Education From a Different Perspective

When I first found out about our assignment I was petrified; turning an essay into a multimedia project sounded like an impossible task. My knowledge about creating videos and editing is very limited, and I have never considered myself to be very creative. It felt as if I was already setting myself up for failure. However, I decided that I would try my best and use WeVideo to create a voice-over clip; I also felt that I needed a visual representation and WeVideo seemed like an approachable option for the not-so tech-savvy people like myself.

I decided to use my own voice as a medium in order to make my argument more personal. From my own experience, I have noticed that videos that display images to accompany a voice-over make the overall experience more interesting; the pictures provide a visual representation of the context of the clip. Since my audience comprises of college students, it seemed appropriate to include photos; our generation has been raised on visual representations of anything we can imagine. We rely on Google and YouTube to teach us anything from how to change an engine in a car to how to properly tie a tie. Including pictures allows us to skip the effort of trying to visualize what the speaker is trying to say and focus on listening.

Because the length of my clip was limited, I knew that I would have to choose certain parts of my essay to focus on in the video. I decided to keep the same thesis, education should be available to all and there should be proper programs in place for ESL (English as a Second Language) students, but approach it from a broader angle. Instead of mostly using statistics and historical facts, I decided that I would make the video using more of a “pathos” approach and appeal to my viewers’ emotions. I have noticed that I tend to become more interested in a video when it feels more personable; there is something about listening to other peoples’ experiences and hardships that cannot even be compared to using facts and statistics. All of a sudden the numbers become real people with real struggles, and the argument seems more relatable. Creating a short video has allowed me to do just that.

Something that I would like to work on before finalizing my video are the transitions between the images. I have had difficulties attempting to change the transitions and I would like to work on making the video look more professional; I think that if it were to look more polished it would be more suited for adults. I would also like to learn how to imbed a different video into my presentation. For example, I could include a clip of ESL students talking about their experiences with education and what our educational system could do to help future immigrant students.