Editing in general wasn’t a pleasing journey, I had a lot of exams during the same time. When everything is going smoothly I enjoy the process, but as soon as something starts going wrong I start to lose patients, which causes the quality of the editing to become worse. And IT’S TIME CONSUMING!
I’m using Logic X Pro, Final cut pro, Davinci resolve and After effects. I have used all of these different programs to experience which ones suit me best in editing, and with a finalised conclusion I can tell that Final Cut Pro is the most newbie friendly editing software (my opinion) as it explicitly shows where everything is located. With a couple of month of learning I feel more confident in my editing skills especially the ones that are related to special effects.
This was the initial document I used to try to understand about Davinci resolve 17
https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/UserManuals/DaVinci-Resolve-17-Beginners-Guide.pdf I found a pdf version of a final cut pro tutorial book and used it to understand the basic mechanics of the program.
Final Cut Pro X Efficient Editing- Iain Anderson
- Later I tried learning how to mask, which is shown in the final 10 seconds of the project. This was hard at first because all of the YouTube videos I found online were skipping steps and not showing the entire process so I wasted a lot of time on learning how to have several masks in one clip and how to effectively track a moving object. In my case I had to track moving eyes, the first solution was to use auto-tracker which didn’t work out well due to the lighting. Then I manually masked the eyes frame by frame. I was satisfied with the results but it was very time consuming.
I learned how to use Logic Pro from lessons music lessons, both from IGCSE Music and extra curricular classes.
After Effect was the hardest program to learn as it didn’t have any guidelines. I used AE mainly for my logo editing and learned it from YouTube videos.
The storyboarding was vague and unclear. I followed the description of the editing ideas on the script, and utilised my creativity, and improvise on some parts of the edits for example the black eyes.
The masking effect:
Go into effects and find draw mask
Drag it onto the clip you want to apply the effect to
Trace the object
Invert the effect
Lower the opacity to make the black or layered footage blend in better
I have used this effect to demonstrate the supernatural condition of the main character.
The glitch:
I used effects such as Bad TV and distortion. I changed the Y and X axis frame by frame to create a feeling of movement. This aloud me to create a blurry effect and causes the audience to focus on what is happening.
Colour grading is essential, I preferred the colour grading system in Davinci resolve 17, but ended up using Final cut pro's colour grading sytem (due to storage probelms). I created a more saturated and cold colour to convey that the setting isn’t pleasing. I toggled the knobs such as the gamma rays to blue to create a colder environmental view. It failed slightly due to my poor handling of the lighting which caused the footage after colour grading to be too bland or too saturated. I have lowered the saturation in the theatre scene to create low hyperreality which makes the audience question wether Diana is dead or alive.
Sound track was added as the last part, I synced some audio of modern impressionism with the theatre scene to create more tension and discomfort. I have used Logic Pro to create my own distortion sound, as I wanted to make the audio very compressed and distorted.
Mise en scene was the easier part because we are students and the narrative is set in a school, so we used the school uniform as costume, books and personal items as props (the bear)
Overall it was primarily a success, as I managed to learn how to use these different programs, and understood how much time it takes to editing, which allows me to have better time management and scheduling for the next project.
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