P8: Produce and edit footage in line with the production plan applying any final effects
Below is a screen recording of me putting all my rushes together in sequence, correcting the colours and correcting the length of the clips.
Time codes: 0:00 - 1:05 - Colour correcting all shots of my space station 1:10 - 2:10 - Editing the colours so the space station is the same shade of blue throughout 2:15 - 3:36 - Adding transitions in between each shot 3:37 - 3:50 - Adding and editing a keyer 3:52 - 4:04 - Adding stars in the background 4:14 - 4:40 - Adjusting the scale 4:48 - 5:03 - Colour correcting 5:10 - 5:40 - Adding a light filter 5:47 - 5:55 - Merging the layers 6:00 - 6:14 - Adding this clip to my final production 6:32 - 7:18 - Adding title graphics 7:20 - 7:37 - Adding a fade at the end
Below is my offline edit.
After watching my offline edit, I'm very pleased with it. I realised though that I haven't added the character credits, which is part of my brief, so I'll have to add those in. I think it looks very professional though, and I like the way the rotoscoping came out.
I asked two other people to give me some feedback on my offline edit. One person said she really liked my space station model, she liked the fact that the stars in the background twinkled, she liked the shot of people moving around inside the space station and she liked the title of the show was in line with were the space station is on screen. But she said I could slowly zoom in the shot with people walking around inside the space station, as the shot is a bit boring.
Another person said he really liked the shot with my actress, he said "it is absolutely perfect, I feel it was done amazingly well and the ears give the impression that she isn't really human". He suggested that when the title of the show appears, I could blur the space station in the background. He also suggested that with the shot of people inside my space station I could feather the edges a bit as the people look a bit out of place, but I feel that it is too late in the post-production process to do this, as I would have to redo a lot of my work.
Below is the version of my production with audio (plus the improvements I wanted to make).
Below is a screen recording of me making changes based off my audience feedback.
Time codes: 0:00 - 1:05 - Zooming in shot 9 1:25 - 2:05 - Explaining how I added a blur to the freeze-frame 2:20 - 4:15 - Adding a blur to shot 7
M2: Export the final footage into the planned or final format
Codecs What is a codec? Codec stands for compression decompression, and it is a program that compresses files to make transmission faster, and then decompresses the file so it can be edited and viewed. Which ones are available to me?
Which one is best for me? Apple ProRes:
Uncompressed 8-bit 4:2:2 - used for digital television, DVD-Video, mobile TV, videoconferencing and internet video streaming H.264 - best for student use. It has the smallest file size for the highest quality.
Below is a screen recording of me exporting my final video.
I chose to use the format H.264 because it had the smallest file size but was still very good quality. The final production was around 150 MB with this format, whereas if I chose Apple ProRes 4444 XQ, the file would be over 3 GB. If I used Uncompressed 8-bit 4:2:2, then the file would be around 6.5 GB, which is an unnecessarily high file size, as H.264 will give me almost the exact same quality of picture. This format will allow a client to easily distribute my product because the file is small enough to be shared easily via email or it can be put on a USB. The file can also be decompressed once sent, so it will be a bigger file and a higher quality when shown in cinemas.
D2: Justify the creation process against the original production concept plans
Below is my final piece.
Strengths and Weaknesses of my Production
The quality of my finished piece I think that overall, my production is excellent quality for a student film. This is because I used the cameras we have in the studio to film all of my production, so the picture is of very high quality. I think the quality of my special effects makeup is high because I spent quite a bit on makeup, but this paid off as the makeup came out really well on camera, and my actress liked it so much she wanted to keep it on for the rest of the day. I think my model is fairly high quality, I spent a lot of time putting detail into it like the sliver paint, the tape and the lights. However, I do think it is still quite obvious that it is a bike tyre with some bits of metal and plastic trifle bowls. I think my model would look much more believable if it was made professionally and from scratch, and obviously I don't have the means and funds to make a professional scale model. I think the quality of my visual effects are of a very high standard, this is because I used Final Cut Pro to do all my editing, and I spent a lot of time doing it. Making Becca's eyes black in shot 12 alone took about an hour, because I wanted to make the rotoscoping as believable and effective as possible. But I think overall my production is of high quality. I'm very glad about this as one of the main things I said I was worried about in my D1 video was that I would put so much effort into it and it would come out looking very home-made. So I'm very relieved that all the time and effort paid off.
Conventions of visual/special effects When I researched the conventions of the sci-fi genre in terms of visual and special effects, I found the following:
Close ups of futuristic technologies/scientific elements - I haven't necessarily used close ups, but I did use lots of shots where you can clearly see the futuristic markings and patterns on my space station. I feel this is a strength, although it would be more secure if I had shown my actress using a piece of futuristic technology like a hologram computer screen.
