The beginning of the process...
This was a tough one for me. Deciding on what to share was far more difficult than I thought it would be. Not because I could not think of anything to share, but because I could not decide on which to share. (I am not that interesting mind you, I just think a lot of the people and places around me are!)
At first, I thought I would share something very moving and deeply personal. However, when I share something of that nature, it should be done well. I want to do the story justice and do not feel it is a good choice for my first try.
Then, since I love local history, I considered doing the story of Bennemventum Plantation. The neighborhood I grew up in (and where my parents still live) is located on the old plantation along Black River. Charles Gadsden, creator of the “Don’t Tread on Me” Revolutionary War flag, once owned it. He and his wife, John Poinsettia’s widow, lived there. Many people do not know that about Georgetown, S.C.
I struck this down because I did not want to insult or offend anyone. I know some of the old flags carry different meanings to people than they once did. I chose to move on to another direction and do a local ghost story and use it to share a little history about Georgetown.
That’s how I settled on the Gray Man and his story on Pawleys Island. I figured everyone loves a good ghost story and mystery. It would fit in a lot of places (schools, libraries, just for fun). It is also a great way to “sneak” in some knowledge when it just feels like fun.
I hope to show a glimpse of Pawleys Island that interests others and would possibly even make them want to visit, or at least learn more. I also want to broaden my skills in digital storytelling so that, when the time is right, I feel confident in sharing other people’s stories with them. I just feel like they deserve to be told the right way and the best way to do them justice.
During the process...
Oh my goodness! Frustration does not even begin to cover it! Next time I am hiring my teenage son to be my cameraman because I shake like I am in withdrawals. "Blair Witch Project" has nothing on me.
I also didn't realize that the camera had a date on it. So, now it looks like everything was filmed on New Year's Day 2017. Of course, why all those people would be at the beach in January, I've no idea. I don't know how to get rid of it.
My biggest struggle though is with the audio. The wind was blowing so hard while I was filming my footage that I had to cut out all background audio (that took a while and a lot of tutorials to figure out). I ended up recording the narration on my iPhone and adding it that way. I still don't like it. It is now the day before the story is due and I am about to scrap everything I have put together over the last week and start over.
After the process...
In the end, my story consisted of video, pictures, and narration. I had just a bit of music for the end credits to finish out the story. I went to Pawleys for the footage in order to give everyone a chance to see where the Gray Man “lives.” I would have liked to have used old photographs from the library, but none of them really worked since the time period and place my story covers are not represented there.
I tried several different media tools to put it all together. I began with an older program that was on my home computer. It was basic cut and paste though and of no help whatsoever with my audio problem. I also tried QuickTime, which is great for screen recordings, but not what I was trying to do here. So, I emailed everything to myself at work and opted to stay late to use iMovie. I had to watch a lot of tutorials, but was able to figure out most everything I needed to do. It will be much smoother going the next time now that I’ve got all of that under my belt.
I hit a point of extreme frustration yesterday over the entire process. I finally just had to walk away and come back fresh this morning. Luckily, I didn’t scrap the entire project like I wanted to then. Instead, I re-recorded the narration using Voice Memo on my phone, emailed it to myself and added it to the movie. I then edited the movie down and added a bit of music to fit the end.
If I ever do this story or one similar in the future, I would like to experiment with apps that allow “ghost imaging.” Unfortunately, I did not have time for that this time.
I am fairly pleased with the way it all turned out. I think I had grander images to begin with than my newbie skills allowed for in reality. That was perhaps my biggest hang up. I am a perfectionist and tend to over self-criticize. I had to step back and refocus on my vision. A good night’s sleep didn’t hurt either.
Moving into my next project, I have a much, much better idea of how the entire process works and my own skill level. This alone will make the process move faster and have a lot fewer headaches. I also have to stop myself from being overly stressed about the experience. As with all things, there is a learning curve and I have got to let go of that stress because it most definitely hinders creativity!
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