Student life can vary depending on the perspective from which you are viewing it. Our group chose to show student life from the perspective of a freshman female student and a senior female student. Freshmen females and senior female students have two very different styles of life. A freshman is usually working on his or her transition from high school to college. Usually, it takes about a semester or two for a freshman to find his or her niche. Since freshmen are not only worried about academics, one of their main worries also becomes finding a new source for social support. For this reason many freshmen, especially females, decide to join a Greek organization or other student organizations. Many freshmen females tend to let go of their academic work to meet new people and make new friends. Whereas on the opposite side of the spectrum, you have the female student who is a senior worried mainly on graduating. By the time a student becomes a senior, he or she is already well established in student organizations and have his or her stable group of friends. Rather than being focused on the next party or social gathering, seniors are usually worried about graduating, taking their GRE and other entrance exams for graduate school, applying to graduate schools, and finalizing their plans for the future. This is usually a very stressful time in their lives and academics become the main focus of their semester. As a freshman, it may become a habit to cram for an exam the night before; however, as the years go by it becomes too exhausting to study last minute and by your senior year it is a lot better to study ahead of time. Seniors and freshmen lead two totally different lifestyles. Their priorities at times can be polar opposites. While one is learning the ropes of college, the other is a walking manual on how to survive college.
For the short video, our group decided to use both still photographs as well as film to discuss the differences in lifestyles among a college freshmen and a college senior. The film part contains short (no more than one minute) portrayal of their daily lives. We decided to pair both group members side-by-side in viewing the film. An example of this would be the side-to-side film shots of both Perri and Amy entering their dorm or apartment. We felt that the side-by-side shots would make it easier for the viewer to see the difference in lifestyles. The film contains sound so the clips are first shown side-by-side and then one video clip of Amy will follow the next video clip of Perri so that the sound did not overlap each other. The sound used in the film was to show the difference in personalities of a freshman and a senior. There will also be texts to introduce each member and their classification. We used still photographs taken from each members Facebook profile to incorporate as well. Five pictures were taken from Perri’s Facebook, while five pictures were also used from Amy’s profile. There was a portion of video clips that contained interviews with both girls, but the actual video section was extracted and the sound was placed while the still photographs were shown on the video. Short excerpts were also incorporated. The camera was angled as if it was a documentary. The camerawoman (Toni) followed Perri and Amy to their homes and around campus to show viewers a glimpse of their daily lives. Final cut pro was used to audio the voice over to the film. Once the video was finalized it was posted on YouTube. YouTube was used because it is very easy and accessible to show the class the day of presentations.
The visual techniques we used in our project have successfully and comparatively illustrated the lives of a female freshman and senior at the University of Florida. Amy and Perri represent paradigms of the two varying age groups. Throughout our video, we represent different aspects of their lives as students side-by-side. In doing so, viewers can see the differences of the two through the juxtaposition of video clips and still images. When we focus on their different social lives, for example, the invitation to the ABC party, the camera focuses on Perri and Amy’s facial expressions. This technique enhances the viewer’s ability to see the emotions felt and the thoughts considered by the subject. Our usage of still photographs from our Facebook pages throughout the video perfectly encompasses the different social lives of a freshman and a senior. The photographs paired with the interviews serve to connect past instances to live accounts of Perri and Amy’s lives. Under scrutiny, it is obvious that the lives of an archetypal female freshman and senior are very different. Our use of text in the beginning and final seconds of the film serve as a disclaimer to the viewers. The point of the disclaimer is for viewers to not feel that our project has impinged upon copyrighted material. Also, the disclaimer is used to tell the viewers that the footage and scenarios of the freshman and senior lives are NOT specific to Amy and Perri. The information gathered and displayed through the two females is what we feel properly encompasses a typical freshman and senior lifestyle. The choice of music throughout the video was based upon our perceived notions of the lives of students. For example, the idea we are trying to display is that the life of a freshman may be very chaotic with a lot of things going on such as trying to stabilize equilibrium between academics, social life, and extra curricular activities. We believe the proper way to show this is through party music. On the contrary, we chose to represent the life of a senior with more relaxing music because there is less partying and more of a focus on the future rather than the present.
There is a lot of learn during college. Your first year is the first year of adjustment and learning how to survive. As the years go by, it becomes easier to get around the campus, speak to new people, and students eventually find their niche. College is the road to self-discovery and, although some priorities may change, it’s the adjustment and re-adjustment that teaches us the true meaning of student life.
