Link: to be added
Description of the project
Our video project is about Starbucks in China. We want to show some amazing facts about Starbucks in China as well as cultural phenomenon that are brought to China by Starbucks. It is really interesting to look into how Starbucks operates in China and to what extend Chinese people adopt Starbucks culture. Because Starbucks is seen as a symbol of capitalism and the development of Starbucks in China actually illustrates the process of capitalist values entering into Chinese society after the Open-up Policy in 1978.
We went to three Starbucks in Shanghai—the one near Jinqiao, the one near AB and the biggest Starbucks in the world on East Nanjing Rd. Our introduction part was shot in Jinqiao and it is intended to show the phenomenon that Chinese people see Starbucks as something cool and fancy and is worth sharing on their social media. Then comes the part shot in the Starbucks near our AB by Demi. In this part, Demi criticized certain types of Starbucks customers in a humorous manner. The last part shot in the world’s largest Starbucks by Laila illustrates some facts about Starbucks in China—their marketing, merchandising, revenue, and future.
Process
Deciding the theme: Each of us posted our ideas in our group chat and then we decided to use Demi’s idea—Starbucks in China.
Storyboard:
Shooting: I shot my part on Tuesday morning, and Demi and Laila shot their parts on Friday and Saturday.
Editing: I used iMovie to edit my video clip, which I found very convenient.
I wanted to use a long in my video but failed. Because there were so many uncertainties during the shooting process. So I had to split my shots and I used transition effects between clips in order to make the change of the scene more natural. I adjusted the speed of the video in order for it to match the beats of the background music.
Gathering materials: We share our materials on Google Drive and Demi gathers our materials and put them into our webpage.
Post Mortem
I really like our video project and I’m really thankful for Laila and Demi. During the process of making a video, I realized that what I imagined in my storyboard can be really different from what I shot at last. Some angles and ways of shooting are really difficult for a beginner like me, so I was constantly adjusting my plan while shooting. I also realized that those shots in the movies, even the very normal ones, are not easy to make. It really takes time and effort to make a beautiful film. It needs imagination, practice and cooperation between members in the group to produce a high-quality film. Also, I realized the importance of audio in video. I really had a hard time looking for a proper background music for my clip, and I’m still not very satisfied with the current background music. I think I’ll try using the original sound of the environment next time I make a video.