Draft Video Story: Making Coffee in Skagway

Making Coffee in Skagway

A common bucket list item for many is to embark on an Alaskan Cruise.

Skagway is one of the finest cruise ship ports in Southeast Alaska and a favorite with visitors and ship crew members alike. That said, some of us just work here.

Because I’m currently in a remote area, I needed to think of a story I could tell with limited resources. My first video attempt was just the “Making Coffee” segment. I thought I could make a relatively mundane experience more interesting by taking video of different angles of each step of the process and adding various effects, like transitions between shots, interesting music, and different key frames. The storyboard was initially useful to make sure I was getting all the shots I needed to tell the “story” of making coffee from the beginning to the end.

I experimented with the features we learned to use in our tutorials, such as resizing a shot to fill a frame. One of my shots of the coffee pot was very yellow, distant, and off-center. I used the scale key frames to first zoom in. Because the coffee pot was off center to begin with, it moved out of the shot as it was zoomed in. I added more key frames and repositioned it to keep it in the center of the frame. The end effect bounces a little, but I like it. I corrected the original color and now it matches the color of the other video clips. I don’t think the viewer would ever guess what the original shot looks like.

When I finished the segment, I got some feedback from my son. We both laughed hysterically because the content was not exactly the most thought-provoking. I argued that it was NOT simple to make, but he challenged me by saying the appearance of simplicity left him wondering how I could make it intentionally funny, or at least give a reason why making coffee might be fun.

I went back through all of the media I had to see if I could draw inspiration. On my way to Skagway, I took a video on the ferry when we were sailing through Lynn Canal. I decided I could add the ferry ride to the beginning of the “Making Coffee” story. The idea was: We are all on our way to Skagway! You might be a tourist on the trip of a lifetime, but some of us just came here to work. Workers do mundane things like make coffee.

Adding a new video to the front added an entirely new dimension to the project. It increased its complexity exponentially. I first recorded a narration to put with the video but then discarded that idea as too distracting. I decided to add text frames to the video instead to give the viewer context. Adding text frames created the need to stretch time, and manipulate the font, color (stroke and fill), size, and position of the text.

At the very end, I added a still shot looking out at Lynn Canal from the beach at Skagway. This final shot is a subtle nod to, “Now you and I are both in Skagway!” At the very end, I added a black tile for credits.

Premiere Pro froze at one especially critical time. Unfortunately, I had not saved a huge portion of my work and had to start all over again. It was an opportunity to get better with the program’s features through repetition.

I experimented with many different video transitions (cross fades, dip to white, dip to black, VP light, etc.). I spent hours trying to manipulate the speed of the film. In the beginning, the film seemed to squirrel ahead. In spite of hours of work, I’m not sure how polished my manipulations are. The effects are better now than when I started—at some point I had to just STOP obsessing. I now know how to slow and speed the film with key frames on the video file! It is very similar to the process for manipulating volume on the audio file.

The sound volume is largely kept steady through the video. I used two different tracks from Tribe of Noise. The first music fades in at the beginning and then diminishes just before the major transition between the Lynn Canal video and the Making Coffee video. The new music fades in, and then steps down (fades out) twice at the very end.

All of the images and video are mine, taken with my iPhone 13. The music is from Tribe of noise: Melody Paul (Instrumental FM).mp3 By: PBailey & Brand New Day by Ednapoli.

Time Stamp	Visuals	Audio
	Establishing shot: Close: Wide: moving from the deck of a ferry headed to Skagway into the sky. Mountains & water in the view. “While you’re on an Alaskan Cruise”	Open with intense music: Melody Paul (Instrumental FM).mp3 By: PBailey
4:02	“The trip of a lifetime…”	Continue to see ferry moving through the water, blue sky, mountains close in the background
6:07	“Checking off your bucket list…”
7:20	“Having a glorious time!”
8:26	“We’re already here”
10:14	“Getting ready for work”	Fade out music
11:23	Establishing shot: Cross Dissolve: “Making Coffee”(Cup, Coffee Maker, Coffee)	Fade in new music: Tribe of noise Brand New Day by Ednapoli
19:14	Wide: side angle: filling carafe in sink with water	Steady volume music
21:03	Medium: Side-top-down angle: Water pouring into carafe
23:19	Close: Side-top-down angle: Water pouring into carafe
26:06	Medium to close: aerial view: Water pouring into carafe
33:00	Far away from the bottom looking up: Me pouring water into the coffee maker
34:04	Close: viewer is opposite the water, watching from the side as water is poured into the reservoir
37:08	Medium: side angle: Transition to coffee grounds being scooped into filter
52:04	Close: Coffee starts to brew
52:20	Far away zooming in: coffee brewing
54.:21	Medium: side angle: coffee dripping into carafe (brewing
58:16	Close: Side angle: coffee dripping into carafe (brewing)
1:03	Medium: Top down, front of coffee pot dripping
1:08	Close: Top down, front of coffee pot dripping
1:13	Medium: Coffee is done; pouring cup
1:25	Medium-to-close ariel view of full coffee cup
1:31	Transition to shaking creamer, close shot
1:38	Medium front shot: satisfaction of being able to drink coffee after all of that work!
1:47	Fade to black: Still shot of looking out at the water from Skagway “Thanks for watching”	Music volume diminishes
1:51	Black tile: Display Credits	Music volume fades out

