Technical aspects of editing

Editing Quiz Questions

1- What do the numbers 16:9 refer to?

                      The number 16 means the width and the number 9 stands for height.

2- What is the frame size of a 1080p video file?
                      P stands for pixels. This means that there is 1920p going across and 1080p going up. 

3- If you have a video file which is 720:50p what is the frame rate and what does the p stand for? 
                        In this case P stands for progressive. A file with 720:50p has a frame rate of 50fps (frames per second).

4- What is the difference between p and i?
                       P stands for progressive, where each frame is shown immediately one after the other.
                       I stands for interlaced, where only half of the frame is shown at time, one half is shown first then the other half follows.

5- What frame rate is real film shot at?
                       23.976 frames per second.

6- What might be the advantage of shooting at a higher frame rate?
                       The quality would be way better and it also will be less blury as the quality is better.

7- What defines a lossy file?
                        A file which uses compression methods such as discarding repeated information in order to decrease its total file size.    

8- Name three file types commonly used in video editing.
                        MOV - WMV - MPEG

9- What is the difference between a video file type and a codec?
                        Video file formats simple store video informations. Codec is shorten for compressor decompressor. This encodes the individual video frame. Eg. AVI is an example of a format and H.264 is an example of a codec.
 

10- What is bitrate?   
                       This is how much information is processed over a period of time. The higher the bit the more information is going through the file.

Preparing material for editing

Steps we took to edit our advert:

• First we logged in into a mac using the log in we had been given at the start of the year, "user name - mediae, password - mediae". This is a local log in which means the files used can only be accessed on the mac. Also that if the college network goes down it will not affect our work. 

Then we insert the SD card containing our footage into the back of the Mac. The footage then came up on the screen in a folder name private. We copied the folder into the Mac videos folder. This is done to keep the footage safe so when the SD card is removed the final video will still work.

Each folder we renamed with the date it was recorded. The reason we done this is so we do not get confused and lost when looking for a certain footage. To rename the folder we simply clicked once on the top of the folder private until it highlighted itself. 

This is my timeline, it is how i can get to and access my all my footage/work.
So I first go to Maccintosh HD, Users, Mediae, Movies, PG Tips, then I can choose the footage I want to use.





I know my folder has successfully been rem=named when I see that the file inside each of my folder has a name of AVCHD. If it was not renamed properly it would still have a name of private.

                                                                       For example:

Creating a new project:

When I made the project for my advert u ensured that all the settings were accurate and appropriated for my video. I changed the capture format to HDV, ensured that my location was right, and lastly gave it a name pf PG Tips where it says "Untitled". 

Uploading footage to my project:

This step is quite easy as there two ways of doing it. The very simple and easy step is just by double clicking on the empty space where the footage goes and it will open up a folder where you can start searching for your footage. The other way is to go to the top of the project on the menu bar and search for upload, the rest of the step is similar.



Uploading Soundtrack:

This is exactly the same as uploading videos/footage. However instead of going to the folder where there are videos you go to the folder where there are soundtrack/music.

Analyzing editing and techniques of a 5-10 minutes sequence

Film editing
In order to build a good well film which will have big hits we need a really important part of the media which we call film editing. This is "part of the creative post-production process of film making". It involves working with raw footage and selecting individual shots and combining them into sequences to create a finished motion picture. Film editing was once derived form the traditional process of working with film (film splicing), however now it involves a lot of the use of digital technology.

Film splicing, normally done by a machine named film splicer.

This device is used to physically make a cut transition and put together lengths of photographic film in film motion pictures.
There are different types of splicer which d the same job. In the old times before digital technology they wuld use one of these devices for editing:

• Cement splicers
• Tape Splicers 
• Ultrasonic splicers
• Thermal paper splicers

Bellow is a you tube video explaining more about the techniques used in the old days for editing using one of those devices above.

However now we do not have the needs f using this device any more for editing as we have the use of computers and digital technologies. This method is much easier, faster and more reliable. Time consuming is little compared to before.

