The experimental video I created called "We are all the same" explored the difference in people’s reactions when they view different words. How people associate different words, actions and emotions with different genders. And how everyone is equal it’s just lifestyles and cultures that separate us. And my main plan was to show this fact in a creative and unusual manor.
Before I choose to exhibit my final piece, I wrote a questionnaire for people to fill out once they have viewed my video. They were a simple set of questions that ask what people’s opinions on the video. The questions were;
What did you think the video was about?
What is your opinion on the video you just viewed?
Did you like the video Yes/No?
What did you like or dislike about it?
What did you feel when watching the video?
Which words were in the video?
What do you think the words meant?
Did the feelings towards the words change when you saw them on the male and female?
Describe the video in three words Are you male or female? Any other comments or questions?
With these questions I hoped that I would get a wide range of responses from the audience. Whether or not they were positive or negative responses, they would still be a wide range of feedback. Feedback which would be helpful for me to evaluate myself and the work I have produced. It would also be a clear indication of if the audience understood the message I was trying to put across and if they actually paid attention to what they were viewing. An example of me trying to find out if the audience was paying attention was the question "Which words were in the video?" The answers given to this question would show how many of the 18 people I showed the piece to were actually paying attention. I was glad to find that the majority of audience members did remember at least three quarters of the words that featured in my experimental film. Unfortunately, a select few of the audience members found it apparently hard to remember the words they had scene, and only put a few of the words down when answering. The two conclusions I have made about the lack attention show by some of the viewers were; they were too distracted by the human forms in the piece to remember. Or, they were not fully engaged into what they were seeing on screen.
I wanted additionally to see if people understood the overall premise of the piece, of everybody being the same, regardless of visible differences. I planned to find out this by asking the question "What did you think the video was about?" This question was important in finding out if the message I was trying to put across actually made a significant impact, or was just lost on the audience. When I had received all the feedback questionnaires I looked through them and found that most of those who saw the installation piece got the idea of everybody being the same. This told me that I had succeeded in creating a piece which will show the similarities of human beings.
Another thing I was hoping to do was record the different feelings that people were experiencing when watching the experimental video. The question I asked to record this was "What did you feel when watching the video?" This question was a simple way of find the feelings of the audience. The range of responses was between confused and depressed to confused and cold.
In conclusion, when I had completed the pre production plans, carried out the filming, edited the footage, planned the installation space and showed the video to an audience. I had made an experimental video which had a clear cut and relevant meaning to today’s modern world. I feel that the piece was well made; I thoroughly enjoyed the production process and have learnt a lot about how different camera angles can creates different affects. The opinions of the audience matched my own. All of the people who viewed my video said that they enjoyed watching it. However, I did not just receive compliments about how good the video was. There was a question “Any other comments or questions? “In the feedback questionnaire, where there were some criticisms. The main criticism was that the video was slightly to long and it dragged on a bit too long. I do agree with the comments that it was a bit long at 4 minutes 9 seconds, but I feel that in order to truly make an impact the video had to be slightly repetitive and longer than only a couple of minutes. A second criticism was that the camera movements were not smooth and did not flow well. However, this was the effect I was planning to create with the camera. I wanted the movements to be slightly jumpy and less flowing than what is known in film making. I have used unconventional camera movements to create an experimental feel to the video. Finally, I feel that the end product I have created is very similar to what I originally planned to do. This is pleasing considering I have not had much experience in directing and film making. The only thing that changed through the post production process was that I had to change one of the female shots into a male shot. The shot was of the eye lid of the male where the word "sex" is written on it then the eye opens and closes again it has the word "fear" written on it instead. The reason for changing was, the eye lid of the actress I used was too small to write a word on clearly. I therefore changed the plan and wrote it on the actors’ eyelid because it was bigger.
I have chosen to take the fair criticisms on board and I now see that some of the techniques I used when filming could have been improved if I were to ever reshoot the video. With all things taken into consideration, I feel my experimental video “We are all the same” was a good quality piece of work, for a first video assignment. And it is a strong foundation on which to build my skills and confidence from in the future.
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