The Dilemma

From the inception of the project Ed and I had a vague idea as to what we wanted to make. We knew we wanted to have a video that was unique and fully captured the space within Hunter College. Hunter College has a unique layout that can sometimes be overwhelming for both students and faculty. The original idea was to have a video made from the perspective of a child walking through Hunter College. The point of origin would have been the security desk downstairs and the end would have been the second floor daycare. However we never got a call back saying we had permission to go into the daycare. With our back up becoming our new idea we had another member join the group. Having three people work on the project brought a fresh perspective to the filming. The new idea was to have a student lost within the space of Hunter and their mission was to get food from the trucks outside before his next class started. We used a digital hand held camera. The scenes we captured were a bit shaky however we all agreed that the cinematography then added an element of realism. The over the shoulder shots when Ed walks into the second floor auditorium transforms Hunter College the location, into Hunter College the antagonist. With the labyrinth that is Hunter, Ed is never able to reach his goal on time. During the editing phase we realized the original footage had the potential to take on two very different emotional styles. It could have been really comedic but the altering of the color and the addition of music make it darker and more serious. The audience feels the overwhelmed sensation the protagonist is feeling. While editing we had yet another member join the group and while editing she was able to provide insightful feedback on the timing being crucial to the vibe the video was going for. Ultimately the two types of editing we used was temporal and emphasis. We wanted to overdramatize how exhausting it can be getting around Hunter.