Editing done (first draft)

Completed on: 25th November

After several weeks I finished editing the film today. It will still have to be re-edited after being assessed so improvements can be made but the first cut is complete and any changes will most likely be minor things.
Overall I’d say the editing went well. I was the only one who edited because I know more about the narrative and the look and feel our video is meant to show. However, the rest of the group did give their input when needed to check my editing and to make suggestions and to voice their opinions.
The main problem I had when editing was the constraints that the program put on me. I filmed using HD video files (1280x720 pixels) and all together the file size is about 2.3gb. This is a massive load for the editing software to handle and the program I used (Sony Vegas) often struggled with all the data being processed. By the end of it the project was a very big file and after every action I did the program had to reload and this obviously put a big hindrance on my progress.
Also, the HD files I used ran at 25fps whereas Sony Vegas could only preview them at around 10fps. This meant that when playing the video back whilst editing the actual clips were slow and lagged. This made editing very stressful as I had to edit fine details using footage that wasn’t fine or detailed. This problem was most noticeable when trying to lip sync the video to the audio. The video files were playing at 10fps where as the audio streamed properly, meaning lip syncing was nearly impossible.
However, I was able to overcome this problem by completely changing the way I was editing. I decided that I would edit the narrative sections in their entirety first, and when they were completed I would position them in the right places and then insert the performance sections where there were gaps. This meant that the narrative, being the focus of our video, had priority and it also meant that I didn’t need to lip sync more than I had to.
I also worked out a way to lip sync without having to actually play the video files at all. By looking at the original videos I found where the song started within the video. Then, inserting the whole clip into Sony Vegas, I could trim the video to the start of the audio track, and then the song and video would align properly. After that it was just a case of trimming the clip to the slot required within the video track and repeating the method for every clip.
Although still a lengthy process it did speed up the editing but more importantly it was less stressful and easier for the program to handle. When this was finished I noticed a few errors with lip syncing, but nothing major and these were easily edited again where I thought they mattered.
Even though the editing process was laborious and often slow and problematic, I did enjoy it a lot. I find that as I edit a video and it starts to gain its structure and shape there is a feeling of completion and pride. As I completed every section and as the band sequences started to come together and the video eventually gained its shape I felt very proud and I felt as if the video was finally finishing off, something that made all the editing worthwhile. It’s also fun to move and place clips, I liked experimenting with different angles and trying out different approaches to each scene. The freedom of being able to move things around at will and being able to look at the video and assess what I wanted to do to make it look how I wanted was very interesting.
After the editing was finished I still had to add certain colour effects and filters, details to finish the video off. Mostly I had to adjust the brightness and contrast of the video sections to make sure they stayed constant and to give the video a better quality. Also, to show the difference between happy and sad scenes I added colour filters, blue to the sad scenes and orange to the happy ones, to make sure the emotions of the scenes were captured well in the video.
Finally, I added a ‘Q music’ logo that I created in Photoshop and also added in a title overview at the start and end to make the video look official.
Lastly, I added a part of the official video sound track to the start of our song, distorting the sound and adding a wind effect to make the introduction more interesting and to add atmosphere. I really liked doing this as I think it created a nice atmosphere for the video and it also made our video more original and unique.


Group members (and candidate numbers)

Niall Lucas – 3125
Jordan Perrett – 3161
James Nash – 3148
Lewis Taylor - 3206