Transition
This another method used in the editing of films. The transitions are used to connect the shots in a more effective way so the audience can read it better. There are simple method of transitions:

1. Cut- This is an abrupt but usually trivial transition from one shot to another. A shot just immediately replaces the previous one. 
2. Fade- This normally refers to fade in and fade out, where the sequence will kind of dissolve to and from a blank image/shot.
3. Wipe- This is a type of transition where a shot replaces another by travelling from one side of the screen to the other. Sometimes it does this action with different shapes.
4. Dissolve- This is a gradual transition from a shot to another. 

For this piece of work i decided to write about the techniques and the editing of the first 8 minutes of a film named "Pain and Gain". This film was first released not long ago; April 11 2013. There are two very popular actors on this film which play the main protagonist; Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson.

The reason I choose to do this film is simply because it is based on a true story, I like it and there are many scenes that illustrates lots of the editing techniques.

Here is the first eight minutes of the film:

On the first 50 seconds of the film we already are presented with various shot variations. At 26 seconds we have a long shot of a man exercising, this is slowly panning to the left. We then are taken into a low angle, medium shot to give more details. After that we have a low angle close up followed by a high angle close up.

At about 50 seconds of the film we have a sort of parallel editing (cross-cuttings). This is when we keep jumping between two scenes which will cross each other later. On this film we also have cross-cuttings at about 50 seconds of the film where we have the guy running then we cut to the officers then back to him. The cross cuttings go on for a while until they actually cross each other at 2.15

At about 1.26 we have a sort of montage; this is when a scene shows time passing. I would say that on the scene at 1.26 seconds they are trying to illustrate time passing because they have the soldiers jumping down from the truck in slow motion. This shows the audience that the time for the guy running is shorten as the troops are getting closer.

At 2.21 the film maker withholds information from us. He shows us the first 2.20 seconds of the film and when the guy is hit by the police car he finishes the scene there, so we don't find out what happens to the guy so soon. We call this "providing and withholding information".

At 2.21 we also have another editing technique used. The film maker finishes the scene by cutting to the sound track. This is when we hear a sound/beat and then the scene finishes. At 2.21 we end our scene by the sound of smashed glass from the police car. We hear the sound then the screen instantly goes pitch back.

 

Early at the start of the film the 180 degree rule was broken. By doing this it could easily confuse the audience and they could also have lost track on what is really happening. However this break of the 180 degree rule was very clear and easy to follow. You can see it your self starting from 1.00 minutes into the film and finishing at 1.34. At 1.00 the camera is positioned in a way where we see all the actors and everything else moving/running to the left. At 1.12 this was broken and everyone started to run/moving to the right.

 

We also see an establishing shot of the film very early. An establishing shot is when the scene is brought out with a long shot of the scenario to tell or remind the audience where the scene is happening and where the actors are. On pain and gain this action happens at 2.22 when the screen goes black. Unlike others establishing shots this one had a voice over explaining and telling the audience that this film is based in a true story.

 

Just before the establishing shot we had another editing technique which once again was well mastered and done to a professional level. The use of match cut on actions, where an action starts in one shot and is completed in a different shot. We can see this at the minute 2.15, where the actor getting away from the officers is hit by a police car and in one shot he is in the air falling, and the other shot we are taking from an inside view where he hits the car front window and it breaks.

 

Shot reverse shot is a shot which is used a lot in many films. This is simply because of all the dialogue that happens; for example when two people are talking we tend to get a point of view shot from the persons who is listening, then a reverse shot is done for us to see the answer of the person. An example of this shot can be seen at the 5.29.

 

Another shot which can be seen literally at the start of the film is a reaction shot. This is when we see, hear or have an action happening and afterwards cut back to an actor to see their reaction towards what had just happened. At the 0.43 we can see this shot. We had a point of view shot from the actor looking towards the police cars coming over and then we cut straight away to his reaction.

TV advertisement evaluation

PG tips Advert Evaluation

For this work we were required to create a short 30 to 60 second TV advert to a professional standards. First we were put in group of 3s.  My group is consisted of my self, Louie and Angelo. We each individual came up with an idea. Coincidentally two of us though of re branding the same Unilever product for a younger audience aged between 15-21. For our final choice we went with the idea of re branding PG tips. However we also decided to crunch all of our 3 ideas together to make a single shot.

