Evaluation of Project

This module got off to a really slow start for me. I started the year with an idea that didn't work (and became my Digital Compositing project) and then I went on to have a second idea that never got off the ground, working with the Film & Media Production students. I was quite disappointed when this idea didn't come through because I was looking forward to being able to work as part of a team where everyone specialised and I would be able to concentrate fully on the edit of a short film or drama piece. I thought it would be really good practice for when I go out into the working world, but there wasn't really the need for an outside editor to come in and work on the projects. I learned this at about 4 weeks into semester one and had abit of a panic, as I had lost almost one month of working time and I had no idea what I was going to do for a project. Then I remembered that a work colleague of mine had asked me to get involved in making a portfolio for her as she is a dancer looking to apply for scholarships. I thought this would be a great idea for a project as dance routines are always interesting and difficult to film and edit and this way, I was helping her out and she was helping me.

With this project idea in mind I went off and began researching themes, techniques and looks that might work for the video. I had an idea that I wanted the look to be quite dark and reminiscent of Black Swan and so I looked into videos and imagery of this type to support this idea.

When I had my ideas and inspirations together I began to practice editing some dance videos. I took a range of different video clips of dancers from Getty Images, chose a piece of music and edited them into something interesting. I really enjoyed this and I am really glad I took the time to do the tests because it gave me confidence that I would be able to create something good in the end. It also helped me familiarise myself with editing pacing and how it creates a certain mood in an edit. As well as these tests I also researched transitions used in edits. This is because I knew that I would be filming two routines and wanted an interesting way to move from one to the other. I tested a couple out just so I had an idea of how they would look if I decided to use them in the final video. The last testing I did was of the lighting set up I wanted to use. I decided I was going to use the green screen studio, but not the green screen itself. I decided this because I wanted to use a fairly empty studio as the setting of the dance and I knew that if I could light the studio properly, I could get the dark 'on stage' effect I was looking for. I did this with help from a couple of friends and was really pleased that I managed to light the room in the way I had imagined. I definitely think that practising lighting and camera set ups on location is the best thing you can do if you have the time and access to the location, because it allows you to find out beforehand whether the location will work or not, meaning that you have the time to find a new place if it turns out it is not suitable. Luckily I did not have to do this.

With all of my planning done I organised the shoot for just after Christmas. I decided to use two cameras on the shoot, which is something I always try and do if I can, because it takes half of the work out and means you can have a massive variety of shots to choose from in the edit. I have learned over the years to record as much footage as you possibly can when on a shoot, because it will not always be possible to arrange a second shoot if you don't have all the footage you need. Myself and my course mate Brad spent a good few hours before the shoot setting up the lighting and the cameras so that we were ready to shoot as soon as the dancers arrived. I was glad we gave ourselves plenty of time because there was a lot to set up in terms of the camera that was doing the slow motion shots. Because the fps in slow motion is so much higher, the shutter speed becomes less and therefore the shots become really quite dark. This was something we needed to account for in the setup, because we needed the slow motion footage to be of the same exposure and quality of the normal 25fps footage. By tweaking the lighting and the exposure we were able to balance the two cameras.

The shoot went well, although a mix up with one of the girls meant they arrived late and left early, meaning we had to arrange a second shoot for the second routine. This didn't really surprise me because one thing I have definitely learned over the years at university is that working with outside people is a massive pain. But there wasn't anything I could do so I just had to be happy with the footage I had got. I decided I would do the first edit and the effects on the footage I had shot and then arrange the second shoot for a few months later. This was mainly because I was hoping to film outside and wanted the weather to pick up.

When it came round to the second shoot, I ended up having to use the same location as the first shoot, but light it slightly differently so it wasn't as dark and 'moody'. This was because one of the dancers was not available until the evenings and so it would not be possible to film outside as it would be dark. At the time I was disappointed about this because I thought shooting in two different locations would work better in the video, but at this point I didn't have much time to find anything else. In the end using the same location in both routines has actually worked out well and hasn't taken away from the overall look of the video. If I was to do it again I would probably try and find a different location as I think it might have improved the video, but in the circumstances I just wasn't able to.

I was over the moon to be finished with filming and was able to turn my attention to the edit of the second routine. This edit was a little more difficult than the first one because I wanted the pace to be much quicker, to match the music and pace of the routine. I was really pleased with the sequence I managed to put together and it gave me more confidence in the work I was producing.

In terms of the effects in this video, I hadn't originally planned to have any effects in it, as I didn't want to repeat the mistakes of last year and try and include too much. But with the routines being less than a minute each and with the edits done fairly quickly, I was worried that there wasn't enough work there and so I began looking into effects that would work with the routines. I tried a few different ones out but in the end I decided to use the freeze frame effect in the slow routine and a split screen effect in the fast routine. These effects needed altering and improving after showing the video to my tutor, and the split screen effect was removed completely, but in the end I was much happier with the overall video once I had made the improvements.

