We showed our video in class; I was really nervous prior to this, because I wasn’t sure if our concept was too wonky or in the wrong direction. I expressed this concern to my partner, who reassured me that he thought it was such a great concept that we didn’t need to change it; we just needed to make some changes to better convey our message.

Well, it seemed that the feedback from the class was mostly positive. I’m excited to put together the finishing touches on the video, and to have our printed piece put together as well. I didn’t realize how much I’d actually liked the process of editing, constantly replaying frames to make sure they make sense.

I’m glad I got the chance to do this project; I learned so much that I would not have otherwise.

We received some critical feedback on our initial cut of the video. It was shot at Sweet Rose Creamery in Brentwood, where the workers were kind enough to allow me to bother them and sample every flavor they had available. We were proud to present our video to the instructor; after all, our peers thought it was a great concept, and I had a lot of fun making and editing the video. And if one has fun with their work, wouldn’t that be reflected in their product?

However, the feedback we received was that we essentially failed to communicate the message.

I delved into some deep thinking about what that meant. It’s always easy to lose sight of your ideas when you’re that into it. Sometimes, it takes an external perspective to make you realize that perhaps you didn’t do as you intended.

So I’m in the process of figuring that out; I’ve shown the video to those who have no idea what this project is about, just to get their perspective. I’ve resolved to get some new shots in order to smooth the transition between certain cuts, and to reposition some cuts and add some copy to more properly convey the message. Hopefully this works!

I have very little to no experience when it comes to video editing. I’ve done some things for fun, but I’ve never actually considered doing it for a project.

So when I sat down to think about what concept I’d like to present for this project, I felt like I could go in many directions, but at the same time felt very constrained. My peers had similar ideas; I wanted to be more conceptual. This was evident especially after receiving feedback (or lack thereof) from the instructor; we simply did not have a solid enough concept. At least, from my perspective, we didn’t. We had something generic; we had ideas, but nothing inspiring or unique.

So, I thought about how we wanted to present CSULA’s Graphic Design/Visual Communication program, and how it’s different from other local schools; what did we offer that made us special? This thought process led us to think of things that were unique in nature; after all, work that comes from our school are all wildly different. Students leave with a good idea of what their design voice is.

Then, it hit me: why not do ice cream?

The idea seems absurd enough; however, I felt extremely confident that we could shoot it in such a way that was convincing, that would connect the two ideas together: that attending CSULA would enable students to discover their own design voice, in the same way that in trying different ice cream flavors, one would find the flavor that speaks best to them. I’m ecstatic to implement this idea.

This past class, our instructor felt that in order to motivate us on our last project for this Advertising in Art Direction class, he should leave the room to allow us some time to really blow off some steam, or to really share what we think about the design program.

But first — a preface.

Perhaps on a whim of spontaneity, our instructor assigned us a 2-3 minute video for our last project. It was not something he’s done before; he’s never assigned this kind of project for this class, and he had taught this class about (six?) times, he said. The purpose of the video was to promote the graphic design/visual communication program at CSULA. And, that was about it, as far as the requirements went. (There is to be an accommodating printed piece that comes with the video,but that piece could be anything we wished, so as long as it was not digital).

Over the weekend, many of the students were struggling to come up with ideas that were original for this video. We all have seen the formula for these types of things; highlight the success rate, highlight a student’s experience, show clips of the classroom environment and the type of work that is produced. We thought maybe it was a better idea to work on this video as a class, since we all had similar ideas and wanted to ensure a quality result.

However, the instructor essentially shot down this idea and told us we were creatively blocking ourselves, thereby leaving the room to allow us to figure out what makes CSULA awesome and how we could approach the problem.

Which brings me back to the point of this post.

It was an hour long talk, with multiple perspectives being provided to paint a picture of what students at CSULA feel when they’re studying GD/VC. Although I’m a graduate student, I did experience a good taste of what the undergraduates go through; after all, up until this point, I was technically a second bac and taking classes to help shape my graphic design voice. The discussion started to become incredibly touching; students confessing that they loved the peers and the sense of camaraderie that they feel when they’re here. All in all, a very enlightening and lifting hour spent; while we may have our disagreements, for that moment in time, we were united by our ideas.

We presented our work yesterday; I believe it was the best effort we could make, given the absence of our teacher on Monday. I retook a couple of the photos based on the feedback we got from our peers on Monday, which of course was a process in of itself. I had to retake a photo of an office, for example, because there was a trash can in an awkward position. The model wasn’t available to retake the photo, so I had to do my best to retake the photo in as close of position/lighting as possible, and then Photoshop her into the newer version of the photo. No one noticed, so I think that was a success And it turns out, the difference between the photo I retook and the photo I originally used wasn’t that large; it looked as if she was actually there for the reshoot.

It was great to work with my partner, who was patient and as accommodating as they come. I wish I had time to take a photo of our finished product, though! Alas.