My Name is John Editing Updates

Sound Effects - 
Since last blogging i have gotten the sound effect that i needed for some of the scenes, these included a different beep for the shop scene for where he touches the screen and when they do contactless payment, as i was getting feedback that the scanning noise wasn't working or these parts, I got his my simple getting out a microphone and gong to the corner shop and recording the noise as i paid for something with contactless payment, i have then used this noise for when he touches the screen. The other sound effects where an applause, to do this i got my year group to clap for me, finally i got my director so give me some ouches, though i have not added any of these yet as i really dont think these work.

This is the scene where i added the beeping noises.

This is the scene where i added the applause.

Music - 
As well as sound effects i have also managed to get some music for the film, i used audio network to get the music the ending music for the film was very easy to find as i new i wanted something that started off sad but gradually got happier, there where a few that sounded good but in the end i decided to go with a song called Cheer Up Mate by Lincoln Grounds, this song also inspired me to do something unique with the actor credits, but i will talk more about this later. This piece of music starts at the very end of scene 6 and plays though out scene 7 and 8, it will then also play through the credits. Music for the beginning was much more difficult to find as i really wanted the beginning song to song to be happy, but this did not match the scene so i ending up going with a much slower song, that was just very quietly in the background through out the first scene. The song itself is called Fraulein Oh Fraulein by Jeff Lardner & Mark Allaway

The music at the begging of the film.

The music at the end of the film.

Graphics -
I have also added some graphics to the interviews and to establish when we change days, finding a font for this was surprisingly easy as i was really just looking for something that looked a bit fun with soft edges. I have yet to put a title in as unsure where my director wants it putting, but i have created some actor credits, that i am happy about. I have always wanted to create credits like this but have never had a film that these kind of credits matched, but finally i do. I went through most of the takes we had to find some out takes where the actors where laughing. I only included actors with speaking roles, but did have to cut the two women at the end as i didn't have any outtakes of the scenes. For a final joke at the end of the film, I also have my dog in this style of credits. I did end up changing the name of the two friends as i had forgot what there names where so i put the names Paul and Barry in as a filler, but then my director saw this and liked the reference so we kept it like this.

Colour Correction - 
Colour correction is something i did quite a while ago but haven't really discussed. I have never really bothered with colour correction in the past as it really never seemed necessary, but the new cameras we where using take out a lot of the saturation, leaving the clips looking grey. I did all of my colour correction in AVID, as when discussing with our technician, he was describing what kind of things i could do with Da Vince Resolve (which is a software based around colour correction), the biggest was the ability to bring out certain colours in a scene, but this seemed to be more focused to are beautifully shot films, where as we where going for more of a documentary style meaning if i had enhanced the shots two much them it would have looked to cinematic this is the same reason i avoided butting black bars the film. I do really like how the colour correction came out though, i especially like the which scene where she is say down as this shot looks beautiful with my colour correction.

Group Crit - 
This final thing to update you on is the fact that we had some free lancers in to watch our films and give us feedback, these where Marc De Launay who is a producer, director, writer and Chris Campell who is an editor, though i would appreciate any feedback from Marc it was Chris who i was most excited to hear feedback from. We watched all of the level 6 films plus 2 of the level 5 films, they had great feedback for everones films. There where a few things they said about my name is john these where:

Pub Scene 2 Long - this is a problem that i have noted in the past, but now that i have had it confirmed by a professional editor, i am going to look at how i can do this.

Audience walking in shot should be placed over Johns Interview - This is something that can try to do i wasn't sure if they meant that they wanted the shot to just have johns interview over it or if they wanted me to cut to john first then go back to the audience. I will at least try both to see if any work better.

Sound needs Remixing Quite in some places - This was a problem i didn't see coming as the film had sounded fine through my headphones, but when put through speakers it was hard to hear a few of the scenes, especially Scene 1 and 7.

Apart from these three things they said they loved the film and the idea of it.

