https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1S94aYxtuH3V39JBhW0Iqf_kcUfaV6BhWkBdlRc9CKLI/edit?usp=sharing

Full disclosure before we dive into this post: I have never been proficient at or enjoyed using Powerpoint. I can’t really tell you why, but I suspect it was primarily due to the fact that I never learned how to use it in my early school years. While many of my friends and peers were using the program in both Elementary and Middle School, it wasn’t until High School that I was required to utilize Powerpoint for assignments; which made  the difference in my skill level compared to them entirely too obvious. I was never sure about the pacing of the presentation, nor was I ever confident in how much detail I needed to add to the slides without it coming across as overwhelming. While I won’t say that it has entirely remedied my issues with the program, Pecha Kucha has certainly helped with my understanding in what makes a Powerpoint enjoyable to experience. The “20 Slides, 20 Seconds” rule is incredibly useful in helping pace out the presentation and how much information I need to include. If I am unable to completely read out all of the information on my slides within 20 seconds, I know I need to go back to the drawing board and fix something. Another element of Pecha Kucha I like is the fact that it encourages the presenter to take a much more personable and fun to listen too tone to their presentations. Eddie Selover’s quote in the article is probably my favorite example of this approach; “It’s like a high-tech version of sitting around the campfire,” and it is something that I hope to capture something in my own presentations. Plus, jumping back and forth between seemingly random topics seems fun and I like to make people laugh, so it’s a win-win.

To be completely honest, I never really considered creating a Pseudonym Identity for myself at the onset of this blogs creation. I suppose this stemmed from the fact that this was going to be my own personal blog (or at least that’s how I perceived the initial description of the class as a whole), so it never really crossed my mind to create any type of persona for myself to write under. Looking back on my first several assignments, this is abundantly clear in the pure writing style of the first two or so weeks worth of posts on my blog. The writing is so darn academic and sterile; almost as if someone was forcing me to write it at gunpoint or something. Even going back to re-read it for this assignment is sort of making me cringe, which is why I am incredibly happy that I was able to re-evaluate my approach after the lesson that encouraged us to ensure that out writing was enjoyable for anyone to read.

This is the approach that I have taken in all of the assignments since and how I hope to market myself in the future as I attempt to set up a personal brand. That being said, I don’t believe that I want to adapt a Pseudonym Identity persay. Instead, I wish to create something of an alternate persona using my own name; sort of portraying a fictionalized or exaggerated version of myself. I feel like I have been utilizing this approach to my writing ever since my “What is Wedding Film making and why should you care? Post. In this piece, I attempted to portray myself as a slightly cynical, overworked intern who was in over his head in a place of work that he had entirely underestimated. My intention is to not come across as negative in any way, instead I hope to utilize a cynical and jokey approach to allow readers who have little to no experience in the field of video production and wedding film making to understand the struggle and crunch the job can enable.

In order to really push this new identity for myself online, it is absolutely imperative that I create a strong presence on Social Media. While most forms of exposure are good forms of exposure, I would like to center my efforts on 4 main platforms: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube”. Via a Twitter, Facebook and Instagram account, I would strive to allow viewers to get a better look at MV Films; the studio I am currently participating in an internship at. To convey a more intimate sense of connection with the studio, I will post videos and pictures of the actual video production process, as to demystify the act of video editing. This could also be accompanied with videos featuring Matt (my Internship Supervisor) helping me through some of my own questions with the editing process. Heck, we could even showcase some of our on location shot work, which would allow the viewers to see how we present ourselves on shoots first hand. Plus, it will potentially draw in potential business.

On the YouTube front of this Social Media push, I plan to post specific videos that detail the daily routines at MV Film’s. These videos would be very lighthearted in tone, in an effort to engage the viewers with my personality. They will still be informative and will allow the viewers to actually gain insight as to how we go about things, but they will be lighthearted enough that they will be fun to watch as well. By using Social Media in this way, I hope to engage my viewers to myself as a brand, which will hopefully allow me to pursue many new projects in the future.

