Reflection: 1996 Mt. Everest Disaster

Shopping for the perfect song that conveys just the message you want to send is like looking for the perfect pair of shoes to match the dress you bought last summer that is a size too small that you were hoping you would lose enough weight to fit in this summer—you just know when you hear it or in the shoes’ case when you see them. Whew! Did I get it all in there? Typically, the first element in my video-making process is the music. The music is the foundation upon which I construct my entire production. I allow the natural changes in the song(s) to dictate the flow of images providing the viewer with a cohesive bond between rhythm and emotion. There is nothing like an‘aha!’ moment when the music and images come together harmoniously.

Up until this point, I have had no problems with locating songs to convey a particular emotion. However, this project proved to be a worthy adversary. It was truly a “kill the baby” moment. The song I had chosen was perfect lyrically and even emotionally, but something was still missing. I needed a shift in emotion and could not locate the perfect song to accompany my chosen tune. I had already exported my video into QT format at least four times and had decided it was good enough. But “good enough” just isn’t good enough for me. I had to woefully and with anticipated regret hit the DELETE button. As the product of an unrelenting perfectionist complex, I began anew. I sat for hours combing through my iTunes library and YouTube searching…. I knew I would know it when I heard it. Soundtracks are some of the best places to locate unique music. I racked my brain over and over crawling through the darkest recesses of my mind…The Last Samurai, 300, Troy, Snatch, Gladiator, The Hunger Games, The Last of the Mohicans. With great frustration I finally emerged victorious—Braveheart. Bingo! Perfect pair of shoes. I ended up pulling three songs from the soundtrack as they all went well together—naturally. After spending an additional six hours perfecting my project, I fell asleep content.

While I still long to use Final Cut, I managed to locate some new features in iMovie that really breathed some life into my project. Overall, I am happy with this project. I feel like it has more depth than my first project, but my first project was very cohesive and groovy. So, if anything it has been a cool experience to dabble in creating two very different multi-modal videos.