This is mine and Sam Bellman's Juno Practice Edit which we had around 3/4 lessons to plan, film and edit. Below is the evaluation:
You are editing your own footage, how did the filming go?
At first I thought that filming would be easier than it was, however that opinion changed when I actually had to do it as trying to get all the shots the same as the original video was hard. It was also difficult to stick the timings and work out how we would make a clip a specific length, for example the first shot when 'Juno' has to walk behind the tree, working out how far back Sam would have to stand to allow him to go behind the tree at the correct time. Without having the actual footage in front of you and only having a storyboard also makes the situation a lot more of a challenge as unless the drawings are extremely detailed, it is hard to imagine what each of the scenes need to actually look like. Overall, I don't think it went too badly for our first go and I am quite impressed with the outcome.
Was your storyboard accurate?
This is an example of one of the pages of my groups storyboard. As you can see we focused more on the writing than the drawings as we thought that would help us more. Most of it was accurate, for example, the lengths of the shots and if the camera should be stationary/moving. However some of the pictures are not detailed enough which made it hard when it came to actually filming and the storyboard was all we had. In addition, the fact that most of the notes were rushed made it harder for them to understand. I think I misunderstood how important the storyboard would be when it came to recording. What were your strengths and weaknesses in the group?
I'm better at planning rather than carrying out the actual task and Sam can lose focus quite easily during this stage. However when it comes to the pratical stage of the task Sam is a lot better as I think he had previous experience with the editing programmes. Ultimately, this wasn't such a big issue as both our strengths and weaknesses balanced out when working together.
Did you get all the footage you wanted?
We got everything that was on the storyboard, however there are a couple of things I would have liked to redo such as the first scene and maybe make more of the scenes look like they do in the original clip. Something I especially would have liked to have done is go outside when there was a PE group so they could run past which would have made it look more similar to the original version. I think we got as much done as we could in the hour in which we were given to complete the filming part of the task.
What technical skills - camera and premiere - did you learn?
When Sam first handed me the camera I was virtually clueless as I have never owned a video camera, therefore everything was pretty much new to me about that. In addition, I am still reasonably new to Premiere and this made it a lot harder when it first came to editing. I eventually learnt how to use all of the effects by dragging them where on the clip you want them to go. Also, I learnt how to fade out at the end (both audio and video) which made the overall clip look a lot more professional. I learnt how to put titles as well.
How does it compare to the original?
We tried as hard as we could to get it as similar as possible to the original version but there were some obvious restrictions including the cartoon-like effect that is used throughout the clip. We also wanted to have the runners, similar to the original. however that wasn't possible as there were no PE groups available at the time. Some of the transitions were also not available on Premiere which meant that we had to use subsitutes instead, although we did try to find ones as similar to the original as we could. Things that were similar included the scene that has the guitar and the chair, we were both impressed with this particular part of our clip. Also, when 'Juno' is walking past a shop and the camera views her from sideways. As the clip went on, we tried to make it more similar to the original as possible, this is because we became more familiar with the camera and also had more time.
What went well? What I learnt? What will I take with me to the next production?
I think that me and Sam worked well together and that is something that made the whole thing work reasonably well. The editing went well as we could both say what we thought looked best rather than only having one opinion. We also managed to work effectively and get everything done within the timeframe we were given. I learnt that I need to put more emphasis on having a good storyboard as that makes the rest of the process a lot easier. Being organised and not wasting any time is something that I will take with me to the next production as that helped a lot, it meant that hardly any of it was rushed and therefore not as good as we could have done. Also, I will take with me the skills of being able to use a video camera and Premiere.