Radio show: What have you learnt about editing, and how have you developed your editing skills? Do you have any examples of tasks that have improved your editing? What did you learn from your preliminary task?
Overall:
Editing gets easier, if you learn the techniques. We learnt how to import images and sound effects in particular. A specific example of this is in our final video, our main character winks, and a 'ding' sound effect is played over the top of this wink. At first, we didn't know how to import this and play it over the top of the video, but we ultimately worked out how to do this. This tells us that our editing has hugely benefited from the construction of this piece.
A specific task that helped us improve our construction was making the video log. We filled the vlog with pictures and sound effects, so naturally, this helped us work out how to edit in such items. It also helped us to work out how to import and include video that we didn't film ourselves (for example, Noah's animation, or the Zelda gameplay).
We learnt a lot from the preliminary task. Specifically, we learnt to make sure the audio always worked, and was audible. We learnt this as there was a lot of interruptions in sound when people tapped the table or made seemingly small noises.
All in all, we have learnt a lot about technologies from this process. We are now able to edit well, and understand how to film and construct a film opening.
So, let's look back on what the preliminary tasks were.
There were the match on action practice...
... the character crossover...
... and the mise-en-scene opening.
So, how have these all lead to the opening of "Fast Forward"?
First off, the editing is much, MUCH better. Back in the "Wedding Cancellation" and "Backstabber", the editing was very choppy, and seemed very amateur, especially with the first of the two examples given. Dialogue randomly cut in the middle of a sentence, and there wasn't a good flow to it. The "Backstabber" opening was slightly better (especially considering it was done in the earliest hours of the morning because the person I was working with was no help at all), but non-digetic sound was inconsistent and repeated in a way that was noticeable. "Ghosts" was edited by both Megan and myself, but it was probably the best editing out of the three tasks above. There really wasn't anything to fault! :)
There were issues that were carried through all three tasks though, such as
Shaky camera, due to lack of compatible tripods
Unwanted background noises
Wind / other people interfering with dialogue recording
Stuff like that.
So, when Emily and I were making the opening of "Fast Forward", how did we try and prevent the issues that the preliminary tasks had?
First off, we got a tripod! We found a tripod that would actually work with and correctly / sturdily hold our camera! That meant that quite a few of the shots are sturdy, whether they made it into the final cut or not. One specific one I can think of is of Zac (Isaac) skating down a hill, and the camera is completely still when compared to the other shots of him skateboarding.
A lot of the other shots were done with one of us holding the camera, but we made sure to hold it in a way that was comfortable, and that we could hold for a long time without twitching, shaking, etc.
Unwanted background noises was both difficult and easy to solve. At first, we thought we could just get a microphone to record the audio and use one of those fancy poles to hold the microphone, but then we realised... why don't we just film somewhere relatively quiet? There was no forest of trees rustling in the wind (see the second half of "Ghosts"), and we learnt from "Backstabber" that filming somewhere quieter resulted in better sounding dialogue and sound effects.
So, we only really filmed where there was very little to no people around, such as in the scene where Zac gets on the skateboard for the first time in the opening, there was no-one around except Emily, Isaac and me.
The dialogue was a fairly easy work-around. We knew that, while we were able to film in mostly quiet areas, we couldn't find anywhere in Castle Mall that was quiet enough to film in (especially after the evacuation incident). So, when we did have scenes in the Castle Mall, we did a second recording purely for the audio, by having the microphone closer to Isaac's face so that it is the main aspect of the recording.
The editing was also bumped up a notch! I was the one who did all the editing while Emily started off her evaluation questions, which was perfectly fine with me :D
I used some of the techniques I had learnt while making the video diary and my Art Multimedia coursework, including
How to put in images and edit them to fit the video itself
How to improve sound effects and when the right time to put them is
How to speed up audio, change it's pitch, etc.
How to put in titles, which we used for the time cards and the credits (most of which were made up.)
Fading video in and out, in both black and white.
Proper audio mixing for when the audio is the main focus and when it's not
Now, I think that's a pretty good list of things to improve on from the beginning of the academic year :D
I believe that the variety of shots is slightly upped from the preliminary tasks, but the newer interesting shots are used in place of some interesting shots from the preliminary tasks. For example, the most interesting shot (in my opinion) of all the three preliminary tasks above, was from "Backstabber". It was after James's character challenged Charlie's character, and the shot of Charlie pulling the knife out of his pocket, and having it shine and sheen to the camera. That was what I think was the most interesting shot was, and while we don't have anything "worm eye view" like that in Fast Forward, we do have a similar shot of an item coming out in a shot that focuses only on that; the shot in which Zac flips out the skateboard onto the floor.
In a nutshell, we learnt a lot of how to improve the intro from the preliminary tasks. Most of it was on how to make the audio and video higher quality. The editing is much better than before, and the shots, while different to the preliminary shots, are just as, maybe even more, interesting.
Hello:) This is Noah's post on the review: "So, since we only spent one day filming, this will be the only installment of Filming Review: The Super Crunchy Skateboard Party Sitcom with Pratfalls / Physical Comedy and Cute Furry Animals for the International Audience.
