Filming:
I experimented in filming first by using a tripod or not using one. When I was at Donnington I first filmed footage just holding my phone and through watching back the footage I realised it was more shaky. I then filmed some footage from F4 using a hand-held tripod and it was more stable. It would have been even better if I set it up as a tripod so that it was more stable, however due to the conditions (it being muddy and the ground was not even) I didn't.
I used a wired lavalier microphone from Amazon, which I plugged into my phone. It was good for use at Donnington, it picked up wind but the interviewees were clear and a lot of background noise wasn't picked up on, it focused and the interviewee. However, when I was asking questions I didn't use the mic, so my voice is very quiet as it was only slightly picked up. I also used this mic for my piece-to-cameras and used it as a clip-on. It picked up my voice clearly and was decent quality. The mic was cheap and decent quality, easy to use and portable. However, to improve the quality of the audio in the future I will use a better-quality mic that could block out background noise and improve sound quality.
Editing:
I experimented with lighting. You can add colour correcting to a clip from Donnington. However, there wasn't much need for colour correction as there was natural lighting because it was outside and the use of a camera app where settings are similar to a DSLR.
I tried to stabalise the interviews done at the track as I didn't use a tripod. I tried 'Warp Stabilizer' in 'Distort' in the 'Effects' workspace. However using this made the clips glitch and the clips would wobble. This effect made the clips look worse than before and the footage from Donnington wasn't too shaky so it was better to not use the effect as it looks much more natural.
I experimented with resizing images to fill the screen, and had to use different images when some got blurry after I increased the size of them. I found an image, imported it and then if it was too small, double-clicked on it and dragged to fill the frame. If the image was too blurry, I would find a different image to use.
I experimented around with effects in adobe. I tried using the 'morph cut' effect to smooth the cuts between clips, but it was shaky and looked glitchy when it was over 00.03 seconds in duration. So I instead chose to use the 'dip to black' effect.
I used this effect between clips and changed the duration on the top left panel, depending on the clip. If it was a change of speaker or topic then the effect duration was 00.00.00.25 if it was just between sentences then it was 00.00.00.10 and if it was in the middle of a sentence it was 00.00.00.05. I then increased the duration of the 'dip to black' effect after my tutor advised me to increase it as it makes it look more professional and gives viewers time to digest what has just been said. I increased the duration to 00.00.00.25 and exported that as the draft. It looks cleaner now and the transitions are smoother instead of snappy.
I tried out three different editing softwares in the post-production process:
Adobe Premier Pro
Adobe Express Free Version
Microsoft ClipChamp
Adobe Premier Pro:
I edited most of the footage in Adobe Premiere Pro. I cut clips, added b-roll and pictures, and added effects.
Premiere Pro is standard in the industry and through this project, I improved my skills on the platform. I exported multiple different versions of the documentary, each one after a big edit. I exported in HD quality and in MP4.
Microsoft ClipChamp:
I used ClipChamp to screen-record footage and edit a montage, as well as making some small edits outside of college, as I only had use of Adobe there. I used the free music from the library in ClipChamp for the montage, I used 'Virgo Rising' and edited the intro and outro together to make the montage have a rising and falling moment.
ClipChamp is easy to use and has good options in the content library.
Adobe Express:
I tried to use Adobe Express the free Adobe editing software, however it has a small storage and I opted to use the alternative of ClipChamp or just use Adobe Premiere Pro.
I experimented with adding auto subtitles. I researched how to do it and tried it out on ClipChamp (https://clipchamp.com/en/subtitle-generator/and) Adobe Premiere Pro (https://riverside.fm/blog/how-to-add-captions-and-subtitles-in-premiere-pro).
ClipChamp:
Adobe Premiere Pro:
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