Behind the Scenes: Take Two of CIDA Intern Video Project

Six weeks after our first day on the job at CIDA, and we returned to our intern video project to film an update on our lives.

The first time we made our testimonial videos, we spoke about what we hoped to gain from our internship in CIDA and our plans for our future. The filming experience wasn't just about speaking; it was also about practising filming, editing and producing a video clip. I think it also helped us in terms of gaining confidence and articulating ourselves better.

Last Thursday, we regrouped in the CIDA meeting room to film the second instalment, where we could talk about the development of our internship program, what we'd learnt so far and whether our plans and outlook for the future had changed in any way.
Only this time, instead of just having a video camera and a mic, CIDA equipped us with two light boxes, a white sheet and a reflector as well as two different mics. Feeling a lot more professional, we eventually picked a spot for the interviews and I asked Ridley to stand in while we fixed the lighting and shadows on her face.

This filming was definitely a group effort, where we all took turns in filming, interviewing, being interviewed and holding the light reflector. Lihua gently gave suggestions on how to film and speak in order to make the editing process smoother. With her experience working in TV production, she gave very useful tips.

We alternated shots for each answer to give a more diverse testimonial compared to our first video. To make it consistent, we tried to replicate the same different angles for each video, and one person would stand in as the interviewer for the interview to look at directly when we took portrait shots.
While we were filming, whoever had no task would take photos of the filming on her smart phone to give a behind-the-scenes perspective.

We agreed on a set of questions that each person should answer, incorporating the question into the response so that the whole testimonial would run seamlessly without the interviewer's questions. We first introduced ourselves, then spoke about what we'd done and learnt so far in the past six weeks, which experience at CIDA was our favourite or most valuable, and what we hoped to learn in the future.

I think the experience was a positive one because we each learnt how to handle a camera, fix lighting, control shadows, ask interview questions, speak confidently on camera and create a video product. I'd be really interested in learning how to edit a video; it's a very important skill to acquire if you want to work in documenting or media coverage. Maybe if Lihua lets me, I will sit next to her while she edits our videos and try to shadow her work.

Soraya