Our intention to re brand PG Tips is to display it as an energy drink. The reason for this is because energy drinks normally contain ingredients which are bad and unhealthy for daily use, however since tea is a much heather drink it could be used daily by younger audience. Also Before we went on with this idea we decided to ask our colleagues if any of then would drink tea in the morning before college and we found out that majority of them actually drinks tea in the morning to help them wake up before the start of the day. This gives us an extra boost we need into taking our idea forwards. Basically the main idea ended up with a mixture of all the three ideas bunched together, however the main one came from Louie. Once again we doing this because we wish to sell this type of tea as an alternative to the mainstream energy drinks like red bull.

How we will do it:
We will use a bunch of different shots in which most of them will be fast cuts to help convey the idea of P.G being used as an energy drink. The fast cuts will bring out the energy and power on the drink. The AD will take us through a person day life. However with a slight change in which he drinks this amazing cup of tea. The person will start of by waking up, lifeless and tired, not in the mood for another boring lame day. Then he has a drink of the refreshing P.G tips tea and instantly becomes a different person full of life and energy. From this point on all the other shots will be done in fast cuts with a slight zoom in as it goes. We will be using one of our crew members house for the home shots, and the rest of the scenes will be recorded in college using college facilities, for example the classroom and the gym.

Here is our finished product:

We each used a different website to make a survey based on our advert to collect feedback from our audience. Although the websites used were different we choose to all have the same questions. I used a website called "smartsurvey" to build my questionnaire. I also embedded the video our advert to the questionnaire so it makes it easier for the audience to read find it.

Here is what it looked like:

    

After the survey was completed i used Facebook to contact some of my friends as they are around my age. I sent a few of them out and I have 20 responses. 

If I go back smartsurvey i can see all my results in a bar chart.

Looking back at my results I can see that i have actually managed to get my message to th appropriated audience as it was between age 15-21.

As we can see 7 of the people who done the survey are age 15, 3 of them are age 16, 4 of them are age 17, 3 are age 18, and 2 of them are age 19 or above. 

To ensure that our audiences actually watched the video we asked a question which involves watching the advert from start to end to know about it.

The right answer for this question is 5. As we can see from the bar chart 12 people were right, meaning they actually watched the video. 5 people said the answer was 3 and only one said 7. 

We also decided to ask our audience if they already buy the product.

I found out that actually 37% of my audience already buy this product, however with this advert we would like to have more of them to be drinking this tea. 

Here are the main comments from the audience who filled in the questionnaire:

" Once every three months"

" Sometimes"

"Every week"

The following question was to see if this advert had any impact what so ever in our audience.

14 people said that the advert was good enough to persuade them to buy this product. So 74% of my audience gave back a good feedback. 5 people still said that they would not buy this tea. I would say maybe is because just don't like tea or don't drink tea or the advert was just not appealing enough for them to like the tea.

Aesthetic qualities:

Come to think about it our advert actually did not looked too bad. As we tried to stick all the 3 ideas together we though it would look really complicated for the audience to read however with some technical qualities used it came out to look better then we expected.

Mise in scene- We ensure that all the appropriated objects and props were put into all our scenes to make it look more realistic. For example we made use of the kitchen in my house as we had all the accessories needed to make it look realistic.

 In this kitchen shot we ensured that the kettle, microwave, cooker and the upper cabinets are shown in the scene. 

Camera- For the video to look slightly more professional we tried to use different camera angles and camera points. Here are a few we used:

We used a camera work called close up to show more facial expression of the actor before and after drinking the tea.

The first shot we done was a slightly high angel. This is was to give it more of a powerless actor. Someone who is about to wake up without no enthusiasm.

This is a medium shot with a straight on angle.

We used a low angle shot to show the feet of the actor coming down. This build up a good contrast from the previous shot as it was a high angle shot.

We also use a straight on angle long shot as you can see on the image above. This was to show the ending of a lifeless person and the start of a new full of energy person thanks to the tea.

Technical Qualities:

Editing-

Editing was not our strongest point as all three of us were new to the program. Although we had not used the program a lot before we knew the basics and enough to put the advert together.

We done some basics edits such as cuts, fade in and fade outs and dissolves. 

