Milestone 2

Today I met with my EPQ tutor to discuss my progress. I had positive feedback about this work, and I found out that to print the blog, it's as simple as right clicking, and pressing 'print'. Before I do so, however, I will need to 'show all posts' and unfold drop down lists so that my full blog is on display. In fact, I could simply click on each section of the project under the header so that I can print sections of my work. Decisions...

Time spent today: 30 mins

Editing with DJ PLAY

I arranged a meeting with my client in my studio, so that he can review the rough cut of my work and we can go from there. I decided to work with DJ PLAY in post production for two reasons; firstly, he is very keen to see the transformation of the material, and secondly because, as the client, he acts as the director. I think this is extremely important in the sense that, while I edit, he can make judgements and suggestions which will reflect his view of the video. Afteral, the video is being made to represent his track. I want this to be done as accurately as possible.

How we work

With my external monitor, I click and drag over the window from my editing program onto the larger screen. This is what my client mainly views. I sit at my desk and arrange/adjust footage to our liking. While I have developing skills in editing, DJ PLAY has a history of music producing and mixing, and also some background in video editing. In turn, we are able to communicate in terms of overlapping software terminology.

Progress made today

We have edited almost 1 minute of the music video, and discovered a variety of appropriate techniques and effects.

How my rough cut has changed

The main adaptation of my work so far has been the pacing. My client advised that I extend all of the shots in the opening to double their length, so to match the music. This has been useful in that it has set precedent for the pacing of the whole music video, so to match the feeling of the track. In addition, DJ PLAY has had a say in the ordering of imagery, and the appearance of nature in the structure of the music video. This was useful in developing the video framework.


Time spent: 3 hours

Post-production: editing video and planning next steps

Today I have spent roughly two hours developing my video.

Notes:

• I am working on a rough cut
• I thought I had run out of footage when I realised that last time I didn't finish going through usable hooping clips, I was only half way!
• Considering restructuring the video because the first half is the travelling and the second half is hooping. This is because I collected equal amounts of footage. However when showing this to a small audience (my family) they asked where the hooping was after a minute or so of my video. Bear in mind that the track is long; 5 minutes and roughly 20 seconds
• Lacking extra crew on the shoot means I am missing out on the footage I wanted to get using two other types of cameras in conjunction with more advanced equipment than my basic tripod. Although this is unfortunate, I don't think it would make an enormous difference to the events of the video...
• ...Maybe it would have provided more of an interesting viewing experience, however

My next steps in my project are:

• Schedule a meeting for Milestone 2 and work out how to create a draft for this project

Time spent: 2 hours editing, and 2 hours reviewing blog material.

Sneak peak screenshots from shoot 3

Start of the video

Additional location #1

Additional location #2

Additional location #3

Move: helicopter

Move: body roll

Time spent: Editing (and screenshots etc) 2 hours

Saturday (shoot 3) part 2

The shoot went really well for a first try. There was a lot I learned on the day; here is how it went

Myself and the actor met at the chimney at 3pm and cycled down to the location. In the first 'scene', if it were, by the tree, it was very difficult to shoot because that area is actually marshland, so we were standing on waterlogged soil. It was worse than the previous time I went there myself, so reflecting back, I found my poor abilities as a location scout rather amusing.
This surprise proved itself to be more of a nuisance during the tracking shots (which were difficult enough for me as a short person, and I had no steady cam or anyone to watch my step as I was walking backwards in front of my subject).
Since it was a busy evening by the river, my actor, who was familiar with the area, suggested we used another bridge, so we were walking with bikes, hoops, camera equipment and coats across a boggy field, and I had not accounted for wet feet!
One useful thing about the trip is that we found extra two locations to film in - the gate and the graffitied bridge - which provided a nice addition to my collection of footage. The bridge was very difficult to wheel our bikes up, and we also used the stairs to shoot on, so it was real workout going up and down them.
After facing more marshland on the other side of the bridge, I abandoned my original plan to put the hoop against the big log, since it was so far away. Instead we used a nearby pole and filmed hula hooping as the sun was setting. Despite my technical error, I am very impressed with our efforts.

