WCU Video Memoir: 2007-2008

[Benjamin Haines]

I don't know if anyone's noticed that I've been absent from the Fortress for the most part in recent weeks, but that's because almost all of my free time since early July has been spent editing what is by far my most ambitious video project yet. Because my college (Western Carolina University) doesn't offer yearbooks or anything of the like, I decided it would be cool to make a sort of memoir video of the 2007-2008 school year for my friends and I. I spent the last week of classes in May going around interviewing everybody, getting their reflections and thoughts on everything about the past year, and I ended up shooting over two hours of footage. I also used the videos my friends and I had shot in the months prior as sources of footage, so I had a lot to go through when I got around to editing, which I put off starting until early July.

Then this past Friday, I finally finished it. The video ultimately wound up with a lean runtime of 30:52. Here it is presented in its entirety on the excellent video-hosting site Megavideo:

www.megavideo.com/?v=7OII97UF

I made this video to act as a kind of video yearbook for my friends and I and as a kind of "recruitment video", so to speak, for people who don't go to WCU, to try to make it so that one wouldn't have to go to there in order to enjoy this video. Obviously though, the video won't have the same meaning for any of you Dwellers as it does for my friends and I. I'm not posting this here for y'all to watch it, I'm just posting it because after the hassle that was editing and uploading it I now feel the urge to spread it anywhere I can, like a disease. Give it a watch if you want to.

And uploading this video was a bitch. I had to break it into two parts for Facebook, and MySpace actually removed it after I uploaded it due to copyright infringement. I've got about 30 songs in the video, meant solely to enhance the feature and make it more lively, but which I obviously don't own the copyrights to (though I did credit the writers and performers of every song at the end of the video). It's not like there's not already millions of videos on MySpace, YouTube and every other video hosting site which boast copyrighted creative content, yet they felt the need to attack my memoir video. It's actually funny because I've got three other videos already on there ("I'm Batman, Bitch!", "Ruh-Roh!", and "Burn it to the Ground") which all feature copyrighted music and MySpace hasn't done a thing about them. But nonetheless, this video won't be featured on my MySpace video page, though I did embed the Megavideo file and post it on my profile all the same.

And let me just say that Megavideo is officially the best video-hosting site on the web. I'd never heard of it until my friend brought it to my attention yesterday. Not only do they apparently have no restrictions on video length (as opposed to YouTube's limit of 10 minutes and Facebook's 20 minutes), but they'll allow uploads of videos up to 5 GB in size (compared to YouTube's 1 GB, Facebook's 300 MB, and MySpace's measly 250 MB).

I digress though. My "WCU Video Memoir: 2007-2008" is now up on Megavideo in its entirety, on Facebook in two parts (friend-request me if you have a Facebook), and it will be on YouTube in four parts soon. Check it out if you feel like it. I'm always looking to hone my skills as a documentarian and as an editor so if you do check it out let me know what I could have done better.

[The Curmudgeon]

Yeah, you have been missed Benjamin. Glad to see you back here.

Anyway, what I liked:

It wasn't some poe-faced documentary as the title may suggest. Starting with the dancing and stuff helped set the tone. If you'd started with the panning shots of the place it would have had an entirely different feel. I also liked going BACK to interviews with the same people. Like, guy with lip ring talks, cut to chick with red hair then BACK to guy with lip ring. It wasn't like, "guy with lip ring talks, then chick with red hair, then girl with brown hair, then.." It gave it a more "Vh-1 Behind The Music" sort of approach. And that's actually a compliment.

Oh, also, I had a private chuckle at the name of your halls. "Scott Hall" is the real name of this guy



Sorry, I'm being a nerd. Back to the video..

Some of the camera shakes really remove you from the film. Not being a perfectionist or anything, but some of the tracking shots could be, ah, steadier. It really does just throw you back to the "this is just a guy with a camera." Which is fine when its footage of you and your friends talking but when its location shots it can be quite jarring.

I like how you show that its not just some bunch of rich kids, which "college memoir video" would certainly suggest. Showing the ambulance and the police and kids drunk and stuff is a smart move, and who the FUCK is that Jay-wannabe girl with the blonde hair? Give her a fat guy with a beard and a long jacket and she'd be set.

I actually got called away after the 8th or so minute, so I won't lie and say I've seen it all. I'll tell you this, Benjamin - in 5 years time you're going to watch this after a few beers and end up crying like a school girl.

On the one hand its a solid, well made video. Effective use of music, some choice grabs of dialogue and an overall sense of fun often lacking in things like this. On the other, its a golden souvenir of a place that looked like an absolute fucking blast to live and learn in. I've said it once and I'll say it again - I would have loved to hang out with you guys.

Great video, Benjamin.

[Benjamin Haines]

Oh no, by all means speak as a perfectionist. That's exactly the kind of feedback I'm looking for.

You're right about some of the locational shots being too shaky. I was really hesitant about putting that zoom-out shot of the Forsyth Business building in there because of how jittery it is when it starts out fully zoomed in. But I decided it needed to be in there because the area in front of that building was still under heavy construction when I shot it, and in a few years time when it's long since finished I think it'll be cool to look back and see when it was still being worked on. Live and learn, though. When I'm shooting the 2008-2009 memoir video next year, I'll be renting a camera and a tripod from the campus TV station to get some steadier location coverage.

Yeah, I really didn't want this video to turn out as a typical poe-faced documentary. I tried to pace it out so that it could unfold in such a way that would allow the viewer to be drawn in and then keep them engrossed when things got more serious. The first half is largely devoted to the lighthearted reminiscing ("The people are all nice", "Scott Hall is great", "The fondest memories", etc.), but the second half is where the participants get a bit deeper and more emotional, talking about how they've grown as individuals and what they're going to miss the most about the place over the summer. While I was inspired to make this video due to the lack of yearbooks being offered at the college, I definitely didn't want it to turn out merely as superficial and one-dimensional as a yearbook.

Thanks for the other kind words. I also see that you apparently put a picture in your post, but it's not showing up for me, even when I try entering the URL myself. Who is this mysterious Scott Hall fellow?

[The Curmudgeon]

God dammit, I hate when links don't work.

Scott Hall, AKA Razor Ramon from WWE.



Yeah, it was kind of a passing joke. You had to be there when I chuckled at the Scott Hall name. Man, if I were on a wrestling board right now SOMEONE would laugh!

Maybe.