  

6. I also would have reshot several scenes of me speaking just to change the background and visuals and fix the framing/camera shots. I feel as though a lot of my shots are not very aesthetically pleasing, as I am simply talking up against a whiteboard or sitting in a chair. Also, reflecting upon this, there are “distractions” in a lot of my shots that I would like to get rid of. For instance, there was excess writing on the whiteboard in one of my scenes and there was also another person in the background in one of my scenes.

7. I would have also tried to make my script/video a little less generic and more exciting. As we discussed in class, I was trying to make my script easy to understand, as it was mentioned how it is important to “simplify” the scientific information for children. However, I now know that making something more “simple” does not mean making it less exciting.

Overall, this was a very rewarding semester. I learned a ton – as evident above – and I am looking forward to trying to shoot more film on my own. I have left with a much deeper appreciation for the art of film and the time and dedication that goes into scripting and filming.

Originally, I was planning to do this in vlog form with a blooper reel, but qualifying exams have managed to get the best of me, which brings me to point one of my reflection:

Suggestions for future students

Work on time management /// I have serious problems with this, especially when I have huge deadlines looming and, even though Elizabeth told us that the process would be time-consuming, I didn’t realize the exact extent to which that was true.

Try new thingsTry new things /// I got to play around with the DSLR for a bit and it was a lot of fun! I didn’t end up using it in the end, as I couldn’t seem to make the lighting work (which is, admittedly, definitely my own fault) but I had fun in the process and I feel like I learned a lot. Plus, it made using FilMiC Pro feel like a piece of cake!

Pick a topic that you’re really interested in /// It makes the research a lot more fun! I had a great time reading about the history of GMOs and farming and connecting that to breeding in a more tangible way.

Rent a tripod /// Thought I had one. Realized when I started shooting that that was a lie. I had lent it out and haven’t gotten it back yet. So before I rented a tripod, this was my super macgyvered set up: 

yes, the tripod is in there, but see the two IKEA tables, a dog crate, and two upside-down baskets that are the same height as the tripod. Yea, that.

Have fun! /// I assume you’re not taking this class just for the credit. This class is supposed to be fun! We all have a passion for science and it should show. Enjoy your time!

Things I did well

The script (or, at least, the general idea of it) /// I still feel like there are portions that feel weird (specifically, the transitions toward the end to the different types of GMOs) but overall, I feel like the script was interesting. I thought that it was cool to know that dogs and GMOs aren’t so different (but I might be slightly biased) and I think it’s super helpful for the general population to know, too. Maybe they won’t be so scared of something they don’t understand anymore.

Making appropriate framing choices /// For the most part (except where I somehow forgot to put Genetically Modified Organism on the screen, yeah, big no-no) I made distinct choices in framing. When I had animations up, I left enough room for them in the shot. When I talked about the roundup resistant crops, I came in really close, since it’s really important. I would probably change the framing of the initial apple/dog scene because it feels like there’s a lot of dead space to my right and my left but I think the only way to do that would have been to bring in pictures, rather than the actual thing (which might have been better because Daisy HATED filming).

Clipart! /// I ended up going with Elizabeth’s draw on paper and scan method for my clipart, which I think turned out pretty well, especially the pups! Aside from the lack of the term GMO popping up on screen, I think the clip art was well used and fun. If I could go back and redo it, I’d probably take more time to draw different dogs so they weren’t all the exact same and I would work on my animations a bit more, because they were all just jump cuts. I’d also lighten the background on the dogs “animation” because it got really dark and was hard to see. But I still like the brick as visual interest.

What I would change

Aside from everything I mentioned above? I feel like I could have made this a lot more interesting had I had a bit more time.

Different scenes /// Because of time constraints (admittedly self-imposed), the entirety of the video was shot in my apartment. I’m, frankly, pretty proud of how much variability I got, even in the small space, but I think I could have done more. I really wanted to film the scene that was in front of my fridge in a grocery store (which probably wouldn’t have happened anyway, given our filming experience during class), although I will say, it definitely helped to have the cut watermelon!

More complementary, rather than redundant, video /// I didn’t quite realize it until later, but a lot of my video ended up being redundant. I love the animation that was next to me when I was talking about antibiotic resistance in plants, but it didn’t really add anything to the text. The watermelon example was a great complementary scene, as well as the intro, but I think the rest of it might have fallen short on that.

