My Dad’s Best Days

Growing up, I was always intrigued by my dad’s simple exclamation, “man, today was one of the best days of my life.” Now, I am deeply inspired by this phrase. For my Digital Storytelling class at Furman University, I created a documentary-style video that dives deeper into what my dad’s simple phrase means to him and those around him.

What did I do?

I created a documentary-style video about my dad and his catchphrase, “man, today was one of the best days of my life.” I shot a-roll and b-roll, edited it all together, and uploaded it to YouTube.

What did I learn?

In editing and filming this video, I was dealing with the most b-roll and moving pieces I have yet (see picture below). With 80+ usable shots (not even including pictures), I had many creative decisions to make. In doing so, I learned new skills on Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Audition. I learned how to…

• Use Gaussian Blur to slowly sharpen an image
• Use Gaussian Blur to blur out a license plate on a moving vehicle my a video
• Capture a noise print to reduce the noise in my audio
• Use a morph cut to get rid of j-cuts in my interviews
• Use a warp stabilizer to get the best clips possible

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How will I use it in the future?

I love how personal you can get in a documentary-style story. I love getting to know people and hearing their stories, and this type of storytelling is a really beautiful and authentic way to do so. I would love to continue to tell people’s stories in this way!

In addition, while doing this project, I got really valuable experience in making creative decisions. When you are putting together a video like this, you can’t ponder for too long if a certain clip works, you just have to leave it in or take it out. I can get stuck on creative decisions and think about them forever, but since I had to edit so many moving parts, I had to make quick decisions and move forward. This was super great experience for me. In addition, it forced me to not get attached to certain ideas or shots, as they were always changing. All this being said, I will use the skills of thinking on my feet and rolling with the punches in my other creative endeavors such as photography and writing.

To check out my video, click here! To learn more about my dad, check out his bio here featuring the head shot I took of him!