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A head-and-shoulders illustrated portrait of Ceri Riley. She is smiling with her mouth closed, has light skin, and long light pink hair.

On Escaping by Ceri Riley '16

An introspective vlog about MIT and getting ready to leave

I have five different takes of this video that were scrapped before I finally figured out what I wanted to say. I think that’s how this semester is going, though. I’m working on so many different types of projects that it takes me a couple tries to even get in the right mindset to make something for myself.

I’m still not sure this is “good.” But it’s beginning to delve into some of the things I’ve been feeling this year about being a senior at MIT, and I think that was enough for me to finally finish and post it. I also gave up scripting this one, so my initial monologue was incredibly long and circuitous. Cutting it down to 7 minutes was a challenge, but if you get bored at around 3 or 4 minutes (as I think, statistically, people do with YouTube videos) I won’t blame you.

Self-deprecating disclaimers aside…

Things you will see in this video: angst, pretty shots of Cape Cod, not-so-pretty shots of mac and cheese, an attempt at a timelapse video of the sunset, thoughts on being in a creative slump, an extended vlog section at the end that tries to be less angsty/more “relatable,” awkward faces

Things you won’t see in this video: a cohesive narrative of what I’ve been doing this semester, good lighting/focusing