Importing Footage into Final Cut Pro X

 

Today is Thursday, December 31st and today my group and I have begun the importing and post production process for our feature film, 2020 Vision. In the previous blogs I have described to you, the audience, the production process of the film. This included the Day 1 Filming Scenes as well as Day 2 Filming. Day 2 Filming was in fact only completed yesterday, but the results have been spectacular when considering that we only had 2 hours to film. In total on day 1 filming we collected about 10-12 minutes of footage. This is compared to Day 2 of filming in which we collected around 5 minutes of total footage. This difference can be attributed to the use of the iPhone solely, as compared to the drone, the go pros, and our phones. In the previous blogs I described how we dumped the footage. As a basic review, the first step involved  the footage being brought from the camera (the GoPro and Drone to be specific) to computer, also know as dumping. What we had to do was take out the SD card, put it into the SD reader, and plug it into the USB port on our computer. From there we opened the DCIM folder and found the folder containing our footage from a certain time. Then we created a desktop folder on our laptops, making sure to label each individual scene, and it’s significance to the film. A similar, yet significantly different process was used to transfer the IPhone footage. The process involved using Apples specific ability to “AirDrop” footage, without a cellular connection. This made sure the data did not lose quality when being transferred. From there I was able to airdrop my footage from my phone to my computer, since both of my devices are Apple. In total the dumping process took about 20 minutes, but was essential to this blog, which is importing the footage into Final Cut Pro. 

In order to do this. I had to first create a new project. I made sure to name the project "2020 Vision Feature Film," and selected various settings to ensure we got the production quality and product we wanted. From there I went to the top left of my screen, selected "Final Cut Pro X" and viewed the drop down menu. From there I selected the "Import" button. This brought up the Finde tab, and from that I was easily able to locate my "2020 Vision Footage" folder. Then I used the select all command "command + A" and clicked select. This then imported the footage into the tab on the left side of the Final Cut Pro tab (see photo). Finally, I am now able to drag footage from this library of footage onto the time track at the bottom of the tab. This time track is the sequence that the movie will play in real time. Overall, I am very happy with the production and post-production progression we've made on the production film "2020 Vision."

Entering the Vacation Home Scenes 1 and 3 (Filming Day 2)

Today is Tuesday, December 29th and today my group and I got to together too complete our second day of filming for our production film, 2020 Vision. Customarily, I will provide a review of previous blogs to ensure you stay provided with current and relevant news. On Friday, December 18th my group and I got together to complete our first day of filming. Our goal that day was to complete the opening scene, the car rolling shots, and the first scene. Despite this reality, due to some logistical errors we did not end up completing the first scene. Then, on December 22nd my group and I discussed our arabilities and the possibility to film another day towards the end of December. After all was said and done, we agreed on Tuesday in the morning since it seemed as if everyone's schedules were open. However, this couldn't be further from the truth. The Monday before, it seemed as if a lot of plan were made impromptely and 2 of our group members were unavailable. So we obviously had to reschedule. We agreed on today, December 30th, but with a very narrow time frame of 2-4pm EST. This meant we had to complete 2 scenes in a matter of 2 hours, with the hope of 0 distractions. 

Brining my back to todays blog, I can safely say everything went well and I personally believe it was the most progress we've made in the shortest amount of time. Surprisingly the first scene our group completed was the third scene. This scenes involves the main characters turning on the television and learning from a breaking news report information about the virus and the possibility of a vaccine. The characters know they need to get supplies and socially distance themselves from others to prevent the spread of the virus. We knocked this scene out within 45 minutes and moved onto our scene 1 filming. Where we left off in scene 1 involved the characters walking into the vacation home. Then they all have very different stances on the house. For instance, Sabrina seems to be very disappointed, Skye seems to love the house and is overly energetic, and Jordan seems to remain neutral. This scene took us about an hour to complete, and gave us the reaming 15 minutes or so to discuss further filming/editing dates, in addition to blog ideas. Overall, I am really proud of the progress we made in these 2 hours of filming and it has pushed us back onto schedule. 

Planning for Day 2 of Filming.

Today is Tuesday, December 22nd and today my group and I discussed the possibility of a second day of filming. As per usual, a slight recap of the progression of our film is necessary. First of all, we have completed  a basic script and storyboard outlining the overall plot sequence of our film. This has proven to be a great aid in the production process as we do not have to come up with scene pitches, but rather have our planning to fall back onto. The next step that we completed in the production process was our first day of filming. On that Friday morning we were able to complete all of the opening scene, the car rolling shots, and a significant portion of the first scene. This first scene involves mostly the main characters descending on the house for their vacation. They lay out their stuff and begin to get settled. Despite this reality, when they turn on the news they learn of a shocking virus that has begun to infect the world. However, much of that scene, such as the characters turning on the television, was incomplete due to schedule complications. For instance, I had to leave at 2:00 to go home and help my family with an ongoing situation and later travel to Miami. 