6 responses to “Draft Video Story: Making Coffee in Skagway”

studebakerchanel

April 18, 2023 at 11:29 pm

Hi, Kathleen-

What an exciting adventure! The ocean footage set the stage and makes the coffee seem like more of an adventure. Good for you for finding something nearly everyone can relate to while in such a remote area and with limited resources!

Your first transition, from the ocean to the coffee maker was a bit rough, but the rest of them are really well done! Also, not sure how much coffee you’re making, but it felt like it took a llooooonngg time to fill that pot. Ha!

I think you have a chance to do more with your traveling nurse theme
that you introduce a the beginning. Maybe instead of “making coffee” you could make it say something a little more fun? I’m thinking along the lines of “starting the day right” or “fuel for nurses” or “have coffee will travel”? and instead of your “cheers” ending, you could show yourself heading out the door for work?

Great job!

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1. Old Travel Nurse
  
  April 19, 2023 at 8:59 pm
  
  Thank you for the feedback! I really appreciate it! Yes, I thought 2 shot segments in particular were long (translation = painful). I’ll look back and see if I can shorten them!
  
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manda.argona

April 21, 2023 at 10:06 pm

Hi Kathleen – I write all of my feedback in the third person; hope this is helpful!

Kathleen made such a fun little morning cup of joe with her use of transitions and music. Since her story content is basic, I think her choice of these additions adds to her overall draft and are not distracting or overwhelming.
To make her draft video into a final product, I recommend the following:
1. Reconsider the use or order of text in the beginning of the video. I had to watch this part of the video several times because it read funny to me (less is more). Either way, I think it’s important she keeps it as it sets context for the video.
a. “While you’re checking off your bucket list” “with that Alaskan cruise…” “some of us are already here” “…getting ready for work.”
b. “While you’re on an Alaskan cruise” “checking off your bucket list” “with the trip of a lifetime” “some of us are already here” “getting ready for work…”

2. Include “time stamp” text in some of the scenes to re-iterate that ‘work schedule’. Or, alternatively, have a shot that cuts away to a clock showing the elapsed time. She may need to consider cutting some of her weaker video shots out to keep the video within the designated time length (I’m thinking of one or two of the stills/shots between :19-:24).

3. Consider re-shooting her end scene with her enjoying the cup of coffee in nurse scrubs. I’m not sure if traveling nurses also wear scrubs, but adding this bit may also tie back to her overall theme for the class.

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1. Old Travel Nurse
  
  April 22, 2023 at 1:52 am
  
  Thank you for your insight!
  
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ebanyguzman

April 22, 2023 at 12:53 am

I just wanted to take a moment to say good job on your video. I was truly amazed by the quality of the content and editing. I loved that you used a broad topic and were able to create a cohesive video by getting different shots while recording. The video was very engaging and kept me interested throughout. I also really appreciated the titles at the beginning of the video. It gave a clear idea of the video’s message and made me want to continue watching. It would be great if you could use similar titles throughout the video to help the viewer follow along and understand the different steps. However, my biggest critique is that some of the clips were not horizontal, which made the video feel a bit disjointed at times. I would advise ensuring that all the clips are horizontal in the future, so that the video can flow more smoothly. Overall, I think you did an amazing job on this project and I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future. Keep up the great work!

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1. Old Travel Nurse
  
  April 22, 2023 at 1:52 am
  
  I would need more specifics as every shot was taken with the camera held horizontally–different angles (wide, narrow, etc.; top, down, side, etc.) all horizontal. Thank you!
  
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