Jyckell Perez

Mrs. Lazarski

Video Production IV

01 February 2021

Self-Reflection

For my initial “Film Festival” assignment, I had pitched an idea for a non-traditional

documentary featuring guest speakers that enlighten and educate the audience about the

difference between feminism and modern-day feminism, and how it has lost its meaning

throughout the years because of social media. My goal had been to reach the audience by

providing personal stories and factual information all together in order for it to truly be a project

people continue to think about, hence the genre also being “Psychological”. Unfortunately, due

to personal reasons and COVID I was not able to fulfill this exact expectation; meaning I did

deviate from the entire project, but I did what I could with the limited resources. As a result, I

crafted a Travel Diary from my trip to the Dominican Republic.

We started off rocky when it came to figuring out in which direction my project was

going to be taken, therefore the Pre-Production stage was longer on my part than most students’

would have been. In addition to listening to various podcasts Mrs.Lazarski recommended to be

able to understand the way they are set-up, to figuring out ways to script a podcast in a way that

is information-packed and sounds strong, Pre-Production was a learning experience for me. Not

only was my original plan to do a fim, I later on planned to do a podcast. I had never been

familiar with the Audio portion of it all, and I learned so much within this stage. The evident fact

that I had absolutely no past work with audio set me back mentally, was I truly prepared for this?

I had to learn as much information as possible in such a short period of time, which is what I
believe was the hardest part of Pre-Production. Essentially, although it may have been extremely

difficult and chaotic to get this podcast on the road and I had to resort to throwing together a

quick Travel Diary, the amount I learned will be very useful for future projects.

Back to the actual plot of the story, the Production phase for the final project was actually

extremely easy. Being that I was going on this trip to visit my Father’s home country, I wanted to

capture the moment through camera. Luckily for me, the shots were all simple and the lighting

was phenomenal at all times. Although it was not my plan in the beginning, capturing the

scenery of where I was at was breathtaking. These are memories that I can cherish regardless of

if it counts as a “project” grade. When it came to the podcast portion, I was not able to reach the

production phase which was my biggest obstacle. Unfortunately, I caught COVID-19 and I was

out of school for the entire month of December, which posed serious challenges when it came to

working on my project in every single manner. I became desperate to find new ideas I could craft

from my own room. It was pure luck that we went on vacation once we were cleared because if

not I would not have been able to submit anything.

During the Post-Production stage, all of the fun and hard-time editing goes into play. Due

to the fact that I was absent for a majority of the time in school, I had to figure out how to

download the editing softwares onto my own computer. Once I got that down, the rest was

smooth sailing. When I went about editing, I did the best of my ability in order to make it look

like a “journal”, which is when I started using the page flip transitions. I loved the way this made

my film look, it truly gave it that “diary” feel. My biggest issue with editing was the fact that I

did not have a lot to work with. Since everything was so unexpected and short-notice, I had to

work with the resources I had and that included little footage. This problem could have been
avoided if I had taken a couple of steps during the Production phase but since it was a last minute

choice I went through with my idea.

My favorite part of the production process was, without a doubt, Production. I am

completely enamored with the scenery and my trip in general, and capturing it (without the

intention of turning it into a school assignment) was just as fun. In addition, living in the actual

moment of capturing footage was an experience itself, which is evident in my Film Festival

submission. I took it upon myself to tell the story well through the filming because it made up for

the struggles I faced in the Pre-Production phase.

My personal strengths within the entire process would be the creativity that I show with

my scenes in my final project, including my editing skills. I may not have set the tone well

enough in the beginning during my Pre-Production, and I am well aware that it was due to the

roadblocks I faced when it came to changing my project up three different times.. It could have

been better, with voice-overs, and even more footage included that may have emphasized the

theme I was aiming for, making you want to travel to the Dominican Republic. In the end, all of

this was a learning experience that I will be applying onto my next project. I will focus on

capturing a lot of b-roll because if it had not been for COVID, my pre-production phase for my

original project was set through and through.

In the end, I personally feel like I did not meet my program objective. This project is

definitely not my finest work, especially since it was a project I had several difficulties with as

much as I may have been enthusiastic about the original in the beginning of the assignment. It

does not fall under the genres I mentioned in my pitch, but it does a good job at targeting the

audience. My goal was to capture the eye of teenagers and young adults, and I am pleased I did

even if it meant producing mediocre work.