Filming: Put on hold

     After a few more editing sessions, my group mates and I noticed a few more mistakes in our footage. We scheduled to film more of our movie today. However, since we had scheduled this day to film, there has been a virus outbreak. The virus is COVID-19. This is a harmful virus (deadly in some cases) that has affected the lives of many people. This virus has caused schools, restaurants, beaches, and much more to shut down. My dad was told to work from home until further notice and my school will be closed until mid-April. Due to the severity of this situation, my group mates and I were not able meet up and film. Going back to our filming location could put us at risk of getting sick. Everyone should be social distancing for the sake of our health.
     Not only is this virus affecting my daily life, it is affecting the entire world. Many TV show and movie productions have been put on hold because of COVID-19. Movies and shows often film in different parts of the world. If filming were to continue, the actors would be at a high risk as well as every other person working on the production. Since this is a pandemic, everyone is at risk no matter where in the world they are. This definitely relates to my group and I. We can’t film, much like the people working on blockbuster movies cannot film right now. Not only has production for blockbuster films stopped, but their release dates are also getting postponed. Our movie’s due date has not changed however, our process is still being affected similarly to major productions. As of this moment, all filming days have been postponed. My group and I will prepare with the fact that we may have to work with what we have.

Re-edit: the next step

      My group and I had to meet up again to reshoot certain scenes. Doing the peer review helped my team and I realize what we needed to improve on. It gave us an audience’s perspective of our film. Since that feedback was given, we filmed again. We now have all of those scenes complete. It’s time to go back into the editing process and put everything together. One worry was that the new footage would not align seamlessly with the other clips because it was taken on a different day. I replaced the footage that had excess noise with the new footage. Luckily, everything fit perfectly! Our reshoot was a success and now the editing process can continue.
      I cropped each of the clips and put them in there correct places. All of the clips were now set in chronological order.  The next thing I did was add the instrumental music. Choosing the right music is important because it creates the mood. An instrumental alone can make the entire audience feel scared, sad, or happy. Finding the perfect instrumental was more difficult than I thought. There were many options however, only a few went with the scenes. After some major searching, we finally found the right instrumental. I added the music over the footage and began evening out the sounds. Sound editing takes time but it is vital.

Reshoot: Making changes

     During each of my editing sessions, I took notes on what needed to be fixed. In the very first inside scene, I noticed you could here faint voices in the background. At the time, the voices did not seem like a problem because the people were so far away. However, once I was looking back at footage, I realized how well the voices carried through the building. In some of the later scenes where there is dialogue, construction from outside can also be heard. This meant that we would have to film those scenes again. Starting this project, my group and I figured we would have to reshoot at some point. Because we were prepared, we were able to schedule a day to film again easily. Earlier this week, my group and I met up at the same filming location to began reshooting the scenes. We came in the same costumes as before and did our make up the same.

      The first scene we decided to film was the very first inside shot. This scene was pretty easy to reshoot because it was a starting scene. A starting scene meant that we did not have to worry about the shot lining up with the scene before it. This made recording that scene less stressful. The next few scenes we had to reshoot were a little more tricky. The next shots were going to include dialogue which meant the characters would be filmed back and fourth using shot reverse shots. It took some time getting each actor into an almost identical position as the first time we filmed. Once the actor was in the correct place, we were able to get those scenes perfect. The process for reshooting was much faster this time. Reshooting these scenes will improve our film and allowed us to fix our mistakes.

Editing: The sound of Mantis

      Right now I am still in the process of editing our film. The next thing I will be focusing on is the sound. Sound is very important in a film, silent or not. In silent movies, the music carries the mood and creates feeling for the audience. In traditional movies, dialogue creates the story and helps create connection while background music can help create mood. Types of sound include dialogue, background music, non-diegetic sound, diegetic sound, etcetera. My film is supposed to have an intense feeling. Sound can help create this intensity with dialogue, which will tell the story and blatantly tell the audience what is happening and how they should feel. Sound can also create this intensity through the background music. Background music can emphasize suspense and help the audience foreshadow something eerie is coming. The reason I am devoting a whole period of editing to sound is because of the importance it holds.
     The dialogue in the film was the first thing my group and I focused on. The actual dialogue was recorded during the filming process however, it needed some tweaking. I began by evening out the sounds. Some scenes were different volumes when the actors spoke at different volumes. Once I evened out all of the dialogue, I moved on to the music part of sound. The music needed to enhance the intensity of the film. My group and I decided that suspenseful background music would best fit the scenes in our film. However, this instrumental will not be played throughout the whole two minutes. The instrumental will be inserted only in the scenes it is needed. Sound is one of the most important elements in a film so it is important my group and i perfect it to the best of our abilities.

Peer Reviewing

      This week was review week. Each group would get assigned another team’s project to peer review. A different team looked over my group and I’s project. The main focus for me was to look over the other group’s work and fill out some information about their project. The questions were asking about the groups progress and whether or not they are following the guidelines properly. Lucky for me, the team I got was very organized and had their project ready for me to review. I watched it once fully through and then rewatched it. The first time I watched it, I wanted to see the storyline and view it like I would any other movie. The second time I watched it I took notes on the camera angles, shots, and movements I saw. I also focused on what transitions they used in the first two minutes.
     Once I finished taking notes, I focused my attention to the worksheet. I answered the questions based on facts first. I had to put whether they had certain camera angles and/or movements. If they did have it, I had to put at what time in their video the angle or movement appeared. There were also a few questions about the order of the titles. After I answered all of those types of questions, I moved on to the more opinionated questions. What I really liked about the group’s film was their use of camera movements. The tilts really helped enhance the feeling and mood of the film. The camera movements also helped the scenes flow together nicely. Overall, the peer review was very beneficial because it showed examples of how different camera shots can be used and executed. This part was also fun because we got to watch our fellow classmate’s act.

Editing blog: coming together

      My group and I finished filming this past week. Filming is a main element when creating a film however, the editing is what really makes a film. To begin the editing process, I started by putting all of the footage into chronological order. When I say footage, I mean the shots that my group and I decided were the best out of all takes. Once the footage has been put in chronological order, it is time to cut each video. The cutting process can take a very long time. For this project, cutting the scenes wasn’t too bad overall, however, there were some challenges. One of the challenges I faced was trying to make sure all of the shot reverse shots matched up. Sometimes getting two different scenes to align perfectly takes tedious work. Eventually, the shots came together and flowed smoothly.
      The editing stage is also where you can see which scenes are needed and which scenes aren’t. While editing, I noticed our film was too long. Because it was too long, I had to go back and review every scene to see which ones were absolutely necessary and which ones could be removed. There were a few scenes near the beginning of the film that I had to cut out. Although, originally those scenes seemed like a good idea, they are not necessities. Lighting was not too much of a hassle when it came to editing. Sound is another important element of a film. The next step of the editing process will be too work on making sure each sound is leveled out. Sound can get difficult to control which is why a lot of the time it is edited. For my group and I’s film, the audio of the outside scenes will need some work.