My subject performing at a halftime show in Columbia, Mo. on Friday, Sept. 19, 2014. He is the leader of his drum line and is in charge of keeping time for their marching.
I think the short video was my favorite project so far. The visuals already lined up with the audio, so there was no need to sort through photos and line them up with semi-matching audio, which caused me a lot of anguish while making the audio slide shows. I could never decide which photo was best with which sound clip, and I would end up editing way more photos than I actually used. For video, the audio and visuals move together (obviously, they were gathered simultaneously) and make for much smoother transitions and fluid story lines. Though I began with a greater appreciation for audio slideshows, I think I like video storytelling better now that I’ve worked with both types of media.
It helped that made things a lot easier on myself and gave up Premiere Elements for the Final Cut Pro free 30 day trial. It only took a half an hour on Premiere for me to decide I had no idea what I was doing. After working with Audacity, Final Cut Pro was actually an easy transition. The clear keyboard shortcuts help speed up the editing process. I was able to craft a clean project in a relatively short time with a very low stress level. It makes me feel like I’m starting to get better at multimedia!
For my final piece, I plan to focus on my subject’s involvement in his high school’s marching band. He spends most of his time practicing with the band and it seems to be the highlight of his day. I’ve already gone out and filmed him at a practice and during a halftime performance, so the stress level has been low on this project as well. The only thing I’m worried about now is getting an interview with his band director. It’s been difficult to track him down, but hopefully I can interview him on Tuesday without too much drama. With luck, this video will go as smoothly as the last one.
Jackie Olson 