How to Tie a Shoelace
October 21, Wednesday — Introduction to Unit
I am a very clumsy person, so I trip over even the smallest crack or obstacle. Loose shoelaces were always the worst enemy to my clumsiness, so I had to teach myself how to tightly tie my sneaker shoelaces so that they don’t easily come undone.
Practically, I am now a master of tying shoelaces. I know multiple ways to tie my shoelaces and can execute the task with my eyes closed in no time. Although I have gotten more than used to this simple task, there was definitely a beginning for me too, when I scrutinized over a WikiHow tutorial to learn how to make a proper ribbon shape. It seems quite difficult to erase my experiences and knowledge regarding tying shoelaces and produce a tutorial for a novice.
October 22, Thursday — Video Day
SIGNIFICANT FACTORS
During class, we watched various types of videos ranging from stop motion animations to tutorials. I learned that POV plays a crucial role in building the effectiveness of these videos. Depending on whether he video is introduced in first-person or third-person perspective, the audience’s engagement and interpretation of the video can drastically change.
Scale is also a factor that plays an important role. Some videos omit certain aspects and zooms into the a particular part of the scene/object to show the details. Other times, the entire scenery might be shown to communicate the action being in its entirety.
The sound, whether naturally present or deliberately inserted in the video, contributes in building a mood for the visuals. As seen in Vertigo, the suspenseful music plays engages the audience to interpret the video to be more creepy and scary.
Representation differs greatly depending on the genre and purpose of the video.
- Representational VS Abstract
In the introduction of Mad Man, only the male figure is represented in a black silhouette while the surrounding is more representational with perspective and color. The simplified representation of the man creates a distinct contrast from the background of women, and the audience’s eyes naturally focuses onto the falling male figure.
When abstracted, the viewer tends to make a connection within the content by filling in the missing pieces of information with their own interpretation. In Vertigo, the audience is able to connect the abstract spiraling transitions with the main theme of the video (rewatch later).
Informal criteria that I set up after class discussion
- Formality: background setting, color, stability of shooting
- Clarity: lighting (highlight/shadow/brightness), scale, speed
- Viewpoint: point of view
October 26, Monday
Storyboard:
Decisions made in the process:
- Selection of shoe: I chose a navy canvas sneaker with white shoelaces because they shoe a good contrast in colors, and the color combination is comfortable to the eye.
- Background: The selection of the background was less intentional; I was in a situation to shoot this storyboard in an outdoor setting, and the wooden texture was the least obnoxious and simple setting compared to more complex tiles and grass.
- Lacing and tying method: I know how to tie the shoelace in many different ways, but the one that I used (using two fingers on each hands) in the storyboard requires the least amount of time and is very intriguing compared to the conventional method of making too loops and tying them. I thought this method could engage the audience more and provide a method through which one could tie the shoelace within seconds.
Questions for myself:
- What role does lighting play? When I first attempted the shooting of the storyboard images in an outdoor setting, the light casted from behind and created shadows on the toes of the shoe, creating distraction from solely concentrating on the view.
- Is it better to be overly detailed or vague? My current storyboard is very detailed, containing every single step including the transitions. I am wondering if it will be helpful to be overly specific or leave some steps out for the viewer to imply on their own. However, as of now, I think I can select and omit unnecessary steps.
October 27, Tuesday — First Feedback Session
- Presence of feet: It seems peculiar that there is no presence of the feet in the process of lacing and tying the shoelace as many people put the shoe on after lacing the shoe and before tying their shoelaces.
- Lighting: The shadows and highlights created by the light setting can easily be a distracting factor that shifts the viewer’s gaze from the object. Using natural lighting that is less intense may be helpful in this case.
- Shooting angle: All of our group members used a top down angle with the camera lens perpendicular to the ground level. This way, the top face of the shoe and all the lacework is shown. Shooting this way shoes the pattern of the lacing well, but can easily flatten out the image and the overlapping of laces can create blurred effects. I could try to shoot at different angles when zooming in to show detail.
- Viewer Perspective: Some of our group members placed in the perspective of the viewer, and others placed it in the instructor’s point of view.
October 29, Thursday — Video Draft 1
Commonalities
From the first group review of our video clips, I learned that our approaches shared many commonalities:
- POV: Top-down shooting angle
- Form: Zigzag lacing,
What to work on
This time, I edited the brightness and saturation of the video to get rid of the shadows casted by the light. I need to work on adjusting the lighting to cast less angular shadows. I can add a light source that projects light directly above the shoe to reduce shadows casted on the sides of the shoe.
