Friday, 14 November 2014
Final Part of Editing and Showing of Artefact
Final Editing, Problems and Solutions
My plan for the rest of the editing was to find audio and sounds to add intensity, and adding sound effects of guns and wands, and music when your character wins or loses. I also needed to keep finishing editing the rest of the footage by adding it all in the correct order and add some typography for the title screen. Once doing all this I needed to upload on to YouTube and add all the annotations.
The rest of the editing took a lot of time. As I had so much footage to include and needed to add some of the same clips as the annotations would change the positions of the video, the clip was 13 minutes long in total. I made the mistake of adding all the audio once the videos and typography was all in place. I found it difficult adding sound effects and music that would fit in time with all the audio. I added sound effects such as axe being swung, so the audio needed to fit in when the axe was swung.
Some problems that I faced was that, as I had just over 200 layers on After Effects, it was difficult trying to figure out where all audio pieces needed to go, and to make sure no layers were missed out. The program crashed a lot as well, so I needed to continuously save the file and it took a lot of time away from my work. Another problem I had when inserting my audio was that After Effects isn't the best programme to use with audio, as you can't listen to audio properly without RAM previewing or rendering the file, so it took a lot of time just to check if audio was in time. In future, I would add audio with the video footage so that it is all in time. My file was a large file, which meant I had problems when rendering. It was meant to take 6 hours to render, which is a long time to wait, and as I needed to upload to YouTube and add annotations, this was a huge worry. To resolve this, I had to slightly decrease the quality and resize the file, as I didn't want to cut my footage down, after all the work I had done.
Adding YouTube Annotations
Adding annotations took a while, because of the amount of footage I had, and had about 30 annotations to include in my video. To make it easier, I wrote down all the time of the annotations that were needed, and where each annotation would lead to. The reason for having such a long video, and a lot of annotations was to make sure that it would be different every time you watch the video, and that it wouldn't be simply just two different scenarios. In total, there are about 16 different scenarios, two characters and 4 weapons, so it would not be the same outcome each time.
If I was to do this idea again, I would slightly change it, having annotations where you could select a character you could be, as in my video, you do not have the choice. I would make it more interesting by maybe adding actual audio from the video, and maybe giving the video more of a story rather than just two people fighting, one winning and one losing. Maybe there could be a reason why the characters are fighting, and winning and losing each fight would mean the story outcome would change each time.
My plan for the rest of the editing was to find audio and sounds to add intensity, and adding sound effects of guns and wands, and music when your character wins or loses. I also needed to keep finishing editing the rest of the footage by adding it all in the correct order and add some typography for the title screen. Once doing all this I needed to upload on to YouTube and add all the annotations.
The rest of the editing took a lot of time. As I had so much footage to include and needed to add some of the same clips as the annotations would change the positions of the video, the clip was 13 minutes long in total. I made the mistake of adding all the audio once the videos and typography was all in place. I found it difficult adding sound effects and music that would fit in time with all the audio. I added sound effects such as axe being swung, so the audio needed to fit in when the axe was swung.
Some problems that I faced was that, as I had just over 200 layers on After Effects, it was difficult trying to figure out where all audio pieces needed to go, and to make sure no layers were missed out. The program crashed a lot as well, so I needed to continuously save the file and it took a lot of time away from my work. Another problem I had when inserting my audio was that After Effects isn't the best programme to use with audio, as you can't listen to audio properly without RAM previewing or rendering the file, so it took a lot of time just to check if audio was in time. In future, I would add audio with the video footage so that it is all in time. My file was a large file, which meant I had problems when rendering. It was meant to take 6 hours to render, which is a long time to wait, and as I needed to upload to YouTube and add annotations, this was a huge worry. To resolve this, I had to slightly decrease the quality and resize the file, as I didn't want to cut my footage down, after all the work I had done.
Adding YouTube Annotations
Adding annotations took a while, because of the amount of footage I had, and had about 30 annotations to include in my video. To make it easier, I wrote down all the time of the annotations that were needed, and where each annotation would lead to. The reason for having such a long video, and a lot of annotations was to make sure that it would be different every time you watch the video, and that it wouldn't be simply just two different scenarios. In total, there are about 16 different scenarios, two characters and 4 weapons, so it would not be the same outcome each time.
If I was to do this idea again, I would slightly change it, having annotations where you could select a character you could be, as in my video, you do not have the choice. I would make it more interesting by maybe adding actual audio from the video, and maybe giving the video more of a story rather than just two people fighting, one winning and one losing. Maybe there could be a reason why the characters are fighting, and winning and losing each fight would mean the story outcome would change each time.
Tuesday, 11 November 2014
Editing of Final Production
For my final artefact, I am using Adobe After Effects to create and edit the footage and audio I have to create a split screen/YouTube annotations video. So far I have started to organise all the footage into the correct sequences, adding any text and cutting any footage down.
I have already started adding split screen into the sequence. I have created the split screen, by first when filming, putting the character on the left then the right side of the screen, and then when it has come to editing, cropped one of side of one of the clips out, and placed it over the top of the other, so it creates a split screen, with the same character.
Also one of the weapons the character uses is a wand, and in one of the scenes, my idea was to use to the one to make them disappear. Using After Effects, and cropping the clip into two, I have successfully made it look like the character vanishes.
In the next stages of editing, I need to find audio and sounds to add intensity, and make it sound more fun, such as intense music when the fight begins, sound effects of guns and wands, and music when your character wins or loses. I also need to keep finishing editing the rest of the footage by adding it all in the correct order and add some typography for the title screen. Once it is all edited down, I need to upload on to YouTube and to add all my annotations which could take some time, as the outcomes of fights are different every time. It needs a lot of concentration and planning for this to be successful.
