Draft video: Self-portrait

Week 3 - Session 1

This is my draft of the 2-minute self-portrait video, uploaded on Vimeo.

Description:

My portrait focuses on intertwining the ups and downs of myself. They are opposite emotions that I could experience and to enhance that I would be strong, but not all the time, there are lots of moments contributing to forming my portrait comprehensively.

I feel like there is a missing piece inside me so I'm on a journey to seek it out and engage in every single interest to fulfil my inner self. I always find a chair - a position - for myself but actually, these are very bright days as finding solutions and finding answers are my happiness in life. When things gradually get stuck, it would turn to gloomy days but the waves used to be a tranquil lake inside me have a chance to turn much stronger and then eventually figure out a solution, and it once again becomes brighter days.

Process:

01. Building and developing ideas

Initially, I was out of track as I concentrated on the idea of depicting myself in life instead of the picture of me stepping into this course. Moreover, it was also discrete ideas that I tried to link different objects together without paying attention to the relationship between them.

With the lack of connection and continuity in my first script, I reflected again to figure out a much more comprehensive and intentional script for my video. I created the foundation that contributed to expressing my emotions clearly and then found the specific objects, or events giving hands to develop that basis. It turned into my second idea brainstorm, with a more particular list based on the framework I planned to use:

Bored, lost: Dripping tap, insecure fingers, sad face, questioning myself

Finding this course, interest: Drawing, designing, crayons, paper

Excited, energetic: Strong waves, shining day

Difficult, tired: Empty marker, scratchy pen

Finding inspiration, hope, peace: Park, leaves, singing birds

Bright, joyful: Smiling face

02. Filming

I spent time walking around the city to film the related objects as I had planned on both bright and gloomy days. The remaining scenes were shot indoors and thoroughly arranged with different camera angles to make the editing process easier.

03. Editing

I moved all the footage to a new folder and arranged it in order before bringing it to Premiere Pro.

To enhance the jitters at the beginning, I created a repetition of the dripping tap scene and finger scene intertwined constantly by cutting and placing them together in the timeline.

Next, I changed the background music at the key moment which created the feeling of climax. The audio from the start was in a slow tone depicting hesitancy so it needed to be transformed to a happier tone with a strong rhythm at the moment the tap finally ran fast.

I kept going with the rolling crayon section to maintain the continuity.

The crayon has been strongly inspirational to me as I constantly figured out how meaningful it could be if I used it appropriately. Initially, I intended to interleave the fully-charged status with the series of my healing hobbies through the small drawing of the battery which perfectly connected the two scenes. During the shooting, I recognized the potential meanings of that crayon lying on my drawing paper and started to seek an applicable approach to make my idea truly work. It finally became a noticeable highlight throughout the entire journey of discovering my inner self as all of my interests could be demonstrated in a tightly connected method by the rolling shots. I’m totally satisfied with the result when the picture of me is no longer depicted in a simple but in such an emotional and strongly associated way. Specifically, the crayon rolling over different objects is also me, who always allows me to collide with several different experiences in succession to build my passion little by little.

Besides the key moment of the smiling face that appeared at the end of the video, I also created another highlight to truly demonstrate the transformation of emotion I want to express throughout the video. It was the full crayon box which used to be missing one.

To be more specific, the crayon box being interspersed in the first 25-second section was one of the keys completing the depth of the whole theme as it once appeared again at 1.49 with the opposite tone. It first showed up as the crayon box missing a piece inside and trying to fill in the blank, which could represent me. It gradually turned out to be the journey of me, who was symbolised by the green crayon, exploring every single story, engaging in every single interest and discovering every single aspect of spiritual life to fulfil my inner self. Finally, the green crayon returned full of experience and energy and was ready to compensate for the inadequacy before.

I created a transition from the laptop screen where I attempted to draw and design to the desk drawer where my final product ultimately was 100% done. It’s also my favourite T-shirt ever. This transition depicts how I gradually figured out what my enthusiasm is and how that enthusiasm helps me in completing myself.