Throughout this post, I will be posting a counter argument to a prior article on my blog dealing with Wedding Film Making. While you certainly don’t need to read the prior article, it will certainly help gleam some context. You can read it here: https://wordpress.com/block-editor/post/andrewkosinteractivemedia.home.blog/28

The first main point of contention that I have with this article is when the author compares the job of a wedding filmmaker to that of an entire hollywood film crew. While yes, the job of a wedding filmmaker does involve using a variety of different skills (such as filming, editing ect.), it is a gross exaggeration to assume that they are putting in anywhere near as much work as the entirety of a hollywood film crew. One of the main advantages a wedding filmmaker has over a hollywood crew is the fact that they are almost always the sole creator involved in the project, meaning they have an intimate knowledge of their footage and how they would like to structure a video. This is an advantage of a standard hollywood production, where the director and editor are often different people. Another key difference between a wedding filmmaker and a hollywood film crew is the amount of time required from the two. A wedding filmmaker is only required to film their event for a single day, whereas a film crew can film for sometimes upwards of a year before their product is truly ready to be edited. The two professions also differ in is the deadline that the final product is expected to be delivered by. In wedding filmmaking, filmmakers are able to negotiate their deadlines with their clients and are quite flexible. Wedding films are also quite a bit easier to produce in the editing stage of production than hollywood films (mostly due to not needing complex special effects). In sharp contrast, Hollywood films are put on harsh deadlines by their studios in order to be released into theatres in a timely manner. Coupled with the fact that hollywood films are far more effects heavy and it creates a work environment that is almost uncomparable to wedding filmmaking.

While I do disagree fairly heavily with the author of this piece, I feel that our difference in opinion comes mainly from a lack of experience on their part. Having admitted that they had very much had not only a lack of experience in the field, but also a fundamental misunderstanding of what their internship truly entailed, it is not hard to see why the duties of a wedding filmmaker can come across as overwhelming to someone new to the field. When describing the duties of a wedding filmmaker, it does truly seem overwhelming and a herculean task for a single person to tackle. However, with everything in context, things become much more balanced and the advantages and struggles of each profession become easier to see.

For this step by step assignment, I have decided to explain the process of making overnight oats. Now, I know what your probably thinking; “What does any of this have to do with your Internship or video production”. On the surface, absolutely nothing, thanks for asking. However, when you take into account the fact that this internship will often require you to go for hours without food during a longer shoot, I feel like it is more important than it may come across. By being able to prepare something to eat multiple days in advance, it allows me to simply get up, grab the food and head out to either the studio or shoot location. Plus, if that food is filling, it will allow me to perform at a much higher level during a stressful shoot. If that doesn’t sound very interesting, I can assure you that it is much more entertaining than me explaining how to upload a file to a hard drive or how to set up a Tripod. Or who knows, maybe you want to hear that boring, 3-ish step process? Comment below if you do I guess.  

So, to get started, we’ll need some ingredients

• 1 Cup of Quaker Oats. Can really be any kind, just make sure they aren’t Stone Cut. Trust me, I’ve tried and it’s miserable
• ¼ Cup of Shredded Coconut
• ⅔ Cup of Milk. Can be regular or Almond. Almond tastes a little sweeter, so you do you. We’ll be dividing this into 2 portions
• 2 Tablespoons of Maple Syrup. We’ll be dividing this into 2 portions too
• 1 Cup of diced Strawberries.

Steps;

A: Find some form of jar or cup to place he Oats in. I’d recommend Mason Jars, but anything really works as long as you can place it in the fridge. We’ll be making 2 portions of this, so be sure to grab 2 containers

B: Measure out 1 Cup of Oats in a liquid measuring cup and divide it evenly between the 2 containers. You can also just measure out a Cup at a time, no biggie

C: In the same cup you used to measure the outs, measure out a ¼ Cup of the Shredded Coconut and divide them between the two containers. You can also just measure out ⅛ a Cup at a time, which is pretty cool all things considered. When was the last time you measured an ⅛ a Cup of something? That’s what I thought

D: In the same cup, measure out ⅔ Cups of Milk. Or Almond Milk, your call. We’ll be dividing this into each of the containers. We waiting until this step so that the Oats and the Coconut wouldn’t absorb any liquid before they were in the container

E: Using a Tablespoon, measure out 1 Tablespoon of Maple Syrup into each of the containers.