I have already started adding split screen into the sequence. I have created the split screen, by first when filming, putting the character on the left then the right side of the screen, and then when it has come to editing, cropped one of side of one of the clips out, and placed it over the top of the other, so it creates a split screen, with the same character.
Also one of the weapons the character uses is a wand, and in one of the scenes, my idea was to use to the one to make them disappear. Using After Effects, and cropping the clip into two, I have successfully made it look like the character vanishes.
In the next stages of editing, I need to find audio and sounds to add intensity, and make it sound more fun, such as intense music when the fight begins, sound effects of guns and wands, and music when your character wins or loses. I also need to keep finishing editing the rest of the footage by adding it all in the correct order and add some typography for the title screen. Once it is all edited down, I need to upload on to YouTube and to add all my annotations which could take some time, as the outcomes of fights are different every time. It needs a lot of concentration and planning for this to be successful.
Planning for Final Artefact
For my final artefact of Creative Media Practice, we are to work individually to create a media narrative using many different techniques, putting use at least one of the techniques we have learnt in the past couple of weeks. I wanted to try and keep it a simple narrative but to try and use as many techniques as I could.
After a lot of thinking, I finally decided that I would like to produce a product, using split screen and YouTube annotations, using the programme Adobe After Effects. The idea was to have two characters that would have to compete/fight against each other. Split screen would be used in the introduction of characters, and when your character had to choose between two weapons, and using annotations, the viewer can pick which weapon is used for the character and would then be shown the outcome of the fight. I decided to have four weapons in total, so it wouldn't be the same weapons and outcomes each time you watched it.
I found two people to be my characters, and purchased weapons to use, such as a fake sword, a wand, a frying pan and a fake space gun. I didn't want it to be taken to seriously, and to be more fun, easy going game. I used the Redmond's TV studio to film the footage, using a background of a fake wall, that was left in the room. Before filming, I had to storyboard and write down everything I needed so when it came to filming, I wouldn't miss any vital footage. If I missed anything, it would mean having to try and book the studio out again, when a lot of people are wanting to use it and isn't always available.
Storyboarding really helped me filming, as I would go through it all and mark off everything filmed. It took about two hours to set up and film all the sequences but I am pleased that I have got everything I need. I feel some shots could have been set up better, as at time, the positioning isn't centred or on point.
After a lot of thinking, I finally decided that I would like to produce a product, using split screen and YouTube annotations, using the programme Adobe After Effects. The idea was to have two characters that would have to compete/fight against each other. Split screen would be used in the introduction of characters, and when your character had to choose between two weapons, and using annotations, the viewer can pick which weapon is used for the character and would then be shown the outcome of the fight. I decided to have four weapons in total, so it wouldn't be the same weapons and outcomes each time you watched it.
I found two people to be my characters, and purchased weapons to use, such as a fake sword, a wand, a frying pan and a fake space gun. I didn't want it to be taken to seriously, and to be more fun, easy going game. I used the Redmond's TV studio to film the footage, using a background of a fake wall, that was left in the room. Before filming, I had to storyboard and write down everything I needed so when it came to filming, I wouldn't miss any vital footage. If I missed anything, it would mean having to try and book the studio out again, when a lot of people are wanting to use it and isn't always available.
Storyboarding really helped me filming, as I would go through it all and mark off everything filmed. It took about two hours to set up and film all the sequences but I am pleased that I have got everything I need. I feel some shots could have been set up better, as at time, the positioning isn't centred or on point.
Wednesday, 5 November 2014
YouTube Annotations
For our final mini brief, we were given the topic YouTube Annotations, which is videos on YouTube that the viewer can interactive with buy using annotations which can lead to different situations. We looked at many different examples .Some were games that people could either win or lose, or they were more serious, such as one about knife crime and what would you do in different scenarios.
In groups of four, we decided to mind map different ideas we could use as we wanted to come up with something we could create using our own footage. Our first idea we felt could work was to create a game, based around the popular Where's Wally/Hide and Seek where there would be a kids character that you would have to choose different hiding places to find. However we felt it was too straight forward and we couldn't really be creative with the annotations if the viewer found the character in the correct place.
We eventually after a lot of thought, came up with an idea based around the computer game Grand Theft Auto, where you would have to go on a mission to find a wanted person. This is what we did, you at first had to find the character in different locations, then successfully follow the character without getting spotted and to take photos to complete the mission. We had different annotations so it wasn't as simple. Once editing the video together, it wasn't very difficult to actually add annotations, it just took some time to look at the right times and to make sure when you clicked on an annotation and took it to the right position.
I did enjoy this brief, as I felt our product worked well and did what we wanted to do. If we had more time we could have added more annotations and more scenarios to let the narrative grow.
In groups of four, we decided to mind map different ideas we could use as we wanted to come up with something we could create using our own footage. Our first idea we felt could work was to create a game, based around the popular Where's Wally/Hide and Seek where there would be a kids character that you would have to choose different hiding places to find. However we felt it was too straight forward and we couldn't really be creative with the annotations if the viewer found the character in the correct place.
We eventually after a lot of thought, came up with an idea based around the computer game Grand Theft Auto, where you would have to go on a mission to find a wanted person. This is what we did, you at first had to find the character in different locations, then successfully follow the character without getting spotted and to take photos to complete the mission. We had different annotations so it wasn't as simple. Once editing the video together, it wasn't very difficult to actually add annotations, it just took some time to look at the right times and to make sure when you clicked on an annotation and took it to the right position.
I did enjoy this brief, as I felt our product worked well and did what we wanted to do. If we had more time we could have added more annotations and more scenarios to let the narrative grow.
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