Click here to view our video project.
Background:
At first, we were having some trouble trying to find a topic that we would like to focus on. We thought about maybe doing a day in the life in Shanghai or a tour around Shanghai. In the end, we chose to focus on pollution which is still a problem that is relevant to Shanghai. Our video mainly uses scenes from around Shanghai but the problem is prevalent all around the world. After deciding the overall topic of our video, we thought about how we wanted to film our video. We were thinking of a documentary inspired video where we have scenes from around Shanghai that reflect pollution. As the scenes play, we would have a poem in the background to discuss the issue of pollution. We also decided to include a few commercials that provided comic relief but also discussed the issue of pollution indirectly. We had figured out our overall plan for the video but the next obstacle we had to tackle was the interactivity aspect of the project. We decided to create a website where the user interacts by using the controls located on the right side of the TV. The buttons allow the user to change the volume with a slide bar, as well as change channels, play, pause, and restart the videos.
Process:
We started out with the filming and chose to focus on multiple locations around Shanghai. Before we went out to film we discussed some of the shots we wanted to take but we also thought of more shots that we thought would go well with our video on the spot. We went to the bund and filmed shots of the river and the Shanghai skyline. We knew we wanted to get shots of people wearing masks but that proved difficult with our limited knowledge of Chinese. In addition to filming outside, we used videos that we shot in the filming room in 416. Working with the lighting equipment and green screen in the soundproof room was pretty cool and we were all excited to utilize what was around us. Matt handled most of the video editing through Premiere. I worked with handling the basic foundations of our website by making functions for the three buttons (play, pause, and restart) and the volume slider. I had trouble at first with making the volume slider but later realized that I could change the volume by setting as a fraction over 100, 100 being the loudest. Additionally, I ran into a lot of challenges with figuring out the setup so that the video fit into the TV screen. I figured out how to move the video to behind the TV screen using Z-index. At first, I adjusted the sizes of the video and margins so that the video would fit behind the TV. However, I realized that the video may move if put on another display. Later, I used percentages to organize the layout. Then, we ran into another problem which was the fact that part of the video was cut off so it seemed slightly off centered. So, Alina adjusted the TV frame size so less of the video would be cut off.
Conclusion:
Overall, I really enjoyed working with my Matt and Alina on this project. We were all pretty excited after figuring out what we wanted to do, but having exceeded our expectations, I feel really proud and happy for what we created. Partner cooperation was pretty smooth and this project is absolutely one I will remember.