Or we could just call it the Filming Review series.
For the lowdown on what happened on the day of filming, see the filming schedule post below this one.
Do that now.
...
You back? Ok.
So, what worked well? The lighting was pretty much perfect all day, as was the weather. This meant shots were all clear, consistent and "cool" ~ Emily. Plus, good weather = equipment NOT being broken!
However, everything else... wasn't so smooth.
To start off with, the camera (otherwise known as my phone's pretty good camera) ran out of charge, due to the colder temperature draining the battery much faster. So we had to use Isaac's camera, which was still pretty good.
Next, there was Isaac himself. While he's a good person to be around, he's not very co-operative when it comes to something like this. We repeatedly asked him to do things on film and asked him to not do things, but he did the opposite of what we said at many stops. There were also two times where he stopped for a chat with people, while we were losing valuable time.
As mentioned in the post before, while planning, there was an emergency in Castle Mall, which severely damaged our planning time.
Nothing needs refilming really, and we even planned ahead of that by recording things multiple times, and recording some audio seperately so that if one audio is bad, we have a backup.
It did not run smoothly, at all. The reasons are listed above.
We made a few changes, such as:
Filming the wake up scene in the food court instead of a bedroom; it was more convenient, and would add more mystery to the plot.
Having a "suit up" scene, where he puts on his hat and gets on his skateboard DRAMATICALLY.
We couldn't use the drone, unfortunately. So we ditched the overhead scene.
The food court idea was thought of while we planned over lunch, since we thought it could work better.
Well, there's the end of the review. Next up should be...
We will film this on the 22nd of January, 2017. 12:00- Meet Noah in Norwich, set up our equipment, and then film a few preliminary shots.
14:00- Meet Isaac, and begin filming outdoor shots. This should take around an hour and a half, as we will film all of the outdoor shots relatively quickly.
15:30- Go inside Castle Mall food courts, and film the inside shots. These should take roughly around half an hour, as there are less scenes inside than outside. 16:00- We will use this time to film any shots that we have missed, and perhaps some more introductory shots.
This is our original character profile, but
we decided not to change anything:
Name: Zak Cheeseburger Bolts
Age: 16 / 17
Profession: Student, Professional 90's kid,
World Record holder for "sickest skateboard trick" (he made that one
up)
Likes: Crystal Pepsi, Skateboarding,
Gameboy, Tamagotchis (even though they always die), the 90s
Dislikes: Regular Pepsi, the future
History: Born in 1980, he's always been a
man of the 90s. Even in the 10 years he wasn't in the 90s, he would go on about
how the 90s were so much better. He's always been seen wearing a cap; there is
no picture of him that exists where he isn't wearing one.
Traits: Very open minded, but still very
selective of what he likes and agrees with.
Very "cool", very popular.
Slightly egotistical. Overconfident in his abilities.
Friendship Groups: He's mostly friends with
anyone who shares common interests, such as those who like those cool new
Japanese "Pocket Monster" cards. His close friends are also named in
a ridiculous fashion, such as Hiphop McFreshster, Gnarly O'Bladin' and Lil'
Weeaboo.
Cast list:
We decided that Isaac would be the actor of our main character. This is because, although he doesn't have any previous acting experience, he seems to have a good presence on camera. Moreover, he can skate well, which is quite an important aspect of our character.
Costume:
Although we need to present that our character is from the 90's, we decided not to go too over the top. Because of this, we decided that he will be wearing some ordinary, laid-back clothes. He will be wearing ordinary 'skater clothes', and definitely wearing a cap.
This says a lot about the character though, as in the time, these clothes would be unusual. This would make our character look as if he doesn't care about what others think. It'll also show us a lot about his character, as we can see that he is laid-back, and cool.
We used this area (on the right), to film the 'spinning shot'. This shot was used to show his shock and the overwhelming sensation that he felt. We were originally going to film further up the road, but we decided that this section of 'Gentleman's Walk' would be more effective. This is because, practically, it was less busy, so was easier to film in. Also, to our right was a phone store. I think it was effective to film next to a phone, store as it helped show the modern technological advances to our character. Moreover, this area created mise-en-scene, as it was representative of the average high street nowadays.
We decided to use this high street to film certain shots. We used the hill on the left to film a shot of Zak skating down. It was useful, as the hill created the illusion of speed.
We filmed more generic shots in areas such as the stairs to the right. These were used to create the setting, and it introduced the setting to the audience. All of these more generic, preliminary shots were filmed in areas similar to this shot. These helped to create an obvious setting.
Finally, primarily, we decided to film the scene where Zak wakes up, inside a bedroom. However, whilst we were filming, we changed our mind. Logistically, we decided that our character could easily wake up in a different setting. Because of this, we decided that our character would wake up in the food courts (in Castle Mall). Overall, I think that this was an effective substitution, as it added to the mystery of the scene. Moreover, this was easier practically, as we didn't have to film in two locations. This also made the transition easier, as we didn't have to try and justify him suddenly being in the city, when he woke up in a small town. Finally, this added to the mise-en-scene, as it created a more believable, realistic setting.
