Final days of editing:

Work completed individually:

As days were quickly passing by, we had to finish editing ASAP and it was just our luck that Final Cut decided not to let us record a voiceover into our video, so we tried a lot of times before somehow it miraculously worked. 

Applications we used:

• Final Cut

What we did:

• For one of the days, I finished up the credits using LiveType, whilst Tayla and Chloe were cutting the music to piece it into our final piece opening sequence - they were cutting the music straight from Final Cut. 
• Then, we decided to do the voice over, which was the last thing to do for the editing part and which was also where the trouble started again. Anyhow, it was also resolved last minute, and the voice over was completed! 

Conclusion:

• I am so glad that we have finally finished editing our opening sequence! I am looking forward to seeing comments from others and guidance which will hopefully help me in the future if I was to film again. 

Editing some scenes on Final Cut

Rendering the text on LiveType to export it to Final Cut.

Editing day two and three:

Work completed individually: 


For days two and three, we were still in the process of editing our two minute video. 


Applications used: 

• Final Cut
• Live Type 

What we did:

• Basically, for the first double lesson, we edited the video, cutting out scenes we didn't want - it was pretty much the same process as the first day.
• For the second lesson, I decided to use Live Type - to create the credits on it, I was just experimenting around with it and just seeing what kind of texts the app had. 
• After playing around with Live Type, I started to create the film title, which included a moving background and interactive texts, which created a nice effect for the film, as this would be eye catching for the audience when watching the film, and not feel bored whilst certain scenes such as the EST shots run through, which can be quite long.
• Whilst I was creation the credits on Live Type, Chloe and Tayla were tinting the shots we have filmed as we have together agreed that the atmosphere of the film was quite happy as the lighting in the shots we filmed was quite bright and sunny. 

Conclusion:

• Considering we only have Wednesday left, we need to try and finish up editing ASAP and in our spare time, do some more editing - Chloe and I went back to the macs suite when we had a free lesson, and imported the Live Type that I had created earlier into our film, we had to change the formatting to an AVI as Final Cut could not read Quickplayer.

Editing day one:

Work completed individually


5/12/11

Basically, for the double period we had, we started to edit using final cut on the macs, I had brought in my laptop for editing using iMovie as I was more familiar with that application in contrast to Final Cut. However, my laptop didn't have the firewire cable connector, so we had to connect it to the school's macs instead.

What we did? 

• Firstly, we connected the video camera into the macs using a firewire cable, and then opened up Final Cut and imported the video into the application. We then rendered the video. 
• Well, the whole process of editing today just consisted of cutting out some scenes and putting the shots into an order we wanted them to be in. 

Conclusion: 

• Editing was actually quite stressful but it was also fun at the same time. It was stressful because we kept losing some scenes, and when we did retrieve the scenes, we was not able to render. It was fun though, because we were able to see what we filmed, and cut out scenes we didn't want.

We haven't actually finished editing the video yet, so I'll update the next time we edit! 

Vlog

Here is our first vlog that we filmed on Monday, at first I had no idea how to upload it onto here, but then I found out, I could just export the video/file out of the "photo booth" and share it on to my youtube account, and then embed it onto here. Anyway, we'll be uploading more vlogs hopefully soon! 

Filming day two:

Work completed individually:

On Wednesday  (30/11/11), we started filming the final scenes for the "The Black Apple" - we had to leave at lunch as we had to stop filming by 3. Moreover, it is now getting darker early, so we had to film our scenes with natural sunlight, and bright lighting as much as possible!

Equipment we took with us that day:

• Video Camera
• Tripod
• Storyboard sheet
• Refreshments
• Props - the mirror
• Costumes and makeup
• Phone - to take pictures

Who was present:

• Chloe
• Tayla
• Annie
• Me

What happened on filming day:

• Walked to Tayla's house at lunch, in order to film everything by 3
• Setted up the cameras and tripod at Tayla's back-garden and carport, Annie did her makeup and got changed etc.
• Start shooting the scenes - Annie chucking the mirror, screaming, long shot of the shed and slowly zooming into the window etc.
• Just ten minutes before 3, we finished filming - and this was good timing as Annie had to leave at 3 and the natural light was slowly darkening.

Overall thoughts:

• In my personal opinion, at first I thought we would definitely not be able to finish filming on time as we it was quite impossible to finish quite a lot of scenes in just under 2 hours! Surprisingly, we did finish filming in time and with time to spare! Thanks to Annie with her great acting skills, she was able to portray the character well and did all her scenes in just one take!
• In the future, I think we should be more organised as like how I have mentioned in the other post "Filming day one" and moreover, the ground was a bit uneven which made it difficult to film - so in the future, we should test out the location before filming, making sure filming there will be convinient and easy.
• Overall, I thought the filming was more successful in contrast to the first day, as we agreed on most things such as shot angles - low angle or high angle etc. - and Annie was able to shoot her scenes all in just one take! 

Tayla's carport

Setting up and preparing to film

Annie applying her "scary" Snow White makeup

Animatics part 2:

Work completed individually:

(28/11/11)

As previously said, we started editing the sketches on photoshop, and haven't actually finished. And on wednesday, we actually finished editing the sketches, so we then started using Final Cut.

What application did we use:

• Photoshop
• Final Cut
• Garageband

What we did:

1. Format the sketches into a JPEG file as Final Cut only reads JPEG files
2. Import the files into Final Cut
3. Rearrange the sketches into the order according to our storyboard
4. Play through the "film" to see how it looks like, and see what needs to be altered and not etc.
5. Open up Garageband - scanning through possible music that we can use for the film sequence
6. We decided that we might use music from youtube instead as we thought it would suit the film slightly better, but we still imported the sound tracks from Garageband into Final Cut, just to see how well it goes.
7. Because we have no access to youtube at school, and as a group we have looked at the music that Tayla had looked through previously, we have chosen to use "Dead Silence", but because we don't have access to youtube at school, or a converter site - converting youtube files to MP3 files in order to import into Final Cut - I had to convert the music at home, using the site: www.snipmp3.com
8. I saved a copy onto my memorystick, and brought into school, and imported it into Final Cut.

The Result:

• We tried using music from both Garageband and youtube, and at the end we prefered the youtube version
• The music at the beginning matches well with the scenes, as the music creates a fairytale/fantasy atmosphere, but with a creepy touch to it.
• Some cuts were fades and not jump cuts, which is not what we wanted, but we experimented with it, and surprisinly it did look okay, so we might consider using fades and not jump cuts in our final piece.

Overall thoughts:

• I liked using Final Cut, as it was a really useful application which will help us when we edit once we have finished all editing
• I thought this task was useful as this allowed us to experiment and play around with Final Cut as all of us had no clue on how to use it at all.
• In addition, I thought this was useful because it helped give us a brief look in how our final product will look and be like, so this allowed us to change or alter certain parts, if we did not like how it looked in the animatics.
• In my opinion, the only negative to this is that we needed more storyboard sketches, to make the animatic look more realistic, as I have just briefly drew sketches for each scene. If I had drawn in more detail and depth, and more sketches per scene, I think we would get a better understanding and look in how the final product will look like.

Screenshot of me converting the files on SNIPMP3



Updates:

Just want to say sorry for the lack of updates this past week, as I had no time to blog, but on the good side, we have finished filming, so therefore we will be hopefully be editing ASAP!
Also, we decided as a group that we will start vlogging as it is a more easier and quicker way to keep everything up to date. We will start vlogging from now on!  - First vlog will be up after this!