Lighting /// None of it was really bad on its own, but it changed a lot throughout the film, which was a bit jarring. Some scenes were really dark and some were a little on the overexposed side. I would aim for more consistency here.

Audio /// Not only was there a consistency issue here, but it was just bad. My apartment is really echoey and I tried using the lav mic, but leave it up to Apple to make that impossible without an adapter (because everything needs an adapter, apparently). I tried to make it work for a very long time and then just gave up, resulting in the not so fabulous audio quality. If I could redo it, I’d just buy the adapter. 

My hair /// Last one and yeah, it’s superficial, but my hair looks horrible! Flat hair for me on camera is apparently not a good idea.

Overall, I had a really great time in the class and I can’t wait to apply what I learned to other videos. This class has made me more and less critical of online videos. I now know what makes a good video, and can better “put my finger on it” when it comes to quality, but I also know how stinkin’ hard it is! It makes me appreciate the quality ones that much more.

Wow, what an awesome month! I feel like I’ve learned so much in such a short period of time, and I really want to keep working on this sort of stuff and get better. This entire experience was extremely satisfying – going from ideation to seeing it all the way through to the final video in the end. And then getting to be a part of Science Out Loud and filming with Elizabeth, George, and Ceri last week… it was just the best!

Things I’m most proud of…

1. Putting myself out there. I’m kind of an introvert, and so I was nervous about being on camera. I feel like I’ve made a lot of progress here, and at least I’m more used to seeing myself in video now. I think I still have a long way to go to find my style and to be more natural, but doing the Science Out Loud version (learning from and being coached by George and Elizabeth) helped me immensely. There just might be a recording of me talking like a robot to get me out my head, hahaha!

2. Taking a risk. I think the “Choose Your Own Adventure” in a lab came with some unique challenges. There was definitely more to film and piece together during editing. And being part of a busy lab meant I had to work around my lab mates’ schedules so that filming wasn’t too disruptive and to minimize the already loud background noise. I also had to keep checking that there weren’t any safety issues being captured for all to see in the video.

3. Being creative in filming and editing. First of all, I’m so glad my husband (Jeff) was able to help me film. We work so well together and we really did a lot of fun things on the fly to make potentially boring scenes more interesting. For example, initially we filmed all the hypothesis scenes static, with me standing in front of the hood. Then the next day, I wanted to try something different. So for one we decided to have me crouch down and pop up into the scene and then for the other I sat on a lab cart and Jeff pushed me into the frame. And for the explanation of the materials, I just love the sliding yeast and catching the soap (insider’s scoop – I’m really bad at catching things, so this was a pretty amazing feat!). Another favorite is the walk and talk at the end where I take off all my lab gear (channeling Mr. Rogers here!). I’ve never used any video editing software before, so I saw this as a fun opportunity to just jump in and try a lot of new things (thank goodness for YouTube tutorials). I experimented with split screen stuff, added some transitions, tried a stop-motion type sequence, added some boxed text for all the click-to-choose parts, did some voice over, and I used a tablet to draw the molecules.

Things I would have liked to work on more…

1. Audio. Definitely audio. My lab is loud with four gloveboxes and hood ventilation noise. My plan was to use the lav mic and record audio separately with my phone, but it turned out the mic wasn’t actually working so we just went with the audio recorded by the camera. I think using a mic would have helped bring out my voice, and if I had more time I would have also liked to try reducing the background noise with Adobe Audition.

2. Choices. Choices. Choices. I went back and forth a lot about how many choices to give the viewers. I would have liked for the viewer to interact more with the experiment portion of the video, but ultimately I chose not to do this because the roadmap of the video quickly became complicated and because of the way I wrote the script, the explanations relied on the experiment being watched in a particular order. With more time, I think I could have made it work, though, by filming more scenes so the explanations would have made sense.

3. My attempts at conversational. I really would have liked to re-film the explanation portions of the video. It still came off lecture-y and had some jargon. It was definitely better than what I had for the original script, but still needed more work. And on being natural and conversational - it’s funny because I felt like I forgot how to talk like a normal person as soon as the camera was in front of me. Practice helps.

