Final Reflection... Whitney
Wow, what an awesome month! I feel like Iāve 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 ā 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 Iām most proud ofā¦
1. Putting myself out there. Iām kind of an introvert, and so I was nervous about being on camera. I feel like Iāve made a lot of progress here, and at least Iām 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 āChoose Your Own Adventureā 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 matesā schedules so that filming wasnāt too disruptive and to minimize the already loud background noise. I also had to keep checking that there werenāt any safety issues being captured for all to see in the video.
3. Being creative in filming and editing. First of all, Iām 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 (insiderās scoop ā Iām 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!). Iāve 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 moreā¦
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 wasnāt 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.Ā 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 - itās 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 āChoose Your Own Adventureā 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 ā it wasnāt always easy, but we were able to bounce ideas off each other, be creative, and try new things.
4. You donāt actually realize how sleep deprived you are when you are truly enjoying what youāre doing.
5. I donāt 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 Iāve 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. Iām happy to have had this experience with all of you!















