This project is intended to be a fun new approach on portrait photography. I’ve seen a lot of videos on life hacks on photography. They’re always kind of fun to watch, I wanted to see if they would actually work. This video is going to be of me trying out life hacks related to photography.
My project is portrait photography, and I wanted to challenge myself to trying new techniques.
The main idea of life hacks is that you can usually use every day items to do them. They save money and supposedly, time. I challenged myself to find all of the materials to create this video at my residence hall.
I was inspired by YouTube videos of people explaining life hacks. They usually seem pretty impractical to me, but I wanted to try them to see if there is any merit to them. I was also inspired by Cody Ko’s videos of him trying other life hacks on YouTube. You can watch them here.
I didn’t do a storyboard for this project, because I didn’t complete the planning assignment for this project.
I wanted to make this video with an informal vlog feel. I accomplished this by using a camera man to follow me around. I also used a bunch of jump cuts to make it feel snappy and fresh, like a lot of modern day YouTubers use.
Most of the video is comprised of only four shots broken up into multiple cuts.
I still have to shoot more video for this project. I plan on getting a model, and using each life hack on the model. I’ll upload the pictures that I took to the video. I also plan on making the segment where I’m finding the materials shorter, and cutting out some of the fluff.
When I do the life hacks, I plan on showing a short tutorial on how I did the life hacks. I’ll also link to some of the YouTube channels that I found the life hacks on. I don’t plan on using any footage from those channels, but I do plan on finding where I got the hacks and shouting them out.
I didn’ have that much trouble with this project, but I still do need to cut it down quiet a bit. Finding what scenes are relevant are had when you have so much footage.
Joseph Gardner 
Hello, Joseph! I enjoyed watching your video story. Your project definitely reflected a vlog feel throughout the video. I like the fast-paced approach of the video because it helped keep me engaged. Your camera person took really great shots. There were also smooth transitions between each content in your video.
One of the suggestions I have is making the introduction shorter since your video is currently past the 2-minute time requirement. This would also ensure that you get enough time to include some shots of you showing which life hack you decided to cover, as well as the end result of the life hack. Light and upbeat instrumental music could also help improve your project as well. In addition, there were some spots in the video where it was kind of dark. You can edit those parts in Premiere by using the brightness and contrast effect.
Overall, you did a great job, and good luck to your final video story project.
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I think that Loren is correct in the review. I really need to shorten up my video to make room for the photoshoot in the end. It’s fun showing where we got all the materials, but that shouldn’t be the focus of the video. I feel like I could also add some transitions and music to make it feel more finalized. I think I did a good job making it feel like a vlog, but as a whole it’s too fun and not enough academics. I should also explain at the beginning what the actual life hacks are to establish what the video will be about. This could structure the video a little bit better, and It could add a lot to the projects. I also reviewed it and there are some scenes that are too dark. I should be able to fix them easily using premiers tools. Overall, I have a lot of work left to do.
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Hey Joseph! I enjoyed watching your video! It felt like I was watching Shane Dawson on one of his many videos. I feel like talking to your cameraman contributed to that feeling. Somethings you can improve upon in your video are, meeting the two-minute requirement and saying what life hack you will be doing. I felt like some of the scenes in the video were unnecessary and you can cut them out! By adding what life hack you will be doing at the beginning of your video will make, your viewers less confused as to what they are watching. I really liked how the whole video was portrayed and liked how you used J-cut transitions. I also have stated that I liked how you interacted with your cameraman. It brought this vibe that was chill and really made the video entertaining! I think it was a great video and can’t wait to see the final product and know what hack you were following!
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