F: Using a spoon, mix everything up until it looks well combined. You want to make sure the milk is able to be absorbed into the Oats. If it isn’t, let’s just say it’s awkward

G: Place lids on the containers and put them in the fridge. This is where you can rest easy for a while, as these will be good for up to 5 days as long as they’re refrigerated.

H: When you want to eat the Oats, take out some strawberries and dice them. You can certainly put them in the same measuring cup used early to get things super accurate, but it’s very unnecessary, just do it by feel. Just make sure you don’t leave in the stems. Seriously, just don’t.

I: Enjoy!

Andrew Kos

                 126 Maple Avenue, CT, 06473 . 203-804-0736 . adkos@albertus.edu

February 13, 2018

Andrew Kos

Education Assistant

Albertus Magnus College

700 Prospect Street

New Haven, CT 06511

Dear Mr. Van Ness

Today, I am writing in an attempt to obtain the  position of video editor at MV Films that was posted on Craig’s List. I was notified of the position by Mrs. Corey Bruschett from Albertus Magnus College, who has also agreed to provide a recommendation letter if necessary.

I am currently a Senior at Albertus Magnus College and am majoring in Digital Media Studies. Additionally, within the next 3 months, I will have acquired a Bachelor’s degree in this field. For the past two years, I have been an Education Assistant at Albertus, wherein I assist the night time student population with any needs they may have. Finally, I have previously worked as an Intern for Power Station Events, where I assisted in the filming of several weddings and concerts.

I feel as if I thrive in a setting where I am able to collaborate with others. Be it out in the field during a video shoot, in the editing bay or brainstorming in order to think of new ideas, I love the process of interacting with others in order to create something we can be proud of. While I am fairly inexperienced in a professional setting, I am willing to accept any challenges that are thrown at me and am very eager to learn.

Attached to this document is my current Resume. Thank you very much for considering me for this position and have a great day.

Sincerely,

Andrew Kos

Of the required readings for this week, I found Chapter 12 to be the most immediately catching to me. This primarily stems from the fact that, during my last meeting with my internship supervisor, I was in a situation where I was able to observe a conference that contained many of the same elements as a traditional interview. While this meeting wasn’t an “Interview” per say, I happened to notice a large number of similarities to the Chapters suggestions popping up as the day went on. One of the biggest takeaways for me was the method in which my internship supervisor went about engaging the bride and groom into the conversation, which had a large resemblance to the “Get people talking” portion of the chapter. This was best exemplified (at least for me) when my supervisor asked the groom which types of shots he would like to include in the video. Almost immediately, his sullen, almost bored expression lit up and the two of them began to talk about dolly and drone shots.

This meeting also touched on the human element that was frequently mentioned throughout Chapter 12. Going back to the now inspired groom, one of the ways that Matt (my supervisor at the internship) was able to engage the groom was inquiring about what his best men planned to do before the wedding. The groom then proceeded to tell us about not only the game of golf that they had planned for early in the day, but also the bar they planned to attend later. Once he had something personal to work with, Matt was able to talk about a ton of different techniques he could incorporate into the filming process for the film and truly tell every part of the grooms story. While the groom had initially seemed guarded and “locked the information in his head”, once we were able to engage him on a personal level, the whole situation took a turn for the better.

Since we need to continue writing posts following the same theme as last week, I figure I will continue to chronicle my time as an Intern for MV Films. I’ll do my best to make it entertaining and less of a saltfest than my previous post. Trust me. I promise. I think.

This session at my internship was quite a bit different than any I had previously had, as it was my first time sitting in on a couples interview.

While the wedding itself will not be occurring until 2020, I still found this experience to be incredibly valuable. One of the biggest takeaways I took from this meeting was how Matt interacted with the couple in question. The bride seemed to be very engrossed in the whole process, often throwing out her ideas for the wedding and workshopping with Matt and his suggestions. On the other hand, the groom seemed to be very disengaged in the entire conversation, almost as if he was forced to come along. In order to attempt and engage him more in the conversation, Matt decided to change the subject and talk about the types of shots that he would include in the film. In particular, Matt brought attention to the types of shots that he planned to implement, particularly drone shots. This immediately caught the grooms interest and he became much more involved in the conversation and the rest of the meeting went by incredibly smoothly.

