Tourists in Japan- Final Post
Introduction
When deciding what idea and choice of media I would do for this project, I took into account my recent trip to Japan, the stacks of footage I took in Japan and my love of editing footage. It was a pretty easy decision that I would use Imovie to create my project about Japan and the diverse culture that it has. I decided that it would be from a tourists perspective of the beautiful country which is home to over 126 million people. The footage is mainly taken in a small, beautiful snow town of Hakuba and the capital, Tokyo.
Prior Skills
Before completing this project I had a bit of experience with Imovie, the software that I was going to be using for this assignment. The footage was all captured using a Sony Handcam which is smaller than my hand. The footage was taken over 2 weeks in the beginning of January of 2013. Prior to this project I had made just under 10 edited films using Imovie. I would prefer to learn how to use final cut pro but unfortunately the software is very expensive and I don’t have the money. I filmed most of the footage, but my mother and brother also filmed some. When shooting the footage it was all taken over 2 weeks and the footage was shot in a town called Hakuba, a few ski resorts and the capital city of Tokyo. Footage was taken of tourists skiing, A museum where tourists go to visit snow monkeys, restaurants, the crowded streets of Tokyo, shopping centres within Tokyo and all the amazing sights of the city. After the footage was taken it was in storage for a few months, but the perfect opportunity was given and the footage could be used for good use, this project. When editing the footage I found it very hard to make it a digital story rather than a few clips from a family holiday. I wanted to make sure that within the video, some sort of professionalism came out of it and that it was relevant to the course. If I could do it differently in the future I would definitely change the time that it went for. Unfortunately with the limited amount of relevant footage, I couldn’t make the film as long as I intended to. Something that I thought worked really well when editing the film was my experience using Imovie making it a lot easier to do and also I found that with the footage that I could use, the scenery was eye-catching and entertaining to watch.
Questions
What did you learn about digital media production by attempting this project?
The biggest thing I learnt from this project is the amount of time editing takes to produce a piece of work. Before this assignment I didn’t realize the slow process of editing footage. The process of finding relevant footage, trimming footage, adding effects, adding headlines and finding copyright free music that was suitable and relevant was a very long process. From this project, I also became more knowledgeable using Imovie and a bit more efficient.
How did this learning align with your understanding of the emerging narrative forms possible in digital media production, and/or digital media's impact on contemporary media communication practices and popular culture?
Producing this movie made me understand the impact of contemporary media communication practices and popular culture on digital media. With the Internet inventing new websites becoming phenomenon’s, digital media is in everybody’s homes with their computer and back pocket with their smartphones. Uploading videos could now be possible for everyone on the World Wide Web from the comfort of their home. When making a film using digital media, it is imperative to be copyright free and plagarised free. It is also important to be considerate of the community and not publish something that is rude or racist.
video link https://vimeo.com/77215885