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Daniel Anderson, Author
Brian Niederland's Portfolio, page 6 of 7
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The Road

Video Response to The Road



I. The Road - First Draft





This is my first draft of my video response for The Road. I found making this project quite relaxing, and part of that enjoyment came from the new-found ease of composing this video in Camtasia. After spending hours in Camtasia with the edited e-poem, I felt much more comfortable navigating through the tools the program had to offer. I made an upgrade in my composing abilities from the edited e-poem by using call-outs to write messages on screen instead of using Windows' default notepad application. I found this a much more attractive option, and it looks a lot cleaner. Instead of struggling with the controls, I was now able to translate my thoughts and ideas directly to the screen.

Still, revisions needed to be made. Part of those were due to my choice in the visuals I used here in the first draft. I wanted to blend into my video the kinds of eerie imagery in McCarthy's the Road - images of ghost towns, images of abandoned cars rotting on the side of the road, and images of an empty, unnatural stillness in a place where there once was vibrant life. I tried to realize this imagery by incorporating 'urban exploring' videos. Urban exploring is a trend on video sharing sites where people film their first person views while exploring deserted houses, abandoned apartment buildings, abandoned hospitals, malls, carnivals, etc - you get the idea. It's really cool stuff, and in my mind, I related it to the way the boy and the man rummaged through the discarded possessions others had left behind. It seemed like it made sense to include a shopping mall urban exploration video. But... those ideas didn't translate 100% to the canvas. The video of individuals navigating an abandoned shopping mall gave the video an entirely different aesthetic than what I was going for. It made the video feel like it was about commodities, or consumerism, or modern culture, when The Road really wasn't about any of those things. I was only able to understand the need for revisions to this video after spending some time away from the video and reflecting on the necessary changes, but I'm satisfied with the final cut below.

II. The Road - Revised





I wanted to keep with the urban exploration theme, so I thought about how I could re-synthesize the material in order for it to match up with the themes from The Road. Instead of including the shopping mall, which gave my video a different direction than intended, I included videos of first person urban exploration in abandoned, decrepit houses and factories. In the book, the man and the boy often go through old houses when salvaging supplies so I think this was a good fit. I also included a video of a man taking  and examining a sextant, in order to include a direct 1:1 visual link to the events I was discussing on screen. I now feel the array of imagery matches up with the discussed passages, and makes the video much stronger as a result.

I intentionally kept the low-intensity, relaxed atmosphere from the first draft the same. 
I'm satisfied with the way my final draft turned out, and like I mentioned, this was a really relaxing video to make. Coming up we have the in-depth video on my e-poem, and finally, the portfolio retrospective. 
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