The pictures below show how I took the time to separate the footage up to save time in the edit.
I then set upon placing the clips in the general order with reference to my script. "The Importance of Script Writing. One of the first steps for creating a video project is the script writing. ... A script is a document that describes the video, which includes descriptions of the various shots and any dialogue/voice overs. A script also serves as a planning device for the video." (amifw, 2017) However, this did end up being a slight problem as we had to change a lot of what we filmed due to circumstances out of our control. However, I still got a rough edit together without touching colour correction etc. This was a very basic edit that I could send to the football club as well as getting feedback from my peers.
I sent this very rough cut to the club general manager Ed. He really liked it said he didn't feel that it needed any changes. This was a little frustrating in one way because I knew it was nowhere near finished and I wanted some feedback. However, in another, it was nice to know he liked what I had done so far.
"Client feedback sessions are an integral part of any creative project and are especially useful for video editors. Knowing how to make the most of the time, the questions and your answers, is an important skill to develop. Striking the right balance of being able to says ‘yes we can do that’ and ‘no – there isn’t time, budget or sense to do that’ is crucial to keeping everyone involved satisfied. Here are a few suggestions for video editors that might help keep the project on track in your next client feedback session." (Premium Beat, 2013)
I wanted some client feedback so I could drive the project in the direction that they wanted, however, I guess as the club is going through a tough time they were just happy that someone was doing something for them. At this point, I realised this would be a very tough edit in terms of client feedback, so I used my initiative and asked some of my peers about what they thought about the edit.
George gave me some feedback on my rough cut, here is what he said.
- Colour correction
- Title cards, Day 1, Day 2 etc
- Fewer cuts when I am asking questions
- Injury scene - cuts could happen quicker
- Transition between injury and gym scene is fast
- Less shots of Ben in hospice, more of Helen
- Voice over of game is a little quick
- Give Helen a few seconds to speak before cutting away
I knew peer feedback would be helpful as I have had a pretty basic response back from the club. "Students benefit from peer feedback in that they are able to teach other about the tasks and provide feedback that they would consider relevant. In seeing that their peer feedback is relevant, students will be more engaged and invested in working to complete the task successfully." (edutopia, 2015) This feedback for George was very valuable because when you edit by yourself you sometimes get into a pattern of not knowing what can be changed because you have looked at the same clips over and over. George's new perspective was very useful because it lets me see what the project was like with a new set of ideas.
I then got to work, starting with the colour correction, also known as colour grading. "Color grading is the process of altering and enhancing the color of a motion picture, video image, or still image electronically" (Wikipedia, 2017) As I have a mixture of inside and outside shots, it was tough to keep the linearity throughout the project. Below are a few examples of what I have done to enhance the colours in my project.
The DSLR raw shot is on the left and on the right is after some colour correction. I noticed throughout the edit that my DSLR did struggle to get the "true" colours. Sometimes this may mean very un-saturated and sometimes saturated too much. I decided to match the colours to my main camera, which from the outset captured more realistic colour tones. I have to admit that Colour grading is a part of video editing that I do not enjoy, but as it makes the final project look a lot more professional, it is critical that you do it.
Here is a shot from my main camera and as you can see it looks much closer to the DSLR after colour correction.
I also took George's advise on adding Day 1, Day 2 etc so that the viewer has a visual clue about what day it is. "The Role of Computer Graphics in Documentary Film Production. ... Computergraphics can be used to enhance the scenery, fill in the gaps in the missing storyline pieces, or animate between scenes. It can incorporate stereoscopic effects for higher viewer impression as well as interactivity aspects" (arxiv, 2011) After reading this I also decided that it would make sense to include name tags for each person who appeared on screen. I also sometimes put the name tag up multiple times in the socumentary if the time between the same person appearing on screen was quite long.
Here is an example of the day and name tags that I created in Photoshop to appear on the screen.
I also focussed on making the cuts between scenes less evidant as keeping a smooth feel throughout the documentary was important. "In the classical continuity style, editing techniques avoid drawing attention to themselves." (Film Analysis, 2017) As I was not doing a flashy edit, I needed to make sure that cuts didn't jump out at you. After adding some fade to black transitions and doing similar fades in the audio also helped the shots flow more seemlessly.
Something that I picked up was also matching the audio levels across the project as well as adding in the Tascam audio (which is much better than the shotgun mics) which I had not added in all areas in the Draft cut. The audio cut out the wind noise from the gusts that we had on all days of shooting, so the Tascam's audio does make the whole project sound more professional. "Paying attention to sound, both in terms of good recording and how it’s mixed and the use of sound effects and music, can make a real difference. Even if you’re only doing a simple interview with dialog only, a rich sounding human voice will make a difference." (Kino Eye, 2013) After adding the audio from the Tascam it also made the audio sound more realistic, once again making the project feel a lot more professional.
I also had some Go Pro shots that I had not used, and I actually found they worked quite well. Even though we had a lot of footage, I had a large need for these clips meaning these extra Go Pro shots helped. I added most of this by the time I rendered a fine cut. This fine cut was pretty close to the end of the project meaning not much will change between this and the final edit.
Fine Cut:
After the fine cut, I realised there were a few things I could possibly film to improve the edit. Here is a list of possible things I could film to improve the project. There is a possibility that I could shoot this on Tuesday (weather dependent)
- Drone shot of the London Bee's Stadium
- Drone shot of Harefield (area of training sessions)
- Piece to camera to end the documentary
- Some scenic filling shots between the days, so it doesn't jump for me at the training ground back to me at the training ground.
This is the majority of the editing process in this blog post, but I will include my final thoughts and edits after I have possibly filmed these extra shots on Tuesday. I will also be re-recording the voiceover after feedback from my peers that it felt rushed.
References:
Premium Beat, 2014
https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/keeping-your-video-editing-project-organized/
Accessed on 11th December 2017
amifw, 2017
http://amifw.com/the-importance-of-script-writing/
Accessed on 11th December 2017
Premium Beat, 2013
https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/video-editing-feedback/
Accessed on 11th December 2017
edutopia, 2015
Accessed on 11th December 2017Wikipedia, 2017
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_grading
Accessed on 11th December 2017
arxiv, 2011
https://arxiv.org/abs/1101.0663
Accessed on 11th December 2017
Film Analysis, 2017
Accessed on 11th December 2017
Kino Eye, 2013
http://kino-eye.com/2013/03/04/sound-for-documentary-part-1/
Accessed on 11th December 2017
Kino Eye, 2013
http://kino-eye.com/2013/03/04/sound-for-documentary-part-1/
Accessed on 11th December 2017
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