At 33 seconds into the film you can find an example of dissolve used in our advert:

However the edit we used the most was the zoom and the speed up. This was an idea from Louie to show time passing really quickly. We speed up most of our fast cuts shots by 150%. And then we also zoomed into our videos to give it just that little especial touch.

For example:                                   The shot starts like this:

And finishes like this:

Sound-

For the first few scenes (home scenes) from the start up to 17 seconds into the advert we simply just used ambient sound as there was no especial effects to these shots. And also like I had mentioned before it is because we wanted to make it look more realistic.After that we added some music into the advert. This background music first started slow and calm building up to a more intense beat as the actor starts to exercise, then it slowly reduces to another calm beat for the last scene. As we could not use any existent media because of copyright we had one of our crew members making this beat. Although we had the beat going on we also had the ambient sound really low as the background sound. For example at 22 seconds we can here the typing of the keyboard.

Communication Clarity

Our main objective was to send a message to the audience that P.G tips could compete alongside with all the energy drinks for example red bull. We wanted to tell our audiences that they could drink this tea instead as a new source of energy. We also made it look like this tea can be a great way to start and finish the day in a less stressful way.

One of the question we had to as our selves was "Is Our Advert Fit For Purpose?".

Well to be honest i would say we done a great job however we would need a few more alterations to make it look slightly more professional before it is shown on TV screens. Also we may have a few problems with the ASA/BCAP code. The reason I say this is simply because on one of the scenes the main character slaps another character in order to keep him away from his computer and distraction. This scene could be seen as promoting bad behavior for younger audiences. 

Here are some pictures of the scene:

These scenes could be offensive and violate the code 4.4 in the harm and offensive section. The code quotes "Advertisements must not include material that is likely to condone or encourage behavior that prejudices health or safety" (1). 

We might have also violated the code 13.3 which states that "Advertisements must not condone or encourage excessive consumption of any food" (2). This means that we should have mentioned in our advert that this drink should be taken in the morning and maybe if really wanted in the afternoon.

How does the final advert compare to the original intentions?

Looking back to our storyboards and all the plannings including the prezi presentations our final advert dont look too bad. For two of us our advert actually has exactly what we wanted, quick shots with fast zooms, scenes on the gym doing some intensive workout, and a relaxing shot on the end to also show the drink as a coll down drink. We did not completely followed the storyboard as some scenes did not fit the structure so we completely scratched it. For example our last shot was suppose to be a shot on the kitchen sitting down having a drink of the tea, however this shot did not match as the shot before as it was a shot in the gym.

 

TV AD Production

For this work we were required to create a short 30 to 60 second TV advert to a professional standards. First we were put in group of 3s.  My group is consisted of my self, Louie and Angelo. We each individual came up with an idea. Coincidentally two of us though of re branding the same Unilever product for a younger audience aged between 15-21. For our final choice we went with the idea of re branding PG tips. However we also decided to crunch all of our 3 ideas together to make a single shot.

Our intention to re brand PG Tips is to display it as an energy drink. The reason for this is because energy drinks normally contain ingredients which are bad and unhealthy for daily use, however since tea is a much heather drink it could be used daily by younger audience. Also Before we went on with this idea we decided to ask our colleagues if any of then would drink tea in the morning before college and we found out that majority of them actually drinks tea in the morning to help them wake up before the start of the day. This gives us an extra boost we need into taking our idea forwards. Basically the main idea ended up with a mixture of all the three ideas bunched together, however the main one came from Louie. Once again we doing this because we wish to sell this type of tea as an alternative to the mainstream energy drinks like red bull.

How we will do it:
We will use a bunch of different shots in which most of them will be fast cuts to help convey the idea of P.G being used as an energy drink. The fast cuts will bring out the energy and power on the drink. The AD will take us through a person day life. However with a slight change in which he drinks this amazing cup of tea. The person will start of by waking up, lifeless and tired, not in the mood for another boring lame day. Then he has a drink of the refreshing P.G tips tea and instantly becomes a different person full of life and energy. From this point on all the other shots will be done in fast cuts with a slight zoom in as it goes. We will be using one of our crew members house for the home shots, and the rest of the scenes will be recorded in college using college facilities, for example the classroom and the gym.

