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Idea: My plan for my experimental is to make a video showing Birmingham, how it is. I have chosen to do this as I am aways in the city and I think there is so much to capture from the people, to the art and much more. I would like to do something incorporating art such as graffiti as there is so much around. There is a lot of art in Birmingham that makes the city what it is. The colourful, big pieces would keep my video interesting as there is a vast amount to show. Birmingham being one one of the most popular cities is what kind of stirred in my mind as an idea as I watched the experimental, London (1994) which is documented through pictures of London, we see the city how it is and it is an interesting video and an interesting way to capture a city. I hope to make my video equally as interesting by combining videos and pictures in an interesting way. 

My Video: There is a certain format that I want my video to have, which is the collage kind of look, I want to work with layers so have a few still pictures, or videos over the moving body video, this will create a different look and will be interesting for views to look at as there will always be something new on the screen, the mix of stills and moving image is something I want to include after creating an instagram story using video layers.

I take much inspiration from John Akomfrah in the way that he shows his videos, with multiple screens. The thought of having more than one screen is what I think keeps the audience engaged, along with the themes of his films, the representation is very unique and interesting to watch.

Plan of Action: There is no set schedule to film as I am always in town or going through town, I will be filming whenever I see something I want to include in my video. At the minuet, the German Markets are open so the large amounts of people and the lights all seems like aesthetically pleasing clips to include, and also the market itself as Birmingham has one of the best German Markets in the UK, so another thing to be proud of. 

The clips I am using, don’t necessarily have to match a certain theme as I will be layering up the videos and shots that I get to show and artistic, representative video. When editing I will try and see what clips fit better, and see if my video comes out looking like it follows a theme, which will be interesting. 

I will be filming most footage on my phone as it is the easiest piece of equipment to use in a video like mine, I always have it with me so can film anything anywhere at ease.

New Ideas & Updates :

• As I am filming more, the inclusion of art is something that I am getting more interested in, so I will be including more art work from Birmingham artists.

• filming more graffiti around the city is looking good for my experimental, I feel as though I am capturing exactly what I wanted to and am slowly achieving my goal of creating a video I am happy to share.

• More ideas such as animating over the video have come to me in the past week as that is something that has taken my interest recently. It has the potential to make my video look quite different and interesting but s I have no experience in animating, it might be quite difficult. The way I plan to do the animation will be on my iPad and then sent to my laptop to layer over my video.

• A new Banksy piece has been painted in the Jewellery Quarter, which is big news for Birmingham as Banksy is one of the most famous anonymous street artists.

as many people were a fan of the work, some people were not, the first alteration made to the work was two spray painted red noses, the piece was then covered with plastic. And then vandalised again.

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Some controversial words, but important as the second picture was taken after the most recent elections in which the Conservatives won. I think this is an important staple to my video as in Patrick Keiller’s London , it was all filmed after the 1992 elections when the conservatives won.

I would love to stop by the jewellery quarter to video the work as it would fit very well into my video as this is counted as a fairly big deal for Birmingham.

• In the process of editing my video, I have cut up most clips and spread them out as I think the shots looked a bit too long, by cutting them up, it makes the video look less long and dragging and more like there is something going on.
• After editing the video and showing a few people, I have changed the first few clips as it is of the Bullring (building) but the clip is cut up with other clips in between, this actually makes the video feel longer than if the clip was one piece, so that has been a positive change.
• Music wise, I was in the process of trying to find a Birmingham based artist but that had proven to be quite difficult so instead, I got in contact with an artist, Monty Datta, over social media, who makes the exact kind of music I was looking for from the start.
• Effects? I waned my video to have that vhs kind of look as it makes all the clips look similar and fit together properly, to achieve this, I created the filters on an app on my phone, uploaded them and put them over my clips, which had an unexpectedly good outcome considering how the effect was made.
• I did not end up adding layers to my video as when I put a picture over my video, it just sat there and didn’t fit in well with the pace of my video. If my video was to be more slow and documentary like, it may have looked better.
• I did not add in any animation in my video as when attempted, it did not look the best, I’m glad i got to try it out but it’s just not something that I was very good at and I would rather not add in something i’m not happy with.

Editing: On to the editing of my video, I have enough footage to meet the brief criteria which is reassuring as this means there is less chance of me having to go out and film more.

There is definitely more I would like to film for my video as everyday I go through town, I see more art or new angles to film from so hopefully as I go along I can just gradually add more until I am fully pleased with what I have made.

In terms of the soundtrack, I am working on finding a beat which flows well with my video and hopefully one made by a Birmingham artist, this would just add the extra home made feel to the experimental.

Small Evaluation

The whole process of making the video has been fun and i’m glad I had the chance to film something that I hold interest in. I am happy with the final product including the music and the clips, I feel as though I have filmed enough in what I wanted in terms of graffiti and other street art. If I could change anything about my video, I would add more on the people, so I would love to have some portraits of some interesting looking people in my video, but that can always be a video for another time, but it is a good idea to have in my video as it would show more of Birmingham, as it would not just be the city and it’s art work.

I think that I would have rather used a Birmingham based artist’s music in my video, but again, something to work on next time, as I am still happy with the tracks I have in the experimental.

In terms of how experimental my video is, I think it is quite as it was literally a “film whenever, wherever” kind of shoot.