My First Edit!

I never worked with iMovie until now. I'm very used to similar softwares (e.g. Final Cut Pro) and I think it was easy for me to use iMovie since both programs that I worked with are made and owned by the same company, so they're bound to have similar layout and features.

One thing I slightly struggled with was the timeline. Its completely different to what I have experienced and I don't find it very comfortable using it because you can do very little effects on there and there's no guidelines like the time. Without this feature, I can't make my clips very precise. I also can't see the audio visualised but instead just the green bars with the titles and the only way I can track the sound is by hovering over with the mouse and listening to it instead of using the sound waves. It would help me if I'm working with a track that has a steady beat and I want to edit to the rhythm.

Alternatively, I like how iMovie offers its own sound effects. Thee's a huge variety of high-quality files, which you can use to edit, and I believe its great because I'm not needed to go off and look for sound files to download, and even if I do, some might come out with bad quality or in an incorrect format.

I decided to edit in some sound effects to keep my work interesting and not plain boring e.g. background music to replace (or mute) the surrounding noise. I also replaced some sound effects even if we had the sound recorded in the video because I wanted a clean sound effect rather than the sound effect with the background noise - it just would not fit.

On the downside, I didn't edit the dialogue well because it went too quickly, meaning the audience doesn't catch the joke, which is the main subject of the video. I could've slowed down the clips to give longer pauses between the sentences because the raw clips originally had very fast dialogue, and I think that's why I couldn't get the timing right.

I found the clipping very easy where you just drag the edges of the clips to shorten or extend them. I think I really got the hang of this and it will come in very handy for me in the future so I don't end up with unecessary time on clips that go on for too long or unneeded action, or too short clips where the viewer doesn't get enough time to process all the information before the video moves onto the next frame.

I managed to use a transition for effect, which is the first clip fading in from black. But unfortunately this was added after I uploaded this work.

I think to improve I should've added some introduction text because when the audience watch the video, they've not a clue what the video's going to be about. Say I was to include 'Dr. Interrupt.' at the start, audience might get a bit of a clue or a brief idea of what is coming up next.

I decided to include credits in the end with black background and white text rolling from the bottom of the screen upwards.

Overall, I think iMovie is a very easy and simple software to use to quickly edit, export and share a video.

Planning: Casting

Casting is a term used to describe the pre-production process for choosing cast within the media industry. Casting often includes auditioning but we didn't have the time for that, so we had to go out looking for people who we believe are suitable for our production. We came across a few of our friends and took quick photos for future references. I think its good to cast friends because you're more confident with them and when together you're easy to communicate, which means we can get along when filming. It can also speed up the process because you both understand better each other.


Josh was one of our choices for the video because he has a loud and clear voice and has quite an expressive face. I believed that he'd make a great doctor because he has a good, serious look and can sustain it pretty well.

With Jerin, she's generally a quiet person and is very easy to work with. We kept her in mind because we're all pretty close with her, which can make our communication great, meaning the filming becomes easier and more in harmony.











We were suppose to cast Jerin and Josh, but unfortunately Josh was not available for filming at that time, and luckily we came across Emily who was free for filming, so in the end we decided to cast Emily and Jerin.

Emily is very confident with many things, acting being one of them. She has a very clear and loud voice, which is great when it gets to recording the conversation.






Both, Emily and Jerin are great for the parts we were looking for because we all get along with them, which eases our filming, and they're great when it gets to acting. Although I wanted the doctor to be played by a male character, I think looking at the cast we have now, I'm pretty satisfied with having both roles played by females.

Identifying Camera Angles and Movements

I decided to look at some videos to improve my knowledge about camera shots and movements, and I believe this video is ideal for the job.

Here, we have an extreme close-up to show the details of the object the camera is focusing on at the moment. It's so close it became a macro shot, blurring out the background to avoid distractions.

This shot is a combination of close-up/mid technique, showing more than a close-up can but less than the mid-shot. This way it shows the character's emotions, in this case Sherlock's curious about the blood drop on the wooden planks on the wall.

This shot also shows a bit of background, giving the viewer an idea of where the character is at the moment.

The camera tracks down to Sherlock's hand to identify the blood drop. It builds up tension because it shows a good close up of Sherlock being in contact with the sign relating to death.

Here is the long shot. Its the next location where the next scene takes action so by beginning with the long shot introduces the viewer to the location and gives them the understanding of the setting where Sherlock is heading. There's also other characters in the shot to show that Sherlock is not going to be alone.

Here's a second long shot, showing Sherlock from head to toe, entering the setting. This shot is panning Sherlock when he walks to the centre of the room to face his opponent. This way the focus remains on the character.

This is the over-shoulder/shot-reverse-shot. The camera is showing close-up/mid-shot of the two characters as well as swaps from one shoulder to another. It allows the viewer to keep track of the dialogue the characters exchange. It also builds up the tension between the two.

Here is a similar shot of the over-shoulder but instead of looking over the shoulder, it's just the back of the character (sort of torso area). The opponent is displayed in mid-shot with his face shown so the lines he is saying have the attention of the viewer. Along with that, it shows the second character, also in mid-shot, which can show what the enemy is causing that character to feel like.


They featured another close-up of the relationship between the 2 characters that are in danger. The hands are mostly in focus, which can suggest the weakness in them.






