Last Post - Review

Seems I've learned a bit from class this semester. Not exactly what I thought I'd learn, or what I was supposed to learn according to the syllabus, but somewhere in the middle. For one, I need to keep some kind of camera on me any time I think I'm going somewhere interesting. I might have had enough interview material for a final project if I'd done that. I also need to keep my eyes open. Since I moved, I've been able to hang out in the city proper more often and found a few interesting places. I'd concentrated on that moreso than just finding my feet in Tokyo at the beginning of the semester, I might have had a cool project about an idiosyncratic locale to post here, rather than this review.

So, while class didn't necessarily get me out into different areas of Tokyo, I did learn the value of doing so, albeit a bit late to use any of the experiences for class. Of course, I didn't branch out because I was reasonably assured about having a reliable source for two projects, something that ended up being false. Next time I'll stick with someone who I can contact on a regular basis, who can meet somewhere I'll actually be able to persuade an interpreter to go to. Which is two bad really, since I had an interesting subject this time around, I just couldn't figure out how to get a good interview worthy of a New Media style project, or rather, two projects.

The cellphone project, though. That turned out alright. Probably not enough to assure a passing grade in the class, but I like how that one ended up. Chaotic, looks like it was filmed by someone with a cellphone while still being not that bad to look at. Stills cut in with one of the videos might have made it more manageable. That, plus perhaps just a slow crawl across the crowd of people standing, although that's the sort of footage you only get if you know you'll be editing it together with something else later, which wasn't the case initially. Still, I'm happy about the way it turned out.

Next is the part where I discuss my strengths and weaknesses in the class, yeah?

Okay, so strengths - I can use Final Cut Pro decently well. I've been trained, and when I have footage I can edit it together in a way that doesn't look all that bad. Maybe even good. And if I set out to take photos, I can usually get some good ones. I guess it all boils down to me knowing my way around a camera and editing software decently. If I've got a good idea of what I'm doing, I can produce something fairly interesting.

My weaknesses are in figuring out what I'm doing. I find it difficult to actually get motivated regarding a project. It's tough to give myself direction, set up interviews that are going to generate some good discussion, and figure out what kind of footage I need in order to produce a decent project. In general, just hashing out a rough concept of what I want it to look like is a pain. During the project, people asked me what I wanted the end result to be and I honestly had no idea. That's why doing an artist statement was difficult. Well, that and not really having art to make a statement about. Next time I do a similar project, I need to figure out a decent way to get an idea of the end product while I'm still gathering material. I think that will be beneficial for future endeavors.

So, that's it. For projects, for class, and for this blog. Not much else to explain.