After the couple had left, I worked with Matt to edit the latest wedding we had shot together and then made my way home. This meeting was particularly important to me, because it made me realize that there’s is a much bigger focus on the human element in the industry of video production. While yes, you do need to have impeccable skill to truly excel in the business, you also need to know what little touches the couple is looking for. For example, during the meeting, the groom mentioned that his mother had passed away and would like to include a specific type of flower to remember her (being a florist). Once the couple left, Matt immediately made a project file on Google Docs and made a note of several different ways he can incorporate the flowers into the video. This is for something he is going to be filming in over a year, but it is touches like these that will really endear the couple to you as a filmmaker and give you an edge against any competition you may have. While I am unsure if the wedding filmmaking industry is truly for me, I now know that this is an excellent way of excelling in it and making lasting connections with the people you are working with.  

I know, the term “Wedding Filmmaking” illicit images of your father or uncle taking video of a wedding you are attending in order to save them as “Home Movies” for later on in life. How can there be an entire industry dedicated to not only filming weddings, but also creating some form of narrative around them. I was in the exact same boat until very recently, simply believing that you would either hire the company providing the entertainment to film the Wedding, or even just film it yourself on your phone. Well, I couldn’t have been more wrong. After securing an internships at “MV Films” a couple of months ago, I was thrown right into the chaotic, fast paced and stressful world of Wedding Filmmaking.

To begin, I think it is important to define what exactly a “Wedding Filmmaking” actually is. In essence, it is a feature film length documentary that covers all aspects of a couples wedding day. Starting with the process of the bride and groom getting dressed, to the ceremony, to the reception, they are expected to capture all of these elements on the fly. However, it doesn’t stop there, as Wedding Filmmakers are  also expected to edit their product as well. In addition, they are also responsible for creating the films in a limited amount of time (usually 2-3 weeks) and personally ensuring the couple does not have any last minute additions they would like to add.

It would not be a stretch to compare them to a hollywood film crew, as they fulfil similar roles to the director, editor and producer. All on their own. In less time. For far less money. It is safe to say that the job requires an immense amount of skill and endurance to truly excel in, so it only makes sense forme, an unpaid student with no experience in the field, to do an Internship with a local Wedding Filmmaker.

Does that sound weird and nonsensical? That’s because it is.  I was recommended to a production company called “MV Films” for an internship by a family friend and innocently assumed that I became a Production Assistant. I was over the moon with excitement and assumed that I would primarily be doing video editing, with only light filming on the side. I cannot begin to overstate just how off base this assumption was. My very first day on the job, after meeting with my coordinator (Matt) of course, consisted of a 14 hour video shoot. We began at the house of the bride, spent 3 hours filming the makeup process, 2 hours at the church, 1 hour filming in a park and the last 6 hours at the venue. Mixed in with all of this mess was an additional 2 hours of driving.

To say that this was one of the most chaotic, exhausting days of my life would be an absolute understatement. I am an insomniac, have been since I was about 8 and rarely get more than 6 hours of sleep on a good day. After this day of shooting, however, I immediately collapsed on my bed at midnight and did not wake up until 1:00 P.M.. A full 13 of hours of sleep is what my body needed to recover to a state that it saw fit to actually begin moving again. This is by far the easiest shoot I’ve had as an assistant Wedding Film maker.

Now, contrary to what you might might be thinking, this post is not a large scale venting session. Instead, I want to truly get across just how difficult and time intensive a profession Wedding Filmmaking is, despite its relative obscurity. My perspective on this subject is fairly unique, as I learned all of it on the job. As such, I feel confident in saying that Wedding Filmmaking is an amazing “Trial by Fire” type exercise for anyone who has aspirations of becoming a videographer. It combines the meticulous shot composition seen in hollywood films, with the split second timing seen in more hard news stories. It is not hard to see why I had never heard of a Wedding Filmmaker before, there are just a very small number of people who are not only willing to actually put in all the effort, but do it well.

