Account of editing

Account of Editing

In order to edit our footage, we first had to collect all of the captured film from the school cameras and import them onto Adobe Premiere. Once the clips were imported, we used an option called 'Capture', which allowed us to render the clips fully once, so that they would be readily available whenever we needed them. Once all of the clips were captured, we cut the long footage into subclips to make it easier when editing. We exported the files as a PAL DV Widescreen file (.avi). This render option was the one best suited for the cameras that were used. As a group we stayed behind after school to export all of the footage. This took us a very long time as the file percentage went up by 1 almost every minute, therefore we spent roughly one and a half hours after school waiting for the footage to render fully. I also had to change the contrast of the footage because when filming, the footage was poorly white balanced, therefore, by changing the contrast it eliminated the poor white balancing.

I ended up having to cut off a lot of footage and scenes, as we went over the length limit of the video. Once I was happy with the footage we decided to keep, I had to add black bars to the clips where we filmed with a mobile phone. This is because the school cameras automatically had placed black bars on each side of the clip, and there were no black bars on the footage from the mobile phones, therefore I manually inserted them using Vegas Pro. So far the footage looked good, but it did not have any effects or text. I added the opening credits by adding our names. I then proceeded to add the music that we would use. The songs that we chose were specifically non-copyrighted, and I have double-checked this and confirmed that they were royalty-free. As well as the music, I imported royalty-free machine gun sounds and edited them in to every time there was a shot. I then went online to search for some green screen effects of blood splats and muzzle shots. In order to insert the effects onto the clip, I dragged the effects to the timeline on a new video layer, and I used an effect called 'Chroma Keyer', which allowed to me select the colour of the green-screen so that the green would get removed from the video.

Once it was removed, all the effects would remain on the video clip. Once I imported them onto the clip, I found that the muzzle shots were easy to add in, however the blood splats did not look so firm as the camera was shaky or it slightly moved during some scenes, therefore it would be difficult to implement the effects on the footage. I added a fade at the end, after the basketball player said to the killer, "Is it done?". I rendered the footage again as the same PAL DV Widescreen (.avi) template. That was the editing of the draft we eventually made.

After showing our group, we decided that the blood splats did not look so great, along with a few minor issues. We then decided it would be best if I remove all of the effects of the video, and render and send it to another member of our group. He used a different program to add effects to the video, called 'Adobe After Effects'. He added the muzzle flashes, lighting effects and the blood shots, as well as the text (which had to be altered as we needed to include company names) and fades. He also added an ending title with the name 'Blacksburg 32' and 2 bullet holes plus the audio of gunfire. He rendered the clip using the same template, and it was uploaded to YouTube.

In class, we showed everyone what we had made so far, and requested feedback. The only criticisms we received was that of the last part when the basketball player said "Is it done?" and also the blood effects as they looked too unrealistic. The overall feedback was to remove the part where the basketball player speaks, and also remove all of the blood effects, whilst still keeping the muzzle flashes and lighting.

The two of us then used programs such as 'Skype' and 'Teamviewer' in order to edit the remaining parts of the thriller. We found these programs were extremely helpful as they allowed us to communicate swiftly and efficiently so that we could agree on any changes that were being made. So as a result of the feedback, we removed the dialogue from the basketball player, and removed all of the blood splat effects. The final version was then rendered and uploaded to YouTube.

All together we spent roughly 12 hours on the editing. If we had to edit the footage again, we would ensure that firstly the clips we were using were not shaky, so that effects would be able to be implemented easily. Also, as we used the school cameras, we had a default render extension that had to be used (.avi), thus meaning that the video's quality would only be maximised at 480p, which is not bad, but it could have been better if we rendered it as a (.mp4), as that would allow the video to be viewable at 720p HD quality. I was pleased with the way that our group communicated and edited the footage, and I believe that we did a great job overall.