Day 14 of Senior Project

So today was our last day. All we did was put the play button on the right copy of the video and then burned 6 new DVD. Tomorrow I have my committee review and then I'm DONE. That is CRAZY its all over. It was a great 2 weeks but its coming to an end. I just need to finish the rest of the paper work and then I'm done.

Hours worked: 1

Time posted: 11:55

Day 13 of Senior Project

Today we moved the video into iDVD and added play button. We also picked a theme for the background behind play button. This went very smoothly. We began to get excited because we realized that we only had to burn it onto a DVD and then we were DONE. So I walked across the hall and asked Anna for 6 DVDs and began burn them. After we were done Cameron Lucas wanted to see the video. We took this as an opportunity to try out one of the DVD's we had burned. We stuck it in the player and watched the whole movie. We saw there were no credits at the end. I pointed out to Dev that I had added credits to the video in Final Cut and we didn't take that version and burn it. We are in the process of figuring out weather we can re-record over the DVD's we already used or whether we have to get 6 new ones.

Hours worked: 2

Time posted: 11:41

Weekly Reflection

So I forgot to blog about Saturday so I am going to add it in here. On friday we talked to Jim about helping us put it on a DVD with a play button. He told us that it would be better if we put the credits in our movie using Final Cut because sometimes iMovie can degrade the quality of the film. So on Saturday Jim came in and helped me put in a title and credits in Final Cut. Once he showed me how I was on my own. I wanted the titles like starring and edited by to be bigger then the names listed below. The only way to do that was make several clips with different names and try to line them up properly. After trying for almost an hour to get it to work I gave up and decided to use spacing instead of size for an effect. That looked just as good if not better then what I was trying to create for the last hour. Now all we have to do on Monday is move it into iDvd, if I'm correct, and add a menu with a play button and make a DVD.

Hours worked: 1.5

I enjoyed this week much more then the week before. Editing can take you anywhere. It is what you make out of the footage you have. The week before consisted of walking around and gathering all of the footage we needed. Following people from class to class to driving around campus to get shots of buildings was what our first week consisted of.

This week we took this ordinary footage and pieced it together to make art. There are parts in our video that reflect the lyrics of the song by the special effects that we used. For instance part of the lyrics in our song are “ Twisting my stomach into knots.” For that part of the video we took footage of someone running down the hill at Polar Swim and overlapped faded, rotated clips to have the effect of a knot.

This week I learned so much more about Final Cut Pro and cool editing effects you can do with it. There are things in our video that I never thought were possible. We have a shots of Orlando and Will Cudahy spitting on the mic. We faded both clips and put them on top of each other. Because they were shot from different angles it worked out beautifully. I wish that I could list all of the special effects that we used but that would be spoiling the video for all of you so that is all I will tell you about.

I also learned there is a program where you can fix or change the color of anything in your video. This editing software is called Color. This was thanks to a few lessons with Sam Johnson during his independent major class with Jim Cox. I new one could change anything in a still photo using photoshop but I didn’t know that it was possible to do that for a video. I didn’t use it very much in our video. I fixed two different shots where the camera had focused on the light in the window making the window brighter and the rest of the room darker then it actually was. Other then that I just learned that it is possible to change the color of someone shirt or the wall in a room. It is also possible to tint the whole shot a different color. It would be possible to make a shot look like one is looking through night vision goggles.

Although I may not use Final Cut again to make a video it has still be a blast learning new things about the software and making the video. Having a completed video is great accomplishment that I will enjoy looking back on later in life.

hours worked: 24.5

Time Posted: 11:35

Day 11 of Senior Project

So today was a great day. We finished the video so now all we have to do it put it on a DVD. I went to the tech lab at 9 this morning and started editing. I learned a lesson the hard way today. I was watching the movie and saw a set of clips in the middle i wanted to fix to the beat of the song. Then I found the clip right before everything I had just edited needed to be shortened. So I shortened it which moved everything else after it. This ended up screwing everything up that I had just worked so hard to line up with the song. So after all that Dev showed up to save the day. I watched her and learned all the cool effects one can do in Final Cut Pro. We exported it to iMovie and added a title and credits. Tomorrow we are going to meet with Jim to put it on DVD's and insert a menu page with a play button. But for the most part WE ARE DONE!! YAY.