For the next setting, they did another establishing shot to show where the scene is going to take next. The car is upcoming towards the camera, and the camera tracks back away from it. It then panels towards the left, watching over the character as he exists the car.

 

They've included a long shot to show the full body of the character, along with a setting. They decided to include the shop that is commonly known to be the shop right next to Sherlock's house.

This is an extreme close-up, showing that the enemy's already been captured. The camera focuses just on the face of the character to show the details of his emotions The background is blurred and more faded than his face, also enchancing the character's emotions.

This is an interesting shot because it's a combination of a few; the long shot (displaying full bodies of the two in the background), the mid-shot of Sherlock (showing his focus on the opponent), and the opponent over his shoulder (gives it the sort of POV effect).

In this shot, there's Watson and Sherlock exchanging dialogue. But its also combined with the over-shoulder shot because you have a bit of the opponent in the shot too. This gives an effect to the viewer of them looking from the opponent's point of view.

Planning: Location Planning

Taking shots of locations where we're going to take action helped us visualize our story board. It gave us a brief understanding of how our video will look like in the end.

During the progress we got to decide the best places for our shooting, so location planning also allowed us to adjust for best lighting and what settings are possible. Having that sorted out before flming saves us time because if there was a room being in use while we had to shoot, we'd have to move to a diferent location, as well as altering the storyboard.

 We decided to have the establishing shot paneling to show a better view of the scenery, and giving the viewer a better understanding of the location.

We'll include the stairs to track down the character and show where he/she's heading to. It will also give the viewer more information on the setting. 

We'll be making sure the railing in the middle will be straight to make the scene more symmetrical.

Here is the area of 6th form, where most of the action will be taking place. We chose this area because the least lessons take place in here compared to any other classrooms, which will allow us to focus more on our filming rather than keeping quiet and making sure we don't disturb any lessons. We'll be able to communicate at a normal tone that will allow our work to be organised and hopefully successful. 

The 6th form area has several study rooms, which is great because if we need to use the study room, we can ask for the people in there to move to a different area if they're busy studying so they don't get in the way of our scene or we don't cause them to loose their focus. The setting is also business-like, which is exactly what we're looking for, except the seating. We'll have to borrow somethings from other rooms to get the setting perfect. The lighting is also good because we have the windows that let in light from the outside as well as the lights on the ceiling. If it's too bright then we can turn off the lights to use natural light, or pull the blinds down for ambient light.

Planning : Storyboarding

The purpose of the story board is to plan out the sequence of the shots we are to make before editing the motion picture. Story boards show you information like what camera shot it's going to be, the camera movement and what sound is going to be included within that certain shot. It will help us prepare to film and we'll be able to use this to produce a shot list to have with us when filming. 

OCR Media Studies, How to Guide. Basic Camera Angles

Camera Movements - 180 rule. OCR How to Guide with Karl Davis

OCR Media Studies - Camera Movements

OCR Media Studies - Basic Camera Shots

Planning : Preliminary Task Introduction

Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a hair opposite another character, with whom she/the then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse and shot and the 180-degree rule. 

Group

I am working with John, Jake B. and James. 

Me As A Consumer of the Media

I'm Agne Jurkenaite(16), a 6th former at Kettering Buccleuch Academy, studying media along with art, graphics and IT. Why am I here is to share my many viewpoints of media with you! I very do hope you enjoy browsing my blog and I thank you for caring to visit!

I have already managed to live a quarter of my life dependent just on the Internet. I'm very familiar with social medias like YouTube, FaceBook and DeviantArt, but mostly Tumblr. I believe I have been very successful with the 1,848 followers I earned, and still growing! 

Tumblr’s purpose is to allow users to share anything effortlessly with the world. I often use it just for entertainment, enjoying what others post as well as posting things myself, but sometimes I come across important and most recent news, and I think it’s a great way of getting the news this way because you’re enjoying yourself whilst still getting information on what’s going on around the world rather than having to sit down and read the newspapers (which I totally don’t wish on doing). I believe Tumblr is a great source of news for teenagers like me whose lives depend on the Internet, and many dislike reading nowadays so there’ll be very little chance of them picking up the newspaper.

I believe Tumblr also has a huge impact on me as a person. A lot of people post personal things that sometimes inspire me and makes me want to be like them, and at times it’s very effective. Sometimes it changes the way I think about certain things, or even affects me as a person (I hope not in a bad way).

For further inspiration, I often visit Deviant Art; a place where you get to share your very own art, and enjoy others' works ranging from students (like myself) to professional artists! I think this website is a very great advantage to see how art is made in different parts of the world by different people, although you won't get to witness the famous arts, it's as good as! 

Another media that plays a large part in my mediums of communication world is FaceBook. I believe its one of the greatest inventions, though I don't tend to use FaceBook for everything they have to offer, it's the best way I keep my socialisation active and going. If I cannot make it when I'm  to meet up with friends or etc I can just have a chat with them on FaceBook instead! It might've triggered my way of typing a little but I can still manage proper grammar if necessary! 

It has changed the way I relate to people, like when I get to know more than I believe I should about them. I think when living in widely-populated areas you're bound to want to know what's going on in the city and I believe FaceBook makes that easier. 

Okay, so I do agree that Internet has caused me to stay indoors for longer hours, and I admit it has affected me as a whole; I've become much less sociable when I have these entertainments being pulled by this machine I stare at for hours every single day. Sigh.. I should get a new hobby.

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