After lots of hard-work and dedication from everyone in the team, we managed to complete our final project, which looked at the lives of four people living and working away from home.
We covered aspects of their homesickness, and how this was exacerbated during the Covid crisis. Being away from their loved ones, plus the added burden of financial problems, took an emotional toll on them.
Working on the final project was quite an interesting experience, and one that I learned a lot from.
You can see the final project by clicking here. Be sure to see it and leave your comments below.
This post is a continuation of my previous post, where I mentioned some of the challenges I faced while making my final project.
My group and I decided to focus solely on foreigners feeling homesick, as they often leave their home countries to earn a living and help their families back home.
Two of my teammates had gone to a silver jeweler and interviewed him, asking about his expertise. They took a lot of stunning pictures of precious and semi-precious stones, plus the process of making jewelry. Another three of my teammates had gone on Thursday 24 September 2020 to interview an expatriate schoolteacher. She spoke about how every phone call would make her jump and suspect that one of her relatives was struck by Covid and she would never get to see him/ her again.
Part of my task in this group project will be to edit the audio story and help one of my teammates to compose the final video for our project.
After showing our video story to our professor about the Herb Seller, he told us that it wasn’t what he was expecting from us when we first told him about our idea for the video. In fact, he seemed kind of disappointed, which made us feel bummed about our video and even a little sad and lost at what our next step for the final project should be.
With his feedback in mind, I suggested many professions that we could interview or photograph for our final project. However, my suggestions were not initially accepted within the group, as the majority had other ideas that seemed to be able to meet our professor’s expectations.
Later on Wednesday 23 September 2020, one of my colleagues happened to have a painter that was working in her house, so she decided to interview him for our project. Incidentally, this was also one of my suggestions.
We are still deciding on what to add in our final project, and which photos and videos we will need to take.
I hope I will be assigned to do more tasks and not just be an idea-giver, as I know that I have the potential to contribute more.
Herb sellers have been helping treat various illnesses for generations, using natural herbs and traditional medicines. Many people in Kuwait prefer treating their ailments using these remedies, as they consider that they do not have many of the side effects that users of modern chemical-based medicines suffer from.
Abu Ahmad, an Egyptian herbalist working in Kuwait for over 17 years, has been helping his customers to cure themselves, using concoctions that he has learned to make from his ancestors. He has been in the field for almost 30 years, and according to him, this is a family business that has been handed down over generations.
In the video, we can see him explaining that herbs provide a natural cure. Abu Ahmad is very passionate about his work, and is always willing to share his knowledge to benefit his customers. Watch the video below to hear his story.
Continuing from the previous post, my group and I heeded our professor’s advice and decided to focus on foreigners who own small businesses and their emotional and economical struggles due to the pandemic.
I suggested the idea of interviewing a herb seller and we found one that was willing to be interviewed and was happy to let two of my colleagues into his shop on Wednesday 15 Sep 2020. We had to quickly start working on the video as time was running out, however during the process we realized we didn’t have enough video footage. Due to this reason, my colleagues had to go back again the next day to complete the necessary requirements.
I immediately started working on the script for the video and two of my colleagues edited it. In the end it turned out to be wonderful as we all put our time and efforts into it.
There is a lot to keep in mind when thinking about creating a video story, especially with the current situation, as a lot of places do not allow entering their premises. And that was not even the hardest part about making this video.
I had initially thought about making a video about a pastry shop, but the owner of the shop told me that I was not allowed to enter and take a video there, as I did not have a permit.
After a lot more thinking, I finally settled on choosing a flower shop, which was not that far away from my home. The florist was very kind and understanding that the reason for being interviewed was for my college project. He immediately agreed to be interviewed and was quite happy to talk about all the things he does there.
Taking the video itself was not as hard as I had anticipated and was in fact quite the opposite. I was easily able to capture all the necessary shots for the video. However, a few of the scenes were hard to take in one position, as they required me to move along with him to record the video. There was also the sound of the fan that affected the quality of the sound during the interview.
Overall, the experience was a little nerve wracking as I am not used to talking to strangers, while videoing them during an interview. However, once I edited the video, I was happy with the end result, which you can see below. In the end, I also purchased some nice flowers for my Mom.
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