Going Backwards

After three days of shooting, seven hours of editing and bombarding Brian with a copious amount of questions, I have finally produced and compressed a video suited for the World Wide Web. Now, my video can be viewed at both Youtube and Blip.tv. This video, titled "Going Backwards", attempts to encapsulate the confusion and confrontation that I experienced upon arriving in Buffalo from Australia. Initially, I felt as though everything was backwards, foreign and unfamiliar. I was prepared to enter a new country and understood that difficulties may lie ahead, but as I traveled alone, I felt slightly confronted at the smallest of cultural differences. My friend and roommate, Kathrina, who is featured within this video also endured a touch of culture shock as she is also on exchange, although she is from New Mexico.

Now, within the interview of my video, you may have noticed that Kathrina spoke of coming from the "Land of Enchantment." I would like to emphasize the contexuality behind this phrase; this is a term that has been associated with the state of New Mexico.

In addition, the inspiration for this video lies within the notion time relativity; Australia is 15 hours ahead of the US. Drawing on this difference in time as an idea for my project, I reflected on the day I left Sydney, Australia for Buffalo; I left at 2pm on a Friday afternoon and arrived in Los Angeles at 10:30am on the same Friday morning. How bizarre!

Further, the resolution to this video highlights two people walking together in a backwards world; this symbolizes that I am not the only one who, at times, may feel slightly disorientated or homesick, despite the amazing journey one is embarking on.

Moreover, I found a very useful and helpful web tutorial that assisted me immensely in compressing my video for the web. This tutorial (running at a beginner's pace) takes you through, step-by-step, the process of compressing your movie/ video footage for users of the Final Cut Pro editing program.