Practices in Professionalism

This week, I explored practices of professionalism through live and prerecorded video. Leading up to the Business Symposium, where I will have an opportunity to be interviewed by three professionals, I have dedicated most of my time preparing for interviews and polishing my résumé and outward appearance. Not only did I face a few trials and tribulations with the fundamental process of an interview, but I also had a few additional issues to dedicate a piece of mind to; as if the pressures of interviewing for only the second time with a professional wasn’t enough.

In all seriousness, executing a successful interview online is probably easier than one in person. However, with Zoom, it can technically be considered a “live video” where I must evaluate my appearance not only based on the clothes I wear, but also by the lighting and quality of the webcam I am using. I also have to make sure that I make “eye contact” through the camera, which one would think I am used to with all the videos I have recorded, but it is entirely different in a Zoom call, at least to me. My goal for these interviews is to not only be well-spoken and professional concerning my manners but also to not look as red as a tomato because of the way my webcam perceives my lighting. I will figure it out at some point.

While interviews and preparing to act and look professional for my future strolls in the professional world are essential, experience in the skills I will need to be successful in these strolls take top priority. I am currently editing a video that goes over the very process I have been practicing: interviewing. The video will serve as an educational resource for FISD (Frisco Independent School District); therefore, there certainly is a pressure I am placing upon myself to do even better than my best. A bit unrealistic, some may argue, but my goal is constant improvement, after all, and how can I achieve my goal of improvement without pushing my boundaries constantly?

I received footage from two other ISM students who volunteered to be actors for this project, Vee Mudadi and Poorna Bharanikumar. Due to the current circumstances of, well, a global pandemic, I couldn’t film or direct the shots, like I would have preferred. Despite these challenges, both students delivered wonderfully. However, I still faced the challenge many people are facing today: how to eliminate the “home video” look and create a more professional appearance. We cannot always control the color of the lightbulbs in our houses or how much daylight can light up our footage, which is why color correction is so crucial. These processes are still relatively new to me, and especially with the sheer range of tools within DaVinci Resolve, there is certainly a lot to take in and learn.

An example of how much of an impact color correction can make is shown below. This is the photo I am currently using as a professional profile picture. It went through quite a lot of correction and grading to make it appear more professional and not quite as apparent that it was taken against a wall in my living room with minimal lighting.

I have much to learn about many of these tools, but I was still able to make a considerable difference in the overall look of the photo. I believe the most significant difference in the two photos is that the latter looks purposeful in its lighting, whereas the original photo appears to simply have inadequate lighting on the right side. This, in my opinion, is what makes the second photo appear professional.

To further support this idea, the clip below shows a before and after comparison of a portion of video I am editing. Within DaVinci Resolve, I was able to neutralize the warmer tones by decreasing the overall temperature. Then, I made some preliminary adjustments with the highlights, mid-tones, and shadows to add some contrast. One of the most significant issues I faced with this particular piece of footage was that the black of the blazer was not a true black. After making a few adjustments to fix this, I realized that the background appeared darker towards the edges, and thus I used a power window to isolate the darker areas and increased the highlights, mid-tones, and shadows until the lighting appeared relatively even across the background. Frankly, I was amazed by the difference in the adjustments made. I will most definitely look at more techniques and tips later this week before I finalize the video, but for now, I am certainly pleased with the progress I have made in my color correcting journey.

This week, I will explore color grading with a few videos I took while hiking at a local park. There are various grades I can experiment with, especially in a nature scene. I will compare how a “cinematic” effect appears versus a teal and orange grade. These grades can change the mood of the video, and I am curious to see how these different grades make the overall video perceived differently by viewers.