Butterfly animation and Green Screen Update

At this current moment i am yet to receive the other shots from the scene that they want me to green screen over, and there no schedule for the scene to be shot for my butterfly animation. My director has said that these scene might be getting filmed after deadline, so i have just came on here to show that i have created the butterfly, but unfortunately i have nothing to animate it on so it seems redundant. I created the butterfly by printing out two of the butterfly's i had made on photoshop i then stuck them both to card and cut around them, and before putting them together i got a thing wire through the winds and down the back so that when i bent the wings they would stay in place instead on bending back. Then i put them together. All that was left then was to have a base on the wire what would keep the butterfly up while animating i went with a large piece of blue tack as not only did it have the weight i was looking for but it also stuck the butterfly down meaning it wasn't going to move so much.

Front

Back

Creating Animation

The week has finally come that i need to start animation my silhouette animation, i already had a concept so new what i was trying to make it look like. Before i did anything i emailed my old lecture at my college to see if it was possible for me to book out a rostrum for my animation, he said that this would be fine and told me i could pick it up whenever. Once i had picked it up i went to a shop called hobbycraft to buy the card that i would need i got 4 different shades, White, Light Grey, Dark Grey and Black, i wasn't sure if i was going to be using all 4 at that moment but i thought i would be better of being safer than sorry. Once home with the card i drew some quick sketches of what i was trying to achieve, i was originally suppose to be having someone draw these for me as im not the best drawer, but they never showed up so i did them myself.

I then used these sketches to cut out the pieces i would need to create them later as i was going to be bringing them animations together in after effects i only created one limb for both the girl and the spider. for joints i used some split pins that i had bought a while ago with this animation in mind. I the also cut out some other things for the scene including a blade of grass, a mushroom and a flower. i think these came out great.

I then animated all of the different parts i did this on a green piece of card that i have left over from my minor project. I then put the images into a gif creator to just get an idea of how the movements would look once animated. The animations looked great and i looked forward to bringing them together the next day in After effects.

Now that all of the practical work was done i moved onto working in aftereffects the first thing i did was create the scene, i used the grass, flower and mushroom to create a path that the girl could walk down as well as a path the the spider could walk up. The problem i had with this was once i had created this there were over 100images that needed to rendered out before i could see any changes i had done, this wasn't a problem now but it was soon going to to become one. I then moved onto a different composition so that i could create my spider i tested around with the spider as i couldn't work out if i preferred the spider with 6 or 8 legs, but in the end i decided spiders do have 8 legs and the concepts that my director had should me of the metal spiders in the park also had 8 legs.

I then had a problem with the fact that when i had keys out the green on the leg some black still remained in the corner meaning in the animation there are black lines at the bottom. To fix this issue i created a mask over the bottom of the animation then all that was let to do was o reapply the green screen so that i could put the spider into the scene i had created earlier.

Then i moved onto the body to create this i started with the body animation of the dress going back and forth, i then added two legs i made one leg start at the back and one at the front so that she would have dynamic movement this is the same thing i did with the hands however one of the hands was placed behind the body, so even though you dot see it that much it does give the effect of her swinging her arms. At this current moment the animation looks a bit fast, but once it is exported and placed onto the scene i can put a time warp effect onto it to slow it down.

Once both of them where exported i imported them onto the scene i started by animating the spider, i didn't want the spider to start moving straight away so i got a still image of the animation so that the spider could stand there for a few seconds before it began t walk, once the spider was animated i brought in the girl i had been informed by my director that she wanted the animation to end with the girl escaping with a flying mushroom, so i had the girl walk across the screen she then grabs a mushroom and it taken up with it. At this moment i have keyframe issue with mushroom that i need to fix, but i though i would be better of getting the animation done first. I then rendered it so i could see what it looked like and it looked awful the movement of the girl was still two fast for the scene and it also seemed to drag on forever so instead of a minute i shortened it down to 30 seconds, this meant that the girl had a shorter time to get across the scene which fixed all of my issues with her movement it also helped with the spider as it meant i could make him faster two so it didnt look like he was just walking towards her.

