Thursday, 3 May 2012

Final Day

 8.59am- I'm pretty certain I could tinker with my film for another month and still find small imperfections or develop new ideas, indeed if I can think of a way to improve the thing as a whole I might well still upload a further version at some point in the future regardless of it's worth to my degree.

That being said there comes a time where you simply have to stop work and down tools. After a brief editing session in the first half hour of the morning (realised that for the mirror scene I should really reverse the picture, so it wasn't time wasted) I'm ready to export. Given that the film is in SD I'm exporting to that standard, HD wouldn't do it any favours.

I did attempt some messing with my own scenes to darken them but I couldn't find a tone I was truly happy with, so I thought it was best all around to just leave it rather than embark on a process that might take up a couple of hours. I'll finish this blog once it's fully converted.

11.01am- After issues with exporting into SD (undesired letterbox format) I've uploaded two versions, one to Vimeo in the SD format and one in HD to Youtube. Issues with the poor quality of the static on Vimeo led to me deciding to put up the Youtube version for final marking. Links to both follow. I've also put up a rough copy of my original 5 minute version for comparison.

https://vimeo.com/33658783 SD version

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW8LCgXIN_w HD widescreen Final Submission

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vHaHqzL_mo&feature=youtu.be trial edit (unfinished) (5 minutes)

Tuesday, 1 May 2012

Post-final playing with footage.

After completing editing I thought I'd play with reintroducing some footage with varying ideas in play. Playing the initial screenwatching aspect and reversing it might go a long way to guiding viewers in the right direction with the themes I'm looking at. I also felt that the 5 minute running time, whilst efficient, might be short given our guidelines of 8 minutes. Working on the BBC/UWE fusion project as an unmarked extra should have granted some extra leeway when it comes to deadlines this term but unfortunately the projects have to be ready in time for the show. As a result of attempting to do both and the shorter deadline for the fusion lab this video project was put on the backburner for a while and probably suffered.

The extra footage I'm blending should increase the running time without feeling extraneous, especially if I can blend the audio to fit the themes and try and match up some camera angles. It could add a minute or so. I plan to upload both versions to Vimeo, but mark whichever I prefer as the one I'm submitting. I still have an entire day tomorrow to play with this.

The final list of films and TV shows that I've taken video and audio from include-

500 Days of Summer (2009)

BASEketball (1998)
Being John Malkovich (1999)
Cable Guy (1996)
Day After Tomorrow (2004)
Groundhog Day (1993)
Interview With A Vampire (1994)
Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Scream (1996)
Scream 2 (1997)
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Boogie Nights (1997)
High Fidelity (2000)
Network (1976)
Truman Show (1998)
One Hour Photo (2002)
Manhatten (1979)
1984 (1984)
True Romance (1993)
Friends (1994-2004)
Death to Smoochy (2002)
JFK (1991)
THX 1138 (1971)
ECW One Night Stand (2005)
V for Vendetta (2005)

This list is 25 films distilled from more than 120 explored for footage. That's around 4 decades of film explored, where the genres and attributes of media are self-consuming, they exist by referencing convention within media. THX turns religion into a TV show. One Hour Photo is about capturing something that isn't really there through media. Scream and Scream 2 take post-modern commentary on filmic genres to new heights. Truman show examines the entire world through the lens of voyeurism ask how much of our reality is constructed through what we experience in TV. 1984 uses film to dominate it's beaten-down population, Death to Smoochy uses it to entertain and uplift the kids in spite of the world and everything else. They're all films about the nature of media and it's construction around one thing- Watching.