Back to the purpose of today’s blog, those schedule complications left us slightly behind schedule, and we still needed to film. Even our schedule had outlined us to begin full on editing of the film, and only re shooting next week. However, this obviously just did not work for our group. Appropriately, we once again held a Group FaceTime call to discuss possible limitations for when we could film. Some key factors brought up were scheduling at work, Christmas Eve and Day, and New Years Eve and Day. However, we all agreed on either Tuesday or Wednesday to film continue filming the first scene. In addition we also plan on filming the third scene, which involves the characters learning about the scientific breakthrough with a vaccine. We plan on filming from 2-4 and this would have us almost 75% with the production end of the film. 

Dumping Footage

 

Today is Monday, December 21st, and today we began the editing process of the film. While in the previous blogs, I detailed the filming process of the film, the post production process is a much different. It involves tweaking, editing, and minipularing the footage capture in the production process and organizing it in such a manor that you form the film. However to recap as to what we have filmed is a good place to start with the editing process. First of all we have completed the opening scene, the car rolling shots, and a significant portion of scene 1. This was done on the Friday before winter break, and I blogged about it in the previous 2 posts. In total, we captured around 10-12 minutes of film, just for these scenes. This was spread across 3 different devices aswell. Including, but not limited to: a DJI Mavic 2 Pro Drone, Go Pro Hero 8, and an IPhone 11. What the use of these different forms of equipment meant is there was different ways we needed to upload our raw takes, to edit as the scene. The first step involved  the footage being brought from the camera (the GoPro and Drone to be specific) to computer, also know as dumping. What we had to do was take out the SD card, put it into the SD reader, and plug it into the USB port on our computer. From there we opened the DCIM folder and found the folder containing our footage from a certain time. Then we created a desktop folder on our laptops, making sure to label each individual scene, and it’s significance to the film. Then, we transferred all the footage from the SD card to the folder on our laptop but using the select all command, and dragging it to our desktop. In total, it took us about 10 minutes to transfer all the footage, but it was a very important step in the post production process. Afterwards, we safely ejected the SD card by right clicking on devices and selecting “eject”. This made sure no data was lost on the transfer on the device. A similar, yet significantly different process was used to transfer the IPhone footage. The process involved using Apples specific ability to “AirDrop” footage, without a cellular connection. This made sure the data did not lose quality when being transferred. As such however, we all needed to get the footage to blog and edit about, so we decided to use the original phone and airdrop everything to everyone. From there I was able to airdrop my footage from my phone to my computer, since both of my devices are Apple. Finally, I once again brought the footage from my downloads to the folder with the specific scene headings to ensure we were able to keep track of all our footage. 

Vacation Home Filming (Filming Day 1)

Today is Sunday, December 20th and I am pleased to say once again I am happy with the progression of our film. While we may not have had the most immediate success in terms of planning, filming and editing, there has been a healthy progression, which has meant steady success. For a recap, on Friday the 18th, my group and I decided to film around 10am to 2pm EST. Our goal that day was to accomplish the jeep drone filming as well as scene 1. Scene 1 details the main characters, including myself as Ryan, Sabrina, Jordan, and Skye walking into the house, and critiquing their new "Air B&B". However, Sabrina, a character in the film whose supposed to come off as snobby and spoiled, seems to be unappreciative. At the same time, Skye, an overly energetic and outgoing person, seems to love the house and the friends she is with. Planning of the script and the storyboard really seemed to aid in the process of filming this scene. The script for example, covered almost 2 pages of dialogue. Additionally, there are heading detailing a very general description of the actions in each scene. In terms of the storyboard, it also proved to be a great aid to reference when filming. It showed us the camera angles, shots, and techniques that e needed to use in each scene. For example, we mad great used of mid shots, over-the-shoulder shots, wide shots, and two-shots. 

In terms of a specific scene we filmed, it involved myself, and the other characters, getting out of the Jeep, and then walking through the main door. The initial getting out of the car we had to recruit a camera man in order to ensure we could have all four of us in the scene. We ended up recruiting Hillery's, "Jordan," brother who stood near the door, while I pulled in the car, and we all got out. While we did have a great deal of success there are some things that we did not complete in the first scene. The most important thing that we did not finish was Sabrina critiquing the houses and Ryan turning on the news. Specifically, the turning on the news is a huge plot development for the story and allows the movie to continue to flow. As such, we are going to need to schedule another day to film these scenes, in addition to other scenes such as the grocery store. But overall, I am happy with the progression of the film, but we still need to complete other work to remain on track.

Jeep Drone Photography (Filming Day 1)

(Drone to the left side of the car)

Today is Saturday, December 19th and yesterday we just completeted our first day of production filming. In this day of production filming, we tasked ourselves with completeing the first and second scenes. However, in the previous blogs I had discussed how our group had identified and reviewed some of our logisitcal concerns that could hamper filming. These included time for work. baseball practice, softball practice, tenis and volleyball conditioning, and just other priortized duties. Additionally, I had mentioned yesterday, Friday the 18th, was in fact a shortened school day for midterms. Despite this reality, the filming process went over very smoothly and we did not have interferance from school work as much of it could be completed before the filming date. 