60 Seconds

30 Seconds

All that is left for me to do next week is for me to fix the error with the mushroom and then put it in a black and white filter. 

Employment Potability

Over this module i have been working with two men and a few other students for a possible employment option to follow after i graduate, the over all idea is that these two men are starting a business to help up incoming clothes designers, and they have brought on us as a kind of media team, we are currently working on building up our portfolio, so that any potential clients and see what kind of work to expect. We have also been working on films promotional videos for the company itself, this was in the form of a mock interview we filmed so that later down the line we would be prepared for any interviews we would have to film, though i was not needed at the filming as i was only the editor i thought it was best to show my face as i had not been able to go to many of the meeting due to work. I have just finished editing a small advert that we created for a corner shop and will soon be moving on to edit a longer advert for a cafe. Though this may not become anything in the long run i am having fun and also updating my own portfolio as we go which is nice.

My Work Experience

Over my three years at my university i have had the opportunity to do some work experience these are just a few things that i have been able to do.

Freak - Four Colour Ghosts

This was the professional shoot that i was able to go to, though as i was only in second year i was not able to edit such a complex video, meaning that i was only on the shoot as assistant camera operator, but i did love doing the shoot as it showed me what could be achieved when you put some money behind your shoot, this was also my first ever night shoot, meaning that the location had to be lit up, this was done with some professional lights and even a bonfire.

Royal British Legion Concert

This was great work experience for me as not only was i camera operator and sound recorder, but i was also able to edit this concert as well. As i was still unsure what i was going to be going into at the point of this work experience, so to have work experience in all of these roles was very exciting. As i have edited this concert it is also a piece of work that i am happy to have on my website, as i like the way it is edited and it also shows that i am willing to edit long videos if it is necessary.

Hartlepool Council 

This is the most recent work experience i have had i had the opportunity to film on a construction site where Hartlepool council are taking up a road to make it more of a pedestrian friendly area, I have been able to film twice for this project as they want the whole process documented. Unfortunately as this work experience was given to me through the university it looks like i am going to have graduated by the time it comes to the editing stage. though the ability to work with Hartlepool council was a great experience.

I do have more work experience coming up in the next few weeks that i am hoping to get some more experience with so that i can add them to my CV and Even website if possible.

My Thoughts on Social Media Pages

Over the course of this module i have seen many of my fellow students create social media pages like, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Though i have only create one of these sites this being a twitter page. I have decided not to create a Facebook page as i really don't believe that i would use this kind of site after graduation as Facebook is not a site i use in my regular life anyway so i could not see myself using Facebook as a professional site. The reason that i have not created a Instagram page is because i don't see what Instagram could really do for me as a editor, as the site itself is mostly famous for the use of images, so i can see how it could benefit a role like a cinematographer as they could demonstrate how they frame a shot. Even though Instagram does allow videos meaning i could show some of my different cuts, this would require someone to click on every video for it to play, which  could not imagine a client doing this just to see what kind of edits i seem worth posting. Finally YouTube, this was a site that i believed that i would create, but after creating my website, it became clear to me that there was no real reason for a YouTube channel, as the website had every video from my YouTube channel that i would want a client to see. Maybe down the line if i have some smaller edits that i don't think are worth going on my website i may upload them to my YouTube and open that up from clients to see. The only site that i have created a page on is Twitter as this is my preferred social media site, my current plan for this page is to have tweets about what kind of work i am doing wether, this i client work or personal. Another reason i created this page was because i wanted to have some kid of online quick messenger system, as i no for some this is there best way on contacting. The layout of the page is again very similar to my website having them match gives it a much more professional look.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ARVideoEditor

Creating a Show Reel

My show reel was something that i was excited to create as i new that this was going to be the main thing that would show my skills in editing. I started by finding a good piece of music for the show reel, i wasn't really sure what kind of music i wanted, though i was sure that i needed a piece of music that that a change in tempo as i wanted to show of tow styles of editing. I finally found the perfect track it had a slow start then goes into a nice fast pace beat. So i my head i new that i wanted the beginning to have some slow cuts and then as the beat picks up the cuts will become quick edits. The only problem i had was most of the films that i have edited, have been slow films meaning a lot of the shots are slow and long. I did not let this stop me though and managed to find the amount of clips i needed, though because of the small amount of clips the show reel turned out a little shorter than i had hoped. most of the clips i used where from final year films, though i did use a effect test i did with a shot gun effect, just so i could get an example of my special effect work. I really like the way that it came out and got great feed back from other students at my university.

