Editing: Trimming and Changing Footage Speed

           I mentioned last blog that the video exceeded the time limit. In this blog, I will talk about how I addressed this issue. Also, I will talk about my thought process and methods I used to combat this issue. Forty seconds was a lot of time that needed to be chopped off. I remember back when I edited my commercial, time was a challenge. I had to cut off a lot back then. In the end, I didn't very much like the final product. Thankfully, that did not happen with this video. At first, I tackled the very long and drawn-out scenes. These included the clothes-throwing scene, tooth-brushing scene, and the establishing shots. I cut off the awkward pauses and irrelevant actions. I also made sure everything transitioned smoothly between each scene. If someone walked out of the frame for the last scene, the next scene should start with them walking in the frame. After I cut the problematic and a few scenes down, I had to do something else. I went and did the only other thing I could do: speed-up the footage. I sped up certain scenes that went by a little too slowly. Darwin's scenes were particularly slow. Not trying to be mean, but he was not the greatest of actors. Scenes that I sped up include: shower scene, tooth-brushing scene, and the closet scene. In the end, the footage turned out to be a minute and 57 seconds long. That is just under the time limit. 

Editing: Combining the Footage

           So after we finished filming all of our footage, it was time to edit. I have an editing software at home that I use to edit videos. I had previously used it for both my commercial and music-video. I thought that maybe since I was in a new group I would get a different job. But no, I still had the editor role. It is fine, I love editing. It is just that I wanted to maybe do something different for the Final Task. Well, it might have been better for me to stick to what I am good at. Perhaps this was a blessing in disguise. Anyways, a few days after the last filming day, I stretched my fingers and got to work. I had Mariapaula send me the footage to me through Gmail. My laptop does not have an SD card reader. That means I cannot transfer the footage straight from the SD card to my editing software. So I asked Mariapaula to get the footage as files instead. After a few minutes of downloading the footage, I dumped it into my editing software. I then just placed the footage in order. I used the storyboard as my reference. I can get confused from time to time. However, when I finally combined all the footage, it was way over the time limit. The time limit is 1:50-2:00 minutes, but the ending result was 2:40. This footage definitely needs to be edited down.  

Filming: The Last Few Scenes

          After we finished filming the scenes that took place in Mariapaula's house, we went to go and film the final scenes. The final scenes of the video take place outside in a neighborhood street. Mariapaula took us to her neighbor's house. It was the one we used to film the establishing shot previously. We did not have much daylight left in the day, so we were on a timer. What we filmed first was a scene of Carolina on her phone waiting for her ride. A car then pulls up to her driveway and she walks towards it. Carolina then walks up to the car and asks the person who is driving their name. This is all one take and it took several attempts to get it right. I took some pictures for the blog of Emily getting ready to film said scenes. Emily, Mariapaula, and Darwin were all involved in the filming process. I did not play much of a role in the video itself. I was more like the camera's assistant. For example, I would signal Darwin, who is driving the car, to pull up because no one else could. Mariapaula would be busy acting in the scene. Emily needed to hold the camera steady. After those couple of scenes, we would then film a conversation between Carolina and Kenny. However, instead of filming one scene of one line said by the actor, we would have the actors say all of their lines in one take. Then afterward I can edit the lines to go in order and make sense. This was done to save time since the sun was barely up at this point.

Filming: Additional, Additional Filming

          After school on Friday, my group and I (along with Macy) carpooled with Mariapaula to her house to continue filming. Before heading directly to her house, we stopped by her neighbor's house. We used that house as Carolina's house in the video. But we filmed everything in the inside of Mariapaula's house. Two different rooms and bathrooms are used. So that makes the illusion of the characters getting ready in two separate homes. When in reality, the characters are about twenty feet apart. When we finally got to Mariapaula's house, we decided to change some things. The razor cutting scene in the original storyboard proved to difficult. Darwin had trouble being fast enough to shave. Also, a lot of his movements were awkward. We concluded that a tooth-brushing scene would be easier to film and less of a hassle film. I took a photo of Mariapaula and Darwin getting ready for the take which can be seen down below. Still, in the end, the scene came out a bit too slow and sluggish. It will be fine, I can just speed it up in editing later. We also filmed a scene of Darwin putting a few tools into the trunk of a car. The initial scene involved "Kenny" placing a rope in the trunk instead of tools. However, like many scenes involving Darwin, the movements were very languid. So we filmed the shot using tools instead of some rope. It still took a while to get the perfect take.

Peer Review: Captured

          Attached is my peer review of another group's final task. They gave our group what they currently have done for their final task and each of us gave our personal opinions. I really liked their final task. It, however, definitely needs some more work. They said that it was far from done and it is what they were able to put together the night before. One thing I really like about their video was their opening scene. It is a moving shot of the camera coming into a close up of books on a bookshelf. The books are removed and two boys peek through the hole where the book was. It is revealed that the boys are leering at a girl sitting down enjoying a book. It was a really dynamic shot and my favorite out of the video. However, the title of the movie, "Captured" does come up out of order during the scene. They will have to move the title or add some scenes beforehand in order to make it right. One suggestion I have towards the group is to try and avoid filming people who are not supposed to be in the film. During one of the car scenes, you can see a person in the back of the car. That person is most likely the cameraman and not one of the characters. There are other things, like lighting and sound that need fixing. During some scenes in the car, the sun outside the window is blindingly bright. And some dialogue scenes outside the car, wind can be heard. They can fix this while editing, and they can add voice over for the dialogue scenes. Overall, a great video! I can't wait to see the finished product!