Audience/Purpose: For my video project, the targeted audience are students who are in the UCEAP London's Calling program and are looking to travel to Scotland for a weekend trip. In the video, I list multiple locations that students can visit when they are in Edinburgh, Scotland. In addition, the audience can also be anyone on Youtube who enjoys traveling and watching travel montage videos. More specifically though, the audience would have to be a little bit interested in visiting Scotland since the video only features places to visit there. The audience should also prefer shorter, simple videos rather than a long guided tours when it comes to travel videos.
Image(s): In the video, I used a film frame to evoke a sense of nostalgia. Editing the video was nostalgic for me because I got to reflect and re-examine all the places I travelled to approximately six months ago. I added text to the video to help the audience identify the places I visited. The music used in the video is soft and cheerful; I wanted the music to convey the happiness I experienced when traveling through Scotland.
Process: First, I went onto Youtube to try to find music that was copyright-free and stumbled upon multiple lo-fi songs. Afterwards, I converted the music I wanted to use into an .mp3 file and uploaded it to the Final Cut Pro library. I also organized the video files into a folder onto my MacBook and uploaded them onto Final Cut Pro. From then on, I started to add, cut and adjust the video clips, so they would align with the music. I also added video effects such as film grain and the film 35mm border which gave it a nostalgic effect. I also added the color board to the videos to adjust the lighting and saturation. By doing so, I ensured that the clips remained pretty consistent in terms of brightness, exposure, and vibrance. I also added stabilization and rolling shutter to the majority of the clips to reduce the shakiness. I also had to take a look back on the itinerary I made with my friend when we planned our trip to Scotland to pinpoint which places we visited. For some of the clips, we had candidly explored a few places nearby, which required me to do some research on the location.
Learning: Working on the project taught me a number of things. First, I had to learn to keep the audience in mind as I made the video. Prior to this project, I used to create small videos for me and never really considered the importance of certain features such as text. In this video, the text made a great difference as it allowed the audience to see where the monuments and places were located across Edinburgh. To add, I also learned how to download Final Cut Pro plug-in effects and transitions. Researching different plug-ins and learning how to install them into Final Cut Pro was a challenge at first, but after being able to do so, it’s open up a door of creative filters and overlays that I can now use for future video projects. Lastly, I also learned how to do a bit of color grading in Final Cut Pro. Learning how to adjust the exposure and color hues was a challenge at first, but it was well worth it after seeing the results in the final video!