I finished creating my book, so now it was time to create a 30 second video, capturing the book.

I noticed that i didn’t give my book a front cover. I didn’t make one because i didn’t know if it would be included as a page, and i didn’t want to go over 12 pages. I created a short video in place of the front cover; it’s me floating around in a void, with some underwater audio and some audio from the Apollo 11 mission (i can’t include the video here, but you’ll see it at the beginning of each of my final videos, which will be further down in this post).

I knew nobody would be able to read a whole book in 30 seconds, so instead of trying to leave the viewer enough time to do the impossible, i wanted to create a video that captured the atmosphere of my book well. I had my washing line idea, so i took my book into the garden and put it up on the line. The second half of the video was just me turning the pages, giving the viewer a taste of each page in the book.

I ended up not liking this final video much. As well as it being too long, i think it’s just a little bit boring; not much happens, and i didn’t think the washing line idea was a concept that was strong or clear enough to engage viewers. When i presented it on the 15th, i was asked; ‘do you think it represents you?’ i don’t think this video represents me well at all, and by extension it doesn’t represent the book well.

I spent some time to think of what i didn’t like about the video, and i created a new one. I wanted the new video to be more fun conceptually, and i wanted it to represent the kind of atmosphere that the book has.

I created this video using the same method i used to create the book; i just came up with a rough idea an worked through it without too much planning, to keep it spontaneous and reflective of my mindset at the time of it’s creation.

I think that this video doesn’t look like the kind of thing you’d usually submit at school or uni, but neither does my book. My book is written really informally and kind of has a relaxed and personal atmosphere, and i think that is reflected well through this video. I think this one represents me well; a little bit random, more imaginative and a little silly. This video is what my book would be like if it came to life.

Overall, creating the videos has taught me a few things; that engaging with an audience is important (nobody would read my book, so i had to think of a way to entertain them differently. I had to put myself in the place of the viewer), and that sometimes initial ideas don’t work out but rather than beating myself up about it, i should just try to learn from the problem and change it.

Overall I’ve had fun with this book project. It was a little more easier and more relaxing than my other projects; it required more thinking and planning than it did making. I’m glad i was able to do this task, as it’s slightly changed my approach on creating art pieces; sometimes being spontaneous is a good thing, you don’t always have to plan things down to a T.