Sketch #4 – Filming techniques: One-shot

Drawing inspiration from OK Go’s music videos, we wanted to try out the one-shot filming technique. In the context of vlog reviews, one-shots would show the overview of a specific place, giving people a better idea of the place as a whole, especially since there are no cuts in between.

This idea required some planning beforehand, such as how we were to walk around the area or shoot it such that all the information needed gets in the video. We tried walking around but didn’t quite like it as it wasn’t very smooth; perhaps it would have been better if we had a monopod. We then resulted to staying at one position to take the entire shot of the area, which is also the second video in this blog post.

We did this sketch with the urge to experiment in mind, as this is a very different filming technique compared to regular video reviews. Making a good one-shot would require plenty of planning, and although it could be an interesting take, this might defeat the whole idea of spontaneity in vlog reviews.

Sketch #3 – Filming techniques: First-person perspective

As we were thinking about some ways in which a viewer would be able to properly visualise a certain place or feel a particular experience, we decided that using a GoPro as our filming equipment would make an interesting idea. With inspiration from other first-person perspective videos done by other filmmakers, we chose to adopt that idea for our sketch.

In this sketch, we do a vlog review on a home stay apartment. We borrowed a GoPro and head strap mount from one of our friends. After looking around the place and figuring out how we might shoot it, we then proceeded to filming the footage. We did it in a casual sort of way, reviewing the place and what it had to offer as we went along.

Looking back at our footage, we see various differences from shooting it ‘professionally’. Viewers are able to see every inch of the area, experiencing it from the perspective of the filmmaker. This helps viewers to have a better idea of what the place actually looks like, and seeing as how our vlog review revolves around the context of travel, it would be deemed important that they are able to properly envision a location before choosing to stay at or visit a certain place.

Sketch #2 – Structure: Opening transition

What if we were to make these vlog reviews into a series? We would then require something that validates it as a series, creating recognition and a name on online platforms. We would need something that indicates continuity and consistency, rather than it just being a one-off sort of thing.

One of the ways that we felt it could be done would be creating an opening transition before each vlog review commences. As you can see from the sketch that we made, we chose adventure-related pictures and came up with the title Melbourne Trippin’  to indicate the element of travel. An action such as that would create an image for these travel vlog reviews, introducing it such that viewers would be able to have a brief idea of what the video will be about.

The pictures compiled in the sketch are all taken from places around Melbourne, and the background music is from YouTube’s royalty free music section.

Sketch #1 – Structure: Overall structure of a vlog review

To begin with, we wanted our first sketch to be something that comes back from the original structure of a video review. As it is slightly different from product reviews, we wanted to see how a regular vlog review – in our context – would be like.

For this vlog review, we used an iPhone 6 as recording equipment, as we found it much easier to capture footage and carry around. We began by talking about where the place is located and also touched on its physical appearance. We too included our personal opinions as we reviewed the drinks that we had ordered. To conclude, we summarised how we ultimately felt about the place before ending the video.

After editing the video, we felt that it would have been better if we included a little more about the drinks and pastries on offer and also compared it to a different cafe. This is much like written blog reviews, just that it is done in the form of a video. In accordance with our research, we were not able to find a vlog review quite like this one on YouTube.

Twitter GIFs

Quite recently, Twitter introduced GIFs to their platform, and a lot of users are ecstatic about the upgrade. Being a heavy social media user myself, this reminded me of when Tumblr, a blogging website, began to incorporate GIFs (this was quite a number of years ago).

And so, I was led to think about how so much emphasis and attention is placed on these small moving images. Why is that so? Could it be that it is easier to express oneself through GIFs? Maybe – seeing as how Twitter and Tumblr are both platforms to pour out one’s personal thoughts and ideas about a certain subject.

Or could it be that it is more engaging? Perhaps stagnant photographs are not sufficient. But I guess that is true to a certain extent – people are so used to moving visuals; life is constantly in motion. Wouldn’t it be disturbing to see the world outside, unmoving, as in photographs?

GIFs are important, serving as these micro-videos that don’t require much of your attention span. They are often very short, serving its purpose to propagate a quick message with ease. That kind of reminds me of online videos in general, that they should not necessarily be short, but at least hold a viewer’s attention long enough so the message is delivered.

Final list of sketch ideas

1. Structure: Overall structure of a vlog review
2. Structure: Opening transition
3. Filming techniques: First-person perspective
4. Filming techniques: One-shot
5. Reviewers, Part I: The inclusion of human subjects
6. Reviewers, Part II: Human subjects and animated characters
7. Reviewers, Part III: The absence of human subjects
8. Tool/Service: Periscope
9. Tool/Service: Snapchat
10. Tool/Service: Korsakow
11. Tool/Service: Instagram
12. Hybrid ideas: Scrapbook
13. Hybrid ideas; Experimental video
14. Hybrid ideas: Incorporating interviews

Project Three: Draft of our probe

We came upon this idea from our previous case study of Marques Brownlee’s tech review of the iPhone 6. Following up from our three things of interest, we eventually settled on the second option and the following is our probe for this project:

Working from a case study that examined an example of online video practice called ‘video reviews’, which features the reviewing of a product or service in the market. Our group plans to explore how the context of video reviews – in this case, travel video reviews – can be altered when it is put through different tools and services, or mixed with other genres, or played around with types of filming techniques. How does the exploration of these processes affect the narrative/non-narrative form of video reviews, or how the narrative/non-narrative form affect the way it is portrayed to an audience?

