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Jake Kobler

"Video Memoir"
College Writing 1, Dr. Jen Consilio

Video Submission:

In the third project of this class, my goal was to create a video that encapsulates how I have been able to use video editing in my life, and what it has meant to me. I also wanted the video to be fairly meta, and show the video editing process of the video, within the video. I believe that was a fairly big risk of mine considering I have never made anything with so many extra layers to it. However, adding scenes of me editing the video, allowed me to have more of showing not telling. I could have added clips of me explaining what I was editing in the video you are watching, but you are already watching it and can see my edits; but when you just see me editing it provides more showing, while also adding to the meta layer.

The drafting process for this video was fairly difficult, because at first I did not know what to make the video about. I knew I wanted it to be about video editing, but there have been a lot of creators who have inspired me throughout my life, and I initially wanted to make a video about how their work inspired me. I instead chose to talk about a video of my own, and how it tested my abilities and pushed me to want to create more. From there I drafted the different scenes of the memoir I wanted, as well as the scenes from the documentary I wanted to highlight. The filming process took some time to get a hang of because it was only me and I did not have the proper equipment, but it taught me a lot about “working with what you got”. I had to move my furniture around for each scene to get the lighting right, and have a place to prop my phone, but I believe it all worked out well because it only made me be more creative with the types of shots I got.

Furthermore, there were a couple ways I connected with my audience, one being directly talking to them throughout the video, and the other being through relatable humor. For the majority of the video, I am talking directly to the camera which creates a very personal experience for the viewer since I am talking directly to them. I also have a mini sketch in the video that is meant to be comedic, and will hopefully be relatable to engaging for the viewers to watch.

Upon rewatching the video after editing it, I am really glad with how all of the meta moments turned out. I think it looks cool to see the end of the video and cut to me editing it. I had an idea of how it would loot, but it ended up being better than I thought. However, if I had more time and resources I would have liked to get some better video equipment. A tripod and real camera would have been nice, because as I mentioned, I had to continuously move furniture around to prop my phone on, and when I transferred the clips from my phone to laptop, there was a significant change in the color of the video. That said, better equipment would be something I would have utilized with more time.

Moreover, during the filming process, I struggled a lot with the composition of the shots. I didn’t know how I wanted it to be framed or whether I was going to be sitting or standing, or whether or not there would be music. However, I took inspiration from one of my favorite forms of digital media, Bo Burnham’s Inside. Burnham films and edits an entire comedy special from one room in his house, similar to how I made this video all in my dorm room. Because of that, I was inspired by the shots in his video for the composition of my own.

I am also really grateful for the MGAP, because I feel that it really gives me the creative freedom to take chances, and revise. In previous English and writing classes, I was never able to experiment with media formats in my writing. But with the mgap, there is so much potential for what I can write, or film and create.