While only about halfway through my internship, I think it is safe to say that this is not a career I am terribly interested in pursuing. There are simply too many skills required for far too little pay off in my opinion, both from a monetary perspective, as well as one of personal satisfaction. It is for these reasons, however, that I find Wedding Filmmakers all the more admirable and believe they deserve to be more well known. These guys are true jacks-of-all-trades and are able to every aspect of their profession on an incredibly high level. Despite that, they are virtually unknown and even when describing them, their job sounds like a cake walk. I hope that this job has at least shed a bit of light on how impressive they truly are at their careers and why they truly deserve acknowledgement. Or who knows, maybe you laughed at my own personal experiences. Either works. Thanks for reading.

For this assignment, I want to focus primarily on the experiences I had creating a Music Video during my sophomore year her eat Albertus. This assignment has always stood out to me in a positive light, as it was one of the very first times I was truly able to express myself in a wholly creative fashion after I had declared my major. While I had fallen in love with creating video in high school, this assignment was the first major project I worked on after declaring my major (Digital Media Studies) and it truly let me flex my creative muscle. The assignment was very simple on paper; create a music video set to any song you choose and present a storyboard alongside it. However, this also gave me the opportunity to collaborate with several of my high school friends who were going to assist me in the video’s creation. I can remember staying up long into the night on our Discord server in order to come to a good understanding on what we wanted the plot of the video to be. The process had led to many rejected pitches (Such as a man dealing with his own psyche to a video wherein we would explore someone’s struggle with their religion), but we eventually settled on the video focusing on a man overcoming his depression at the ordinary state of his life, set to “This is the Day” by “The The”.

The basic premise of the video was the tale of a 20-something young man who, fed up with his life, continually seeing a mysterious man in a bathrobe (clearly based off of “The Dude” from The Big Lebowski). After being fired from his job, he decides to investigate the man and his world changes for the better. Immediately, we were presented with in climate issues with the weather, which forced us to make fairly major changes to the video. We were given about a 2 week shooting period for the video, which unfortunately also coincided with a fairly substantial snow storm hitting our area. Due to around half of the video taking place outdoors, we ended up having to work in a lot of potentially dangerous conditions. In the first scene where the main character (played by my friend Dom) was to find the mysterious man (hereby known as “The Guy”), the storyboard dictated he would drive past a park where The Guy would be placed on the top of a playscape. Unfortunately, due to the park where we were planning on filming being snowed over, the parking lot was entirely iced over. This lead to the process of acquiring the shot to not only be dangerous to those in the car (myself and Dom), but also the actor playing The Guy, who had to actively climb to the top of the playscape covered in snow.

Needless to say, these conditions made shooting key portions of the video quite difficult. Getting a simple driving shot of Dom observing The Guy took the better part of 30 minutes, primarily due to the icy conditions of the parking lot constantly ruining the shot. However, the worst portion of the entire filming was Dom’s trek up the playscape. The storyboard featured a series of 5-6 shots of Dom making his way up to The Guy and they were fairly difficult to replace. This lead to both Dom and I climbing up the snow covered playscape, attempting to set up any shots we possibly could salvage. Needless to say, it was not a smooth experience. We both tripped constantly, I had to go under equipment in order to set up shots and the naturally cold temperature meant that a variety of shots needed to be retaken due to Dom or myself shivering. This, truly, was the worst part of the video. After we finished this portion of the shoot however, everything started to truly come together.

            While it presented the easily the biggest obstacle in the actual production of the video, I am actually incredibly thankful for the sudden change of weather in retrospect. The dramatic shift in weather ended up enhancing the overall story of the video. By the beginning of the video being covered in snow and ice, it did an excellent job enhancing the depression that Dom’s character was going through. In contrast, once the weather cleared up a week or so later, it represented the change for the better Dom underwent when he began exploring the unknown. This lead to a really awesome and unintended transition, where a seemingly random shot of Ivan pointing out to the horizon, suddenly became a way of showing Dom’s character a suddenly lush and green outlook on the world. From there, the rest of the video was fell into place very easily. We were able to do a bunch of additional shots with the spring weather, we got access to an office to film in and when the video was finally presented in the class, it went over very well. Experiences like this are what I truly love about the process of video production. By banding together with a group and putting in a palpable amount of hard work, you can truly create something special.