Editing, Again

      After filming the tilt and pan, I had to put them into the film. As mentioned before, the film was already the maximum length. This meant that I had to cut out some footage that was already in. As I filmed the tilt and pan to go into the beginning of the film, I had to put it in there as well. To do this, I removed some of the build up and entered the movements. Cutting out the build up also included removing the titles that were already rendered in. To remedy this issue, I did my best to match up the titles and transfer them. While doing this, I ran into an issue with the audio. This made me thankful for being on my own editing software. I was comfortable with it enough to know how to separate the audio and video. Doing this allowed me to change the footage while keeping the audio the same. This shouldn't create any issues as the audio was really only the music ramping up. When I was done with the titles, I watched both of them appear to make sure it was good. I used a feature on the program where you can "mute" layers of the timeline. This would temporarily remove the layer, making it not appear on the timeline or make no noise. Swapping between the two with this feature showed me how close I was getting with the imitation. I did well enough, however some of the titles didn't match up. This is okay, as the new placement isn't too much of a change. In the end, I was able to include the remaining movements. I'm happy with how it looks and can put it to rest now.

         How it looks now... maybe

The Blog Where I Talk About Filming Again

      After the peer reviews, I learned that I needed a few more features in the film. I needed to add a pan, tilt, an eye-line match, and an establishing shot. While filming, I decided to film a pan and a tilt. The rest I would add in post. I filmed a pan and tilt for the beginning of the film. I wanted to make it seem like the camera was booting up and turning into position. I wasn't able to capture a tilt with tripod, as I wasn't able to aim the camera downward. This resulted in the need to hold the camera and try my best to hold it steady. Because of this, the opening shot is a lot less stable compared to the others. There wasn't a lot more filming after this. I took multiple takes of this shot to make sure, which wasn't really needed. As always, I thought of what to do with the footage I was getting. I thought that I'd be able to squeeze in this footage. The takes I took were 4 seconds at most, so I didn't think I'd have problems pushing it in. I failed to consider that the film was already filled to 2 minutes. This meant I'd have to replace some part of the film for this shot. I decided not to film anything else, as I had considered the length in some capacity. I couldn't fit in an establishing shot and I already knew that. So for now, the establishing shot is the only thing I need. It is possible that I could find a way to add one in the future.

Editing the Final(ish) Product

      For the peer reviews, I wanted to have a rough draft ready. So, the weekend before I doubled down and worked to complete it all. I planned on filming all of Saturday then editing on Sunday. However, I ended up filming and editing on Saturday. After filming, I got down to editing the scenes for the hooded man. I cut the high angle and over the shoulder shots together, as mentioned before. Not only did I cut the scenes together, I also muted the audio for the over the shoulder shot. This made sure that the audio wasn't messed up in any way when cutting. It also relieved me of having to time the cuts so that the lines are delivered naturally. I didn't need to worry about the mouth movements matching up as the hooded man wore a mask and. Also the camera was behind him, so that nullified any need to match mouth movements. Editing the hooded man's scenes turned into putting all of the clips together, which turned into adding all the titles, and that finished the movie. I can't say I'm unhappy with getting it all done early, I don't know who would, but it was definitely a welcome surprise. When assembling the movie, I found that I had too much footage. I could've easily made a 5-10 minute long film, but needed to cut it down a lot. I removed some of the hooded man watching the scenes, the darkness from the second scene, and all of the scenes after the fifth one. This put a large dent in the run time of the film and put me at exactly two minutes. I wish I could've added everything in, but I'm okay with having all that's in now. I wish I knew that the film would've been too long while filming, as this would've saved a lot of time and effort. In the end, I got everything done before the weekend was over and was able to present my film.

Filming the Final Scenes

      Before we peer reviewed, I filmed the rest of the film. I needed all of the scenes including the hooded man. I was able to get the high angles and the over the shoulder shots easily. However, I had to come up with a way to obscure my face. The solution to this was to take a black shirt and tie it around my face like a mask. This, paired with my hood, was a good enough disguise for the hooded man. All of the scenes with the hooded man flowed together during filming. Most of his screen time is watching the first scenes on a laptop. Thanks to this, I was able to film all of his scenes in an hour or two. This includes multiple backup takes. When recording the scene where the hooded man is watching K, I had to decide if I wanted to play the audio from the laptop. In the end, I decided to play the audio from the laptop. Although the music from K's earbuds would not make sense, it helped with timing my lines. I waited for the music to fade out to deliver my lines on both the over the shoulder and the high angle. When filming, I think about the editing process and what I'll do during it. This time, I thought about cutting into the over the shoulder shot before saying my next line. To make this easier, I used the timing and paused before delivering the next line. I took multiple takes as I always found something wrong with the acting. Finally, I got three that I thought went well and got to editing. The editing process took about as much time, but that's for the next blog.

Peer Review Day

      Today we were assigned groups to peer review. We watched their films and wrote feedback guided by the paper pictured above. My group had made a film about a girl being kidnapped and her struggle to escape. The film was able to tell its story without being explicit. The situation the main character was in was obvious and didn't need words to show it. The opening shot of her tied up at the beginning was a very apparent sign of what's going on. The following scenes of her trying different things and struggling with the doors also sold the story. While watching the film, there was a very clear overabundance of cuts and transitions. Every action the character made would cut to a few seconds after, this made the film confusing at times. I suggested that there should be less cuts in the film and could see it improving if this change was made.

      Looking back at my film after watching theirs, I realized that I need to find a way to add a pan and tilt. Also, to avoid adding in unnecessary cuts and transitions. I've seen the feedback that my film has gotten and most of the group members suggested that I add a pan and tilt. The last group member suggested that I added more lighting to the second scene. The second scene has the main character getting ready for bed. I thought the lack of lighting was justified here, since it's supposed to be late. However, I plan on finding a way to add dim lighting to the scene. I also plan on adding a pan and tilt. I believe I've found a way to add one on my own. If that way fails, I'll just ask someone for help.