Day 5: Critique and Chili

At no point on this trip so far did I even consider that amount of time I would ultimately hand over to that of the editing tedium, that is until today. Having retrieved our footage and audio from interviews recorded out in all parts of Toronto yesterday as well as made a rough cut after several hours of slaving away at my laptop, it was time to work towards a presentable final edition. I had pieced together a rough version with the story of my interview lined up in the manner I wanted and the shots were for the most part in place. Attempting to stray away from the typical interview style and instead “break the rules” so to speak, I chose to interview a local barber in Kensington Market whilst getting a haircut from that same barber. I figured what better way to guarantee the time of someone else to interview and to get an interesting dynamic, that being the interviewee actively participating in the activity they are being asked about.

Barbershop Interview – Connor Marquez

Probably one of the most challenging aspects of the editing process was the subtitles I decided to insert. Due to the hectic environment of a barbershop, combined with the barber’s refusal to wear a lapel microphone, the audio recorded from the interview was not the best quality. Simply put, it was challenging to listen to without guidance; the music in the shop was loud, it was hard to hear either myself or the barber at certain times in the video, and b-roll eliminated reading lips when confusion arose. Because of this, I decided it would be the best course of action to design subtitles to assist those who at times may have trouble listening to the recorded dialogue. This was a beyond exhausting process as it required me to make almost 50 title slides formatted identically and filled with the countless speaking lines . After I finished this step, much of the remaining edits to be made were very small and were completed extremely quickly.

Crow’s Nest Logo – Connor Marquez

I was delighted to find my final edits coming to a wrap right as the announcement of catered dinner’s arrival in the Northeastern University – Toronto space. I scurried along after ensuring my video began exporting as I gathered a hot bowl of chili, a mixed salad, and the largest cookie I’ve ever eaten. The food by Potbelly was delicious, and all the more refreshing knowing that I had finished my video project and was now ready to present for critique. Finishing the incredible meal, I returned to the class room and sat down comfortably for the presentations to ensue. Seeing all of my peers’ projects was such a great experience to say the least. I was able to see the multiple approaches everyone had with the assigned task, as well as I saw the interesting characters each student managed to interview. My own critique went just as smoothly as I received both some small praise for my subtitle epiphany and my critically varied approach to the assignment, and I also received several pieces of constructive criticism that gave insight into the way upon I could improve the quality of my interview. In addition to the interviews, some of my class mates presented mock ups of their psychogeographical maps, however I had focused all my time into this video project and therefore lacked a presentable work for the psychogeographical map. This will be one of my upcoming tasks, to finish the map and modify it in a creative and aesthetically pleasing manner.

I eagerly look forward to the coming weeks as I have been greatly enjoying the lessons so far about the visual storytelling experience, and I simply cannot wait any longer for augmented reality and virtual reality related content.