Post Production Software Tools

 

These are the software tools on Final Cut Pro that I had used when creating the video for my short film.

When I selected the clip, it would highlight in a yellow border. I would select clips to move them on the timeline so that they are in the correct place that I want them to be in. With the select tool, it would help me view the properties of the clip and mark certain sections of the clips.

With the trim tool I can cut down the clips so that it only has the certain part of the clip that I want. For example, if I had recorded a scene and didn't have something that I wanted at the end I could use the trim tool so that the part I didn't want was removed.

The position tool helps arrange clips without affecting the timing of other clips. If I wanted to add an extra clip onto the timeline, I could use the positioning tool to put it onto the timeline without it moving all of the other clips. If I hadn't use the positioning tool, the clip I placed on would have moved all of the other clips. 

Instead of using the select tool to move a clip or show its properties I used the range selection tool within any clip of the timeline. The range selection tool spans/selects multiple clips. With the range selection tool I could: trim them, mark them with ratings and keywords and modify them in other ways. 

I used the blade tool to cut parts of the clips on the timeline down. Instead of using the trim tool, I just highlighted the clip with the blade cursor on the timeline and cut the sections I needed to cut down with it. With trim tool, you could reduce the end of the clip but whilst with the blade tool you could use the blade to cut down the middle of the clip, etc.

With the zoom tool, I used it to change the view so I can visibly view all of the clips at once. I would zoom in so it would help me with cutting down clips, adding transitions, etc. I would zoom out to see how long of the video we had to edit and it would show us all of timeline. With the zoom tool, it helped change the view so no scrolling was required to reach the part I wanted to edit. (zoom out)

With the hand tool, I could use it to scroll the timeline. When a project is playing and I spot a mistake I could use the hand tool tool to scroll back to that scene and make adjustments to it accordingly. 

Blog Reflection Week 10

 This week we managed to complete:

• Feedback Evaluation

After holding our focus group, we gathered our feedback and analysed it. We analysed it's: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and the threats it had. We also reflect what we could have done as an individual to improve upon.

We evaluated on this feedback and what they said and we went over what we could improve upon.

Focus Group Feedback

 

SWOT Analysis of offline edit

 

Focus Group- Evaluating Feedback

After finishing our short movie, we held a focus group with people in our target audience. We asked them questions such as: "What do you think went well in the short film", "What could be improved upon in the short film", etc. The audience gave responses about how they felt commenting such as: "The sound effects help create a good atmosphere", "The acting was good and felt realistic", "Conventions from horror movies were made clear,", etc. 

It was said that we followed a lot of conventions from Horror/Thriller movies, and a lot of these aspects were made clear when watching the short film. (e.x. dark colour palette, loud noises, etc.) 

They also gave feedback on what they believe we could improve upon such as: "An actor looks as if they are reading from a script and sounds quite robotic", 'Some audio should be cut out, etc." Comments regarding how we should practice the short film before recording too was made. 

Our main aim with the focus group was to find out what we did well and where we could improve, it was also to find out information on what the liked the best and if we were to create another short film create it surrounding the answers of this focus group.  

To improve upon this, I believe that if we were to ever record a short film again we should spend more time practicing and reading the script before going ahead and recording. As we did not spend a lot of time practicing the script more, we ended up forgetting a lot of our lines and some lines delivered came across as a like shaky or robotic sounding.

We also discussed ourselves in the focus group about our personal opinions on what we could improve upon and what we could of added if we could go back and change things. We asked them if they enjoyed the story and if they wanted to ask any general questions about it or more. For example, a member of the focus group asked if they think we could do a continuation of our short film (a sequel) and we gave them our responses. We also continued to talk about what we did on the short film, how we  did it and what we liked ourselves.  

For my own individual improvement, I believe that there was more I could of done with the editing. With the Zoom call screen, I feel as if I could have given it some more life instead of it being a bland Zoom Call screen. I have the knowledge to be able to add chroma key onto the edit, and if I had enough time I feel as if I should have tried to incorporate with the short film. I could have added more visual effects to make the atmosphere feel eerie and creepy, making the viewers feel unsettled. With this, I believe it would be appealing to the viewers. (For example, adding a grunge border around the screen.)

In the short film, my own acting (Maria's) could have been improved upon. I feel as if I could have practiced the script more with my own lines so I was more confident with it. During the short film, there are parts where I seem unfocused; to improve upon this I believe even when something else is doing their role on screen (as I would still be visible on the short film) I should still try to act along to make it seem more realistic. My voice sounded very shaky and stuttering, despite my character being scared: it still felt very unnatural and it appeared I needed more practice. 

During the production, I believe we should of planned out our dates more and followed the production shcedule more closely. We could of had multiple days to shoot our shots for the short film giving us more practice and confidence each time, making the short film be more realistic. Myself and my colleague should have communicated more about what tasks we should have done so that the work production could have been done more efficiently and at a faster pace. This would have vastly improved our short film as if we had completed it more quickly, we would have had more time to look over the short film and fix any mistakes that we had found before exporting it and uploading it onto Youtube. 

Week 10 Task Allocation

 

Sound editing explanation

As our short film is a Horror/Thriller, we wanted to attempt to create a scary and unsettling atmosphere. During our short film, people are killed off one by one and the main character is left all on her own. After all of the deaths occurred and the main character is left on our own we wanted the viewers to feel unsettled. We pitched down the audio so that the mood feels uncanny and strange, connoting that something bad was going to happen afterwards. As it was pitched down, the music sounded slower and deeper. 

On certain parts on our short film, we wanted to try and emphasise the importance of what was being said. For example, when one of the main characters asks "Did you get the notification too?" we wanted it to foreshadow something ominous and bad being in this notification to the viewers. The loud sound effect catches the viewers attention and draws them to the screen. We also turned up the volume on it so it sounds louder. 

We wanted to use music as a way to dennote the mood in the short film. For example, when we wanted to create a tense atmosphere we cut the music down and speed it up so it draws the viewers attention to the screen. This foreshadows that something bad was going to happen and that the viewers should pay attention of what will happen next.

So that the audio fades out smoothly, we added dissolve effects so it doesn't abruptly cut out. We also overlapped audio to make the atmosphere more tense and threatening, for example we had ominous and scary music overlapped with the heartbeat sound effects to make the viewer feel worried about what will go down in the short film and what dangers will be featured in it.

When we recorded, some of our audio did not sound clear enough. To fix this, we did a voice-over so that the audio sounds clearer and it sounds louder to the viewers when they were not able to hear it before. 

To enhance the audio, we also used a program called 'Adobe Audition' to enhance the audio and make it of the best quality. It was also use to help reverb and lower the sound to make it sound more eerie.