Hours worked: 5

Time posted: 11:13

Day 10 of Senior Project

Today was very productive. After sleeping in and giving a tour E block and part of assembly I went to the tech lab and worked right through most of lunch.We put the song into our video and began doing our final edit. Our video was just a few seconds longer then the song but there were clips that needed to be shortened so it worked out in the end. The next few days are the fun part of the editing. We have all the clips on the timeline that are going into the video and they are all in the order that we want. Now we are just adding artsy details like slowing or speeding up a clip, reversing a clip, or changing the color in the clip.

Hours worked: 3

Time posted: 11:29

Day 9 of Senior Project

Today we were in the tech lab by 8:30 in the morning. I worked on editing the video from then on until about 12 at which time I saved it and went to lunch. Sam Johnson was in the tech lab again and he helped refresh me on how to fix the brightness in a window of one of my clips using the editing software called Color. I have mastered how to fix the brightness in a window after practicing with a few clips while Sam was there. I also learned that in one of the clips where the camera stays still it is possible to change the color of someone's shirt or the color of the wall. This was pretty simple to learn with the knowledge that I already had about using Color. We have also been looking for music to put into the video. We would like to put music to it as soon as possible so that we can begin the final edit. When we edit with the music we can get the scene changes and transitions to match the beat of the music. We are planning to have a song picked out by tomorrow so that the next couple of days can be editing to the music.

Hours worked: 5

Time posted: 7:45

Day 8 of Senior Project

Today was probably my favorite day of senior project. It was very productive. We had a leisurely morning of waking up at 7, getting out of bed at 8 and being in the tech lab by 9. Then we opened Final Cut and continued to edit. Sam Johnson was in Jim Cox's independent class. He came over to see how we were doing seeing as he is very good at using Final Cut. He gave us a lesson on how to fix the color in some of our clips (ex. really bright light coming though a window and washing it out). It was relatively complicated and not needed for most of our clips so we probably wont use it much. We now have 1 minute and 37 seconds of a video which is a great start to the week. If we keep going at the pace we are going we will have plenty of time to fix minor details to make it perfect.

Hours worked: 6

Time Posted: 8:10

Day 6/7 of Senior Project

So on Saturday I worked for about 1 hour before I had to head off to my tennis match at Brewster. I imported an hours worth of footage and I also worked with Dev to create the minute of video we have. On Monday in the morning I had to write my weekly reflection because I didn't remember to write it on Sunday. The rest of the day was spend editing. I learned how to cut a section of a clip using the blade and how to add in transitions, I also learned how to turn the snapping on and move clips around on the time line.

Hours worked: 4 hours

Time posted: 10:01

Weekly Reflection

This week was filled with learning experiences. One after another, they seemed to come at us rapid fire. The first day consisted of dying cameras, running out of tapes and struggling to import. Because of the day we had just had, we remembered to charge the cameras each night and ask Jim for more tapes. I learned so much about the difficulties of filming. I never knew that it was so hard to keep a camera still while walking. When reviewing the first walking footage I took, I saw that it looked like an earthquake had hit Andover, NH. As the week went on, the footage got better and looked less shaky. One of our goals was to finish all the filming in the first week. This goal was accomplished.

As we started editing I realized how much I had to learn. Final Cut movie editing program is very complicated and I have many shortcuts to learn. So far I have learned the basics of how to select part of a clip and drag it onto a timeline. Durning next week, I will learn much more about editing as that is the focus of our week.

There were definitely some bumps in the road of our first week on senior project. The tapes were probably one of our biggest issues. We, in the beginning, were running out of them. Then when we had plenty of them, our next problem was remembering what footage was on what tape and what we had imported or not. We didn’t want to tape over anything that we took the time to film but hadn’t imported yet. We also didn’t think about how someone in one of the classes hosted in the tech lab might have been using the same computer we are before we started senior project. So we have to leave the tech lab every D block to let the student use it for his class.

