Editing Blog

Before I started editing I needed to record a voiceover. I had one of my members be the voice. After each recording, I made sure it was around six seconds long. Muffling noises were heard at the beginning and end of the recording. Taking that into account, it was six seconds or less. Every building had a voiceover. There was also one for the intro and outro. It didn't take long to record. It took about ten minutes. After recording the editing process began.

I started putting together the videos. I used a few transitions after every video. Some were cross dissolve. Others were circle open. I also used some fades. Editing the videos are fun. I get to play with a bunch of videos to make it one. Some clips where shorter than six seconds. That is fine because inserts will take up the time.

After the videos were together, I added inserts. My inserts were pictures of the school. It was also the course catalogs. I had the front of the school and inside classrooms. I had pictures of the band. I had pictures of the dance team. I had pictures of the art wall. I had pictures of the courtroom. These inserts were easy to find online. Students, teachers, and faculty always post pictures of the school.

Filming the Commercial

Today my group and I filmed our school commercial. We decided to start at the front of the school. We filmed in a different order than what we planned. We did it for convenience. It was easier to film buildings that were next to each other. There were other people using our filming areas, so we went to the buildings that we knew were empty. I carried the camera. I was also the director. I made sure my actress was in the position of the camera and knew what she had to do. I had another group member become a clapper since we don't have a clapper yet.

I made sure each shot had the right camera angles. I filmed two opening scene spots. We weren't sure if the first location was good so I suggested we film in another area. We filmed our second location at the Senior Patio where the gym is behind. The lightening there was much better than our original location, the office. The gym was the best location because it showed our school motto. I was able to get the school mascot logo in the video. However, my group and I need to refilm the opening scene on Monday because we didn't like how the shot came out. Once we refilm we will do our voiceovers. We save the voiceovers for last since we need a quiet place to do it.

Editing the videos will hopefully be smooth since we will be adding inserts into our commercial. I believe I was able to get enough content to work with. If having an actor makes our commercial too long, I will have backup videos that show only the building. The commercial can only be 30 seconds long. Inserts should cut the timings of the video. I will be using iMovie to edit the commercial. iMovie already comes with my laptop, making it easier to edit the commercial. I like editing. Putting together parts of clips are fun. Editing helps a video get a message across to audiences.

Storyboard

Our team collectively created a storyboard that would stand at the maximum time of thirty seconds for our first commercial. The overall theme of the storyboard was to portray the programs offered here at Fort Lauderdale High School. A total of five boxes was used out of the six to accurately layout the time frame for each scene that was planned to be carried out. Our team included an intro and an outro when laying out the storyline of the commercial. In between the ending and the beginning, each box will represent a specific building our team wants to incorporate when talking about specific programs offered. Each building will be talked about briefly and will be introduced for at least five seconds long. A jump cut transition would be used to move on from talking about one building onto the next. Our group will incorporate tilts and pans to showcase each building that will be talked about with the addition of voiceovers narrating the plot of the commercial. To show the actress on screen for a few scenes, our team will be using both medium shots and medium close-ups to have the person on camera doing the hand signals and introducing the school. The camera will be placed at an eye-level angle without any tilts to properly showcase the figure and the buildings within each shot. When talking about the programs offered here at Fort Lauderdale High School, inserts will be used to display the different types of rooms that hold the special programs along with listing the various AICE and AP classes offered. Our team went in chronological order when determining which building will be talked about first. The order goes from the intro, building 17, building 5, building 8, building 21, then the end. Our team presented the storyboard along with the script to the commercial for our teacher to approve on October 17th, 2019.



Here is the actual photo of the storyboard our team constructed together.

Editing Lesson

I learned the basics of editing a film. When editing you need to make sure your SD card is put in the proper reading device correctly. If it is not put in correctly, no video can be edited. Once the SD card is in, you then must make a folder for your footage. This is to ensure that none of your videos can go missing. If you take out an SD card without making a folder for your videos to go in,  you won't have access to the videos. Making sure you save your videos to the computer you use for editing helps the process go smoothly especially if you will be going back to the video at a later date. Once you made sure it saves you then go to your editing software. Whatever editing software you use you will import your video into it. Then you can use any filter you need on your editing software.

