Hello everyone! This past week was my sixth week in the Philippines, and now I’m falling into my last two weeks here.
More on waterfalls later, though I haven’t offered many descriptions of work tasks in the Philippines. A few weeks ago, I familiarized myself with iTrain – a training website for professionals and registered users. iTrain helps FNRI fulfill its mission of disseminating nutrition information to the public. Producing cooking videos is an aspect of iTrain, and several are available on the YouTube channel of DOST-FNRI. By familiarizing myself with iTrain, I started considering the work behind producing the recipe videos.
During middle school, watching cooking videos were quite popular. Time lapses in cooking videos can be quite entertaining, and allow individuals to learn how to produce a particular recipe. However, cooking videos are more complicated than just grabbing a camera and a mixing bowl, along with other miscellaneous cooking utensils. A recipe needs to be chosen by video producers, and the point of view in each segment is important.
So, back to what I actually worked on this past week. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I worked on a few storyboards. You may be wondering what a storyboard is, which makes sense. A storyboard may be created for personal creativity, film projects, or short videos. For a storyboard featuring a recipe, each clip includes the sequence number, shot description, camera angle, and text. For three recipes developed by FNRI, I found stock images to develop a cohesive visual representation of how to successfully cook the recipe. I was glad this project was more creative, though it seemed tedious at times. Each specific step of the recipe is depicted to mitigate any possible confusion from viewers.
Thursday and Friday were spent on running some errands, along with finalizing plans for the weekend. Saturday morning, Jessica and I used a Grab to travel to Antipolo, Rizal. Cloud 9 is a popular destination for visitors due to the amazing 360 views. The only catch is, you need to walk on a 100 meter suspended bridge – without a harness. I seriously considered not doing it, I didn’t know how I could rationalize walking on a suspended bridge at least 50 ft from the ground. I am pleased with my decision, plus Jessica was casually taking photos when I was focused on the stability of the bridge.
Back to waterfalls and nature: Mount Mapalad features a 4-10 km hike which requires a very early hike located in Tanay, Rizal. Since Mt. Mapalad seemed a little too intimidating, Jessica and I explored some waterfalls in Rizal over the weekend instead. Plus, waterfalls are so incredibly peaceful. A fun moment was swimming at Batlag Falls, and resting by the cool rocks.