Video Joke Reflection

For the video joke assignment, my group chose the joke about the little boy playing with a train and cursing, and his mother’s reaction to it. We decided to do two completely different styles for each video. Since we could not have any synchronized sound we decided to do a throwback to the silent film era. We used a sepia tone to give it an old fashioned feel and to add to the visual rhythm we sped up the clips to make it look like a genuine silent film. We also used lines to showcase the different visual elements. When the mother is in the kitchen we used actual lines by placing me behind the counter tops so your eyes first start on the little boy, who falls into the rule of thirds, and then your eyes are led to me cooking in the kitchen.
In contrast to the second film which was done in normal sleep, and normal colors. Taking the same joke and applying it to another film that had a completely different look was a bit challenging. We decided to go with a little girl instead of a boy, and have her toys have voiceovers and have the little girl act as the mother figure. In this film we used virtual lines through the eyes of the little girl to depict which toy she was talking to. Similarly, we used CU shots when showing each of the toys and their individual voice overs; this ensured that you knew who was talking at what time. In the second film there was a scene where the little girl was waiting for her Barbie to get out of time out, to a five year old five minutes can feel like five hours. Therefore, when editing this clip I showed numerous pictures of the clock and used the ticking to illustrate time passing very slowly. This editing technique added tension to the scene and then when the little girl delivers her line and decided Barbie’s timeout is over the tension is released.