I was really grateful for my tutors criticism because I knew that I could improve my work, I just needed a little bit of guidance to reignite the creative spark. In the past I have been a little bit ignorant to the improvements I could make in my pieces of work and once they are finished, I have not wanted the opinions of others because I didn't want to be told that my work wasn't good enough. But I have tried really hard not to do this this year because I knew that I needed to stretch myself and be challenged by myself and others to produce the best work I am capable of. I am really glad that I have done this, in both of my major modules, because the improved pieces are both infinity better than the original ones I showed to my tutor and for once I am actually proud to show people the work I have produced.

If I was to do this module again, hopefully I would develop my idea a little bit earlier on so that I had a clear focus from the start, but apart from that, and the location change, I am happy with how this module has gone and proud of the work I have handed in.

Dance Editing Portfolio - The Final Video

Changes to my Work

I received some really good feedback on this project from my tutor, and there were only a couple of things that needed improvement, mainly to do with the effects. It was decided that the split screens in the first routine didn't really work because they were so random, and the freeze frame effect didn't work with just a single frame. With this feedback I went back to the After Effects projects and started to work on the changes. I took the split screens out altogether and replaced them with a fast cut between the two dancers, which looked 100 times better. I also returned to the freeze frame work and added more frames to each sequence so that there was more of a flow to the effect, and this made it work much better. I also added another sequence of freeze frames during one of the spins after some feedback from my family, who said that the effect would work well with the spin sequence, which it did!

 As well as improving the effects I already had, there were a couple of things that my tutor suggested I added to the piece. One of them was another slow motion shot. He really liked the slow motion shots that I already had in the sequence so I decided I would go right back to the first edit and see if there were any other good slow motion shots that I could put in. There was one that is actually one of my favourites shots of the entire shoot (I don't know why I didn't put it in the first time round!) Anyway I added that to the sequence and rejigged some of the cuts to make it fit. I am really glad I did this because it adds more drama to the routine.

The second thing I looked into adding was a transition that comes from taking a shot where a dancer moves across the screen and masking the back of her out, then key framing this mask and moving it along to cut out the back of the dancer for the entire shot. This then makes it looks as though the dancer is dancing in front of the next shot and it is revealed as she moves along. I wasn't sure whether there were any instances in the edit where this type of shot would appear and whether I would be able to do the effect or not but I tried it out and it worked really well for one shot. I have only used it once but I hope that it is still effective.

Once I had completed all of these new and improved effects, I used the Magic Bullet grading package to see if there were any good grading looks that would work for the routines. I found two for the routines that were very different but work together, so I added these which gave the whole video a more professional look.

With all of the changes made I put the new footage back into the Premiere Pro file and stitched everything back together and did the final renders.

Audio

Today I worked on the audio for this project using Soundtrack Pro. I needed to fade out the end of the 'Blurred Lines' routine and then create a speeded up 'rewind' of the music as a transition between the two routines. This didn't take any time at all to complete, as I literally reversed the first track and speeded it up a little.

I know have to fit all of the audio pieces together in the edit and I should be almost done. although I am going to continue to look at this piece and see if there is anything I can either improve or add, as I still have a few weeks left before the deadline.

Submitting for Feedback

Today I uploaded the two routines so far to Vimeo and sent the links to my tutor for his feedback. I am really hoping that he is happy with what I have done and there aren't too many things that need to be changed because I am really happy with the pieces so far and would be disappointed if he didn't like them. I have just over a month left before the deadline for this project so hopefully I'm on the right track. Fingers crossed!

Fast Routine Photos

Editing Fast Routine

Today I cut together the second routine for this piece. I knew that I wanted lots of fast cuts in order to match the pace of the edit to the music and the actions of the dancers. I started by going through each shot, naming it and deciding which ones I was going to start with. I chose the best long shot of the routine as a base and then started cutting my favourite close ups in. Once I had all of the close ups in, including two split screens that I put together in After Effects, I then used frames from the mid shots to cut into the base sequence so that one shot wasn't on screen for too long.

I found this edit easier than I thought I would, mainly because I used the music track as a guide. Each of the clips had the music in the background so I was easily able to identify exactly when one clip started by what word was being sung at the time.

I am really pleased with the edit and hope that when I show it to people they will like it just as much as I do. The next stage for this routine is the visual effects. I have not quite decided what effects I am going to use because I am not sure that the freeze frame effect I used in the slow routine, or the light streaks effect I looked into will fit with this routine. I have plenty of time to figure it out so I may do some more research and look for an effect that looks really good and will fit with this routine.

I have also worked a little more on the slow routine today. I added an extra freeze frame near the beginning of the piece and I am now happy with this routine as well, although I would like to show my tutor the video to see what his opinion and advice is.

I have not yet decided how I am going to transition from one routine to the next, so this is something else I need to look into.