Pre-production
Coming to a conclusion i would say that the pre production work was pretty easy and went really good. We managed to get all the paper work in just a few hours. With this being we could then start shooting at different locations. As all our paper work was done in the first day we managed to meet the deadline set. The reason we managed to finished this bit of the work so quickly was because we spread the paper work into 3 as there were 3 of us in a group.
Choosing locations for our short advert was also quite easy and quick. As we all had similar ideas of locations we just shared it with each other and came into an agreement really quickly. We only actually ended up using 3 locations for our advert. We used my house, the college classroom and the college gym.
Story-boarding was the hardest bet and the most time consuming. First because one of the sections in story boarding required drawing and non of our members were good at this. Second it was a big struggle to decide how the camera would be set up and what type of  camera angles and movements would be used to make it look more to a professional standards.

Production
Again we can say that this section was easier than expected. We done a couple of shots which went really well and did not needed re-shooting. However we had a couple of shot which needed shooting again in a different day due to continuity errors. Also because some shots just did not fit in with the rest of the scene. Another problem we faced was the shots in the gym. This was a problem because the times we would go there there were too many people using the gym and we would have to wait for a different time or even a different day. Lastly a big problem which i faced was the home shots. I had to do this all alone as i had no crew member with me to help.

Post-production
We though that the editing part would be incredibly difficult since we was not experts at editing, however it went pretty well as we had an idea of what we wanted and what we wanted was not the most difficult edits. We managed to do our edits very quickly leaving us time to make the ending a bit fancy and to also add a sound track made by Louis which was gonna help our advert sound much better. Deciding on the sound was not very hard either as we all wanted a relaxing start with a build up to a much faster pace and then to finish it again with a calm sound.
One problem we had in the end was the files. Some of our files were in the wrong folder, instead of being on the mac where we were editing it was in a folder on the USB, meaning the files would disappear and once the USB was ejected. We wasted a bit of time looking for all the files and placing them in the correct folder in the macs.


Synopsis of idea –
- Younger audience (fast cut shots, these highlight power of product)
- Slogan: – Every days is a game, P.G: Power to the game
put Petrol in your enGin
Put it in gear

Main idea:

1. Someone getting up (start of the day)/Entering College (looks tired/fed up perhaps?

2. Gets drink, puts tea bag in/water still tired.

3. After drink, fast cuts happen to show day moving fast (person is affected by drink and is awake and full of life, this helps them complete their day with ease).

4. Exiting the house, puts bag on (is ready for new day)

5. During the fast cuts (during the day) –
- Close up of door being open (start of college day)
- Doing work (close up of pen to paper)
- Hands in work to teacher (Close up of hands with paper, handing it over)
- P.E Lesson (shows someone working out, not getting tired/possible speed up for humour on running machine)
- Work on the computer (typing fast, possible speed up of footage)
- Someone comes up behind him trying to distract the person working (They get slapped in the face, shows that drink keeps you focused).
- Goes home, sits down and turns on TV (means that drink can still be used as calm down, end of the day type thing/Relaxing).

6. End shot, person enjoying drink (relaxing), this is where the slogan and logo appear with additional editing to help as it could be stylised. Box of tea bags next to that person, shows product so people know what to look for.

Shot List

1. Top of head, rest is covered in sheets and the character is asleep. Character begins to wake up

2. Low shoot of legs hitting floor (denotes someone getting up, possible yawn for example).

3. Kitchen area, puts kettle on, gets mug puts tea bag in with sugar. (Side angle shot, from the side of the kettle for example, this shows person and also props)

4. Close up of water being put into cup

5. Close up of drinking the tea (good sigh, shows it’s refreshing (kind of cheesy)

6. Exiting shot, (Long shot) makes sure that we can see character leaving their home

7. Door handle moving (Opens door) (close up shot)

8. Fast cut shots, these zoom in while action is going on, they cut to the next one from the other, these help to show movement being quick, and these also tie together. In addition these shots will be direct on the action (close up shot). These take from the list on the other page.

9. Medium shot, straight angle (straight on to character, shows their action of drinking tea) shows chair and tea and drinking action. This is the last shot so we need some head room for the logo and slogan to appear at the side or at the bottom

Pre production paper work:

Rebranding Unilever product

Analysis of a television Ad