Learning to move on

         With the final project deadline fast approaching, there are not many changes that can be made without wasting time. Because of this, any further editing I choose to do will have to be done in post, as re-recording takes time and requires a good environment, primarily a silent one with matching natural light.

        Considering I am at home, I can afford to re-shoot simpler scenes, but the more complicated ones will be harder to pull off. Choosing to re-shoot is very important, as it's an obvious commitment. It's always better to try and fix lighting in post. When you're lucky and know what you're doing, you can fix up a shot only by changing a few settings.

        Both shots are the exact same, but some effects such as lumetri color, Red Giant, color balance, and others all allow to change brightness, contrast, shadows, and other video settings. Color correcting is usually subtle, and is usually done to make every scene look similar in terms of lighting/coloring. Because it doesn't take much time, it is much easier to leave perfectionism for later as it usually works out. However, sometimes you aren't so lucky.

        Again, we see the same exact scene, before and after editing. While post-editing looks MUCH better, looking at it closely reveals an extensive amount of grain. Even when playing around with settings, it can be unlikely to find a perfect solution. In this case there are quite a few solutions. One thing you can do is replace a scene with B-Roll. This is much more common in larger productions, as scripts are sometimes written to counteract unpredicted events, such as actors leaving or unprecedented weather. Reshooting is also an alternative, as sometimes you just NEED a shot. This was the case with my scene, as it was relevant to the "plot". Keeping the original while re-shooting is important as you can see exactly what went wrong, and work to counteract it. 

        Small cameras with LCD's are usually subject to under-exposure, as they are not always accurate to what is captured, and tend to show brighter footage than is actually being recorded. Because of this, it's good to remember the approximate ISO levels when recording, as bumping it up a bit results in a nicer-looking shot.

What goes around comes around

         If I haven't beaten it into your head yet, I'm working alone. That would be all well and good if I had tons of equipment. Alas, I do not. Because of that, I have two alternatives; buying, and borrowing. 

        Buying is obviously a good alternative as I only have to worry about upgrading it when the time comes. The problem is, I'd have to buy it. I managed to get some equipment, primarily a light kit, that will forever help me. Especially in my house, there is no downside to getting a light-kit, as I will be using it frequently. Although a few of my scenes need little to no extra lighting, the light kit is very much needed for some scenes in my kitchen, as there are no windows nearby.

        On the other hand, there is more equipment that would not only improve the quality of my production, but make everything much easier. As such, I have decided to borrow some equipment from my friend, and in turn, I helped him with his project.The experience was very enjoyable, as I not only got to learn more for myself, but I got some insight into advanced techniques as well as inspiration for my own film opening. 

        As for the equipment, I got a few stands, a mechanical slider, and a tripod head. Each has their own uses, but I'll primarily focus on the slider. One shot idea I had was to slowly wipe through a character and reveal myself behind it. Seeing how it's a "duplicate" shot I would have to do it twice, with myself in each position. Using a mechanical slider helps, as it can go through the movements over and over again perfectly, allowing me to stitch shots together in post. If that does not work, I can use a double for myself and just record two plates of the shot, one with me and one without.

        As you can see, both shots are essentially the same when it comes to timing thanks to the wonders of technology. Stitching them together just comes down to cutting or fading to it. Were it not for the slider, I would resort to alternative ideas, which would've been fine, just not as cool.

Editing

         It might be weird to think about editing at this point, but that's exactly what I'm doing at this point. Similarly to how CG is done before much of production, many effects are shot first so as to complete them. One "effect" I need to do is add credits, but I decided to make them much more engaging, and have them interact with the environment. As such, I need to keyframe and animate quite a bit of text. Because of this, I'm doing a rough edit to see what can and cannot be done.

        Keyframing, or animating is the changing of properties over time, whether done manually or automatically. Scrolling text is a good example, as it is constantly changing its Y-axis position. Since I am lining up text to actual movement, there is not much I can do outside of manual editing.

        While changing properties is easy, lining all of it up so that the text isn't too slow or too fast is fairly challenging. Constantly having to play back the video as I change everything frame by frame becomes tedious, but it is very much doable.

        Another effect I'm using is masking. Just like movement, everything has to be lined up properly to keep something from appearing when its not supposed to. At slow frame rates it is easier to catch something even for a single frame. After all, 1/24th of a second is much more than 1/60th, so it is on screen for longer.

        After making sure that my simpler effects are doable, I can move on to practical effects, which are on a completely different level.