Job Searching

As part of this module i have been looking at what kind of jobs are available out there after i graduate, i have not applied to any of these cause at the moment i am still studying at university so could not go for any full time jobs, and as i already have a part time job, this was not necessary either. I looked on several site looking for jobs to do with anything around video editing, and even animation as i have some experience in this so it could be a nice place to start my journey. I am not that fussed about staying in the north east as long as the job that i would be travelling for pays enough to get me a place to stay, though as i drive i would be up for driving, though i would not want to be more that a 2 hour drive. I have to say there where not as many jobs as i would have liked to have seen though some did peak my interest and are defiantly employers that i would like to follow after graduation in case any other jobs come up.

 

Creating a Business Card

I have always said that if i was going to create a business card i would want it to be portrait, as i believe that this makes my card stand out more, for example if someone was to be flicking through a pack of business cards that where all landscape then mine would make them stop and take a second look, which is all i  might need to peak there interest. About the card itself, i wanted it to match my website so i used the same image from my home page. This image fills out most of the card so all that is left to to have all of my contact information. I started with my role as this seemed to me to be the most important thing that people would be looking for when looking at my business card, then under this is my full name. The final two things on my business card are two ways of contacting me the first being my mobile number and the second is my website, which not only gives the ability for them to look at my work but also allows them to email me if this is there preferred option of contact. As i new that me website would be appearing on i went and bought a domain so that i would come across more professional, as i believe nothing make you look more amateur, than a website that still has the domain given to you by the website you created the site with. There is no real explanation on why i have chose to have a blue background with white text except the fact that i likes the look of this design.

Creating a Website

Over this Module I will be creating a website, to help promote myself and my work. In this post I will be discussing, my website and why i made the choices i did.

Home Page: www.andrewstewartrogers.com

For my homepage there where a few things that i new for certain, the first was the job role that i wanted to promote my self as, this originally started as sound operator, but after thinking about it i had much more experience, with editing so felt it was best to apply myself to this role. In the end i decided to go with Video Editor to really specify, what kind of editor i was going for. Just above my role title, i decided to place a smaller title to explain what exactly this website was being used for. To go along with these titles i have tow images the larger is a shot of me editing, for the smaller one i really wanted it to match, the larger one so as i had access to a professional editing keyboard, i got a close up of my hands typing on the keyboard. I then have a short bio, so that any one that goes on my website can get a brief explanation of me.

The last two thing on my front page are my show reel, which i decided not to have on auto play, as in my opinion it is annoying when a video begins to play when you click on a website, especially as my show reel is not visible straight away when the website loads, but instead requires you to scroll down. Lastly i have a list of skills, that was suggested by the rest of m university class.

About Page: www.andrewstewartrogers.com/about

For this page i wasn't really sure what i wanted to say, so i ended, up just giving a small description, of where i am in my life now and what kind of experience i have in the role of editing. I then also have another image of the me editing that i got when i took the original images for my home page.

Selected Work: www.andrewstewartrogers.com/selected-work

I created this page to show of some of my full edits, so that anyone that wants to see examples of my work, doesn't have to just go of my show reel. I decided to have my three major films that i have done over my first two years at university and also a royal british legion concert. I also have plans to add my two newest films once they are both edited. I also decided not to give each of the films a description, as i did not see this as a necessity for someone who is looking at the editing style.

Contact: www.andrewstewartrogers.com/contact

I wanted my contact page to be as simple as it could be as i didn't want the confusion of how to contact me, be the reason a potential client doesn't do it.