4. And on killing darlings… I chose to completely cut my original ending. I really, really would have liked to have more time to go back and film a couple of my colleagues talking about how they use the scientific method as an ending to the video. I wanted to somehow bring it back to the people and the research being done at MIT, but the feedback about the disconnect between the process of experimentation (the purpose of the video) and the content of the interviews (the research elevator pitches) kept coming back to my mind.

5. A bigger reaction - make the reactions BIGGER and test them more beforehand. I think the elephant toothpaste rxn with yeast is not super reliable.

Other random observations...

1. Uploading high-res videos to YouTube takes a LONG time… an excruciatingly long amount of time. With the “Choose Your Own Adventure” format, I had a lot of extra videos to upload and it took forever, hahaha.

2. Lighting with glasses is hard.

3. Tackling challenges on the fly was so much fun – it wasn’t always easy, but we were able to bounce ideas off each other, be creative, and try new things.

4. You don’t actually realize how sleep deprived you are when you are truly enjoying what you’re doing.

5. I don’t think this would have been nearly as much fun if I did it all on my own and I think it would have been a completely different video. I had a blast working with Jeff and then with Elizabeth, George, and Ceri!

6. I have an even more serious appreciation for this process and the people who make videos after filming the Science Out Loud version last week. The re-worked script was so great - much more conversational and accessible. The lighting and audio was in a whole other league compared to my video. A lot of interesting camera work - angles, close-ups, movement, artsy stuff, b-roll. And all the coaching to help me be me on camera. I cannot wait to see it!

Last thoughts… this was the best class I’ve taken at MIT! It challenged me to step outside of my comfort zone, to try new things, and to appreciate the process as much as (or more than) the final product. I’m happy to have had this experience with all of you!

It’s been one week back to the land of eternal summer and life of programming and debugging. It almost feel like attending hosting an educational show during Boston’s winter was centuries ago.

Thinking back about my first ever self-hosted home-made video, despite the tight timeline and amateur quality, I am very proud that I’ve completed something during the MIT exchange, and have become more outspoken and confident.

In retrospect, there are several areas I could have improved on the video given more time:

 I.                    Visual

 With more time, I would start over and run a storyboarding critique session before actual filming. Plan properly, change in response to feedback, and make the video more visually interesting.

As for visual quality, I should at least re-film the scenes with me sitting in front of the window and darkened by the strong backlight, if not re-filming every scene according to the new storyboarding plan.

Also, need to be more familiarize with the script, so that I could talk in a more natural manner, and film each scene in a continuous way without the awkward jump cuts in between.

With a smoother rough cut I would explore more transition effect options available, both by physically moving the camera or using post production software, even if I do not end up using too many distractive transitions.

 II.                  Audio

 First, use a mic.

I have tried some using the DeNoiser in Adobe premiere without understanding its working mechanism. Given more time I would systematically learn the techniques for cleaning up audio files by understanding the science behind them.

Also, I would explore the wide selection of audio effect and background music to subtly change the viewers’ mood when watching different scenes.

 III.                Interaction

 Safety is boring; take creative risks.

Examples include scenes showing interest moments that causing people to laugh: falling down, being tickled, or the high five…JELLYFISH!

It would be more interactive when instead of I talk all the time, the audience is engage by demonstration such as the jelly fish high five (need to work on the delivery so it can be presented in a video form).

Will be great to film with friends/guests/passers-by, and interact with them during the video to make the show more natural and engaging.

 IV.                Content

 The topic on why we laugh is broad and rarely known. In the video I mainly discussed the evolutionary aspect, but given more time other areas could be explored, either integrated with the current video or as a series with the same theme.

These areas include the genetic, neurological, psychological, developmental (effect from childhood experiences), cognitive (learning and education), cultural, as well as social reasons behind laughter.

I learned a lot by in this class by going through the process: starting from the script to the storyboard, to scene planning, to the rough cut, and the final cut. My favorite part was going from the script to the storyboard and scene planning. It made me concretize the idea visually, and think of many details that goes into a scene. Apart from making my own video, it was very enjoyable and inspiring to see how each person’s video came out with their own personality.

Here are some things I kept in mind especially while making my final project.

