See You At The Bottom - final cut

Here is the final version, ruthlessly cut down to 3min 33sec including credits.

Link to "See You At The Bottom"

Interview - Do a ruthless cut / Get down to 3.20 (MAX)

I am at the point now where the interview is sitting comfortably around the 5-6 minute mark. This however is still nearly double my intended length. What I will have to do is trim it down and cut people out if necessary (probably all the dark footage / noisy footage). Then I will have an extended version for myself with everyone in it; and I'll probably extend the 6mins to more like 7. When I get more people shot for this,  I'll redo my doco and I'd say I'll reach the 15min mark easily.

Now that I'm certain I'd lose marks for exceeding the 3 minute by anymore than 20 seconds;

I can focus on trimming so I can approach the last few issues:

Re-record Intro audio (draft is too quiet and badly enunciated)

Light levels (cutting dark footage will help)

Add names / relationship to Rick (essential)

Add B-roll to break up long sections (or mask cuts)

Use transitions where appropriate (don't over use!)

Collect up the permission forms

Adjust music / volume levels

Add credits (can extend over the time limit if necessary)

Interview Progress

With more than enough footage to work from (9+ interviews), I am now up to viewing and editing.

I may need more B-Roll as I don't have that much, but with gently panning or zooming stills, this may prove to be enough to fill the gaps of this project.

I am trying to decide how to have the questions and general narration. 

I was considering having a voiceover, perhaps with Text to reference from time to time.

Eg. Names, Dates, Relationship to Rick?,  What they do? (work/study) and the questions themselves?

I also need to start looking for some suitable music. It's a shame that the most ideal tracks are copyright such as: Blindspott - Phlex, Blindspott - S.U.I.T.,  DevilDriver - Mountain, Chimaira - Severed, Chimaira - Empty, DevilDriver - Head On To Heartache, 8 Foot Sativa - Chelsea Smile, 

Lamb Of God - Ruin, Lamb Of God - Laid To Rest, AC/DC etc etc.

I guess the list goes on. However, I do know the guys from Pariah who may be interested in sharing their music with my project (which works well as Rick knew at least some of the band).

INTERVIEW PERMISSION FORMS

Can I please get everyone to print, sign and get these back to me by the 18th for my hand-in?

Can be by snail mail or email, I'm not fussed either way.

Although I've left it a bit late, so email would be best :)

From NPL I need:
Vicki's
Deb's
Sefton's
Shannon's
Tamara's
Bronson's

and from WLGTN I still need:
Nick's
Shelley's
Fraser's

After Effects Tutorial

AFTER EFFECTS for DIGITAL VIDEO CREATION

Premiere - editing, cutting, sound

After Effects - special effects, motion graphics, compositing, titles

Drag and drop movie files into After Effects (making sure to keep files referenced correctly),

and save the project file where the footage is.

NEW: 1920 x 1080 (or 1280 x 720)

Estimate duration of sequence

Square pixels 1.0

25 fps

Dynamic Link (use premiere to scale to frame size)

Colour Correction:

Effects > Color Correction > presets

(but premiere is better for this)

Keyframes:

Click the stopwatch (on the clip's property) at the point on the timeline where you want add a keyframe.

RAM preview (shortcut = 0):

This will render out the current project for a true preview includ. sound.

Masking:

Using rectangle / ellipse tool etc, when you select footage first, it will cut that hole out.

Pen tool will allow for custom shapes (eg. person silhouette).

Feather the mask: Adjust mask expansion and mask feather until it suits.

Key frame the mask to allow for movement of interviewee.

Duplicate Layer:

Ctrl + D to duplicate layers.

Try roto brush tool? Auto tracking.

Use masks to eliminate unwanted background material.

By using an offset duplicate layer underneath a hole to eliminate distractions.

Colour Key:

Allows you to select a colour range (green screen etc)

send your subject to france or jail or wherever etc.

Motion Tracking:

track motion will give a tracking point.

then click analyse. 

parent this tracking point with a null object so you can also parent text to the null.

Titles:

make sure to put a slightly transparent rect (or whatever) behind text to allow the viewer to see everything (all text - so no letters are lost within the shot)

Expressions:
alt + left click on the property (eg. position) and type for example wiggle[5, 10]
can also connect things (1 layers scale affects another's position)

more example code:
temp = transform.position[1];
[temp.temp]

or just google what you want the expression to do

Final Storyboard

Interview - Fleshing Out A Storyboard

I have decided to do my interview on a good friend of mine who sadly passed away a few years ago.

His name is Ricky Manson Neill; known to all as Rick.

