My Two Cents on My First Video
I made this video with the ideas of ‘self-creation’, ‘identity’ and ‘the writing of one own’s narrative’ in mind. It is certainly a personal topic, and it was a very enjoyable process of self-discovery that has since spearheaded my creative ventures into video-editing and blog posting. I loved finding different ways of sharing both my personal and fictional stories, and this has opened up a new pathway for me as I had always been apprehensive about trying video-making because I felt like I needed a ‘good reason’ to begin. Not only was the process of creation exhilarating and fulfilling, it also pushed me out of my comfort zone as I had been (and still am) worryingly camera shy and can hardly stand the sound of my own voice on tape.
With that said, however, there are definitely plenty of elements I would revise about this first attempt: for starters, I would work on making it a little less melodramatic (so maybe I wouldn’t feel like cringing every time I go back to it), and the recording sounds a little stiff and awkward (because it was!) Even worse is that the finished product itself doesn’t feel or sound like myself at all, and it is strange and almost unbearable to make myself go through the whole 3-minute ordeal that I created. But my biggest contention is with the storyline and narration, and re-evaluating this has made me realize that sometimes the written word does not sound good spoken.
Then again, I suppose this is the curse that will inevitably plague everyone who creates. There will always be something you’ll look back on with a hyper-critical eye and feel like erasing completely from the history of your portfolio. Retrospective shades always cast a much bleaker light on the things that you had felt so proud of at the time. With this said, however, I think it is important for me to leave this piece as I found it. I think it will be a good benchmark by which to measure my progress and development as a digital storyteller, and I would like to keep my portfolio journey as authentic as possible so I can see how far I’ve come. Hopefully, of course, my future creations will be less painful to watch.