Futuristic props, costume and settings that represent the scientific advancements at the centre of the film - I have definitely used a futuristic setting as my title sequence takes place on a space station. I tried to find an Airfix model that was as futuristic as possible, but from the angle I used, it looks a lot like an aeroplane. However, I feel that my makeup is definitely futuristic with the elf ears and blue skin, and the leather jacket that I chose for my actress is designed to look retro, rather than futuristic. But I feel that overall this is a strength.
Set in outer space, other words or alternative versions of earth - My title sequence is set entirely in outer space and on a space station, so this is definitely a strength.
Special effects used to create non-human characters - This is definitely a strength as I think with the blue skin and elf ears, my actress does look like a believable alien. I used latex ear tips and blue body paint to create her look so I have definitely ticked this box.
Use of CGI - This is a weakness as I didn't have the knowledge, funding or time to use CGI in my production. If I had a bigger budget, experienced staff and a long time to produce my TV show then I could probably use CGI, but not in this production.
Comparison to the original idea I had Originally, the main vision I had was for my production to look fairly similar to the title sequence for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, as they also used lots of slow panning shots of a space station. Obviously, the Star Trek title sequence looks a lot better as it was made with a huge budget and the space station in the title sequence is CGI. However, I think there are elements of my production that Deep Space Nine doesn't have, like the shot of people moving around inside my space station, and the shot introducing the main character. Especially since my theme tune is very dramatic and is a lot shorter than Deep Space Nine's, when I went back and watched the Star Trek title sequence after finishing my project, it actually seems quite boring in comparison to mine. Overall, I stuck quite closely to my original idea, I make the alien's skin blue, I gave sci-fi a punk twist, and I generally stuck closely to my storyboard. I think my original vision did come to life.
Audience feedback Below are voice recordings of two people giving me feedback on my production.
On the whole, I agree with what both people said. Most of the things they commented on I had already identified as a weakness. However, one thing both of them said that I hadn't noticed was the poorly drawn windows on the centre of the space station. I did draw them in a hurry and although it is quite difficult to draw straight lines on a curved surface, I could've taken a bit more time to make them neater.
My mum said that she would have people walking around in all of the windows that I made, and there were but she just couldn't really make out people in the left most window. This is because the exposure is up way too high in that window. Also, I had to add a blue filter on top of that entire clip as I didn't want to go back and undo my work in order to correct the blue of the space station without adding the filter to the people inside the space station too. If I did this unit again that would definitely be something I would've gone back and changed, but as it was I simply didn't have time to redo my work. The final thing she said was that the top of the space station was grainy in some shots, I had already recognised this and there wasn't a lot I could do apart from re-shoot again which wasn't really an option as I didn't have time. I could've spent a few hours masking it frame-by-frame if I wanted to, but I was very worried about running out of time if I did this.
Lastly, my dad said that the space shuttle in the opening shot could've been painted a bit better, my brother helped me do this so if I did this again I would've taken the time to check it over and think about how it would look on camera.
What I would do differently I don't think I would change anything in terms of planning or post-production, but there are quite a few things I would change in terms of production. The main thing I would change would be to light my model better, so there is no green being reflected onto it. If circumstances were different, I would've had more time to change the lighting or even reshoot, but I was behind schedule. I originally filmed all my shots with a few weeks to spare, but I then lost all that footage (due to corrupted files and bad lighting) and had to reshoot, but there was a problem with the studio lights so I couldn't film in there for over a week. By the time I could film again, only half the lights in the studio worked, but I was worried about missing my deadline so I filmed everything regardless. If I could do the production again, I would definitely film my model better because the edges of my space station came out very grainy as the green reflected. Another thing I would do differently is to add in my space shuttle flying around the station, as you don't see much of the small shuttle in the final piece. However, I didn't know how to film the model so that I could do this in post-production so I was reluctant to put it in and make the shot look tacky.
What I would do differently with a different brief If I had to do something like this again in the future but with a completely different brief, I would definitely take my time during the production phase. I would also do more practice shoots so I'm confident with using all the equipment and software. I don't think my production came out looking rushed, but when I was in the production phase I was very worried about missing the deadline, so I worked in the studio for hours with no breaks and no one else on set to help me. I wouldn't do that again in the future because I was very fatigued so I could have easily not realised I'd done something silly and there could've been an accident, and there would've been no one around to help. I might have forgotten how hot the lights are just after use, and with no one else there to remind me I might've tried to pick one up and severely burned myself. Also, working in that fatigued state might have meant that I failed to notice that all my shots were out of focus, luckily this didn't happen, but it easily could've.