The Choices I've Made
I'd like to take a moment to explain the choices I've made in the making of this documentary. I believe the easiest way to go about that is chronologically (with respect to the order of the film). But first, I'd like to explain the five things that bug me most about my final project.
Top Five Changes I Would Make...
1. Audio. Try as I might, I could never master editing my audio. If I tried to cut up the audio into sub clips, it would sound clipped. If I used fade, it often sounded like I faded out important words (even though I never did). If I had time to do this over, I would try to redo some of my interviews to get more easily quotable responses, and I would spend even more time attempting to nail audio transitions.
2. External sources. I did not like having to use so many external sources for my project. However, significant events have been occurring year-round on the bricks since they were first laid on the Horseshoe, so it would be impossible to gather all the materials I needed (proposals, graduations, repaving, etc.) by myself.
3. Audio/Video Quality. I thought my iPhone and my Macbook would be sufficient enough to take good quality recordings, but unfortunately I was wrong. Even with employing some DIY stabilization filters and zooming out on my video for final production, I still am not satisfied with the quality of my video. I really hate having to master new pieces of equipment, but in retrospect, I would have liked the opportunity to try and use a fancier camera and get better quality video.
4. Missed opportunities. There are several people I would have liked to interview but simply ran out of time or was other unable. First, Bob Wertz, the creative director behind the original bricks ad. I've been searching all semester to find someone involved in the making of that ad that I could interview, but was only recently able to find out who created it. I would have also appreciated being able to speak with Dr. Cooley from the Ghosts of the Horseshoe project, but even after sending her a couple of emails, I was unable to get in touch with her. I also would have loved to speak with the men who were working on relaying the bricks on the Horseshoe in August, but as I didn't settle on my object until mid-September, I missed them.
5. Black space around the video. I tried everything I could think. I researched ideal frame sizes, I looked up best exportation methods, I tried just basic resizing; but no matter what I tried, I couldn't get rid of that annoying black space on the sides of my frame. At this point, I'm not sure if it's even possible to fix, but I want that black space gone...
2. External sources. I did not like having to use so many external sources for my project. However, significant events have been occurring year-round on the bricks since they were first laid on the Horseshoe, so it would be impossible to gather all the materials I needed (proposals, graduations, repaving, etc.) by myself.
3. Audio/Video Quality. I thought my iPhone and my Macbook would be sufficient enough to take good quality recordings, but unfortunately I was wrong. Even with employing some DIY stabilization filters and zooming out on my video for final production, I still am not satisfied with the quality of my video. I really hate having to master new pieces of equipment, but in retrospect, I would have liked the opportunity to try and use a fancier camera and get better quality video.
4. Missed opportunities. There are several people I would have liked to interview but simply ran out of time or was other unable. First, Bob Wertz, the creative director behind the original bricks ad. I've been searching all semester to find someone involved in the making of that ad that I could interview, but was only recently able to find out who created it. I would have also appreciated being able to speak with Dr. Cooley from the Ghosts of the Horseshoe project, but even after sending her a couple of emails, I was unable to get in touch with her. I also would have loved to speak with the men who were working on relaying the bricks on the Horseshoe in August, but as I didn't settle on my object until mid-September, I missed them.
5. Black space around the video. I tried everything I could think. I researched ideal frame sizes, I looked up best exportation methods, I tried just basic resizing; but no matter what I tried, I couldn't get rid of that annoying black space on the sides of my frame. At this point, I'm not sure if it's even possible to fix, but I want that black space gone...
Second-by-Second Recap
o:00 - 0:28 I decided to start off the film with a reference to the original "Generations of Leaders" ad (aka the #UofSCBricks ad) that inspired my object in the first place. Since I wanted my film to be, in a way, a response to that ad, I decided to use various pictures from archives and from external sources to recreate the same kind of feel that the ad had. At the end, when I cut the volume and ask (without any background music) why the University decided to advertise with brick, it is to create an abruptness that disrupts the "feel-good" sentiment of the ad and makes you question why its "feel-good" at all.
