Video Documentary: Icons to Symbol
Video Documentary
This is a video comparing the transformation of the Sumerian, Egyptian and Chinese iconic writing system to symbolic writing systems in relation to the evolution of their education, social structure and culture. Enjoy.
PDF Link: Transcript and References
Reflection
Production choices and Style
I decided to use a variety of styles in order to keep the audience engaged. I started the video using a cloud based animation program, PowToon, in order to give the video a modern feel that is different from the more serious and detailed sections of the video. The application allowed me to easily use many different animated effects for images and text. I thought this would help the audience process the information since it allowed me to display text while I narrated the script. For the rest of the video I followed a more documentary approach where images, maps, and photographs were used to accompany the script. I decided to use an animated slide show program called ProShow Gold as it gave me professional looking transitions and effects with a simple click of a button. It also allowed me to customize the duration of the slide to match my narrated script easily. I completed the video editing with Camtasia Studio which allowed me to merge the previously created videos along with captions, titles, and credits. In addition, I was also able to combine a video of a professor writing Chinese calligraphy while using simple transitions and zooming effects on images to finish the last section of the video. I feel that the variety of visual effects keeps the video interesting and mimics a professional documentary.
Challenges and Successes
Making a video took a lot longer than I anticipated. For every minute, it felt like it took 2 hours to complete. After writing the script, the production of the video consisted of the following stages: recording the script, finding images and music, creating a bibliography, inserting captions/effects/transitions, and editing the video to match the script. Of all the stages, I found recording the script the most challenging and interesting. In the course, we have focused on going from orality to written, and the video process went in the other direction – from written back to orality. It took me many attempts to make the written text sound natural rather than being read to, and it’s definitely an ability I admire in many great public speakers. My attempts made me realize how true Ong’s view is about written text being an unnatural process as I have been told that I write differently from how I speak. I also found that oralities existence in the present was very glaring when my recordings in the beginning were very different from the end. I started getting more used to focusing on the words, especially pronouncing the ‘s’ (or not pronouncing them) at the end of words. And as I got more comfortable, my pacing increased, my pauses decreased and my voice became clearer. Overall, I found the experience in making a documentary video enjoyable. I challenged myself to create a professional looking video which made me research different video effects such as highlighting a part of the video or creating a scrolling credit. After this experience, I feel confident I can create my own classroom videos should I choose to.