I was really nervous going into this assignment, as the example we saw in class was outstanding.  That said, I liked how the clip we watched focused on one element of “The Shining” rather than trying to tackle the whole movie in such a short amount of time.  I know that we only watched a segment, but I figured that would be a good length for this assignment.  Using this as an example, I tried to focus on one aspect of Elia Kazan’s “On the Waterfront.”  In my pre-production analysis of this film, I assigned it to the “grow a backbone” trope.  I decided to elaborate on this with my video essay.  A main theme of the film is individualism, and that is realized through the transformation that Marlon Brando’s character experiences.  As such, the clips I chose to analyze tend to show his progression as a character and emphasize turning points in the film.

As far as actual production of this assignment went, it was pretty straightforward.  I loaded all of the clips into Movie Maker and trimmed them to usable portions.  I then added some pictures to add space between scenes in instances where I needed to provide background information. Recording the audio was the difficult part.  I borrowed my roommate’s USB microphone, but my computer can only handle one USB audio device at a time.  So I couldn’t hear while I was recording, and vice versa.  That said, I could watch portions with sound and note the times where I had input.  I then moved the cursor to those times in an Audacity project and recorded my input.  It was a bit messy, but ended up working surprisingly well.