Rock Climber Montage

In order to introduce us to Adobe Premiere Pro, my class were assigned the project of creating a nice montage of a rock climber's day. At the beginning of my editing, all I could do was cut parts of a video I didn't want - but i was confident that I was doing fine. 

However, I was then told that the expected length of the video was meant to be 2 minutes long. I had so far created a nice little 40 second clip, but I had to push myself to do more. After cutting up the other videos and deciding what I wanted to show - I had the idea to do a voiceover at certain points in the video. Going through the interview video and taking what I wanted, I then went through all of my other clips - trying to match what the man is saying to what is being shown. Another problem I ran into was the music as the music I was given only lasted around 15 seconds - I was finding it difficult to get each piece of music to flow into the other discretely. But it was very noticeable.

I was then ready to put everything together - all the clips, music and the voiceover. While editing I also learnt how to use key frames to change the volume of my music in order to make it less overpowering. I also discovered effects, which allowed me to put all kinds of transitions and fades into my video and making it look smoother. After a day of editing, I was finally able to publish my work onto YouTube and submit it too my teachers.

Overall, I think that after learning each skill in Premiere Pro - I could go back and fix any faults in the video. I thought that the music sounded poorly spliced, I could go back and make the transitions into each other for smoother sound using more key frames or even opening the sound in Audition. The music was also drowned out the voiceover in the recording, so I would fix that too. Now that I know how to slow videos down, I would go back and remove some clips while lengthening others as to make the video look less clumped. I do, however, like how the beat of the music corresponds to the video on screen - drawing in the audience. Another thing I liked was the voiceover. There could be a few tweaks to do, but I liked how the voice was clear and didn't appear out of place. Using parts of the interview and not all of it helped create a peaceful atmosphere as the audience could almost picture going rock climbing and seeing all these beautiful sights themselves.

Camera Angles Tutorial

When asked what subject i'd like to make a tutorial on, I said camera angles. I knew that compared to the other topics - camera angles would be a piece of cake. After all, you only really need to show the angles - and then your done. However, that didn't mean I took this project lightly. With the simplicity of the topic, i could have complete creative freedom. If I wanted monkeys swinging off the walls or a really cool fight scene - i could have it because as long as i'm showing them in light of all these different angles, then the video counts as a tutorial. 

I then went off to do the paperwork. The script was first, I wanted to have the video envision so I could figure out what kind of atmosphere I wanted to create. After that I did all of the legal forms - including safety and the location recce. I had chosen, like other people, to use the media suite because of how it lets you feel a sense of professionalism working in front of a green screen and cameras hung up above you. I then worked up a schedule and was more or less ready to film.

My group had actually started filming their videos without me, and so had the basic gist of what to do - so we set everything up rather quickly. My crew member Stella had taken it upon herself to set up the lighting and take hold of the camera, throughout the filming Stella was pumped with energy and did an amazing job at keeping everything together. The actor centre piecing herself in my video would be Sophie. Although you could tell she was slightly uncomfortable with being alone in front of the camera, she took opportunities to really exaggerate and had a lot of fun in the end. 

After filming about two angles, other groups began pouring into the studio. I could see that they were becoming slightly distracting to my crew - and I only had that day to film. However, instead of insisting they leave - I welcomed them to act along side Sophie in my film. They were more then happy to stay and help, equipped with my script filled with improvising and creativity. 

Around now, everyone was digging into the props and creating some wild scenarios to do for each angle. I then recommended which ones i'd like to see in my video. For each angle I asked the actors to act it out first without the camera on so we could talk about anything we should change or add. It was also a good opportunity for them to get through the awkwardness and laugh before being serious and becoming focused again. Everyone put in a lot of effort to create drama and attract the audience - and at times that was truly shown. For example, my actor Ben sat down for around 20 minutes trying to shed a tear for an extreme close-up shot, and the result was a cinematic masterpiece.

We then stopped filming at the end of the day, my SD card filled with great shots. The following Monday, I went alone to record my voiceover. Overall, I believe I did a reasonably good job - but perhaps I should have changed the tone of my voice to match the energetic attitude of the actors. The last assets I needed were the text explaining each angle. I created them in PowerPoint (saving them all as individual images). Now, I can begin the editing.

After moving all of my sounds, videos and images into Premiere Pro - I started putting everything into place. I start the video with myself introducing the audience while Sophie waves to the camera, creating a nice friendly approach. I then continued to introduce the first angle, which then turns to the actors and finally some informative text. I copied this format for the rest of the video until all seven angles were explained. Now that the rough placements were implemented, I could go through and smooth things out. 