The technical error during the shoot

I recall going into my settings on my camera to change the fps to 50 instead of the usual 25, however on return from an afternoon's work, I played back the footage on my laptop to find out it was all shot in 25. This is a problem because I was filming movement and I also want to achieve slow motion; now my footage gives the slight appearance of two hula hoops being spun where there is actually one, and it has a slight flicker to the video when I walk with the camera. However I tried out slow motion, at 70% on a desired shot, and that seems to not be so bad. Still, here are my next steps...

Combating the error

These are a few things I can do about my mistake:

1. Leave it as it is; it isn't so bad after all
2. Reshoot with my actor, who is willing to do so this week coming
3. Attempt to 'correct' my work on After Effects (recommended by a friend)

First edit with footage from shoot 3

Another problem I encountered when I got home from my shoot was how I was to review my footage. Over Christmas, I acquired an external monitor to use in conjunction with my laptop: the make is Technika and it connects to my laptop via a gold-plated, HDMI Xbox cable, made for gaming because it is high speed and good quality. I tried to connect it but it wasn't working. I looked up online and found some sites I thought were useful but I still had no luck - my monitor still said 'no video available'. I searched through settings on my editing program initially, and then checked on my laptop settings, however the screen simply wasn't recognised. I solved the issue when I systematically changed the channels on the monitor and realised the cable simply needed to be in the second output for the image to appear. I then learned how to adjust the resolution, and rearrange the screen set up so that my mouse will appear on my monitor when it goes the to the left (my monitor is on the left), as I haven't done this before.

Something to remember

From previous experience, I recalled that I need to avoid moving the primary location of my footage on my laptop's documents, because if I do, the clips in my edit on the project will be lost (they will say 'media offline')!

Another note

There has been a big change in the mood of my project: to start off, my client produced an ambient track where I was to reflect a serious tone. He has recently revamped the tune so that it has more of a beat to it. This has changed the mood because it conveys more positive vibes. I am glad that this has happened because one thing I did not take into account about the main element in my video (hula hooping), is that one cannot hoop without feeling happy, and this strongly comes across in my video. I am grateful of this changed and I think it has added to the development of my project.


Time spent:
Shoot                                            2 hours
Editing                                          2 + 1/2 hours
Type up/screen shots/ edit blog   2 hours

Saturday shoot (shoot 3) part 1

I have arranged to do my shoot today, meeting with my actor at 3pm, without the rest of the crew. I am aware that it will be quite difficult because there are shots which would require more than one person to make it successful; for example the tracking shot where the camera tracks backwards as the subject moves towards it.

So far this morning, I have done 2 hours planning; finishing my storyboard and listening to the track to confirm my timeline of events. Since the video is mainly in chronological order, it will be required that I shoot it consecutively. This means that timing is key, because our shoot starts at half 3 and lasts until sundown.

Today seems to be quite chilly, at 5 degrees Celsius, sunny and windy. This is where I go to check the weather for my upcoming shoots:

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/forecast/u1214b469

I will post more information when I return home in the evening.

Time spent: 2 hours

Friday session shoot 2

Wow! What a busy Friday. I went out to shoot again, this time at my location. It was a little further than I had anticipated. I went there on my bike with my tripod and camera. It was very cold and I'm glad I wrapped up warm. I took some shots of the area, but I couldn't really find many nice plants since everything seemed a bit dead. Here are some images; photos and screen shots of footage.

Shot by the river - moorhen are the only wildlife I could see

Chosen starting location, Stourbridge Common

View from entrance of Ditton Meadows - even more to explore here

Entrance onto Ditton Meadows

Entrance onto Ditton Meadows - second chosen space

Time spent: 1 + 1/2 hours