Starting with an introduction to Rick and his family through a series of photos,

To the incident itself; images / news footage of the house fire.

I intend to move past this as quick as possible without cutting information,

onto the interviews of Rick's family and friends.

I will ask a series of questions aimed to uncover each of the individually perceived versions of Rick, in an effort to paint an image of him as a whole.

I want to use the B-Roll as suitable, based on topics covered within interviews (so dependent on their content). This will have to be shot after the interviews themselves.

I will however have shots of Paritutu Rock and Rick's memorial stone.

I will ask each question; and collage the responses appropriately. Taking the most interesting responses and cutting/splicing them together. This will be the most efficient way of asking the same question to different people again and again.

The questions are (at this stage):

Who was Rick to you?
How would you describe Rick?
How did Rick spend his time?
What's your fondest memory of Rick?
What wisdom has Rick imparted on you, in his time with us?
What sort of shenanigans did you get up to with Rick?
What's the funniest or strangest thing you can remember doing or saying?
What role does Rick play in your life now?
If you could say one more thing to Rick, what would it be?

I would like to interview:

Deb - Rick's Mother

Tamara - Rick's Sister

Shannon - Rick's Sister

Sefton - Rick's Sister

Shelley - Rick's Other Mother

Jed - Family Friend

Nick - Family Friend

Vicki - Rick's Other Other Mother

Bronson - Family Friend

Liam - Ex-Flatmate

Nick - Ex-Flatmate

and anyone else willing to portray their impression of Rick.

Required Interview Elements

Will need:

1+ Camera(s) (ideally DSLR quality)

1+ Tripod(s) (enough for 1 per camera)

Lighting equipment (able to light the interviewee)

Sound recorder (external audio capture or at least an microphone connected to the camera)

Will need to shoot B-roll footage, collect appropriate static images / footage etc.

I need to come up with 3-4 questions to get to the root of the interview and settle on suitable filler.

For audio:
Clean up in Audacity with noise removal (create noise profile - few secs of bg noise, then noise removal the whole track based on this noise profile).
Use the auto ducking to fit audio bg track into the gaps of speech in the interview (beats manually inputting).

Interview Concepts part 2

With a few more days brainstorming and refining ideas, I have come down to 5 possibles;

1. Crazy Cat Lady / Pig Collector

(SINGLE PERSON)

+ Easy to arrange time to shoot

- Not very ambitious

2. Metal Enthusiasts

(MANY PEOPLE - Metal Lovers)

+ Very passionate on this topic

- Could be difficult filming a variety of people

3. Metal Band

(GROUP)

+ Open to humor (through friendship)

- Relies on other people's schedules & ability to shoot performances

4. In Memory Of ...

(SEVERAL PEOPLE - The People Who Were Closest)

+ Very personal topic but would be received well by those involved

- Difficult to get to all those required (many are further north)

5. Fictional Scenario

(PETS)

+ Huge potential for humor (if it works = the greatest potential)

- Could be difficult / nigh impossible to get appropriate footage

I am uncertain at this point if filming out of town is an option; ideally this would involve taking lighting equipment, camera, tripod etc, up north to shoot. I wouldn't think this is possible, so I am thinking I could try the "pets" option. If it doesn't work out, I can fall back onto either "metal enthusiasts" or "crazy cat lady / pig collector". However, if my memorial video is plausible, it could be an awesome opportunity to interview those affected by my close friend's passing.

As a side note:
An option would be to do "a day in the life of" style interview.

"In New Zealand you can't shoot children without their parent's permission"
~ quote taken out of context

After talking to my tutors, I have decided to try for the memorial video. I can take the equipment up north, it is my responsibility to keep it safe regardless of location. If it works out, this could be an excellent video with meaning to my extended family.

Interview Concepts

Concept/Storyboard DUE: 1st October (2 weeks)

Interviewee can be anyone/anything. Previous examples include a single person, a group of people, a type of people (stereotype or otherwise), or even a inanimate object.

I would really like to do an interview of a metal band; perhaps Ruinant (James - drummer), maybe Malicious Deity (Frank - vocals & keys), or maybe Aethea (Quinn & Jed - vocals & bass).

If possible, I'd love to do this with Pariah, the Wanganui band. Although being 2-3 hours away would make this rather difficult.

Other interesting people I could interview could be:

Crazy cat lady (who collects pigs?)

This can also be fictional, hence the ability to interview an inanimate object. Or even a made up character that someone can portray.

General topics:

Music - metal

Cars - boy racers

Game characters?

Can I interview people on a person who is no longer with us?