I have gained much knowledge this week about filming and being organized that I will benefit from. I am learning how much footage is actually needed to make a decent two minute video. I have learned how hard it is to keep my hand still when filming. In the week to come, I will be much more organized and on top of things. Being behind on emailing students to shadow last week cost me some essential filming time.

Hours worked: 25.5

Time posted: 10:29

Day 5 of Senior Project

So my day started out at 5:30 am to go to polar swim. I didn't film at polar swim because I was participating so I guess that doesn't really count as work. Then when we got back I filmed Alex Richichi for 2 hours. It was nice because he had a voice block so I got some different footage then just sitting in classes. We went to the tech lab and found that we had run out of space on the computer. This meant that Jim had to take some time to delete stuff off the computer to give us space. After assembly we filmed choir/Alex. Then while Dev was in spanish class I went to the tech lab and imported some of the stuff that we had shot that day. I took the camera and tripod to lunch and filmed the friday question. After dinner we went back to the tech lab and imported/edited some more footage until 7:30. Today we didn't make huge progress but we are willing to log some hours tomorrow and Sunday.

Hours worked: 5

Time posted: 9:49

Day 4 of Senior Project

I cannot believe that it is only day 4 of senior project. I'm loving every minute of it but it is a lot of hard work. Today I got to the tech lab at 9 am and looked for any footage that we had not imported yet and moved over any footage that was in imovie over to Final Cut. I found a tape and a half. I began importing that and left it there to import while I went to assembly to set up the other camera on a tripod. I stayed through assembly and the senior meeting. After assembly we came back to the tech lab and worked with some footage that we had of Zoli. we worked on the speed of the clip and the color. I also struggled with a space in between two clips. I learned today how to space out the clips so they look bigger but are still the same length in time. I had a very small clip that I wanted to use but when I sped up the time it was impossible to click on. This meant a learning lesson. I was going to film Derric after assembly but I didn't see him because he ran out and I didn't know the next class that he had. Today was a bit more of a relaxing day which was nice but we will have to make up for lost time tomorrow. My day will start at about 5:30 A.M. because I plan on going to Polar Swim to film the excitement. Then I will go from there to the tech. lab and import what I filmed. Then I will be around campus getting a bunch of b role.

Hours worked: 4.5 hours

Time posted: 9:55

Day 3 of Senior Project

Day 3 of senior project. It feels like we have been doing senior project for a long time already. This is partly because when you are filming times seems to crawl. When filming a shot of something you should film for at least 30 seconds and when you are watching the seconds go by that can feel like a life time. Today was a good day. Everything seemed to run smoothly. My day began by waking up at 6:30 to leave the dorm at 7:15. We drove my car out to Megan Hanscom's house so we could film her leaving in the morning. Deven hopped in the car with Megan and her dad to film her driving to school, while I followed behind in my car. We had a tripod set up in the passenger seat so that I could film as I drove. I just pressed record and off we went. When we got back to school I parked the car and ran to the greenhouse behind Gulick to meet Zolie. I filmed him taking about 10 bags of freshly harvested lettuce to the dining hall. From the dining hall I went to his first 3 classes which were Geometry, French, and Boat Building. In Boat Building I saw the boat he was making and got some cool shots of him sanding wood down for the sides. I liked that class because it was something different from the normal sit down lecture type class. It also made for some interesting different footage. For last block I went to the tech lab and joined Deven in importing. We went to lunch and filmed there. We filmed through the window upstairs of people coming in and out of the dining hall. After lunch I went back to the tech lab and continued to work on the importing. I then ran off to my home tennis match. After dinner we went back to the tech lab and imported the rest. We also started to put some clips together. We began the long process of weeding out the footage that you want to use. It is almost as though you have to watch it all again and find the good parts that you want to keep.