0:28 - 1:18 I had originally wanted to do a much cooler title sequence, once that showed a typical "day in the life" of a USC brick (but of course, in fast-forward). Unfortunately, it wasn't possible for me to shoot at various times of the day because of several constraints: 1) my class and work schedules, 2) my camera, which is cheap and basically useless at night, and 3) safety (I did not want to wander around campus alone after dark). I instead attempted to create that "day in the life" feel with a montage of videos I could actually capture. While they are not the highest quality, I did my best to stabilize the footage and, when editing, I reduced their size as much as possible to help increase their quality. I downloaded the font Excellentia in Excelsis specifically for my title cards. After searching through fonts, the script-style of Excellentia seemed classy and vintage (to evoke the history of the brick); it contrasted with the video footage (in a good way, I believe) but was just modern enough not to seem out-of-place or confusing. Since the text was on a moving background, I wanted to keep it simple, so I used black with a white outline so the words would be easily readable. For the main title, Carolina Bricks, I chose to emphasize the words by using a larger size font and adding some garnet shading to evoke the spirit of Carolina. I also chose to introduce the Andy McKee soundtrack during my title sequence. This was because there was a lack of any good diegetic sound from those videos. I decided instead to fill the silence with an upbeat but still thought-provoking instrumental piece and after sifting through various clips, I thought this song ("Everybody Wants to Rule the World") best captured the mood I was striving to create in this sequence.
1:30 I originally decided to interview Carrie McIntosh because she had experienced Bid Day on the Horseshoe earlier this year. However, it turned out that she was related to Henry McKissick (the USC president buried on the Horseshoe), and she had a lot to say about the bricks and the Horseshoe that was very useful. I decided to go with this clip first, because her opinion about why USC would advertise with the bricks seemed appropriate, given that I ask why just before the title sequence. I really like the way the interview turned out, although I wish I planned it better. We scheduled the interview just before the start of finals, so the only available space on campus was a small study room at TCoop. It did not provide the most interesting or professional-looking background for an interview, but at least it did help contribute to a casualness that let Carrie open up about her real feelings on the bricks. I kept getting stiff and fake answers from the people I tried to interview before, so it was refreshing to get tape I could actually use.
1:39 - 2:00 When I was listening to Carrie's interview, I realized that I had the perfect footage to place over it. She talks about the bricks that hold names of all the men and women who have contributed to USC, and I had already taken video of myself walking down those very bricks. Of course, because I had to use my iPhone rather than some fancy rolling tripod, you can tell that I'm walking in the video by the swaying movement. As someone who suffers from motion sickness, I admit that I can't look at the footage for too long. However, I think its a very cool effect to have Carrie's words paired with a concrete example.
2:20 - 2:28 - In this segment I again chose to pair an interview-type audio with video from another source that helped demonstrate the audio. It was pretty straightforward: pair the white lettering clip with its explanation. Of course, I only had limited good clips of the various white letters, so I actually slowed the speed of the video down to help demonstrate Elizabeth West's point. I also thought it would be neat to overlay an archival image of the Horseshoe before the bricks were laid, since West is describing the original laying of the bricks. I thought including an image of the dusty pre-brick Horseshoe might help viewers appreciate the existence of the bricks more, since we no longer have to walk through mud to cross campus.
3:00 - 3:30 Since a lot of my early interest in the bricks was stemmed by things I'd read on Twitter, I wanted to show the unique and amusing identity that the bricks have taken on via Twitter. To capture this, I used QuickTime Screen Capture, went to Twitter and searched USC Bricks, and recorded myself scrolling through the results. (I didn't search the original hashtag #UofSCBricks that initially captured my attention simply because no one uses it.) They were really enlightening and funny to read, but the text unfortunately become obscured during the exporting/uploading process, which takes a little bit of the humor out of this sequence. I think its important to read that Twitter feed to understand my object, which is why I included a live feed reader on the home page of this website.
3:36 - 4:00 I focus mostly on the brick sidewalks, but the brick wall around campus also counts as Carolina Brick, even if it is often overlooked. For this reason, I wanted to include some media about the wall. I embedded it in the Twitter segment for a couple of reasons. First, walls and message-boards are often associated with social media, so it was my way of documenting a play on words. Second, the fact that most students complain about the bricks on Twitter proves Elizabeth West right as she says that the bricks' historical value is very often overlooked.
4:00 - 4:15 I wanted to show that even despite petty complaints, the USC Bricks remain an essential and inspirational part of campus life. I chose to show the USC Law School Graduation on the Horseshoe as one evidence of that. Although it was inspiring, it seemed a little out of place for me, and it is not the first example I would have picked. Unfortunately, though, because the bricks are such a significant part of university moments year-round, it was hard to capture everything I needed in one semester, so I had to rely on material I could find within my time constraint.
