Editing Part 2

Our filming has not progressed much since last class. I had sports after classes and the timing was not working. We hope our timing  will not be affected by this Corona Virus. We realized there might be a little bit of a crunch with our filming due to to this. We are too far progressed on our editing, and don’t have enough good video to use. This isn’t a big deal as we have planned out a filming time, but we want to keep moving. Due to this, our editing has moved forward a lot. The peer reviewer gave us a few things to key in on and I think we have capitalized on these and made a much better movie. We redid the whole sequencing from clip to clip so make a smoother line of events. This also helps the reader keep interest, as they constantly done see our poor mistakes.

The biggest challenge we faced during this was the sound. When I was with Alex I screwed up the audio. It was all shifted and I didn’t know how to undo this. I went without letting him know and then we realized it was an issue. I should not have not hid this and it created more problems than it was worth. We had to go back in, and remove the music, and insert it again to set through the video properly. We also had to cut some clips and reedit them to fit the new format of the song. All of this was not major, but it shows us we couldn’t keep redoing everything when we make a little mistake. Another thing we did not too well editing was the importing. For whatever reason, we were having trouble inserting out clips into the software, and spent way to much time trying to just get the videos ready to work with.

Final Project Progress

From our last class we have not gotten much done. We are still sticking to plan, but working much slower. We have not been able to film as we simply could not get together. I worked all day Saturday and they had soccer practice. By the time I was off, it was dark and we need light to continue our filming. This left Sunday, and due to poor weather, it knocked away the whole day. This left us some time to discuss the next week what our plans were. We knew we had to continue the progress, and finish filming. We just needed to make sure we were all on the same page with what we wanted to do. We deliberated how the movie was going to end as our original ending could no longer work.
        We decided we would fake me jumping into the water, as it was not safe to jump in for real. We could not actually film me jumping in, but we could make it seem like I do. We want to film me jumping off, and cutting right before I do. Then have an shot of me from below jumping into a pool so it will create the same effect. I think this is the best as it will create the same effect for the ending. They proposed we end differently, sort of like a chase that keeps going. I did not like this as it doesn't keep the story going. We also discussed the continuous editing. From the peer editing, we knew what had to change and we were ready to implement these things until we had more footage. Having a gap week was nice as it allowed us to regroup and get ready for a big week to progress.

Editing After The Peer Review

We have now had several filming and editing sessions under our belts and are getting closer to having a finished product. The teacher assigned us a peer review to try and push ur to do better. I like this as it forces us to consider an outside element. It is very similar to how a Cambridge grader will look at our paper, so their feedback was very helpful in what we needed to do next. We know we need to finish the film, but for what we have done it was not that bad. Our filming was very solid. The reviewer gave us a positive sign on our angles saying they were very fluid. This meant all those times we spent arguing were actually useful. They may have seemed pointless and stupid, but they now have meaning. We questioned each other and pushed each others boundaries and wanted each other to crack to be able to put our clips in the movie.
Our editing was not going as good. Alex, in charge of editing had run into some problems allowing us less time. The camera and Sd card had been left at my house, and Alex had the vision for editing, so I waited to let him do his work. This meant we were going to have less time to edit, and this was made clear by our reviewer. They said our clips were together good, but we have too long of shots, lack proper transitions, and have un needed title screens. This was good to hear though. We all think our movies are good, so hearing negative feedback helps. We couldn't hold grudges here as we all had similar ideas for editing. We also had to switch the font of our title screens and this was a minor disagreement. We settled this easily but we have bigger issues we must move onto, like finishing the video and making sure we hit all our major plot points.

Peer Review

Our peer review didn't go as expected. We thought we were in a good spot as we thought everything was going well. Our reviewer did not think the same. They thought the start was good but it quickly fell apart. They liked our start but they thought our titles were on the screen for too long. They also think we transition too many times with the car. I guess this makes sense as this really does not help move the plot along. Cutting it back might make sense as it would allow for more action later on. They also didn't like the fact that we took so long to transition from the car to the house. They did however like the trunk shot and said it was not expected.
They did not like the timing between Jorge getting out of the car, because the editing could be more seamless allowing for a better shot. This made sense as we knew we could edit this together, but chose not to so we could focus more on other elements. With all these negatives, there was some positives they liked. They noticed our variety of shots, we had nearly every one on possible. They also liked how you could tell where they story was going. They didn't see the whole video, but they could tell how it was going to go and knew it would be good. This was a relief as we were afraid our story didn't have a good plot to watch. Overall, the peer review process was nice as it was the closest thing to an actual grade we are going to get before we send it to Cambridge. We hope to really bring it to the next level as this was eye opening as to what we need to do. The next thing we want to do is to is reshoot and edit some of these key scenes they told us about and finish up the movie.

We Started to Film and Edit!

       Coming off an used week was tough to get the ball rolling. We all had bust schedules and knew filming this weekend was going to be tough. It was nasty weather and I worked all day Saturday. This meant Sunday was the only option. We came to an agreement that I would just film only shots where nobody was in. This would be fine as we at least would get something done. Filming was simple, we just took a bunch of pans and tracking shots. These weren't that hard as my brothers we able to assist if I needed to drive for the shot. The end of the filming got a little off. The clouds began to roll in and the sun left, leaving the shots dull. This was a problem as we figured they may not match the earlier shots taken.
       Editing these shots was surprisingly easy compared to last time. We had all the files on a drive, and simply moved them onto the computer. This was a little hard as importing them was different than usual because of the computer. Otherwise, everything went smoothly. Editing was different because usually we just put them in order and break them up and line them up. This time we had to leave holes in the videos to add film with us in them later. We also learned all those shots we took when it was cloudy out were not usable. There was too much of a difference in them and it looks like they are two separate scenes. This was not the look we wanted so reshooting is going to have to happen. This will not be a big deal as we ned to go to the same places to shoot with us in the shots anyway. For now I am happy with where we are at as it gives us a good look at where we are going.

We Couldn't Film For Final Project!

Last week we were given instruction to start filming for our final projects. We had plans to film and we even began to talk the time we would meet. This was all going to work because I could drive and get them. Then I got permission to film in my house so we all thought things were going to get done this weekend. We had all set our plans and were going to film on Sunday, a holiday. This was already going to be an issue because we could not film at the park we were going to because of a sewage spill that took place near by. We worked past this issue by deciding we would only film the first part having to do with the street and house. Then, we could no longer film in the house because there was going to be too many people home. This meant we were going to try and film at Alex's house. This also failed because his mom did not want us there when his sister was studying.
This concluded Sunday and we got nothing done. Monday was going to an issue filming too. I got my wisdom teeth out. This meant I couldn't drive to get my partners. We figured if they got rides we could still film around the house, but this was not true too. I ended up not being able to move and didn't want to do much due to the pain. We figured we could at least walk through the house and run through our plan. We did this and decided to switch a couple minor things that we thought would make the movie better.  Overall, we wasted time and did not film, but it was good due to the fact that we got to refine our movie. This was not ideal, but we still have plenty of time to film to make a good movie.

Storyboard for Final Project

Attached is our scene ideas for the movie. We had a debate on how we wanted to do things because we all saw different visions. These were solved quickly as we were able to settle our differences. We did this my dividing up who got what slides. This allowed us to divide them based on who wanted what. This meant we could have different visions and for them still to work. I think this will really help in the long run as we now are not disagreeing on what we want. The hardest thing was probably having to cut things out that were not important enough. We only had so many slots for scenes, and this meant much of our ideas wouldn't make it. We ended up voting many off and decided we liked what we had, and if we end up changing things this is ok too as we have planned many backup plans in case of failure.