Our Struggle With Editing and Filming

          If we remained on a regular schedule, we would've been in school this week and completing our filming process. We wanted to finish filming this week so we could have an adequate amount of time to edit the movie.  But as we know and have seen all over the news, the worldwide pandemic of the COVID-19, also know as the Coronavirus is stopping us from doing this. This virus has had a rapid spread across the world, because of the amount of interaction between humans. To avoid the spread of the virus and people getting the virus. People have been instructed to leave the house as little as possible. This pandemic is playing an important role in my group and I's delay on our process of completing our film. The first problem that this virus has created for my group and I, is not giving us the opportunity to see each other at school. Usually, we talk and discuss when we are filming and for how long. Since we aren't attending school it is harder for us to communicate and film after school one day. 

          Although we aren't able to see each other at school, we have group chat were we text and discuss different things. Something my group and I has discussed a lot recently was, when we are going to finish filming. Everyone is available and can film due to our open schedules, but the only problem is our stay inside situation. Their parents along with mine are very strict about going out. They are concerned because they do not want us to be in contact with anyone who may have the virus. Considering we have to film at a public park, where many people may go since everything else is closed, is not our parents favorite idea. With many people in attendance at the parent, it increases the contamination and a possibility of getting the virus. Besides filming being our problem, we also have to worry about editing. Our project isn't due yet but the due date hasn't changed. Our time is getting shorter, and our amount of work is staying static. With us not being able to film, it is also leaving us with much to edit. Regardless of the situation we are working to overcome this obstacle, and film very soon so we can finish our project.

Second Editing Session

          After the peer review, I was assigned to re-edit. I did the majority of the re-editing but there were still things that were needed to add and things to change like transitions, color variations, etc. Alex and Jack congratulated me on the things I did to the video because they came out good. But they also said that Alex wanted to edit with jack and I. So Alex could show us some tips and tricks he has when it comes to editing. Earlier today I saw him at School. He told me he was going to edit around 5 in the afternoon. On top of that he said he was going to call me so that I could learn how to do some go the things I was incapable of doing. Since I said I couldn't do some of the things when I was editing all by myself. So, we FaceTimed while he was editing so I could help and see his process.
          When I received his call, I answered. We began brainstorming before editing. We decided to change a couple of the transition because they didn't fit the scene. We also decided to change the music on a couple scenes because we found better music. After we finished brainstorming, we began editing. First we rewatched the film and decided which type of transition was appropriate for the scene. I decided on a certain cut top a black screen with loud shocking music in the background. After that, he showed me how to make the changes. Not only did I learn how to do this. In the next couple of scenes we decided to do a split screen. I attempted to do this when I was editing but I was not successful. So I asked Alex how to do it and he showed me. Not only did he show me how to do it. Not only did he show me how to do it but he showed me a short cut to do it faster. We FaceTimed for about two hours, but we finished and had a successful editing session.

Re-editing After Peer Review

          Once the peer review session came to an end, my group and I received good feedback on what to fix in our video. One of the suggestions were to fix the title screens. First off, our title screens we're on black screen. They suggested we put the titles over the actual video instead of putting it on their own scene/ portion of the video. On top of that, they noticed that we forgot to put the names of the editors and production our video. So that's something else that we need to fix when it comes to editing again. Before our second session of editing, Alex (the main editor) told me to give editing these little touch ups a try. I accepted and began editing. First Alex had to share the actual file which is available for editing. I received the file and I couldn't open it. So instead I had Alex give me his drive and I used that to edit it.

           I plugged in the drive into my computer and opened it up. Once it was opened I saw all the previous edits and things Alex editing on the video. Before I touched the video, I called Alex to make sure what I needed to change and what I didn't need to touch. He explained to me the little things that I needed to edit and from there I knew exactly how to start and go about altering the film. I decided to start by adding the names on the title cards. I added the name of our production along with the editors name. For the editors name I added all of our names because we all took part in editing the video.Not only did I add the names but I also opened a new file and tested new texture and fonts that we could use. After adding the names I proceeded to try to put the titles onto the actual video footage. I tried over and over again and I couldn't get it right because when I would preview it, it'd look weird. So, I gave up and told Alex that I edited most of everything that needed to be changed. I saved the new film and gave Alex his drive back the next day.

Opening Sequence Peer Review

          Once we finished all the editing and having a first draft of our final product, we were finally ready for our peer reviews. All of my group members and I had copies of the film. we did this as a precaution because maybe one of the copies wouldn't work. I had the copy on a usb drive and in my email ready to be downloaded. Fortunately, pulling up our video was success on the first try. Once we had our video ready, I went to the board to see who was reviewing our video. Not only did we find out who was reviewing our video but we figured out who's video we were reviewing. Once we figured out who's video we were reviewing, I called him over. Once we began watching his video we began filling out the form down below. I missed some of the questions on the paper. This lead us to have to watch the video 2 more times. 

          Once we concluded watching our peer reviews film, we gave him so advice on the things he could improve. Not only did we tell him the things he could improve, but we told him what we like and what he should definitely keep. He thanked us for our opinion and proceed to complete his peer review. My group and I really enjoyed his film and now were waiting for someone to peer review ours. After about 5 minutes our peer reviewer came up and asked to see our film. Since the computer went to sleep, I logged onto the computer and pulled up the film. Once I pulled up our film, I gave it to our peer reviewer for her to watch. I asked my group members if she'd like it and they all responded with hopefully. After about 5 to 10 minutes she finished peer reviewing and handed our computer back and gave us feedback and mentioned that she liked it. I was really glad that she liked our film and her feedback was really helpful and now we know what we can do to improve our film. 

Preparing and Editing For the Peer Review

            Once our filming session for our blog came to an end, it was time to begin preparing our footage in an edited version. Considering we had peer reviews today, we had 4 days to edit it. I left Jack's house, which is where we were filming, first. After the day went by, I heard nothing else from them. We talked for a little about editing the video Friday and Saturday. These days we were just brain storming the ideas we had, nothing was final until Sunday. Sunday morning I received a call from Alex. I answered the call and he began to ask me questions about the video we need to have for peer reviews. After we had our conversation, he began asking more questions in the group chat. I answered him and so did Jack. He also mentioned that he needed a SD card reader. I had one so he came and picked it up so he could began filming.

            Once Alex had everything he needed to begin editing he let us know he was ready. Once we were all available we all joined a Group FaceTime. In this call we were discussing what we were going to implement in our film. I suggested adding black title screens. Alex decided on the font and Jack helped with the placing. The head behind this whole operation of editing was Alex. He was the primarily editing but asked for our opinion while editing. He showed us vary transitions and Jack and I chose which one we liked.  After, having our input I hung up and so did Jack. Alex got to work and finished the editing. Once he was finished he sent the final product to Jack and I. The video came out really good and now we were prepared for peer reviews.