Introduction
In this week video that related to ‘Finding space and time for contemplation during Covid-19’, I recorded my movie night with my mobile phone. Using a projector to watch movies is my most frequent night activity during the lockdown. The cinema is no longer opened due to the epidemic. I have not watched a movie in the cinema for a long time, and I can only enjoy the movie through a projector at home during this period. Watching some excellent film work is helpful to improve my aesthetics and professional skills. As a future media practitioner, continuous learning is needed for me. In the process of watching a movie, I not only appreciate the characters and stories but at the same time, I also think about the director’s shooting techniques and intentions, which is a right way of contemplation.
How did you author the video you recorded for upload to Instagram?
This week I used the rear camera of the iPhone 8 plus for shooting. Edit the video with three different editing software on mobile phone and computer. After finishing shooting with my phone, I directly used the video editing function that comes with the phone album to adjust the duration of all clips. Then import it into the computer and use Adobe Premiere Pro for further editing, adjust the screen size of all videos, clip all the materials together, and add background music. This week’s editing has not been completed until this point. Because of the limitations of mobile phone shooting, I cannot adjust the video frame size when shooting. In this week’s video, I decided to use the mobile phone software Butter Camera to adjust the video pictures. A brown background is added to the video, making the whole picture at a 1:1 ratio. Then adjust the video exposure, white balance, etc. Finally, I felt that the background was not rich enough, so I added two decorative patterns in the blank space.
This week’s video is the shortest one in three weeks. I watched a large number of other popular videos on Instagram and found that most videos with high views are not too long. Creators usually streamline their video content and only edit the best clips to show the audience. High-quality, short and compelling videos are usually popular, so this week I tried to edit the video to be only 30 seconds long. By adding cheerful and fast video transitions, the entire video rhythm is brisk.
How did you publish the video you recorded for upload to Instagram?
When shooting, I first listed what I wanted to shoot. Then shoot in the order of sequence, so that the content of the video looks coherent when editing later. Although I used various shooting angles, after I edited it, the audience seemed to be coherent in the scene and the movement of the characters.
I always increase the richness of the picture by shooting different angles of coherent action. With this shooting and editing technique, even a simple act of closing the curtains will become nice and interesting. By taking close-ups of local actions and zooming in on the sounds produced by collisions of objects, to emphasize the series of actions I had taken. From putting down the curtains, turning off the light and continuing to turn on the projector, I used a lot of close-ups.
In the Instagram video introduction, I still only use two simple sentences to summarize the video content. Increasing the number of views by adding hashtags related to the video content. The background music of this week’s video is coherent at the beginning and end. I set Instagram to play automatically so that viewers will find that the beginning and ending music is coherent if they watch continuously. This is also my first attempt to edit the video into a loop.