I think I can change the background color to white because the color is too strong that it distracts the eye and because the the color of the casted shadow is even darker. I think a seamless white background would make my video more professional and minimalistic.
November 3, Tuesday — Video Draft 2
While peer reviewing other people’s tutorials of different objects, I was able to learn tips on how to make the tutorial more cohesive and informative. For example, as a viewer, I enjoyed how one of my peers included a snapshot of the finished product in the introduction of the videos because it gave me a clear idea of what to expect as I began watching the tutorial.
Also, by reviewing others’ works, I began to grasp the significance of lighting and sound. When rewatching my own tutorial, I easily became too used to my background setting that I didn’t catch aspects that could be distracting. But when I watched others’ works, I found my eyes being drawn to the texture of the background and irregularities in the sound. One significant realizations about the acoustics was that the sound also gets abruptly cut as I splice the video clip, so I be wary of how cutting the video affects the flow of audio.
While clipping my videos, I learned that I had a lot of unnecessary handwork like trembling or fidgeting with my videos that I had to crop out. This cutting process made the transitions a bit jarring, according to my peer’s review. I think I can be more clear and smooth in actually conducting the task so that there is less clips to delete during the important parts of the instruction.
November 5, Thursday — Discussion
During today’s class, we discussed the criteria of producing instructive videos. Some ideas that were discussed in breakout rooms and main discussions sessions were:
- Professionalism: video quality (pixels), background setting, lack of noise
- Clarity: lighting, appropriate sound quality
- User experience: joy of viewing the video, difficulty of following the task
In the beginning of this unit, I thought that it would be very simple and easy to create a tutorial for lacing and tying a shoelace, especially because the task itself is very common and understood by most people. However, as I began thinking in the perspective of a person who has never laced nor tied shoelaces before, I began to demonstrate every single step so that nothing was unclear to the audience (as shown in my storyboard). As I began to read McCloud and watch more videos on storyboarding, I learned the significance of missing frames and transitions between frames, and that the tutorial can become more concise and effective by omitting certain parts, such as the unnecessarily repetitive parts or simple processes like pulling a shoelace.
- The significance of lighting
As I was taking my first draft of the video, I really grasped the significance of lighting and background. The presence of harsh shadows on a vibrant background accentuated the shadows, and even I was distracted by these shadows myself. I realized that when using natural light, the time of the day when the shooting occurs is crucial as long, distracting shadows might be casted.
2. The acoustic value
While creating the second draft, I understood the significance of sound. Initially, I thought that sound would have minimal presence in my video because I had gotten too used to the sound of shoelaces passing the soles that I didn’t hear them anymore while tying my own shoelaces. However, when I took the second video and watched it myself, I was surprised to learn that the sound helped me understand the pace of the video and also provide acoustic pleasure that made the video more alive and interesting.
3. Achieve professional visual quality
Compared to the visuals of my storyboard images, the visuals of my final draft is much more clean and formal. Just like one of Steve’s early feedback, using cleaner material (shoelace and shoe) really helped improve the aesthetic and formality of the entire video. Also, by using consistent lighting and fixing the camera angle so the video doesn’t shake, I was able to achieve a professional finishing in my final draft. Also, as I compared my third and final draft to my second draft, I was able to capture the role background color plays; in the second draft, the brown color stands out too much that it interferes with the viewer’s focus on the shoe.
4. Time and motion
When I hadn’t given much consideration to motion, my hands would often cover the sole being worked on that the camera could not capture the actual work being done. In this particular task, keeping good distance between the two hands was crucial while conducting and instructing the task. Also, controlling the motion by varying the speed really added to the quality of instruction, as low speed would indicate the I understand the complexity of the task and am waiting for the follower to complete and verify the step.
In addition, I think the 1-min time constraint was really effective in this project, because otherwise my videos would have lasted to be 4 or 5 minutes just lacing the shoe. I was able to save time and demonstrate efficiency by identifying and cutting unnecessary clips.
One thing I wish I could have done better is making my video more interesting and enjoyable for the viewer by adding a short narrative to it, such as filming myself fall as I trip over my own shoelace before the tutorial begins.
November 8, Sunday — Final Video
