Film: Our Home Makeover

When we moved into our house four years ago, I captured timelapses and videos of the process on my iPhone X (what an era). Throughout the years, I’ve kept these clips in my back pocket, hoping a time would come when I’d officially “finish” decorating so I can get the opportunity to do a Architectural Digest style walkthrough. And this year was the year!

I’ve loved watching home makeovers since I was a child, and I was excited to create my own. This was also the perfect opportunity to experiment with making a video that told a more complex story, one that spans multiple years. I gathered my clips and got to work writing an ambitious script, but along the way got overwhelmed. Since I didn’t have a clear idea of the final video when I filmed, I couldn’t coherently tell the story I wanted to tell with existing footage. For a few weeks, I procrastinated by pivoting my efforts to motion graphics and other videos. But with a looming deadline (the end of my maternity leave), I pushed myself to finish. Done is better than perfect.

As I invest more into my emerging filmmaking hobby, I look forward to learning more about editing and storytelling. I’m endlessly inspired by movies, TV, Youtube videos, and TikToks alike, and delighted to see the lines between them blur as traditional media is upended by user-generated content. As of this year, my creative work has been dominated by video-making. I’ll always have a soft spot for photography and still images, but video allows a story to be told in a much richer and more engaging way. It’s so exciting to be falling in love with a whole new medium for creativity.

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