Preliminary Analysis

On the Friday 20th January 2012, we began the making of our 'Preliminary'. We were given a set of instructions as to which shot types had to be included as well as what the short clip had to be based on. First things first we had to create a storyboard which we done (see 'Prelim Animatic'); and then we got our equiptment ready to begin filming. In my perspective, the process of filming went quite well as we managed to compose quite a few good shots that were useable in the clip. However, it took us a few tries to get it perfect and as we did not follow our storyboard 100 percent (in terms of including a shot-reverse-shot) we needed to film a few more shots which took up abit of extra time. Once we had all the shots that we thought we had needed, we exported it from the camcorder and onto our hard drive; from then we exported from our hard drive into 'Final Cut Pro'. In the program called 'Final Cut Pro' is where we done our editing. Firstly, we selected the clips that we wanted to use and then we put the clips in 9chronological order) on the timeline.Once that was done, we then edited the clips in terms of length which meant that we chose to extend the length of some as well as shorten the length of others. Unfortunately, the 'Match Cut' that we originally composed created such a big jump in the clip as a whole; so we had to record a few more clips on the sideline in order to make the clip run smoother. So once that was done and we had the file in 'Final Cut Pro'; we input it into the timeline which helped to tighten the huge jump in the scene. Throughout this editing process we kept on replaying the clip as we went on in order to see if the changes we made suited the clip, and if not what we needed to do in order to make it run smoothly etc. After numerous alterations (taking out clips, adding in clips etc), we finally decided to move on and put in some titles. The first title that we chose to include was one at the very beginning which said what the piece of media was and who directed it. We chose to have the writing on a separate black screen with white writing, plain and simple as we felt that it didnt need to be particulary fancy. Then we moved onto the actors. The title which showed my name (Bria Marie) was shown at the beginning in the bottom left hand corner of the screen whilst tyhe drama was being shown in the background (transition used - fading in and fading out). This specific shot was chosen as it fitted in with the way the drama was and it was visible yet didnt take the attention off the main drama. Plus, the other actor's title was shown as that specific actor appeared on the screen in the top left hand corner as it blended in (transition used - wipe in and wipe out). The last title we chose to have was one at the end on a separate black screen with white font (similar to the beginning one) which basically closed off the clip as we felt that the clip alone didnt seem to have an ending. Once we were satisfied we moved on to sound in which the progam 'Soundtrack Pro' was used. Our initial idea was to record our own foley sound of footsteps (as we already had the foley sound of the door slamming). However after experimenting with the sounds that foley soundtrack had to offer we decided to slow down one of their footsteps. After having some difficulty trying to figure out how to slow it down, we decided to dismiss it as we already have a door slamming. So we just decided to add in some background music to add that something extra to the clip; and after spending quite alot of time we found the perfect one. Once it was edited (the volume decreases when the dialogue is being shown) we imported it onto out clip and then watched the clip play. Finally we was content with what we had produced.
The whole experience of this was very much enjoyable and some lessons were definitely learnt.
- Lesson number one: follow the storyboard 100 PER CENT as it will save time and produce a thorough clip.
- Lesson number two: go that bit extra and record our own foley sounds
- Lesson number three: abide by the 5 second rule at ALL times as it will benefit us when its time to edit