What did you learn?
I learn about the research process. It sounded obvious in the beginning, but having done some academic research in the past, I thought it would be the same. However, it was an interesting creative experience to start with a broad and vague topic “puppet” and learned to narrow it down to a topic like “puppet leadership,” it was not as simple and straightforward as I originally imagined.
What feedback did you receive? Any reflections on critique itself?
In terms of technicality, I have advised the shots can be from more diverse angles. There are also suggestions on making it slower, and easier to understand, as well as cutting to the point a little bit faster in the beginning as it was unclear at first. There are some suggestions of things to fix that were actually a part of my intentional plan, and so while I appreciate the feedback, I’m not sure I will want to change it. For instance, some of the information pass by fast, and sometimes the audience has to rely on the subtitles to understand things, it was sort of my experience as an ESL speaker, as well as my experience with infomercial growing up. Sometimes, things go by so fast, you have to wait and rewatch the whole thing again and again to get it. So, while it might irritate the audience a little, I think I would choose to keep the pace and the intention of using subtitles. Reflection of the critique itself, it wasn’t very lively, to be honest, I wish to hear a more direct critical voice from my classmates.
What might you do differently in terms of process or content?
I agree there can be more diversity in the shots I shoot, it can make the call to action a lot stronger. I also agree to take more risks in terms of the ideas or statements I’m trying to deliver. How exactly does it mean to take more risk, I’m not sure, but I agree that’s what I need to do more of.
What was inspiring? What parts?
I think the whole brainstorming process as well as all the turns I’ve taken before arriving at the final end result. The process of this project really taught me the ability to expand my horizons and not narrow to what I assumed and already know. Also that any topic can be a potentially interesting topic.
Revisit the assignment prompts: how did your project relate to the original prompts, in terms of critical lens, audience, tone, etc…
How did you balance research and experimentation? Which is easier for you? How can you focus more on the areas that you shy away from
I read the prompts several times carefully during the project of making the final video, so I would hope the result alines with the expectations pretty closely. It was hard to balance between research and experimentation for sure, very hard to not get into a “lecturing” mode with the project, especially after learning so much about it during the research stage. Learning to narrow down during the end of the research stage is definitely the hard part for me, and the experimentation part was fun. I was new to video editing, so was excited to try out all the things I just learned recently. In order to focus more on the areas that I shy away from, I think more intense and concrete research in a specific area is required. I don’t feel comfortable delivering information on things that I’m not completely confident of being somewhat of an expert on. Aside from the information, I also tend to shy away from things that might offend certain people. I often ended up making things way too vanilla as I sometimes get over-considerate of being politically correct. Sometimes, it’s all just in my head, and while logically I know art should be a safe space to make provocative things, rationally I often feel hesitate to do it. Hopefully, I can just learn to do it more and more over time.