Medium Specificity

 View Project HERE: https://youtu.be/jAfo-Cjws4I 

I chose to make an iMovie to create a video with memories of my family. Back in 2018 we had a family reunion and I took a bunch of videos asking them questions. I meant to compile them together for years, but it never ended up happening. I’m glad this project allowed me to finally get around to it! I hadn’t used iMovie in years and so it was awesome to foray into it, probe the corners and see what the new, updated version of iMovie could do. I actually made the entire movie on my phone because that’s where all my videos were stored, and that was completely new for me.

Affordances: I was surprised how easy it was to use iMovie on an iPhone. The layout is very simple which makes it easy to find and use different features, like cutting clips, adding text, and adding music. There is a video app I use frequently, Splice, but that one doesn’t offer as much freedom as iMovie and makes you pay for extra perks like music. I think iMovie is a great movie making tool and could be very well utilized in a classroom; students can put together a full movie in just a class period.

Limitations: One problem I ran into was that I couldn’t figure out how to change the sizing on some of my videos. I had filmed some of them portrait-mode on my phone, and the tops of the heads of my family members got cut off. I fidgeted with this and googled for answers but couldn’t find anything. I am not quite done with the video; the version you see is my first draft. I still have a lot of clips to add in. When I go back and finish it I will have to try again to figure out how to fix those videos so that the heads are not copped off.

As a teacher, one question I would want to ask students is: what emotion did the media you created invoke in you? Or more simply, how does this make you feel? The media we create has an incredible power to touch our emotions, and thinking about our emotions can help us to critique and think critically. I feel like movies can be one of the most effective forms of media because it includes so many different elements- visuals, audio, characters, action. It lets us feel as if we were really there because everything is so realistic. iMovie especially allowed me to remember precious memories that I had previously shared with my family and relive important moments. Creating this movie reminded me of all the good times I had with my family and all the inside jokes we had. It’s also such a time machine to watch, because we were all so much younger when I took those video clips back in 2018! This piece of media really transported me back to that time. I plan to share it with my family when I’m done, and I’m sure it will transport them too!