Dialogue Challenges

The Latitude Zero dialogue during summer two provided me with a very unique experience and insight that I was not expecting to gain from the trip. I went into the trip with a targeted goal of openly challenge myself to thinking differently, allow myself to accept the thought process of Latin America and Ecuador. I wanted to be able to make observations on the difference between westernized thinking and Latin American thinking. I also wanted to challenge myself to develop a skill set working with a camera and Adobe Premiere Pro; I wanted to be able to make a short video clip on my own.

The first challenge of reaching my goal of metacognition was being able to become comfortable. The struggle of becoming comfortable became apparent the more we physical moved, the altitude was a factor in me being able to relax. Once I found myself more acclimated to the altitude I then found myself beginning to change my thought process. I had to listen and digest what people were telling me, I had to step out of my comfort zone, and I had to speak with a variety of people. I also observed a lot about Americanized thinking and habits while being submerged in another culture; not only did I learn from myself, but also my peers. I learned a lot about myself the more time I spent in my sketchbook, I realized how much drawing and observing helped me develop different thought processes.

The second challenge of the dialogue was versing myself in Adobe Premiere, I have never put together a sequence nor have I ever used sound equipment. Since our time was limited in Ecuador our camera classes would be full of information and tips on how to maximize the use of our cameras. I found that I also gained the most experience from observing the directors from APAK. My personal experience with Toqui helped me gain the vision of a final cut that a director needs to make their production successful.

Sound was also a struggle for myself, I did not realize how time consuming and effort it takes to receive quality sound to match the visuals. Being able to captain the sound needed is a hassle, and then placing them in the proper sequential order is a challenge in itself. The more I practiced with the boom pole the more comfortable I became with using sound in my videos. I think audio is my biggest improvement throughout all of my videos through my dialogue.