(1) A natural script. Usually, after writing and revising my script on paper, I tried to memorize the “ideas” or “points” I wanted to convey. Then, I recorded myself saying those things without looking at the script, imagining that I was talking to one of my friends or a 6th grader. Then, I used the recording to revise the script again, especially taking care that the phrases sounded natural in speech. This meant that sometimes the sentences were not be grammatically complete (but more natural), or I favored a conversational tone than an official one.

(2) Change of scenes. I deliberately chose a couple of different indoor scenes in my project to give a little bit of change and tempo to the whole video. For the part explaining motion sickness related to 3D movies, I chose a lecture room that looked like a theater, and for the part explaining different sense involved in a virtual reality, I chose to wash my hands in a bathroom. I think these background helped as a visual complement to the script, and also helped to retain audience attention.

(3) B-roll and script sync. I went through a lot of B-rolls related to virtual reality to choose the right scenes for my script. I found it helpful when I showed related shots ever so slightly before the keyword or sentence was said in the script, so the audience kind of gets an anticipation of whats being said. I edited the B-roll to have enough scene change while still maintaining a similar tempo with the rest of my video.

(4) For most of the explanatory scenes I chose my room as the background. There were two purposes. One, to give a familiar look to the video, and the other to give a contrast to the panoramic virtual reality scenes (which were usually grand outside scenes of nature). I think the scenes met these two purposes, but there are several things I would improve if I had more time (see below).

(5) Scene transitions. I experimented with a couple of different transition types between the scenes. (a) In the beginning, transition from virtual world to my room: I used an addictive dissolve; this made it possible to take off the Google Cardboard from my own perspective, while at the same time showing me take it off from a this person’s point of view. (b) I used a sliding transition when between a closeup of Google Cardboard on my desk and a shot of myself behind the desk explaining (50sec & 1:50sec). This helped give a natural and “fun” transition between the scenes. (One other purpose was to hide the fact that I changed clothes in between the closeup and the head shot; If I had more time I would shoot with the same clothes, but probably still use the sliding transitions).

(6) Complementary visuals & audio: Especially when I was explaining how an immersive environment requires vision but also sound, smell and touch, after the silent water fall scene, I put in the sound of water  right after the word “hear.” This scene then transitioned to the hand-washing scene to represent touch. This was my favorite scene because there was a lot of elements that went into it.

Things I would like to improve if I had more time:

(1) Consistency between the scenes. Since I took several short scenes, whenever I could find time, there’s a lot of unnecessary changes between the scenes. For example, my clothes change even when I am within the same room; the lighting is very different in my room depending on whether I shot in the day or night; the audio quality is different; even in my room the framing is quiet different between the scenes. If I could shoot this another time, I would wear the same clothes to give some consistency, and I will use the same framing at least for the same background. I would try to shoot it at the same time or at least try to have similar lighting (on the brighter side). I would also use the mic to improve audio quality especially for non-closeup shots.

(2) Framing at the center. In the beginning, I did not listen to what I learned in class, and shot myself off center! I felt too shy being at the center of the frame. Looking back at the video, I see how centered shots make the video seem more friendly and less distracting (especially with a noisy background).

(3) Use of annotations. There are a couple of places I think annotations / animation would have helped to complement the audio-visuals. For example, (a) When I explain that our eyes are about 3 inches apart. I would like to show a line between my eyes, and a text that says ‘3 inches.’ (b) When I am showing my phone that has split screen, and I point out that the two images are slightly different. Circling / highlighting the different regions of the two images would have made it more clearer to the viewer, especially since the images are pretty small and that scene is quiet short. (c) When I am explaining how contradicting sensory input can cause motion sickness. I thought about putting an animation of a car in the view. Or the two different messages from my ear sensors and my eye sensors clashing with each other.

Tldr: lessons are helpful; filming is hard.

This has been the most detailed and meaningful video hosting / making workshop I’ve attended so far. This is also the lesson I spent the most time and effort on during my entire exchange here. That is why I had really hoped to produce something great in response to the great course and instructors.

Due to tight schedule, I was only able to shoot on Friday for about 1 hour. Thanks @hishin (Valentina) for your generous help in filming, including running around in Stata looking for venues and standing in the cold shooting. I did not expect shooting to be this hard though, misreading the lines so many times despite having redrafted the script for a long time. Time constraint might be a reason but not an excuse.