Television & Film Module Project

South River Stroll

Director's Commentary:

I was aiming to create an overall feeling of shock and surprise in my viewer. I worked on several key aspects of my video to develop this idea. As part of the creative process I ran through many ideas before settling on a final choice. I ended up choosing an experience that is typically relaxing in nature- walking by the water. In order to create the surprise I changed direction with my subject by adding a curve ball at the end of the video. Initially, my subject appears relaxed and calm while walking down the pier. He is whistling a simple tune and taking a short stroll. This gives the viewer an overall calm feeling.  He stops at the edge to examine the pilings and check out his surroundings, still all is well. Finally, the subject leans in to a get a closer look and falls into the water. It is at this point where the mood changes as the subject yells out in shock and runs to the dry land in a dramatic escape from the coldness of the wintry water. The design of adding in an element of surprise to this otherwise tranquil experience is what I think makes my work a success. 

I think this project turned out better than I had hoped. I am a beginner filmmaker and found this frustrating. I had to take a step back and realize that I needed to start at a basic level. I was tempted to do some editing, but opted out of it in order to preserve the originality of the work. I learned a couple of lessons on NDCE while creating this project. One key learning point I discovered is that it is more difficult to chose a topic and center it around a feeling than I thought. For example, I felt that many of my ideas were too basic. From the start I had an idea about my subject walking through the woods on a beautiful sunny day. Sure, this would be visually appealing, but what would be the overall experience and mood behind the scene? Then, after coming up with several more ideas I realized I was getting too personal. This revelation made me realize that not everyone would get my vision. I actually took several rounds of thirty second clips on various topics before finally heading down to the marina and capturing this action with a more specific idea in mind. I hope you appreciate the hard work and thought I put into my creation. Enjoy!