Final Video Project Idea
Word count: 853
So this project might be a little hard for me only because I’m the type of person that prefers to follow a guideline when it comes to a big project like this. I like a little creative freedom but I feel like this is so much… the options are endless, yet I feel like I have no good ideas. I also feel like none of my ideas are creative or entertaining enough.
At the moment, I’m thinking of telling the story of my trip to Germany that I took in August. I went for one week with my mom and my sister. We mostly stayed in Munich and Dachau, but also visited the cities of Salzburg and St Wolfgang in the country Austria one day. It was my first time to Europe so I took an insane number of pictures and videos with my Canon camera, and then took a bunch of lesser quality ones with my crappy iPhone. I’ll share a few stories now that I will definitely talk about more in depth in the video. This post isn’t necessarily in the order that I’ll tell it in though. I’m gonna tell it in chronological order as events happened but for now, this post is random.
One of my favorite parts about Germany was the beer… they have the best beer! It’s so fresh and you can drink it literally anywhere and everywhere: the streets, in stores, on any of the public transportation systems, they don’t care. All the local Germans told us it’s basically like water to them and that kids grow up drinking it. They have these awesome outdoor bars called Bier Gartens, and they actually originated in Munich so it was cool to experience the real thing. They are outdoor Breweries/Pubs with a bunch of picnic tables, some of these gardens hold a few hundred people and some hold thousands of people. You just go up and order beers from the bar and sit down at any picnic table. You normally share the table with random people and have a great time.
We went to a mini Oktoberfest in Dachau one night called Dachauer Volksfest. Our tour guide had told us about it which was great considering it was a genuine German beer fest and a lot cheaper than the real Oktoberfest. We went with this young Australian couple (I’d say late 20’s/early 30’s) who actually brought their 2 year old baby too! They were so much fun and knew how to have a good time.
We visited the concentration camp in Dachau one day, which is an experience I will never forget. We all know the Holocaust is real and happened but standing in one of the camps made it feel even more real which I didn’t think that was possible. We actually went in the gas shower room; standing there gave me the most gut-wrenching feeling. I learned a lot while I was there so I will talk about that more in the video.
We visited a gorgeous castle, that actually had been lived in by a king for only a couple months before he died. So it’s basically a brand new castle with the most beautiful and intricately made furniture, blinds, blankets, rugs, doors, even the random ceiling posts. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside but I took a bunch outside and it looked like straight out of a fairytale.
We went to two cities in Austria one day; Salzburg, the city where Mozart was born, so we saw the outside of the house that he was actually born in. Then we saw the Salt Lake District in St Wolfgang. I can’t wait to show you pictures of it, the scenery and water were breathtaking.
We ate at this authentic Italian restaurant twice because it was that good. I know you’re thinking it’s weird that I hate Italian food while in Germany but I’m a vegetarian and Germans are HUGE meat eaters so I ended up eating the same vegetarian meal that they had at every German restaurant almost daily..... I might show it and explain what it is in the video. So yeah, that made authentic Italian food my number one choice.
I might even talk about the plane ride if I have time because we had a layover in Paris each way. And I have so many funny stories about our flight there and our luggage, etc.
My audience is more so for my mom and sister since they shared these memories with me. I think it’ll be cool to go back and watch this video that’ll include lots of pictures and even small video clips as a reminder. But it’s also for anyone wanting to experience Germany through my perspective.
(Also before any asks, yes I am German, no I don’t have family over there. I honestly knew nothing about German culture prior to going.)
If you couldn’t tell, I’m saving all the good pictures and videos for the actual video. Any feedback would be much appreciated because I really don’t know what if this good or anything, lol.
So this project might be a little hard for me only because I’m the type of person that prefers to follow a guideline when it comes to a big project like this. I like a little creative freedom but I feel like this is so much… the options are endless, yet I feel like I have no good ideas. I also feel like none of my ideas are creative or entertaining enough.
At the moment, I’m thinking of telling the story of my trip to Germany that I took in August. I went for one week with my mom and my sister. We mostly stayed in Munich and Dachau, but also visited the cities of Salzburg and St Wolfgang in the country Austria one day. It was my first time to Europe so I took an insane number of pictures and videos with my Canon camera, and then took a bunch of lesser quality ones with my crappy iPhone. I’ll share a few stories now that I will definitely talk about more in depth in the video. This post isn’t necessarily in the order that I’ll tell it in though. I’m gonna tell it in chronological order as events happened but for now, this post is random.
