Understanding iMovies

While editing our prelim and final piece we used iMovie to put together and edit them, we had a limited knowledge on how to use the software some we looked online to find out more information about using it. We found this extremely useful and it has helped us to full understand and aid towards our editing skills without this extra knowledge we easily progressed through the editing stage and managed to use techniques to improve our work.

We followed step by step guides to learn new techniques and improve our speed in which we edit and because of this we could spend more time trying new methods of editing. When starting to edit we used easy guides like this one we created to help us speed up the simple editing tasks.

Step by Step Guide

Importing And Starting

Firstly you must import your clips into iMovie. (You can import directly from a camera or from any files that exist on your computer). Simply select the import feature from the FILE menu and use the browser to select your clips.  Your first import will take some time if you have a lot of clips, since iMovie will generate new thumbnails for each clip. Once you have imported all the clips, select NEW PROJECT from the file menu to create a new project.  Your project is empty, so you need to SELECT all the clips you want in your project and drag them to the timeline window on the top. Once you have the clips in the timeline, you should reorder the clips in the proper sequence by dragging and dropping them in the correct order.

Adding Transitions

You may want to use TRANSITIONS between scenes to fade one scene to another or use another transition effect. To access them, select TRANSITIONS from the WINDOW menu. Simply select the transition you desire and drag it and place it between the two scenes

Cropping 

To crop a scene, simply select the scene and then click on the CROP button. The crop window will open up and you can adjust the window to crop the video clip. This will crop the whole clip you selected so you need to preview the clip to make sure the crop fits the entire scene.

Adjusting The Video

You may want to edit the video itself. To do so, simply select a single clip or multiple clips using the SHIFT button and mouse click. Click on the VIDEO ADJUST button to bring up the control panel. You can adjust exposure, saturation and each channel independently. You can even adjust the white point by simply dragging it and moving it to a new location.

Adding Titles

Titles are added just like transitions. Select TITLES from the WINDOW menu. Drag the title from the inspector and place it into the movie. You can then completely edit the text. As with most Macintosh applications, all the fonts that are available on your system may be used. You can also easily change color, spacing and even kerning of the text.

Editing or Adding Sounds

You can also easily edit the sound of any clip and add sound and music to your movies. From the FILE menu choose Music and Sound Effects to gain complete access to your iTunes library. Here you can add a music track or sound effect to a single scene or to the whole movie. Selecting the SOUND icon from the toolbar will allow you to edit a sound, adjust the volume and fade the sound in or out.

Exporting

The final step is to export your movie. You can export directly to a number of devices including your computer or a USB stick. To export you click the EXPORT button and select the place you wish to export to once this is done it will save and you are done.

Our Films Location & filming Diary

When starting to create our film opening we decided that the location of our shots and the film on a whole, would be of key importance to establishing the storyline and conforming to the genre of social realism, It should ideally aid us as filmmakers in helping to tell our story to our demographic,  by bringing realistic locations into our filming; it makes our film opening appear more authentic for the audience.

Due to the hybrid nature of our film we used a mix of locations from urban to rural areas and felt they helped to enhance the social realism aspect as well as thriller due to it dramatic yet believable locations and story. We aimed the locations to be that of harsh, hard hitting, gritty and a little bit grim to represent the wide negative conception of areas inhabited by drug issues, as this reflects the quality of life and the living standards commonly stereotyped within areas inhabited by drug issues.  

 Production Filming Diary

 

Day 1

Urban Area Filming

 

Today we filmed the total mass of urban area footage, this includes the;

• Intro scenes (Master shot, long to close to mid shot sequence, shot reverse shot)
• Dialogue (Whole sequence of convo)
• Beginning of Chase (Match on action, shot reverse shot and mid shot)

We had a few problems during this day of filming, manly coming in the form of poor sound and weather. As much as we would like to, we couldn't control the weather but while using coats to avoid a wet camera we managed to successful film the urban areas with the looming grey sky we wanted. As far as sound goes we had well covered locations so only wind effected the sound thankfully, but again by placing "Wind barriers" in the form of Luke blocking the camera from the main force of wind.


Day 2
Rural Area Filming

Today we filmed the total mass of urban area footage, this includes the;

• Largest section of the chase scene (close ups, POV shots and long shots)
• Small amount of dialogue (POV, low angle and over the shoulder)

Unlike the first day of filming we had no problem with weather or wind that much, unless it was a desired sounds, the biggest problem was us as cameramen and directors not only being in  the shots but trying to not make noise on the leaves which proved very difficult for some shots. We used manly stationary shots in our rural filming so that we would not break the codes and conventions of a social realism, and by re filming we avoided being in shot.

Day 3
Vlog

The Vlog was a dialogue lead sence in which no real problems accured, it contained Toby talking directly into the camera, speaking well rehersed lines and with no unwanted sounds. this finished our filming and then we started to edit.