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After experimenting with Camtasia during the Improv and Live E-Poem projects, this next project challenged me to use the skills I learned from the live performance to make another e-poem that focused even more on putting together sound and visuals to share a message. Inner Strength was inspired by one of my best friends who encouraged me to share her story about the toughest experience in her life and how she was able to fight through it and find strength at the end. The video begins with a young girl around the age of 20, which is the same age as my friend, staring outside a window as it rains. The rain ultimately brings about a nostalgic mood and the girl begins to reflect on her life and recall memories. She thinks about the happiest days, when she was an innocent, carefree, and joyful child who was loved by two amazing parents. She reminisced about playing on the playground with her parents and her mother pushing her on the swing. She remembered her dad tickling her in bed. The video soon transitions into the fallout, or the storm. The girl in the video is a couple years older and she witnesses her parents constantly fighting. The yelling and screaming ring in her ears every day. She wants the fighting and yelling to stop, but she doesn't know what to do. The girl feels that she has no control. Her joy is lost. All she can do is find her own escape from this chaos. The video then transitions to "the escape" where the video switches to a foggy, isolated wooded path, symbolic of the girl's confusion, frustration, and sadness. As she walks through, I try to pull the audience in more by having the girl look as if she's reaching her hand out to the viewer, and stating "take my hand, and run away with me." To continue with the virtual feel for the viewer, I continued with a black and white contrast in text to emphasize the words, "close my eyes" in order to make it seem as if the viewer has now become connected with the girl in such a way that he/she can see from her perspective. Thus, when the girl closes her eyes, the viewer sees black (and just the white text). Finally, towards the end, the girl finds her inner strength as the sky with the sun coming out starts to symbolize this discovery. The new sunny path in the nature scenery also represents this new strength. As she reaches the top of the mountain, she looks below her and realizes she's stronger than her past. That the past does not represent who she is as a person. That she is not responsible for her parent's divorce. She is finally free. The video ends with the girl back in present day, staring at the rain outside of her window. The same text from the beginning of the video, "People say the rain washes away the memories. And I believed them" are repeated, except now with a more positive connotation. Since now, she has found her inner strength, and as the rain does bring about her past, she sees the light, rather than the darkness. The rain reminds her of her freedom and strength. 

Throughout this piece, I tried really hard to find a song that would match with my best friend's story. After some browsing, I found Weather by Novo Amor (great artist if you're into indie/indie folk, by the way), and knew that it was the one. It had a calm tune and was a song you would definitely listen to studying, at night, or simply just looking out the window when it rains, like in this video. Its subtle drumming mixed with calm acoustics make it the perfect song for reflection. There's also one part in the middle of the song when the song has a louder sound and builds up slightly. I decided to use this part of the song when the girl goes through her transformation - when the sky brightens up as the sun comes out. Visually, I also worked on softening some of the edges of the video clips by using the masking effect on Camtasia. This allowed for a smoother transition between clips, causing less distraction for the viewer. I also increased the font of the certain words to give them more emphasis. To learn more about the revisions made in this video, check out my Portfolio "Teaching with Sound" Walk-Through video! 

THEME ALERT

"Change": My friend's experience with her parents' divorce was one of the hardest changes she ever had to go through, yet she was able to learn how to find strength in the darkest times and today she is one of the strongest, most caring, and confident people I know. After learning how to find this strength as a result of the change in her family, she herself changed. Not only is she stronger, but she is more optimistic. She sees the good in life and cares about the little things. Thus, although "change" in this world can be bad, that does not mean good "change" can not follow. We have the power and control to make action. As Mahatma Gandhi states, "Be the change you wish to see in the world."