I began editing the video's volume. It was loud, the music blocking out my voice. To fix this I dampened the music, making the sound not too faint but also loud enough for the audience to enjoy. I later tuned down the volume even more, and using key points I allowed my voice to overpower the music - so that I could sound crystal clear. 

After that I went onto the internet to look for sound effects. I had gathered around three gun sounds and the dramatic cries of a women. Later I also decided to include a heartbeat on one scene to really portray some drama. After implementing all of the necessary sound (including my voiceover just before the camera angle was shown), I was now ready to call this video my first draft. I watched it multiple times and gathered a list of what i thought needed tweaking - then I went to show the video to my brother, hoping that he could either confirm or deny my original criticism. When we were done watching the tutorial, he gave me a few pointers on where to improve - such as the volume, voiceover and transitions. While it was now to late to re-film my voiceover, I went straight to work trying to fix some of these issues. 

After a few criticisms and suggestions from my teacher - I also had another change to make. For my voiceover, there would be a black screen as I announce each camera angle. This was fine, but it wasn't exactly interesting to look at and could produce some problems for my audience if they have hearing problems and would need to be shown the name of the angle. After a mental vote of deciding between a simple title announcing the angle or a fun little graphic of myself - I choose the second. After around 15 minutes of work in Microsoft Paint, I had a little avatar pointing at the name of each camera angle I was going to show. I implemented them in, and watched the video for a final time. After sending the video off to get marked, I was finally done.

Overall, I feel like the final product is almost exactly as I envisioned it. It has the right amount of drama that I wanted, as to draw in the audience. I had managed to implement voiceovers, moving/still images, music, text - just about everything that I wanted to test. Nothing looks too out of place and the pacing is slow enough to take the tutorial's information in. Even though I am immensely proud of my work and can't see too many faults in it - perhaps I could have improved upon the education aspect that I need to show. The voiceover of myself did end up sounding quite dreary and dull compared to the rest of the video - and if I could work on this video again, I would record myself again to sound happier and more interested in the topic.

Primary and secondary research sources

For my video I had to use different sources - both primary and secondary. To start with the primary sources, earlier in the course we were sent off to practice taking different angles such as the long shot and close up - this happened 

Evaluation

How well planned/organised were you?

I feel that I completed the script and other paperwork and felt prepared for everything else - but when I got to the filming and editing I was now going down a path that I didn't originally plan to follow. I did like the outcome however, but I feel like I should have stuck to a solid plan or create multiple ideas before deciding on only one.

How well did you cope with the timescale given?

I had created a schedule to plan what I was going to do on each day so that I wouldn't be confused. With two weeks I felt rushed at first, but as I went along I realised that I was doing just fine with the time.

Did you have a contingency plan prepared? 

 No, I didn't think of one and add it to my schedule - but what I did was take time out of school to work on anything I was behind on. Using my weekends and Wednesdays, I should have definitely made a better contingency plan instead of being confident in my schedule - and so for future projects I will try and make it a priority to create a back up plan.

What was the quality of the camerawork?

The camera was held very still for most shots, not being made to focus in and out on things like in previous projects. After editing, I did see that the focus change when someone moved - but it contributed to the drama in most scenes, focusing on different things in the frame. However, the lighting seemed to intense a times and should have been toned down.

What was the quality/mix of the sound?

The quality of the sound was great. Most of the video's audio was unusable, but I was never planning on using it anyway and the music was long enough so that I didn't have to splice it. The voiceover was the most important, and sounded very clear. I was happy that the microphone didn't pick up any unnecessary audio. The mix between the music and voiceover was fine, the music in the end didn't over power the voice too much and you could hear every word.

What is the quality of the final edit?

The final edit's quality falls and rises at different parts. When a person is on screen or the text has appeared, the video quality is amazing. However, when my handmade graphic appears to announce the angle - the quality drops and looks a little distorted. This could be because of the size of the image and so I could try resizing it in future.

Did you use any graphics?

Yes, I created several graphics of both images and text. The graphic that introduces each angle is an avatar I drew pointing to the angle. This would give the audience something to look at while they wait for the transition. The text after each angle is shown helps the audience to read a bit more on the purpose of each angle and where you might see it.

If you could do the project again, what would you change?

I would take more shots of each angle to see if there were any other ways to portray them. Letting the actors improvise and then tell them what I liked would make everything more consistent and ordered. I would also change the voiceover to say more to the audience and make it sound much happier and excited too. I'm not sure if I would change the atmosphere of the video, but I would want to experiment with a more educational video rather then a fun care-free tutorial.