Not to be carried too far off topic, the purpose of this blog today was to discussing the proccess on which we shot the car drone and aeriel shots. In these scenes we made use of my DJI Mavic 2 Pro Drone. The Mavic 2 Pro is a drone that allows you to capture stunning aierl photography with it's 4k camera while still maintaining a standard of saftey with its all around sensors. This matched our needs for the film perfectly as the resolution on the camera would match that of the GoPro's, another device we were going to be using to film with, and prevented any collisions with pedestrains, vehicles, or ambient objects. The first takes that we took, were taken in the nearby house of which we were filming at. We took some car rolling shots from the front and behind, in addition to some birds eye pov shots from a sum of approximently 200 feet above the ground. However, one technical difficulty we ran into while trying to film at this location, was the quick shots feature, was restricted on the the drone operators screen. What we later found it was, this was caused by a flight restriction, due to the drones proximenty to an international airport. It was really cool to see this feature implemented, however it slightly hamped how we were to film. Despite this reality, we switched locations to another one of our group members houses to complete the filming for scene one. This location was out of the flight restricted zone, and allowed us to complete all the "quick shots" for the first scene that we needed. Additionally, this location had a lot less obstacles to worry about while flying, so the operator could come lower and closer to the jeep/ This is what allowed us to conlude this scene with some stunning shots. Overall I am very pleased with how the day went, and look forward to sharing my thoughts on thee second scene we filmed yesterday.

Group Meeting Discussing Filming Techniques

    Today is December 14, 2020 and as of currently it looks like we will continue to remain on track on the filming schedule. In the previous blog I discussed some limitations in regards to my groups availability. We shared these concerns on a Group FaceTime call on December the 12th. Some of these concerns were they I have to attend my work occupation once a week from 4-8pm and on Sunday 9-5pm. Additionally, at the start of the new year I will be attending baseball conditioning from 3:3-5:30 every day from Monday-Thursday. Other group members also did bring up some concerns. For instance, 2 out of 3 of my group teammates have to either attend softball, volleyball, or tennis practice/conditioning. Overall, there are a lot of multitude for concerns in terms of the logistical process of the film. Despite this reality, I believe we will be able to conquer these concerns and establish a time to film, edit, re-film, and re-edit.

    Bringing the discussion back into today's purpose, just today we had another Group FaceTime with all of our members. We sought out to establish a time we could all film this week, so we could begin with the production process of our Final Task. While this was difficult to plan with regards to the logistical concerns, we decided to film this coming Friday, December 18th, from 10:30am-2pm. You may ask however, why on a school day would we film in the morning? Well, another logistical error that I've failed to mention throughout the previous blogs is this week is midterms at our school. Each day starting Tuesday, December 15th to Friday, December 18th, we will have 2 mid-terms and school will end at approximately 12:00pm everyday. What allowed us to film on this date is my group and all shared our study hall period, in addition to one other "easy" class, that we would not have to take a midterm for. This just allowed us to log on at 7:40 and 9:40 respectfully and continue filming. Overall I am  really excited to begin filming on Friday. I plan on taking all my production equipment and putting a significant dent into the timeframe of the film.

Planning for Short Film Progression

 Today is Sunday, December 13th, and as of currently our film is on track with our schedule. In a previous blog we outlined a calendar we were going to use to ensure we stayed on track during the production process of the film. We separated the calendar into serval very specific times, including but not limited to, not filming, production planning, group meetings, fining dates, editing dates, and reshoot/re-edit dates. This week, December 6th through the 13th, we were outlined to begin the production planning for the film. This includes lining up the order of shots and scenes that need to take place and securing locations to film. In addition, it also meant we would need to later find a date to actually film and put our work into action.

    Despite this reality, this week we did not accomplish as much as would've liked due to some logistical errors that I am going to discuss. For instance, as I am sure we are all very much aware we are in the time of a global pandemic, and meetings for any kind, are highly discouraged. This has been a major setback for us as a group, we have made the decision to limit the possibility of exposure and instead remain virtual throughout most discussions. However, once again we encountered even more logistical errors, that interfered with the amount of time we had to plan. Speaking for myself, and other members of my group, many of us have jobs or other occupations that have to be prioritized in our life. I for the most part work mostly on the weekends, from 9-5, and am only available during the week or after my work time. 

    With this all being said, while it may have looked mostly negative there was some positive feedback to come out of the production planning. On Thursday, December 10th, our group got together on a FaceTime call to discuss some of the opening sequences for our film. We specifically laid out a gameplay for the individual houses and guard at the gate scene. While there may be some complications during filming, I believe the laid out plan for the scenes, in addition to our draft of our dialogue script should be very helpful. Additionally, on Saturday, December 12th, we held another group call after I got off of work and everyone was available. In this call we discussed, as mentioned priorly, securing locations to film and additional actors that were needed. Some concerns were brought up with regards to corona virus and limited exposure to prevent cancellation of plans on the Winter Break. But, alternatives were proposed in the event that the original location could not be secured. Overall, while we did not "complete as much as we desired," a significant amount of planning took place and I look forward to begin filming this week.