S | 4 | Video Essay

This is a solo project: you plan it, shoot it, and edit it. No group. And no narration. Every bit of storytelling has to come from sequencing, natural sound, and your music choice.

Project Briefing (~10 min)

No narration means no safety net. If a shot doesn’t communicate on its own, sequencing has to carry the weight. That constraint is the whole point of this project.

Review the constraints together: solo work, no narration, original or royalty-free music only (confirmed in 4.3), and a color pass that’s been corrected before it’s graded.

Project Work Time (~23 min)

  1. Shoot against your 4.3 storyboard and shot list: apply the camera technique from 4.2 deliberately, not by default.
  2. Assemble your sequence so it tells the story through order and pacing alone.
  3. Color correct, then grade your final sequence using 4.4’s workflow.
  4. Plus/Delta peer review:

1. Prepare

  • The Draft: Ensure your work is exported or ready to view. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Placeholders for missing pieces are okay!
  • The Plus/Delta Chart: Create a simple T-chart on a piece of paper or a digital document:
  • Plus (+): What is working well? (Strengths, clear storytelling, strong technique).
  • Delta (Δ): What should be changed or improved? (The Greek symbol for “change”).

2. The Review Process

  • Silent First Pass: Experience the work all the way through once without speaking. This allows the reviewer to experience the “flow” of the piece.
  • Second Pass: Go through it again, but this time, the reviewer should jot down specific notes in the Plus and Delta columns.
  • The Golden Rule: Feedback should be Specific, Objective, and Kind.
  • Bad: “I didn’t like the ending.”
  • Good: “The ending felt abrupt because the music cut off before the reporter finished speaking.”

3. Giving Feedback (The Reviewer)

  • Identify the “Pluses”: Start with what is successful.
  • Suggest the “Deltas”: Instead of just pointing out a mistake, offer a solution.
  • Example: “The transition at 0:45 is a bit slow; maybe try a simple cut instead of a dissolve.”

4. Receiving Feedback (The Creator)

  • Listen Without Defending: It’s tempting to explain why you made a choice, but for now, just listen and take notes. If a peer is confused, a general audience likely will be too.
  • Ask Clarifying Questions: If a note is vague, ask for the exact timestamp or location: “Can you show me exactly where the audio got too loud?”

5. The Revision Plan

After the session, look at your Delta column and prioritize your edits:

  1. Level 1 (Critical): Technical errors (missing audio, black frames, typos).
  2. Level 2 (Message): Pacing issues or confusing sequences.

  3. Level 3 (Polishing): Color tweaks, fancy transitions, or extra effects.

  4. Apply your Revision Plan, prioritizing critical fixes first.
  5. Write a one-sentence artist statement naming your video essay’s intended mood.

Telling this story with no narration. What did you have to change about how you shot or sequenced it, compared to a reporter-led story like your Unit 3 News Story?

GMetrix/BrainBuffet (~30 min)

Continue Module 3 (or start Module 4: Basketball Showreel if your section is ahead of pace). Module 4’s speed ramping and animated lower thirds preview Unit 6.

Deliver, Export & Submit (~5 min)

Deliver

  1. Finalize your timeline.
    • Delete out any spaces in your timeline.
    • Mark Ins and Outs (Best Practice)

Export Finished Project

  1. Go to File>Export>Media>
  2. Specify your export settings
    • File Name: YYYY-MM Project Name-Lastname
    • Location: Google Drive/My Drive/Digital Design/YYYY-MM Project Name/Exports
    • Preset: Match Source (or use a High Quality Preset to reduce file size)
    • Format: H.264 (The most compatible format)
  3. Choose H.264 from the Format menu. This will create an mp4 file on export.
  4. Click Export. The export script will run until finished.

Strike

Film sets “strike” (tear down) the set when shooting wraps. Editors do the same with their drives. Once your final export is delivered and your portfolio page is published:

  1. Delete the raw footage from the project folder on your computer. Your final export and project file are all you keep.
  2. Empty the Trash. Deleted footage still takes up space until you do.
  3. Confirm your final export plays from Google Drive before you leave class.

Publish your work to your Google Sites Portfolio

  1. Create a new page on your Google Sites Portfolio to catalog your work.
    • Your work should be exported in a web-safe format in a manner that allows for the work to be embedded without requiring Google Drive permissions
  2. Your work should be accompanied by a detailed project description
  3. Submit the published portfolio page to your LMS (Schoology)

🗂 Organize: Save your final exported Video Essay in the Exports folder of your Digital Design project folder on Google Drive. Save your one-sentence artist statement in the Exports folder of your Digital Design project folder on Google Drive.

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