Hyon-Young Kim, Final Project, Spotlight on SamulNori

Spotlight on Samulnori from Hyon-Young Kim on Vimeo.

It's hard to believe that we learned how to shoot video only a couple of weeks ago--looking at all of the videos we created, I'm amazed at how far we've all come since the start of the summer session.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed doing the final project. It was fulfilling to go through the process of brainstorming, choosing an idea, scheduling when to shoot video, and making the edits on our own. I'm glad to say that I learned a lot about not only traditional Korean percussion music, but also applying things we learned in class to an actual project.

I came away from this project with throbbing eardrums but more importantly, with indispensable lessons regarding how to shoot video in a well composed manner. There are many elements that I recognize are flawed, including lack of lighting and incorrect focus in some areas. I am most definitely far from being a skilled cameraperson and editor, but after completing this project, I am tentatively making steps towards becoming a better one. Despite the several instances of the camera overheating, I was mostly able to obtain the desired footage and create this video. Sebastian was extremely accommodating, demonstrating each of the four instruments for me with energy. His passion for Samul Nori manifested through his facial expressions and movement--you could easily tell how he was intensely absorbed in the rhythm and dynamism of the music. The obvious animation and energy culminated in a captivating performance.

Since the music was so loud, I had some difficulty adjusting the audio levels to match with the interview audio. I used the audio from the DSLR instead of the Tascam audio recorder because it had much better quality and lower audio volume. Throughout the editing process, I tried to lower down the volume of the instruments so that Sebastian's voice would emerge in the foreground, but the sheer volume of the playing was challenging--quite understandable, considering that people could hear the music down the street.

One thing I was worried about was the variety of visual elements. Since I only had footage of the interview and the demonstration of the four instruments, I was concerned that the video might take on a monotone atmosphere. I tried to include a demonstration of each of the four instruments, and I think that the arresting rhythm helped to give the video some variety. I was excited to be able to use video that I shot back in April when I visited Korea and saw a Samul Nori performance firsthand--though the quality is poor (shot with a standard digital camera), I think that it shows the elements of dance and costume that form a crucial part of Samul Nori and are missing from the video.

This project and this class helped me to overcome my fear of the camera--though I was admittedly somewhat glad to part from the equipment that I had to lug around, I was also sad to see it go. Since I am not specializing in broadcast journalism, I look forward to shooting video outside of the classroom and improving my video editing skills on my own.