First thing, great work on showing us something that we are not used to seeing every day. I mean really, how many of us know how to start a fire these days, much less create a bow drill kit for doing so! Bravo on that!

While I was watching, I kept thinking to myself, why do I hear this music from the beginning to the end? At one point, I started speculating whether or not this was a music video.

Being out, and trying to be in touch with nature is something most people rarely do anymore. I felt like maybe you could have treated the sound of the video in a way that better supports this idea. Please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying you shouldn’t use music, in my opinion, there are no rules to film-making, but it just becomes a matter of, what is the best way that I can treat the audio visual language to better reach my audience.

The whole time I was very anxious, because all I wanted to do was listen to the emptiness of this wilderness as the creation of this fire comes to life. And even though a lot of times you were using a lot of personal or subjective shots which made me feel like I was creating the fire myself, at one point, the music just becomes too repetitive, creating a saturation and pulling me out of this mood.

So again, why the choice of using music to treat the sound of this video? Is it just because it’s easier to do, make a video, slap on some music and Voila!? Or is there a real objective or justification for it? If there is, I wasn’t able to find one. and I felt that you could have transported us to a farther place by your creative choices of the sound.

Jacques Attali has a great article titled ‘Noise and politics’. Which goes to illustrate how there are so many options to the way we treat “noise” or sound in ways other than music. Please check it out, it’s an interesting read.

Another thing, is that I felt that the video could have been a little shorter or that you could have created better continuity in the pacing of the video. In the ‘building an igloo sequence’ of the film ‘Nanook of the North’ by Robert J. Flaherty in 1922 which you can check here: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFswUeom96A)

You’ll find a scene where Nanook is presented to us in an observational manner while he builds an igloo. Now what I’m thinking is, if Nanook can build an igloo in less than 8 minutes of screen time, then surely it would take much less screen time to show someone who is making a bow drill to create a fire.

Overall, I really enjoyed watching the video, your production values are great, but I would like to reiterate, that there is no right or wrong, it just becomes a matter of, are we presenting the material in the best way for the audience? Being able to look at things from the audience’s perspective is something that takes time and requires that we train ourselves to construct all our creative decisions under this very basis.

Exercise 1: IN CAMERA EDITING
THEME: Myself
OBJECTIVE: The idea is to present yourself metaphorically. Who are you? Think more in terms of state of mind rather than physical appearance.
RULES: No camera movements, no video editing, no external sound.
NOTE: In camera sounds are allowed. So, if you want to play music for a particular shot, or say a line of dialogue, then it should be implemented on the set while you shoot, not added later.
DURATION: 2 minutes worth of unedited footage. The footage should appear seamlessly cut if played back to back on a media player(as if it’s already edited, hence in camera editing), the key here is to create continuity between shots without needing to edit them, a good camera operator will think in sequences not individual shots.

Exercise 2:
THEME: THE CLOSE UP SHOT
RULES: No camera movement, no editing, no external sound, all shots must be composed of CLOSE UP’s or EXTREME CLOSE UP’s.
DURATION: 2 minutes worth of unedited footage.
OBJECTIVE: Create a video using only close ups or extreme close ups, the video must have a beginning a middle and an end.
REFERENCE: The shower scene in Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho.

Excersise 3:
THEME: The point of view
RULES: Introduce camera movements, the motion must be motivated or justified, no editing, no external sound, all shots must be POV.
DURATION: 2 minutes
OBJECTIVE: who's point of view? You choose! Must have a beginning, middle and end.
REFERENCE: Gaspar Noe’s film Enter the Void.

Exercise 4:
Choose any theme, shoot a sequence of shots which will come out to be between 3 - 4 minutes after they are edited. All shots must have the same theme. Think about the sound of this video presentation ahead of time, you can use a bit of music, but it can't have music from beginning to end. Think of ways other than music with which you can treat the noise/sound in general in your video.
RULES: NO RULES

Exercise 5:
Take a character, give them a state of mind, any state of mind or emotion. Now, materialize that emotion or state of mind through the use of light and shadow. Lighting for mood!

Excersise 6:
Create a 2 minute archival film made up solely of found footage. The video should raise a meaningful question.
Reference: 200000 Fantomes by Jean Gabriel Periot.

Exercise 1: IN CAMERA EDITING
THEME: Myself
OBJECTIVE: The idea is to present yourself metaphorically. Who are you? Think more in terms of state of mind rather than physical appearance.
RULES: No camera movements, no video editing, no external sound.
NOTE: In camera sounds are allowed. So, if you want to play music for a particular shot, or say a line of dialogue, then it should be implemented on the set while you shoot, not added later.
DURATION: 2 minutes worth of unedited footage. The footage should appear seamlessly cut if played back to back on a media player(as if it’s already edited, hence in camera editing), the key here is to create continuity between shots without needing to edit them, a good camera operator will think in terms of sequences not individual shots.

Exercise 2:
THEME: THE CLOSE UP SHOT
RULES: No camera movement, no editing, no external sound, all shots must be composed of CLOSE UP’s or EXTREME CLOSE UP’s.
DURATION: 2 minutes worth of unedited footage.
OBJECTIVE: Create a video using only close ups or extreme close ups, the video must have a beginning a middle and an end.
REFERENCE: The shower scene in Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho.

Excersise 3:
THEME: The point of view
RULES: Introduce camera movements, the motion must be motivated or justified, no editing, no external sound, all shots must be POV.
DURATION: 2 minutes
OBJECTIVE: who's point of view? You choose! Must have a beginning, middle and end.
REFERENCE: Gaspar Noe’s film Enter the Void.

Exercise 4:
Choose any theme, shoot a sequence of shots which will come out to be between 3 - 4 minutes after they are edited. All shots must have the same theme. Think about the sound of this video presentation ahead of time, you can use a bit of music, but it can't have music from beginning to end. Think of ways other than music with which you can treat the noise/sound in general in your video.
RULES: NO RULES

Exercise 5:
Take a character, give them a state of mind, any state of mind or emotion. Now, materialize that emotion or state of mind through the use of light and shadow. Lighting for mood!

Excersise 6:
Create a 2 minute archival film made up solely of found footage. The video should raise a meaningful question.
Reference: 200000 Fantomes by Jean Gabriel Periot.

Nice video illustrating the fundamentals of the technique, but certainly not enough to learn how to use it creatively as a film director. Back in film school we spent 2 or 3 semesters learning this.
https://youtu.be/RV9Sa02H5c4
https://youtu.be/-V4huaoIDlo
https://youtu.be/RZblpLM-VYE