Journey

For this assignment, we want you to tell a simple story of someone or something getting from point A to point B with video. Who or what that is and where they are going is entirely up to you.

Through a series of shots, you should establish a subject, where they are, and move them to another location. This can be as simple as having someone get up from the couch to refill their glass at the fridge, or as complicated as following someone on their commute to work. While it is OK for your video to be short, your story should have enough shots for the trip to make sense to the viewer. You do not need to flesh out a detailed plot or give us any character background.

You should consider the motivation for your trip. Is the person exceptionally lazy and getting to the fridge will be an epic journey? Is the employee stuck in traffic, in danger of running late and missing a looming deadline? How will you express these ideas visually to the viewer?

We want you to tap into your creativity, utilizing composition and editing to convey your story. You are welcome to use sound (recorded or downloaded) but you are not required to.

Your story can be fictional and does not necessarily need to adhere to the laws of physics, though breaking the laws of physics is not required. You may teleport people or jump cut time so long as it is clear what is happening.

For example, someone might close their eyes, using their mind to transport themselves to another location. If the audience simply sees someone blink and appear in another space, they will be confused. Perhaps you might show the subject’s hands trembling as they press fingers to their temples, cut to a closeup of the subject’s eyes, and do a match cut on their eyes closing/opening, having moved them to a new location. Or perhaps you follow the story of a coffee cup simply making its journey from coffee machine to bench in the park.

Since this assignment is intended to be completed in relatively few shots (but enough to make clear what is happening), we’re really looking to see how clever you can get!

Requirements:

  • Leave feedback per the Leave Feedback portion of this assignment
  • You must create your own video with a minimum of 3 shots edited together
  • You must set the shutter speed and aperture on your camera
  • Your final video must be between 10 seconds and 1 minute
  • Your video must make sense to the viewer; the plot should not be confusing
  • You are not required to have any sound in your piece, though feel free to include some
  • Each shot should enhance your story, give thought to composition, shot size, angle, etc.
  • You should have good continuity and preservation of screen direction unless you choose to break these conventions clearly and intentionally
  • You must upload your video to YouTube with an Unlisted privacy and import it into OpinionCity

Please submit your OpinionCity link as the submission for this assignment.

Leaving Feedback

After submitting this assignment, you will receive 2 peers’ work to review. You should leave feedback for them in OpinionCity.

As always, please email us with any questions!