The Politics of Meeting New People

For our video we were given the topic of politics. This led us to thinking of a sub topic in order to represent politics and we chose the politics of meeting new people. When you meet someone new there are many things you should consider in order to make your first impression a successful one. A few things you may consider should be your setting, your approach to the other person, and the time of day. Meeting new people can be scary for some and easy for others, it all depends on how willing you are to put yourself out there. We chose four different locations in which each member of our group would attempt to meet new people. Each location also reflected on that group member’s life. My location was the gym.

There were many aspects in the filming of these videos that played a role in causing some problems as well as affecting the interactions themselves. When meeting new people its important to, from the start, tell them you are filming for a school project and in our case quickly mention that its about meeting new people. If you don't, you may find people are a lot less willing to participate. This was understandable as you wouldn’t want to be filmed by a stranger without knowing why first. This did lead to smoothing over many of our interactions by telling those who participated what we were doing first, then actually introducing ourselves to them second. Another problem arose when it came time to get all of the videos together on a flash drive. It was difficult trying to figure out how to get them off the phone and onto the computer. The video files were too big to be emailed. Next we tried to upload them to MyDrive. This was a way that might have worked but it took several hours to upload just one of the smaller sized video clips. Initially we tried to upload everything at the same time but that didn’t work. It caused the videos upload speed to go way down and eventually the phone froze. It had to be force restarted. We needed to make sure to stop all uploads which had been paused but were still in the queue to be uploaded to MyDrive. Finally deciding that plugging in the phone to a computer seemed like the only way. There is no easy way to get videos off the phone and onto the computer. The phone shows up where you would see a flash drive show up. We would find that when you clicked on it to open it up no files were contained. Several times we had to reestablish a connection before seeing anything show up. Now the files all show up without proper labeling or order. There was no way of knowing were the video files were. Often in each folder were another several folders. Eventually founding the way to a file labeled camera files but there were no videos in it, only photos even though they aren’t separated that way on the phone. Eventually we found them by changing the default of how the phone stores them from scanning through each individual file. The final problem was that Imovie kept changing our credits even though it looked fine in the editing mode. This problem was tedious to fix and we thought was did it until we presented. This was as small problem as it was only a few missed placed words.

Shooting a video can give the viewer a better impression and understanding of what you are communicating many times compared to a photo or paragraph. Videos are often captivating and are able to address several points you may be trying to make. For our group it was communicating something about us while at the same time about how we meet new people. Photos and written paragraphs are good communication tools too and you must know when it is the best time to use each one. With a video you were able to see more of our interaction than just a split second with a photo. You were also able to see things such as my body language which would be something difficult to describe about myself without being able to actually see it. Video allows you to add music which adds a tone to what you are seeing and can sway your viewer. For our individual sections we keep our original songs because they said something about us and allowed the viewer to better connect with us. It told the audience what type of music each of us likes. It also helped to make a distinction in the separation of video sections and added a feeling how each of us meets someone. This representation of feeling through our  own music chose shows that when you meet someone new it can be a different experience and feeling for everyone.

Meeting new people is a very political matter. When meeting new people you should show manners and have proper etiquette. Shaking hands, introducing yourself, making eye contact and saying good byes are all part of the process. These customs change from culture to culture though so it is important to know the culture you are in.

The self portrait experience allows you to share who you are in a creative way that you may not think of. It is so much easier to talk about your likes and dislikes but when you are not allowed to use audio you have to find other ways to communicate your interest. You may choose to take a short clip of a personal interest. For example, in this project there was a clip involving a sweatshirt because it has the Pittsburgh Pirates logo on it and touches on a personal note. The next clip was of a phone playing music on a Pandora station. That was to show that music is a big part of life, as I’m sure it is with many people, but making it unique to because of the specific music station it was on. The final clip was on making a smoothie. It's important to share your ideas and beliefs about living and eating healthy. It may be ideal to speed up the video clip in this section as there may be a lot of footage and it needs to be condensed to make time. The self portrait ended with meeting new people at the gym and that tied it all in to our group project. Living your life and meeting new people relies on the  individual as well as a being a group effort.

There are so many places and ways to meet new people. You have to be considerate of your surroundings and the people you are meeting. Being polite goes a long way too, from sharking someone’s hand when you first meet them to saying “it was nice to meet you” when you end your conversation.