Editing Development and Issues

For the Editing process we used a programme called Final Cut Pro. This is a programme that is unique to Macs and it is relatively easy to use. Wikipedia describes the programme as: “….a professional non-linear editing software application developed by Apple Inc.”.

(Click here for more information on Final Cut Pro)

To use the programme is quite simple. To upload the clips we had filmed onto the computer we first had to transfer them across from the camera itself. This was done via a USB cable. The clips were then recognized by the computer and opened in iMovie. This is a very basic form of editing software that allows people to string clips of amateur video together, though you can use sound on iMovie it is not as sophisticated as Final Cut Pro.

(Click here for more information on iMovie)

These clips once here were then saved onto an external hard drive that our teacher had given us. This hard drive could easily hold all of our files and clips as well as the actual song that we would have to add to the video. By putting the videos on the hard drive this allowed them to be available to import into Final Cut Pro. After copying the film clips into Final Cut Pro the editing can begin. To place a clip into the program you simply drag it from the panel on the left hand side of the screen into the timeline at the bottom of the screen. This automatically adds the clip into a sequence for you. From here more clips can be added and arranged.

(Click Here for a picture of what Final Cut Pro looks like on screen)

Issues:

The main problems with making a music video are keeping everything in time and sequenced. For example clips have to appear on the beat and if there is lip syncing then it has to be perfect otherwise the video’s quality will be compromised. Luckily for our video we were not going to have an actor singing along to the lyrics. This is partly because we didn’t think that someone singing along would suit the music video and also some of the lyrics in the song are hard to hear or understand.

We did however have to tackle the problem of making clips match the sound on the beat. This was a painstaking process but was however ultimately rewarding as we feel our music video has come out well because of it. The clips matching on the beat makes the music video flow well and makes it seem very professional.

Another problem we faced was getting enough clips to form a music video from. Our song “DVNO” is 3:56 long, and though that doesn’t seem a lot, since in our music videos we needed a new clip every 2-3 seconds we needed to film a lot. We did manage to film the clips we needed for long enough though which helped immensely and allowed us to experiment to see what worked well and what didn’t.

The final problem we faced was the differing in quality of cameras. As we had two HD cameras and one worse quality camera to share between 4 groups there was always going to be competition between us for the best cameras. One of our scenes (the dance class scene), we filmed with the worse camera. The quality vaired so much that we had to reshoot which lost us valuable time as the deadline loomed. However we managed toi get the clips that we wanted and with the better quality camera.