Reflection: ‘Generation Like’

I watched the documentary ‘Generation Like’ today, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was very relatable, and I managed to learn (and realise) quite a number of things from it.

The documentary basically talked about the current generation, and how so many children are obsessed with Internet fame and popularity – be it from getting likes on their Facebook and Instagram photos, or gaining followers and retweets on Twitter, or getting their posts reblogged on Tumblr… the list goes on.

Also, what are companies doing with the technology at hand? How do they engage with their users each time somebody puts a ‘Like’ on their Facebook page? What do websites like Tumblr and apps like Instagram demand for? It’s powerful, really, when a user ‘Likes’ something. It means that you agree with something. It means that you associate with that content. It means that something in particular speaks to you.

According to the documentary, MTV used to be the one exploiting kids’ desires to be cool. They chased kids down and sold it all back to them. Today, however, children are putting themselves out there in hopes to be recognised in the social media sphere. They want to be a part of a brand, or the Internet scene, more than what companies allow them to be. Children empower themselves with tools embedded with self-constructed values.

It’s pretty insane, don’t you think?

This documentary was an eye-opener to the industry, the what’s and how’s, and also the many ways in which brands and companies have been able to connect with their audience. It also showcased prominent people like Tyler Oakley, who is somebody incredibly obsessed with pop culture. It was amazing to see how he started off on YouTube just vlogging about things he liked, and how he slowly rose to fame and is now even giving advice to companies hoping to flourish in the social media sphere.

Brands and companies are always thinking of new ways in which they might reach out to potential customers, and with technology constantly on the rise, I am positive that fans and users will willingly participate, as long as there is some sort of return investment. Think being able to get a reply on Facebook from your favourite celebrity. Or being crowned one of the ‘Top 100 fans of The Hunger Games’. Or instantly gaining more followers the moment Justin Bieber retweets you.

I believe that this is only the beginning of ‘Generation Like’. There is so much more ahead of us, and oh, what a time to be alive.

Project Three sketch ideas

We would like to explore video reviews such that we put them in a different context – in this case, we have found interest in mixing both vlogs and reviews to create vlog reviews, potentially one that explores the subject of travel, and we hope to investigate the ways it can affect how it is communicated and how it can work via different tools/services.

  1. Structure: Using short videos to explain the structure of a vlog review.
  2. Technical aspects: How does using different gear (eg. GoPro/DSLR/smartphone) to film a vlog review change the feel it would give?
  3. Narrative/non-narrative: Including human subjects (reviewers), versus..
  4. … narrative-video-review (the reviewer & the character), versus…
  5. … only background audio.
  6. Hybrid: Incorporating interviews (with café owners), with inspiration from reality TV shows.
  7. Consistency: Opening transition to indicate that it is a series.
  8. Services/Tools: Using a different platform (interactive, perhaps) to review the café.
  9. Services/Tools: Using a platform like Instagram to review a place.
  10. Services/Tools: Try out Periscope, as it is instant and “in the moment”, as compared to uploading it as a video on YouTube.
  11. Services/Tools: Using Snapchat as a way to promote or review the place we are in.
  12. Techniques: Playing with different transitions when moving from one scene to the next. Filters or short cuts.

These are just a couple of ideas that we came up with. Not sure if we’ll be using all of them, but we will definitely have to brush them up.

Three things of interest

How can we change up a video review such that it becomes something hybrid; something that explores the narratives and non-narratives of an online video?

One of the ways that we were suggested to use in order to come up with the main idea for Project Three, was to think of three topics of interest that have originated from our previous project. We only managed to come up with two – one of which would play around with the structure of an online review, one that and the other that would look at video reviews in a different context. We did come up with a third one that had to do with the effect on audiences, but later decided that it would not be as feasible. After proposing our ideas to Seth, we decided to have a good think about further expanding our second idea.

From there, Jia Jia and I thought of other ways in which a video review could be done, and after doing some poking around on YouTube, one of the things that stood out to us was vlogs. Vlogs can be done by anybody, anywhere; they are personal, and they contain feelings and real experiences. So we thought… Could we possibly combine vlogs and video reviews to make a vlog review?

We often read about cafés and restaurants on blogs or through apps like Urbanspoon. People review them so that others can come upon a decision as to whether they want to visit a certain place. But what about a review done in the form of a video on YouTube? We did try to search it up but only managed to stumble upon a number of odd results, none of which properly depicted what we were looking for in what we would call a vlog review.

We hope to further explore this idea by playing around with narrative and non-narrative structures, and testing its probability of being a hybrid sort of video.

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