One of my favorite parts about Germany was the beer… they have the best beer! It’s so fresh and you can drink it literally anywhere and everywhere: the streets, in stores, on any of the public transportation systems, they don’t care. All the local Germans told us it’s basically like water to them and that kids grow up drinking it. They have these awesome outdoor bars called Bier Gartens, and they actually originated in Munich so it was cool to experience the real thing. They are outdoor Breweries/Pubs with a bunch of picnic tables, some of these gardens hold a few hundred people and some hold thousands of people. You just go up and order beers from the bar and sit down at any picnic table. You normally share the table with random people and have a great time.
We went to a mini Oktoberfest in Dachau one night called Dachauer Volksfest. Our tour guide had told us about it which was great considering it was a genuine German beer fest and a lot cheaper than the real Oktoberfest. We went with this young Australian couple (I’d say late 20’s/early 30’s) who actually brought their 2 year old baby too! They were so much fun and knew how to have a good time.
We visited the concentration camp in Dachau one day, which is an experience I will never forget. We all know the Holocaust is real and happened but standing in one of the camps made it feel even more real which I didn’t think that was possible. We actually went in the gas shower room; standing there gave me the most gut-wrenching feeling. I learned a lot while I was there so I will talk about that more in the video.
We visited a gorgeous castle, that actually had been lived in by a king for only a couple months before he died. So it’s basically a brand new castle with the most beautiful and intricately made furniture, blinds, blankets, rugs, doors, even the random ceiling posts. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside but I took a bunch outside and it looked like straight out of a fairytale.
We went to two cities in Austria one day; Salzburg, the city where Mozart was born, so we saw the outside of the house that he was actually born in. Then we saw the Salt Lake District in St Wolfgang. I can’t wait to show you pictures of it, the scenery and water were breathtaking.
We ate at this authentic Italian restaurant twice because it was that good. I know you’re thinking it’s weird that I hate Italian food while in Germany but I’m a vegetarian and Germans are HUGE meat eaters so I ended up eating the same vegetarian meal that they had at every German restaurant almost daily..... I might show it and explain what it is in the video. So yeah, that made authentic Italian food my number one choice.
I might even talk about the plane ride if I have time because we had a layover in Paris each way. And I have so many funny stories about our flight there and our luggage, etc.
My audience is more so for my mom and sister since they shared these memories with me. I think it’ll be cool to go back and watch this video that’ll include lots of pictures and even small video clips as a reminder. But it’s also for anyone wanting to experience Germany through my perspective.
(Also before any asks, yes I am German, no I don’t have family over there. I honestly knew nothing about German culture prior to going.)
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| The delicious beer that you can get in Liter mugs |
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| The scenery surrounding the castle |
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| Mozart's house is on this cute little shopping street (you can't see it in the picture) |
If you couldn’t tell, I’m saving all the good pictures and videos for the actual video. Any feedback would be much appreciated because I really don’t know what if this good or anything, lol.
Okay, yes, this does sound like a life-changing experience and something that has a lot of potential in terms of the visual elements. The hard thing is, as you stated, finding ways to narrow it down so you're not trying to tell about the whole trip in 7 minutes. One way to do this is to focus on one aspect of the experience, such as your understanding of the Holocaust. Or, it could be to talk more generally about what your expectations were of traveling to Germany versus what it actually turned out to be. I was an exchange student in Einbeck for two months, and I know that my ideas about the country were vastly different than my actual experience. Another way to figure out your focus is to free write about it--you can't necessarily access those memories just from photos or videos--you'll have to think about it again. We might try doing this is a class exercise, starting with "I remember...I remember the way that the city of Einbeck smelled, like chocolate, which surprised me because for some dumb reason, I thought it would be smell like tulips. I remember Elke's crooked front tooth and how she always wore loose sweaters to hide her figure. I remember how helpless I felt not being able to understand what anyone aorund me was saying, how it was all a swirl of garbled gibberish--alost like the fake lnaguage I made up when I was a kid..." Give yourself time to write about it for 20 minutes--everything concrete that you remember without feeling like you have to tell a story, and see what emerges. You'll also have to find a way to reflect on this experience for the viewer--what does it mean? What's the bigger picture here about difference or foreignness or similarities? Why should the viewer care about or be engaged with your journey? These are hard questions to answer and require time and thought.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, if you're finding this isn't appealing to you, think more about what you care about most---what makes you crazy mad? What do you love most in the world? If you had to name an experience that altered you forever what would it be? You're right that this is assignment is difficult because it is so open-ended, but it can also be cathartic--you can use it to exorcise the things that keep you up at night.