I have filmed my segment, not it's time to talk about what I did afterwards.
Editing
-The Tools
After I finished filming with my phone, I imported my files to my MacBook Pro through an application called Air Droid. This allowed me to transfer files through wifi.
After which I imported the footage into Final Cut Pro and created a new project.
I chose Final Cut Pro mainly because of it's easy to use stabilisation effect that I can use to help better the quality of my footage. Other than that, Final Cut Pro is easy to use (at least it was for me), and was very versatile in terms of effects and clip manipulation. I opted to use Final Cut Pro even though I wanted to use Screen Flow, which had an easier interface and usually finalised projects quicker, mainly because of the stabilisation effect. However, I did revert back to Screen Flow just to add finishing touches in the end. The other editing software I considered was iMovie which also had a bunch of basic effects pre-installed, but it had an interface which I wasn't used to using and didn't allow me to quite export the way I wanted to with the other two.
Overall, it worked great and I managed to finish the editing process in one whole evening.
-The Process
My first export of the video didn't please me that much. What I did was put all of my shots together, cut out the rough edges, color graded it a bit, and hit export. It was very dull, even after I chose to include classical music, and the whole thing felt like an overblown filler with unnecessary shots all sewn together.
It started with me watching the TV, then the camera focused on the clock which told the time, went back to me turning off the TV, turning off a bunch of lights, then going to my room to play some games before finally doing some homework.
So I decided to waste the next hour or so improving it.
First thing I did was cut out a bunch of shots that I felt were unnecessary, but not enough to fall below the time limit. I should've done this the first time around, but that's what sticking to the plan gets you I guess. After that, I took some inspiration from a movie called Deadpool, where the main character broke the fourth wall a lot using narration. I wanted to do that, however, I did not want to do a reshoot nor did I have time for one. So I decided to write up a quick script for the narration, and I managed to tie in some 4th wall breaking elements and I managed to recycle the background music and used narration to kind of explain how the music was there.
During this time, I also decided to include some bloopers and using narration to tell a joke for some comedic effect during that time. I also added some inside jokes during times I felt were a little too drawn out. For this, I constantly switched between Screen Flow and Final Cut Pro, the reason being Screen Flow is way easier to use to edit this sort of stuff. I could've done this more gracefully by finalizing everything in one software first before moving on, but I put these jokes in as it came to me whilst editing.
After all of this was said and done, I recorded the narration and started editing the sound.
My phone managed to record the narration in high quality and the classical music I put on was also in high quality. I chopped the narration up into parts and put them where it belongs accordingly. Afterwards, I synced up the background music to my narration, which only required me sliding it to the appropriate place. I mostly muted background noises for the most part from my footage, there wasn't much to begin with but It helped in some parts. When I narrated what I was doing, I lowered the volume on the music just a bit so that the audience can hear me better. That was all I did with the sounds involved in this project.
I put in the subtitles last and in screen flow as it was easier to do so. It was really as easy as just putting the text box in the bottom center and creating a new one every time I said something different.
-The Message
My segment, in my eyes, could've been better, but it did what I wanted it to do, it effectively showed the audience what I did during that time the way I wanted them to see it. The way it came down to it, the original plan and the original final version was basically what showed up, however, I just edited a bunch of things to distract the viewers on what was really going on in some of the long overdrawn parts of the cut.
What it effectively told the audience was that during that time of day, what I usually do is play games and do homework which reflected the part of me I wanted to show. A few examples would be the fact that I joked about playing snake, when in reality, I was checking managebac in the footage but it was not really seen. The main idea of what I wanted to show was still there, however, the details were left obscure purposefully. Same thing goes to when I did my homework or watched TV at the beginning. Or the fact that I didn't really show my room or my family at all. What I really tried to do, is try to warp reality and hide reality as much as possible whilst still selling this idea of the truth, of my life in 9 PM. And what I found, which I aimed for, was that people bought into the narrative and never thought of what I actually hid in some of the scenes where I used camera tricks to hide big portions of rooms etc. Of course, the viewers could just regarded it as a joke, but the main narrative stuck with them. I found a way to use comedy and other distractions, to hide details, which believe it or not with some more testing can be more useful.
Opening Scene
Snake Scene
Homework scene
Self Reflection
I said before, my sole intent is to show this idea of me, and I would say it worked. People seemed to think that everything I showed in that clip was real, and some people even reference some of the things there in conversation. I would say I did a pretty good job.
This project showed that I really can think of a million ways to try and solve problems like I did by revamping the whole video or how I got around to choosing a video software. My segment reflects what I can do with 2 and a half minutes of shaky footage, and the fact that I added my own narration, set my own tone for it and put in a bunch of hit or miss comedic references, some more subtle than others. Really, it shows that in projects like these, I can make something and truly call it mine and also turn something I planned was going to be boring, to something I would say was worthwhile enough for a watch.
In terms with the whole piece, my segment was the first one to contrast a whole of the other segments. You saw Nadind only getting ready to play futsal, some people choosing to record them eating, some people jogging, but what I did was took that whole concept of actually doing something special to highlight yourself in the piece, and flipped it upside down. My segment just featured me staying at home and doing stuff with my laptop when it came down to it, and It certainly added diversity to the whole piece.
·
No comments:
Post a Comment