4:20 - 4:40 I used Andrew Smith's interview because he had a personal memory of attending a special annual event on the Horseshoe. Though Awards Day is not the most glamorous event, showing academic achievements that are associated with the bricks was important to me. I especially like the aesthetic of this footage because Andrew is wearing garnet (showing USC spirit about a USC object) and there is an interesting background. My only issue with this clip is that I filmed it before reading up on the Rule of Thirds, so I could have positioned Andrew better within the camera frame had I studied up on filming and photography earlier.
4:40 - 5:10 If I could go back and edit my project again, I think I would add a different transition between the two interviews here, either by creating a voiceover or leading with a different clip from Carrie's interview. However, I am very pleased with the mashing of Carrie's interview and the clip from Bid Day. I think the combination of diegetic sounds occurring simultaneously with the interview describing Bid Day help to make that sequence really rounded.
5:10 - 5:18 The reason I chose to do my voiceover about slaves to this particular clip was because in my interview with Carrie she mentioned that she had heard that this particular portion of brick was actually the initials of a slave worker that the brick-makers decided to "hide" in the brick. I tried to research and find out if that rumor was true, but I could never find any sources confirming or denying it. Rather than try and tell the story as if it were factual, I decided to simply show the brick as a nod toward the rumors. After all, even if the rumors are false, its existence shows that some members of the student body remember the roots of the bricks.
5:20 - 6:20 I'm horrified at the quality of my own voice, and I wish I had taken some measures to disguise it in this voiceover. Other than that, I wonder if I got a little too cheesy with the actual wording, but overall, I think its effective. I like the back-and-forth transitions between picture and video. I made sure that I didn't continue the pattern for too long to avoid boring my audience, and I think the various views of the horseshoe it combines at the end helps to decenter the bricks just a little bit more.
6:20 - the end I hate reading credits, which is probably why I'm guilty of letting these scroll just a little too fast. I can't read each line through twice before it moves on, but I justify that by saying that I do properly cite my sources here on the webpage.
0:28 - 1:18 I had originally wanted to do a much cooler title sequence, once that showed a typical "day in the life" of a USC brick (but of course, in fast-forward). Unfortunately, it wasn't possible for me to shoot at various times of the day because of several constraints: 1) my class and work schedules, 2) my camera, which is cheap and basically useless at night, and 3) safety (I did not want to wander around campus alone after dark). I instead attempted to create that "day in the life" feel with a montage of videos I could actually capture. While they are not the highest quality, I did my best to stabilize the footage and, when editing, I reduced their size as much as possible to help increase their quality. I downloaded the font Excellentia in Excelsis specifically for my title cards. After searching through fonts, the script-style of Excellentia seemed classy and vintage (to evoke the history of the brick); it contrasted with the video footage (in a good way, I believe) but was just modern enough not to seem out-of-place or confusing. Since the text was on a moving background, I wanted to keep it simple, so I used black with a white outline so the words would be easily readable. For the main title, Carolina Bricks, I chose to emphasize the words by using a larger size font and adding some garnet shading to evoke the spirit of Carolina. I also chose to introduce the Andy McKee soundtrack during my title sequence. This was because there was a lack of any good diegetic sound from those videos. I decided instead to fill the silence with an upbeat but still thought-provoking instrumental piece and after sifting through various clips, I thought this song ("Everybody Wants to Rule the World") best captured the mood I was striving to create in this sequence.
1:30 I originally decided to interview Carrie McIntosh because she had experienced Bid Day on the Horseshoe earlier this year. However, it turned out that she was related to Henry McKissick (the USC president buried on the Horseshoe), and she had a lot to say about the bricks and the Horseshoe that was very useful. I decided to go with this clip first, because her opinion about why USC would advertise with the bricks seemed appropriate, given that I ask why just before the title sequence. I really like the way the interview turned out, although I wish I planned it better. We scheduled the interview just before the start of finals, so the only available space on campus was a small study room at TCoop. It did not provide the most interesting or professional-looking background for an interview, but at least it did help contribute to a casualness that let Carrie open up about her real feelings on the bricks. I kept getting stiff and fake answers from the people I tried to interview before, so it was refreshing to get tape I could actually use.
