Thursday, July 15

~Reflections~ Video Competition Documentation

Just decided to share with you all this past reflection on my participation in the 5th School Video Awards. We didn't win anything, but being our first time, it was already an achievement.

Choosing our theme:
Over a few days, we struggled over the topic of our documentary. It had to be something thatwas not too mundane but still interesting. Sitting down to brainstorm over a list of topics first, we came up with ideas like pond life, stress and peer pressure. We finally decided on high-tech vegetables - and so our video was titled "High-Tech Veggies in a Modernised Singapore". Our main shooting location was to be at Aerogreen Technology, an aeroponics farm just off Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve.

Planning:
We made a serious mistake of not planning our storyboard properly. Planning for a video is very crucial in making sure that the order of the video is present. We needed to show which sections of the topic we were featuring in the video. For example, in our video, we showed both the advantages and disadvantages of high-tech farming, but it was not obvious enough because even though the audio was there, the presence of words (visual) was not there.

Filming:
Filming requires skill and patience, and we thought that it was something all of us lacked in one way or another. Technically, the filming was OK but it could be made to be more presentable by shooting and experimenting with different angles.

Problems faced:
Our main problem was the lack of time. Everyone's schedule was terribly tight and we started our work only weeks before the submission date. Miscommunication was also a problem among the team. After we finished the video and returned the tripod stand and camera, yet another problem arose: this time it had to do with a broken part of the tripod stand. After numerous discussions with teachers over whether it was our team or not who spoilt the mechanism, the problem was finally settled by using a piece of equipment from the Robotics Kit to repair the mechanism.

Learning Points:
The main thing we have got to learn is to be serious about the video and get it over and done with as soon as possible. This is however sometimes very difficult to accomplish because being students with so many responsibilities to do, it is hard to balance our priorities. That is the problem - responsible students are overly-pressured, whereas those who actually are responsible but adopt a heck-care attitude or do not exhibit it outwardly let other students get taken advantage of. This results in certain students being so free the whole day, while others are struggling with so much work to do. Another learning point would be that we must be more hardworking - not so lazy that even finding out how to use a certain software can kill. By exploring and experimenting with the different features of a particular software - ANYONE can do it - it's whether you want to or not.

Reflections:
Although we did not win any prize, the harrowing experience was enough to let us comprehend what it is like being in a production team making a film in the real world. The going is tough, we've got to get tougher. Well, at least we did try. After all, the only failure is failing to try.

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