Hey guys!! Welcome back to the Millennial Minority! I’m happy to finally be posting my new video in collaboration with Extra Life! Today’s video is actually an interview with two people who I’ve befriended throughout my time here at Rutgers! First off, we have Mak who is a Junior here at the university and who I met through work and a mutual interest in video games and anime. He’s become one of my closest friends and mentors here at the university. Next, we have Dan who I met on the ultimate frisbee team our first year at Rutgers. He is one of my closest friends and my current roommate. As stated, I’m not going to explain too much about them in the hopes that the video explains it for y’all!
I will talk about the behind the scenes process just to clarify some things. So I shot this video a little differently because I wanted to add some new visuals to the mix to make it seem unique. So I decided to film the video in a different style. Rather than following Mak or Dan around in a particular location of the outdoors, I decided to film them in their homes. The reason behind this was to work with the stereotype that video games are typically indoors. It felt fitting since most gamers do so inside. However, if you notice in the video, I had some shots of our friends in the film as well and not just of the two individuals. I did this to break down the stereotype that gamers are anti-social. Instead, I tried to focus on the idea that gaming can bring individuals together in a friendly manner. People who game like to hang out with their friends and just relax, laugh, talk, and have fun and I wanted to capture that aspect of video gaming in the film.
To do this, I decided to film scenes from our daily lives and mashed it all together to get a final product. This type of filmmaking is related to my interest in “edit” videos like ski or skate edits. Here is an example of one to get a visual on my idea. In this ski video, you can see abstract and close up shots of different areas and the people in the video sort of hanging around before showing scenes of them skiing. I tried to incorporate that similar style by showing scenes of the guys in the household just hanging and playing their games in a similar fashion. I enjoy this type of filmmaking because it gives off an essence of being an “underground” culture which is the direction I wanted to go with since video gaming incorporates the same themes.
On the more technical side, I simply used my Nikon D3300 as well as my cellphone to record audio. HOWEVER, I decided not to use the audio recorded on my phone and used the audio from my camera. I did this because the audio recorded on my camera seemed to come out fine and because it saved me time in the editing process. Since I was working with two interviews, it was going to take me a long time to try and get the audio and scenes to align up. Instead, I kept the audio from my camera and edited on iMovie to reduce background noise and make it more crisp. It was a tough process, but it worked out in the end. Next, I went on Free Music Archive and found a couple of songs to add to the film. I wanted to go with some Hip Hop/ Urban beats because I really enjoyed the aesthetic that it added to the film. Again, I wanted to emphasize an idea of the film being raw and underground.
On that note, I don’t want to mention too much because I want y’all to enjoy the film! Hope you guys enjoy it! Again, please enjoy and make sure to check out the collaboration sites I’ve worked with. Links are right here! Thanks guys!
The Millennial Minority 