Hi it has come to the time of year when I start reminiscing about the year that has been and the final video project of my sophomore year. For my final I was in a group with Madison, Tim, and Carter. It was a lot of fun and I really like how the project tuned out. Now fro my reflection.
Reflecting on the past.
The main point of our last project was to combine all the skills I learned this year into one big project in which we incorporated the line "lights out", a water bottle, and an obvious source of light. We decided on a cop video because it included all of the parts in a humorous way. We then wrote the script and storyboarded the entire thing out. We then set costumes and filming dates before the weekend came. When school started back up the next week we started up our filming. We started with the flex theater shots and then the hall shots and then the dead body shots. We then filmed voice-overs and editing started. I tried to make quick edits and remember to come in late and leave early. I then exported the video and i was done with my final project of the year. I learned a lot about editing from this project and I also learned a lot about getting the audio levels just right. I also learned a lot about working together and how frustrating it can be when the group doesn't listen to your ideas. I would have maybe been more collaborative about the script then how it was this time. I liked the shots we got and I would have kept that the same. I can draw a lot about collaboration and shots through this project. I think this is one of my favorite projects and I will miss this class next year.
Recently I have been introduced into the complicated and new world of Convergence Journalism. The experience has been interesting and I think it is the complete opposite of what we have been working on all year. The process took a lot longer than I would have thought, but I feel pretty proud in what I created.
The Lego Set
First thing we did was one day we picked up the cameras and just shot someone building a Star Wars lego set. I thought this was interesting because I am used to storyboarding everything before I shoot. This made me a bit unsure of what to get, do I just filmed whatever shots felt like I could use later in editing. I sadly filmed everything in one clip and this made the editing process take a lot longer cause I had to select different sections of the clips to make smaller clips. Another challenge I faced while filming was making the camera steady with only my body, no tripods was allowed during this project. I also struggled with finding a way to incorporate nat noise into my film.
My partner also talked about a bunch of random things while I was trying to get the shots in so I had to cut all of those random thoughts out of my video which took a lot of my shots away. For the editing of the project I mostly spent my time cutting the clips like I mentioned earlier. Then I picked my favorite clips and looked through all my audio to find the sounds I wanted use in my video. Then I wrote a script of what I wanted the audio to be and recorded the voiceovers for my shots. Finally I re-edited my film to match the sound up with the shots I wanted them with. This whole project was really hard for me and it took me longer to edit then I wanted it to.
Blood Drive day
The next project I got to film was the annual ONW blood drive which was cool because it was the first project I got to do using students, not just E-comm kids. This also provided a challenge because they answered the questions very close-ended which made the editing process hard because I didn't have much audio that I could use in my film. I then cut out all the audio and clips I couldn't use and put what I wanted into the timeline. Then I cut out all the clips that didn't fit with my theme and wrote the script I wanted to use for this project.
I got to use some new technology when I filmed my voice overs because I had a portable microphone at my house and I used it to film my voice overs directly into Final Cut Pro. Overall that taught me a lot about how to use different kinds of tech. I also learned about story telling and how to get a persons story in. This was a challenge because I figured out that I didn't have enough footage during the editing process and I had to use another groups footage to help my video along. I also ran into trouble when I was told that the person I had filmed wasn't actually eligible to donate. In hindsight I should have filmed two stories just to ensure that I got a person who was eligible to donate. Well you know what they say, Hindsight is always 20/20. Anyway I think this video turned out pretty well and I just wish I had gotten more shots to make it longer and follow a better story.
A struggle that I ran into consistently was my Informal interviews. I feel like that is a skill that I need to improve on. I had a lot of problems getting the people to talk and I also had a problem getting people to answer openly and not just with yes or no answers. I know that I can be an introvert and that I need to work on that skill of mine. Anyway all in all I feel pretty happy with how my projects went and I know the skills I need to improve on for next time.
The scope of this music video project was to create a story that told a story and worked with a song of our choice. We chose our song and then created our theme of bullies and superheroes to go with the song. The next step was to create a beat sheet which lined up beats of our song with shots of us. Then we went out and shot our stuff which took longer, but we got lots of shots in and got a lot of extra shots. Finally I started the editing stage which took about a week to decide which shots would go best where and what music to use and how to mix it. The music probably took me longest to make the music and beats line up with the shots.
I learned a lot during this video making a longer video with more people in our group. Technically I learned a lot about how to use some different parts of Final Cut Pro and also how to get some cool shots near the camera. Professionally I learned that larger groups mean more likely to get off task and a lot better chance of getting more bloopers and taking longer to film.
If I could do this again differently I would have kept my team on task more and try to make our time spent working more productive and not as much goofing off. I would do that because we had some problems staying on task and focusing on only our projects and not other projects we could have done. I really liked the theme of switching between universes and I would do that again because I loved how it kind of flowed with the music and also added a cool theme to the whole video.
I would use my experiences with large groups and with the sound problems I had in the future on other projects. I think in general I would pick a different song next time just to have less problems with the music.
The
scope of my project was to create a film that went from point, to point, to
point and told a story all using the six shot system.
First
I started in Pre-Production where we collaborated on our story and drew up our
storyboard. The storyboard was a detailed overview of our film. Next up was
Production where we started filming our story and filmed for about three to
four days . Finally I started Post-production where I edited my video in two days.
Along
the way I learned a lot about having your supplies there everyday. Technically
I learned a lot about filming the different kinds of shots needed in an action
sequence and also how to make short fast cuts on our story when editing our
clips. Professionally I learned about incorporating the group ideas into the
final story. I also learned about how we worked together as a team.
Next
time I would film more transition shots then I think I need because I mess up. Also I would try
to film each shot multiple times in case of mistakes.
I
would have the same amount of close ups as I had this time because I think they
were about half of my film and took up the majority of the time of the video.
I would take some of the collaboration
experiences from this project and apply them to other projects. Also I would
probably like to have the same group dynamics because my partner and I worked
really well together.
Sequencing helps the audience understand the movements in a film, It also helps the audience understand how a subject got to where they are from where they were.
Close up of the Face is important in a film because it shows emotion and detail in the face to the audience.
Close up of the feet is important because it shows detail in the feet and action.
Close up of the hands are important because they show detail and what the character is doing.
Medium shots are important because they don't show a lot of detail, but they still help tell the story.
This medium shot is important because it shows where the charter is and what he is doing.
This over the shoulder shows what the character is doing and also his body in the shot.
Over the shoulder shots are important because they show the character in the shot as well as what they are doing.
Wide shots are important because they establish where the character is and establishes the story.
This wide shot shows where the subject is going and closes the film.
This project was mostly to introduce us into the six shot system and how to use final cut pro. I learned all about the final cut pro system and and the shortcuts it uses. I also learned alot about the new cameras and technology and how to use the camera and tripod. I will apply these techniques to filming and editing all future projects.