1:39 - 2:00 When I was listening to Carrie's interview, I realized that I had the perfect footage to place over it. She talks about the bricks that hold names of all the men and women who have contributed to USC, and I had already taken video of myself walking down those very bricks. Of course, because I had to use my iPhone rather than some fancy rolling tripod, you can tell that I'm walking in the video by the swaying movement. As someone who suffers from motion sickness, I admit that I can't look at the footage for too long. However, I think its a very cool effect to have Carrie's words paired with a concrete example.
2:20 - 2:28 - In this segment I again chose to pair an interview-type audio with video from another source that helped demonstrate the audio. It was pretty straightforward: pair the white lettering clip with its explanation. Of course, I only had limited good clips of the various white letters, so I actually slowed the speed of the video down to help demonstrate Elizabeth West's point. I also thought it would be neat to overlay an archival image of the Horseshoe before the bricks were laid, since West is describing the original laying of the bricks. I thought including an image of the dusty pre-brick Horseshoe might help viewers appreciate the existence of the bricks more, since we no longer have to walk through mud to cross campus.
3:00 - 3:30 Since a lot of my early interest in the bricks was stemmed by things I'd read on Twitter, I wanted to show the unique and amusing identity that the bricks have taken on via Twitter. To capture this, I used QuickTime Screen Capture, went to Twitter and searched USC Bricks, and recorded myself scrolling through the results. (I didn't search the original hashtag #UofSCBricks that initially captured my attention simply because no one uses it.) They were really enlightening and funny to read, but the text unfortunately become obscured during the exporting/uploading process, which takes a little bit of the humor out of this sequence. I think its important to read that Twitter feed to understand my object, which is why I included a live feed reader on the home page of this website.
3:36 - 4:00 I focus mostly on the brick sidewalks, but the brick wall around campus also counts as Carolina Brick, even if it is often overlooked. For this reason, I wanted to include some media about the wall. I embedded it in the Twitter segment for a couple of reasons. First, walls and message-boards are often associated with social media, so it was my way of documenting a play on words. Second, the fact that most students complain about the bricks on Twitter proves Elizabeth West right as she says that the bricks' historical value is very often overlooked.
4:00 - 4:15 I wanted to show that even despite petty complaints, the USC Bricks remain an essential and inspirational part of campus life. I chose to show the USC Law School Graduation on the Horseshoe as one evidence of that. Although it was inspiring, it seemed a little out of place for me, and it is not the first example I would have picked. Unfortunately, though, because the bricks are such a significant part of university moments year-round, it was hard to capture everything I needed in one semester, so I had to rely on material I could find within my time constraint.
4:20 - 4:40 I used Andrew Smith's interview because he had a personal memory of attending a special annual event on the Horseshoe. Though Awards Day is not the most glamorous event, showing academic achievements that are associated with the bricks was important to me. I especially like the aesthetic of this footage because Andrew is wearing garnet (showing USC spirit about a USC object) and there is an interesting background. My only issue with this clip is that I filmed it before reading up on the Rule of Thirds, so I could have positioned Andrew better within the camera frame had I studied up on filming and photography earlier.
4:40 - 5:10 If I could go back and edit my project again, I think I would add a different transition between the two interviews here, either by creating a voiceover or leading with a different clip from Carrie's interview. However, I am very pleased with the mashing of Carrie's interview and the clip from Bid Day. I think the combination of diegetic sounds occurring simultaneously with the interview describing Bid Day help to make that sequence really rounded.
5:10 - 5:18 The reason I chose to do my voiceover about slaves to this particular clip was because in my interview with Carrie she mentioned that she had heard that this particular portion of brick was actually the initials of a slave worker that the brick-makers decided to "hide" in the brick. I tried to research and find out if that rumor was true, but I could never find any sources confirming or denying it. Rather than try and tell the story as if it were factual, I decided to simply show the brick as a nod toward the rumors. After all, even if the rumors are false, its existence shows that some members of the student body remember the roots of the bricks.
5:20 - 6:20 I'm horrified at the quality of my own voice, and I wish I had taken some measures to disguise it in this voiceover. Other than that, I wonder if I got a little too cheesy with the actual wording, but overall, I think its effective. I like the back-and-forth transitions between picture and video. I made sure that I didn't continue the pattern for too long to avoid boring my audience, and I think the various views of the horseshoe it combines at the end helps to decenter the bricks just a little bit more.
6:20 - the end I hate reading credits, which is probably why I'm guilty of letting these scroll just a little too fast. I can't read each line through twice before it moves on, but I justify that by saying that I do properly cite my sources here on the webpage.