Today was a great day. Everything that I had set out to do I pretty much got done. I am slightly upset that I missed Zolie actually harvesting and rinsing the lettuce. But I have to live with that because there was nothing I could have done about it. I was late coming back from Megans so I just didn't get there in time to catch that part of the footage. Other then that everything went very well. I am hoping that tomorrow will be the same. :) I will be following Derric Tankersley in the morning. I will follow him for as many tapes as I have and then I will spend the afternoon importing what I have filmed.

Hours worked: 7

Time posted: 11:17

Day 2 of Senior Project

Today was a bit of a more relaxing day. It was not nearly as crazy as yesterday. Part of the reason for this was we forgot to email students to ask if today would have been a good day to follow them. So, seeing as we didn't have anyone to follow in the morning we went to the tech lab for two hours and worked on editing. This morning was more of a tutorial on some of the essentials to selecting and editing a clip you want from a larger segment of footage. I learned how to select a clip, put it on a timeline and play around with the speed and direction (normal or reverse) Then we headed off to advisory and filmed us making breakfast sandwiches (a normal scene in Patty's advisory). From advisory I ran to catch up with Dan Yeom to film him in one more class because we hadn't gotten enough of him the day before. Then I came back to the tech lab to import what I had just filmed. After lunch we came back to the tech lab for about an hour until we were kicked off our computer because someone else needed to use it for there class. I went to sports, changed and then went off to dinner. When I was done with dinner I met Dev at the tech lab. We finished importing whatever we had shot during the day. Then we moved all of the footage from imovie, which we are using to import, into Final Cut to be edited. We also emailed students about tomorrow and potentially shadowing them. Megan Hanscom signed on saying she would do it so Dev will be filming her all day tomorrow. The other person we are filming is Zoltan Clark. I am really excited to film him tomorrow because my day of filming starts in the greenhouse behind Gulick. He and Matt Mackenzie are going to harvest some stuff in the morning before class so that should be fun and interesting.

Originally I was planning on shadowing a student all day long. But, seeing as that fell through I had to rework my plan. I was thinking that it would be cool to get some shots of the wise. People coming in and out between classes and enjoying there free blocks. I was also going to get some shots of people checking there mail boxes. This to fell through as we saw there was a need for more footage of Dan. I was flexible and when along with it. Also I was not planning on learning a whole bunch of stuff from Dev about Final Cut today, because originally I had other plans, but I did. I have started a notebook of everything I need to know about Final Cut. Shortcuts like I for in when you want to begin capturing a clip and O for out when you want to finish capturing the clip. Today was the first of many where I will be cramming my notebook with everything about Final Cut Pro.

Hours worked: 7

Entry posted at: 11:13

Day 1 of Senior Project

This was the first day of my senior project. It was a crazy day. It started out with me waking up earlier then I would have had to for classes. I was at breakfast at 7:15 in order to eat before my day of following Moriah Keat began. I meet her outside the dinning hall at 7:45 and followed her from breakfast until F block (the block right before lunch). I had to leave her class once because I didn't know how to charge my dead video camera and I needed more tapes. That involved running to the tech lab for help and getting back to class before it was let out to go to assembly. Then I went to chamber choir where we rehearsed our songs for share day over at the elementary school. I was given half and hour to eat lunch, run to the theater and grab the tripod Dev had used to film assembly and be back at the chapel ready to sing. I filmed walking over and singing at share day. I brought that footage back to the tech lab and began importing it. Then I ran off to tennis practice and dinner. I returned to the tech lab at 8:00 and imported whatever was left. This day was a lot more work then I thought it would be. I was so excited to not have to be in classes anymore. But for part of this day I was kind of wishing I was because that seemed easier. But that is not the case anymore now that the day has settled down. I am excited to put in the extra effort it take to make this video and I know that in the end I will be so proud of all that I have learned and what I have accomplished. As for now I will just keep plugging away at all the work I have to do to finish this senior project, knowing that in the end it will all be worth it.

Total hours: 6

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