Non-Linear Community Experimental Video
︎ Video Editing
︎ Motion Graphics
Boston University
2020
Overview
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, I created a non-linear film that depicts my own sense of limited community during the lockdown: my brothers. With this video, I attempt to show how we interact as siblings, our similarities to each other, and the repetitive nature of deep quarantine.
Process
Like any other project, I started this film process with a brainstorming session. Having recently been sent home from college due to the pandemic, I found a lot of inspiration from my family, specifically my two younger brothers, as they were my biggest sense of community at home. I was also recently inspired by a film I watched for my Photo 1 class—La Jetee—which loops in terms of plot from the end to the beginning. I also took a lot of inspiration from Cibo Matto’s Sugar Water (dir. Michel Gondry) music video, where Gondry works in multiple, yet still interacting, frames. With these films in mind, I set out to create my own looping, multiple-frame video, featuring the three Bond brothers in their own frames.
Notes from my first brainstorming session
Before I started filming, I met with my professor to run my idea by him. He gave me a lot of helpful tips, including making sure I storyboarded and choreographed things ahead of time to ensure an easier filming process. He also emphasized the importance of repetition between the three actors, and using simple shots to keep things from getting too complicated. Taking this advice, I moved into the storyboarding process for my project.
Storyboards for my Non-linear Community project
I initially thought my video would be a film of my brothers and I playing hide-and-seek within our house; however, I felt this would be too complicated to fulfill in the project’s 45 second time restriction. Instead, I decided the three videos would be Nick, Stephen, and I interacting with each other from three completely separate rooms of our house, edited to look like they directly connect. Keeping recent advice in mind, I also wanted to have some shots where all three of us were doing the same things in our respective frames. After storyboarding, I moved into the filming process of the first draft of my project.
I was able to get all the lighting I needed thanks to my brother’s ring light
I used a tripod to film, along with my Canon Powershot G7X Mark II. The lighting in my house, however, is not ideal. Conveniently, at the height of TikTok’s popularity my brother purchased a ring light, which he allowed me to use for the project. I started out by just filming myself and Stephen, just to get a feel for how the filming and editing process would work between multiple frames. It wasn’t perfect, but the first draft definitely helped prepare me for working with three people later on! The version of the film with just Stephen and I is below:
My first draft of my Non-linear Community video
After sitting with my first draft of the film, I came to the conclusion that I definitely needed a shot list for the second iteration that included Nick, and that I should consider what I want to do for audio. Thus, before re-shooting, I took some time to carefully plan out what shots I needed, and where the three brothers would interact within the film.
My shot list, which definitely made filming more organized
I created my shot list on Google Sheets, and I organized my shots into three columns for the three different frames. I pulled this sheet up on my iPad while filming, and would highlight cells green as I got the footage I needed. This process sped up filming exponentially, and kept me a lot more organized!
My list of timestamps, allowing me to sync up the three videos
After filming, I realized that the editing process was going to be just as confusing as filming. I had to keep everything synced up well to make my film effective. I started by putting my frame together, as it was the middle frame, and working around that first video. I then wrote down every time stamp where I switched shots or someone walked in or out of the frame, and edited Nick & Stephen’s videos with the same time stamps. This worked pretty well, and I ended up with my second draft of the film.
My second draft of the Non-linear Community project
Now, all that was left was to add audio to the film. I watched my draft and thought of all the sound effects I wanted to include, and used my Voice Memos app to record them all! The process was pretty simple, and I managed to record everything right in my room, without the assistance of my siblings. I made sure I recorded three separate versions of every sound I needed, so there was some audio discrepancy between the three frames. I then sent these sound files to my computer and dropped them into After Effects. The Waveform tool was essential during this process, making sure all my sounds lined up perfectly with my visuals.
My voice memos after the audio recording process
With the addition of audio to my film, I successfully finished my project! I’m extremely proud of this video, and I think it came out really well. I was also surprised with what I can do within the confines of my house, even during the height of the pandemic.
Film stills from Non-Linear Community