Reshoot Blog

 

      Today I started the process of reshooting my film. I did not receive my peer review sheet so I could not see what tips the other group had for me. However, I did take initiative and reviewed my own project after I peer reviewed another group. There were a few mistakes that I spotted in my original product. Most were from the actual filming process and a few for editing. I only got to revising some of the mistakes with shooting today. I tried to recreate scenes where the sound was hard to hear or confusing. There was a couple of these scenes and this was an easy fix. I have not gotten around to re-shooting the scenes that are hard to see yet. This is because I want the scenes to match the mood of the horror genre. 

      I am trying to find a solution that allows the scene to match the dark mood of my film while not making the shot complicated. Some of my scenes are pitch black since the power goes out. Luckily, I did not include these scenes until the end of the opening sequence. Sound and lighting are two very important components for a film. I am trying to mainly focus on perfecting them while redoing my opening. I plan to also capture some camera angles and movements over again as well. I want to make sure that it is clear what angle each shot is placed in. Angles mean everything to a scene and a film without any specific shots would look very plain. This is the opposite of what I want for my project so I will be reviewing this as well. I can’t wait to improve my film even more soon. 

Peer Review Blog

 

      Today we worked on peer reviewing each other’s opening sequences. The partners were chosen randomly and each group had another project to look over. Each group also had someone else that was in charge of reviewing theirs as well. I was picked to look over another person who was working individually. His project was over the time limit by two minutes and did not include titles. However, his storyline and angles/movements were on point. The video footage was clear and the audio was not hard to hear at all. The lighting was not confusing for the majority of the film with the exception of one particular scene. His movie inspired me to be more creative for future projects. I thought it was interesting to watch what someone else came up with during the same time that I created my opening.

      This review sheet really made me reflect on my movie as well. I didn’t notice how easy it was to leave some of the important components of this project out. For example, I did not know that using a tripod was necessary. For the most part I think that I am on the right track. With this guidance I will be able to improve my film to a large extent. I had a limited time to work on peer reviewing since four of the computers I chose to use had technical difficulties or low battery. Luckily, I borrowed my neighbors computer and looked over the film on there. I am glad that my review partner had a finished product for me to watch. I believe that my notes will help him in making further progress for his project. My next step is to reshoot some of the scenes that did not come out as I had planned or some that I was given advice to change. 

Editing Blog: Music

      Today I finished the initial editing process with adding my scores in. I actually ended up using three different scores. This was because I wanted a variety of music that matched each of my scenes. This was the shortest part of editing the film except for finding the free music. Finding the right music for my film that was also free of copyright was a challenge. I added the most ominous music in the beginning of the first scene. I think that with all of the editing techniques I included my opening sequence looks far better. After I completed editing, I transferred my film to a different laptop. After this I plugged in a flash drive and exported my project onto there. This is an important step for peer reviewing.
      When looking for music I had to make sure that the songs matched my film genre. Since I chose the horror genre, the only music I included was dark and scary. There is a common theme between my footage, titles, and the music I presented. After editing in my transitions, my film shrunk in size by a few seconds. This worked out in my favor since my opening sequence was actually a little over the time limit. I didn’t include a score throughout each scene, but music is incorporated a good amount. One complication I can across was the quality of my video downgraded after transferring the footage to a different device. While searching for music, there were some songs that I would’ve preferred to use if they were free. Even though I originally thought that two scores would be efficient I am glad that I chose to go with three. Now it’s time to peer review and then I will revise my product for the final time.
     

Editing Blog: Titles

     

  

      Today I continued with the editing process of my opening sequence. I focused mainly on adding in all of my titles into the scenes. I followed the outline I made for my titles earlier on and only used black and white colored text. I only used two different fonts throughout the whole film. Now that my titles are added I feel that my film looks more put together than before. I actually had to do this process twice since I had accidentally imported the wrong video previously. This was not a big set back since I had my original work to utilize. I included a font that I thought matched the mood of the sequence and more specifically each scene. I editing back and forth between my Iphone and my computer. My laptop had a series of options to choose from. 

      For each scene I attempted to place the title where it fit into the scene. I also did not want to include titles that would distract the audience from the scene itself. I made sure to present the color text that matched the scene the most. Also, the lighting of the scene determined how dark or light each title was. I had trouble with some scenes since the lighting was in between the two shades. Now I have both transitions and titles incorporated into my opening. The whole process took about two hours and I completed the second step to editing. I plan to finish the initial editing process tomorrow with finally choosing which songs are best for the score of my product. I can’t wait to see how my project turns out after completing the filming and editing process. After editing, the next step is peer reviewing to get some feedback. 

Editing Blog: Transitions

     

      Today I began the editing process of my film starting with transitions. Since I chose the horror genre my transitions included many fade outs. I tried to put transitions that matched each scene and the lighting. I can already see the improvements with my opening sequence with the added editing techniques. Adding transitions really allows the film to flow better. I also started to look for free music that I could use as my score. I didn’t run into complications with adding the transitions to my film. I will begin to edit in the titles that I have planned with black and white coloring. I plan to use only two fonts in total. While choosing transitions there was a huge selection to choose from and I was unsure at first which one to use.
      I only used 3-4 different transitions in all of the opening film. This is because I thought those would look best in between the scenes. I have two parts left to finish for the editing process. Adding music and titles will complete my initial product. I have already chosen a few songs to select from and plan to pick a couple of them soon. Then I will upload the project to my flash drive to peer review. One thing that was frustrating while editing was that I was unable to add a split screen since the timing on the videos that I filmed was incorrect. I then had to improvise and just put the two clips next to each other rather than on the same screen. Other than that, I am glad about how my film looks so far. I also look forward to getting feedback from my class to better the film opening for the future.