I also learned the proper ways of using a camcorder. This is crucial for anything that has to do with films. Making sure your camera is properly on the tripod will save you a lot of time, money and effort. Also making sure you put the SD Card in the right slot will ensure your video or picture is being captured. Your tripod should be set up correctly so that it doesn’t crash and damage your camera. Securing your camera in a safe and cool environment is important so that the next time you use it, it still works. Remember not to run with your tripod or camera because that’s how they break. Keep the camera in the bag when not in use. Occasionally clean the camera from any dirt and dust. And always keep the camera charged or have back up batteries so that the camera doesn't die while filming.

These may seem like a simple task to do and it may seem obvious to do them, however, they're also the easiest to forget. Forgetting to do one thing, whether it's setting up the camera properly or saving videos to a file, can mess up the entire filming process. It is crucial to remember to do these things. Having a checklist can remind you to complete these simple tasks. Once you get into the habit of doing this, it will become second nature. Also labeling every single video and picture can help you know what project it's for and where it goes. Being organized in media goes a long way. There is no way you will be missing or forgetting anything if you are organized. Being organized is one of the key elements in producing a great film. It helps keep your mind on track and lets your mind roam free because you won't have to be thinking about a million other things.

~You aren't born a boss, YOU BECOME ONE!

Planning Blog

Today my group is planning our school commercial. We are creating a to-do list to prepare for our scenes and make sure we have all the necessary items and people. We also want to be able to have backup plans in case something goes wrong either before, during, or after production. Having this list will make us more efficient and organized so that filming can continue no matter what happens. We will be listing the pieces that go into any film. This list is one of the crucial parts of any great video. Here is what will be going into our film:

1. Props: School merchandise
2. Costumes: School shirt and jeans
3. Schedule: On October 14 we will film the commercial. On October 21st we will edit our film and also reshoot and scenes needed if time permits. On October 28 our commercial will be done and turned in for grading. 
4. Location: Building 5- Cambridge and art, Building 8- Science, Building 17- Cambridge, Building 21- Law, Front of School- Welcome 
5. Backup Plan- If it rains, we will put inserts and a voiceover in the commercial. If someone is absent we will continue filming and have them edit some of the footage. If school is close we will only have inserts and voiceover for our commercial or we will set our film date a bit earlier.  

Research Conventions and Codes

Today in my AICE Media class, my partners and I started planning a commercial. We were given options as to what we wanted our commercial to be about. Once we picked between the main topics: products, anti-vaping, and our school. We then narrowed the selection to programs and clubs. After considering the pros and cons of filming the programs or clubs at our school, we decided unanimously to do programs. We choose programs at our school because it would be more efficient, we would have an organized structure, meet the time criteria, and we have more creative control when filming. The other options were seemed inconvenient for us in many ways. For the product's commercials, we don't have much creative control since there are so many commercials about the products we are allowed to do and we would have to do countless hours of research on what commercials are out there and then try thinking outside the box for the commercial.  The anti-vaping commercial requires multiple actors and we would have to figure out how to send a strong and emotional message about vaping without showing anyone vaping.  These reasons are why we choose to do our school for our commercial.

Introductory

Hi, everyone, my name is Rejoice and today I write this post as a way for you to know me. First of all, I'm a Capricorn. That's it. Nothing more to tell you.




I'm kidding. There's no way I would waste my time in creating this blog by just writing five meaningless sentences. I'm too high strung to do that. The only way I would send something unimportant is if I fell asleep from staying up past 1a.m. and my arm so happened to be on the mouse and the mouse was on the publish button.  Most of the time I stay within my friend group because I don't have time to deal with people. Even though I'm outgoing and would rather be with a group of people than alone, I don't like people. People can be so annoying and I just can't stand annoying people. If I have the chance to work on a group project alone I usually take it unless I can choose my friends to be my partner. Now I know that in real-life you have to know how to deal with all kinds of people. And I can, but you will not catch me willingly talking to them. The only sort of communication we will have is about the work. Once the work is completed, it's sayonara and good riddance. Most of the time when I'm working in a group I do the majority of the work. I like to be in control and control all aspects of things. To me, without control, it's pure chaos.  It probably has to do with the superiority complex I have. Although it may seem like I'm always serious, I'm more crazy than serious. Now I would write more, but one this post seems to be getting a bit too long and people have already stopped reading, two it's late, three I'm lowkey tired, and four I'm bored of writing this. So see you next time I write. Nine times out of ten the blog posts I write will be about past events because I'm such I procrastinator that I do a lot of things last minute.

~You aren't born a boss, YOU BECOME ONE!