You must exhibit your film to a selection of your identified target audience in Week 13 to gather target audience feedback; that's the week that starts Monday 30th November (organise a test screening event in that week). I will post more information about your test screening event next week, including methods of gathering audience feedback.
To be clear about what you can and can't do out of lesson time for the next two weeks...
What You Can Only Do in Lesson Time Only...
- Open your project in Final Cut Pro X.
- Import footage from your camera.
- Edit your footage.
- Review your footage in FCP X.
- Import sound effects or soundtrack into FCP X.
- Edit sound in FCP X.
- Investigate the impact of effects on the clips in your storyline.
- Continue work on the final draft of your storyboard (the one that will be submitted).
- Continue work on your script (the one that will be submitted).
What Can be Completed At Other Times (for OHL)...
- Any of your research & planning documents (documentary research, existing product research, topic research, etc).
- Plan & consider elements to be included in your storyboard.
- Plan & consider script elements.
- Source & review sound effects & appropriate soundtrack extracts (search Free SFX, etc).
- Shoot additional footage (interviews, B-roll, etc).
- Review the quality of footage on your camera.
So remember, the final film, together with the final drafts of the storyboard & script, can only be worked on during formal lesson time!
Advice on Editing & Post-Production 'Fixes'
- Timing is everything; editing has a rhythm, like beats in a bar in music or the movements of a dancer.
- Editing to a soundtrack is important; cut when the music changes or at the start of bars (certainly, always on the beat at least).
- Don't use approximate clip lengths; be very specific about the point (frame) at which your film cuts.
- Don't have unnecessary gaps of silence at the start or end of interviews, etc (cut tight).
- Don't rely 100% on straight cuts; use some split edits to anticipate dialogue or new environments (cut to the new sound before we see the image on screen).
- Use some camera movement. If it wasn't there in the original footage, try the Ken Burns effect (key-frame zooms, reverse zooms or tracking shots).
- Remember, you can fix a number of framing issues in post-production. For example, if you didn't observe the Rule of Thirds when you shot your footage, zoom in a little (enlarge the image) and then crop, shifting the frame to the left or right. You can also eliminate excessive headroom or wasted space to the right of left that doesn't contribute to the meaning of the shot.
- Too much background noise? FCP can fix that!
- Dialogue a little unclear? FCP can fix that!
- Shots too dark or too light? FCP can fix that!
- Don't forget to 'connect' B-roll clips (don't try to cut them into your primary storyline)
- 'Connect' music & sound effects too (use the 'Q' shortcut, don't drag them in).
- Consider the balance of dialogue, soundtrack and effects carefully; we need to be able to hear what is being said clearly.
- Don't forget that you can use 'Show Animation' function on a clip in you want to fade it in or out (adjust opacity).
- Do you need to apply a visual effect to flashbacks or reconstructions to make them seem a little 'dreamy'?
- Make sure your documentary has a 3-act narrative; an introduction, some development and a conclusion.
- Don't forget your documentary title. Where will you place it? At the start? Between the introduction and development sections? You decide!
What Can Your Teacher Do?
Your teacher can't give you creative ideas such as suggesting a narrative, telling you where to cut, suggesting an effect or identifying elements of your production that require improving (your target audience feedback will achieve this anyway).
However, your teacher can tell you how to achieve the creative ideas you have. For example, you can ask "How do we use the Ken Burns option?" or "Can you show use how to crop the image?".
Your teacher is there to advise you on the application of workflows in FCP (show you how things work), not to suggest ideas that impact on the creative quality of the outcomes.
Out of Hours Learning
- Further develop the research elements of your Production Log.
- Source & review sound elements that could be used in your production.
- Complete the Lesson Evaluation document.
