Endless Possibilities: Flicks 2013 Entry
A blog post by Musa Alfan
Endless Possibilities: Flicks 2013 Entry by Musa Alfan
The Firefox Flicks Global Video Contest (2013) was here again. This years theme was Get Mobilized; where entrants are supposed to make a video to demonstrate what having the Web in our hands can do for us and how it affects those around us. This is so as to inspire people to Get Mobilized for individual and collective progress.
After I found out that last years competition only had one entry from Kenya, I decided that this year had to be my debut into the contest. By Sunday 16th June, the eve of the Firefox Flicks 2013 event by Mozilla Mombasa, no advancements had been made in creating a flick and with the 3rd and final early entry award deadline set on the 3rd of July, time was running out. I decided that tonight had to be the night so as to have a demo for the Flicks event as well as be eligible for an early entry award. I started tinkering with ideas, all of which had to be simple enough to be completed in one night and by evening I had come up with some form of unfinished idea.
So by 9 pm, armed with a yet incomplete concept, a 2MP phone camera, writing material and a whole lot of Monster Energy drink, I set up my working environment in the kitchen, where there is ample fluorescent lighting, and started putting concept to paper. Hours passed and the flick had gone from being a simple slide show narrating the possibilities of the open web on a mobile phone, to a stop-motion text narration about the same - full with transitions and animations.
Having completed the physical aspect of the flick development(the drawing and the shooting), it was now time to fire up the computer and load the captured images for production. Because the decision to do a flick was a last minute one, I only had Windows Movie Maker and Adobe Photoshop to work with due to a lack of preparation, but these would have to do.
After hours of tweaking, moving, changing and demise of quite a considerable number of mosquitoes, I was almost done. All I needed to do now was to add some background soundtrack and finally wrap everything together. So by 4 am, I was finally done and relatively happy with the outcome, everything considered.
The flick was simple enough to be understood by both a programmer as well as a technology novice. It was clear and concise on its message and quirky at the same time. It was now time for sleep.
Check out the video:Endless Possibilities