Day 31: Metaphors upon Metaphors
It is day 31 on our trip and we’re in the home stretch!
Right after coming back from our amazing time from Galapagos, we all got down to business in the fashion of Mulan, but instead of defeating the Huns, we conquered our Nature as Metaphor video. It was a change of pace compared from our time in the Galapagos. Instead of nature being all around us, we spent hours within the walls of ILADES.
Amar hard at work
From what I gathered, everyone was slightly lost and confused about what the video should be since the idea of the project was quite abstract. Using the footage we took in Santa Cruz and Isabela, we were supposed to create a visual metaphor dealing with any topic we chose. Since it was so open ended it was difficult to know where to start, however, it also provided a lot of potential for all the videos.
Another day of editing!
Throughout the editing process, there are definitely frustrating times but personally, I find sound editing the most tedious. The sound of a video can almost make or break the cohesiveness of the film. The sound also ties the seemingly unrelated clips together by guiding the audience along with auditory cues. Usually the audio also is a lead in to each subsequent clip so the image and sound do not seem jarring when they are strung together in a video.
Personally, my video tried to express the idea of individuality and sense of community in nature which I observed in the Galapagos. I had a tough time trying to piece together the order in which the clips should go in so my metaphor would come through clearly. I decided to split the video into two sections and have the first half show animals in solitary spaces. Then in the second half of the video, I showed the same animals but in groups or returning to their collective group space. The audio that I used to connect the clips together consisted largely of sounds of waves and birds chirping. I tried showing that the animals in nature are not necessarily ever alone by having the bird calls play throughout the entire video.
After hours of editing, we had a screening of everyone’s video. Needless to say, each video was unique in its own way and were exciting to watch. I was surprised at the variety of themes that were portrayed throughout the videos since I genuinely thought there would be videos very similar to each other since we all had similar footage. However, everyone was creative and innovative in the way they pieced together the clips, and all told different stories with it. Some videos were about the human destruction to nature, while others were a little more optimistic about human influence on nature. Another video took another route portraying what PTSD felt like through the visuals and pace of editing. Overall, I thought it was a successful project for everyone and I look forward to what everyone comes up with for our last video!