Ready, Set, Action!

How easy is iMovie to learn for a first time user? Pretty easy! Together my three group members and myself produced a video for our class project on the Politics of Womanhood.  The video consisted of all our own footage that we filmed and then pieced together through the use of iMovie on iMacs where users can easily create a video that can later be saved as a movie.  

            Shooting and editing a movie was a lot easier than I expected, I always thought I would need expensive equipment and software to create a movie, but all I needed was my iPhone camera and iMovie application on my iMac. To create an iMovie users must first open the iMovie application, then hit “Create,” then click “Movie,” and then click “Import Media.” When importing the media, I highlighted all the files I filmed for my project, which only took a few minutes to import. The imported media was then stored in my iMovie library where I then inserted it into my timeline, where I then pieced together the movie, clip by clip. After deciding on the correct sequence for my movie, I began to edit my footage. I sped up certain scenes, cut out some parts, and then transitioned them to flow together smoothly. Throughout this entire process of importing and editing footage, I was constantly hitting “Preview,” which is located in the right-hand corner of the screen for users to preview the media that they are creating. When inserting audio to my movie, I clicked the iTunes tab under audio, which displayed the contents of my iTunes library where I then dragged and dropped my chosen audio into my timeline. I then adjusted the length of the track to suit my movie.

            Before getting assigned this project, I had never used iMovie, so there was a lot to learn in a short amount of time, but overall it wasn’t a bad experience. There were obviously times when I felt frustrated, but that was only when I was cutting and editing my videos to transition into a sequence. Cutting the video at the right time and then getting it to flow right into the next scene was challenging, but once it worked I felt a great sense of accomplishment. One of the features of iMovie that I really liked was the ability to import an audio track from your own music library into your movie. iMovie is an excellent video editing application that is easy and fun to use.

            Working with a group whose ideas were all aligned and on point with one another made the shooting process rather simple. After brainstorming ideas for roughly an hour where we provided one another with honest feedback on our thoughts and ideas, shooting the videos were a breeze. I felt confident with what I was shooting because I had the approval of my group members. We all examined different parts of our personal lives that strongly showed proof of misogamy and everyday struggles that women face.
            I used my younger siblings in my video to get my point across. Growing up with two brothers I was always being told I couldn’t do stuff boys could do or that I wasn’t allowed to play with the boys. I remember following my brothers around wanting nothing more than to play sports or play in the mud with them, but them always suggesting that I play with my dolls or play dress up with my friends. I have two younger half siblings, a sister who is 2 and a brother who is 6, so it is interesting to witness the gender role issues first hand. To thoroughly get my point across in my video, I had my little brother, Rhett, make a sign for his bedroom door that read “BOYS ONLY, NO GIRLS!” The first segment of my video included me walking into Rhett’s room where him and his friend are hanging out. Rhett notices me and immediately gets up, shakes his head and points at the sign on the door as he is shutting it. The next scene then shows myself reading a book about Ninja Turtles, when all of the sudden Rhett snatches the book out of my hands and places a book that reads “Fairytales” into my hands, a book that he feels more suitable for me to be reading. The following scene includes my friend Claire opening a present, which is a pair of boxing gloves. She appears to be full of excitement that she received the gloves, when Rhett’s friend, Donny, rips the gloves out of her hands and gives them to Rhett who takes them with no questions asked. The final scene of my segment includes Rhett playing video games on the couch when I sit down next to him and politely ask for a turn, he gives the device to me without hesitation, but to my surprise, his friend John walks up and rips the game out of my hands and starts playing it.

            I used my younger siblings to show the gender norms of what girls and boys should play with, whereas my other group member used her personal relationship to show examples of misogyny in culture, and lastly my other two group members used their own self-identity to portray everyday struggles they face just by being a female in todays world. Group communication is key when being part of a group project, there has to be constant verbal communication that includes the exchanging of ideas and I feel as though my group did an excellent job communicating. I feel as though each group member was equally active in the group. When we weren’t working together in class, we were chatting via the application called “GroupMe” or chatting via Email.

            I felt that making a video as a form of communication instead of writing a piece or using photographs gives both the viewer and director a different perspective on what is being presented or assigned.  This project has been one of the more fun and unique projects I have had the pleasure of doing. I never thought I would enjoy making and starring in my own film, but overall it was a neat and enjoyable experience.