Post-Production - Preliminary Task

Converting Footage
After production we were all keen to see what we had filmed, not knowing we would have to wait to convert all our footage. However, after we had finally converted all the footage we were able to get onto the infamous final cut pro. 

Editing
The interface did look intimidating at first but once we start using the basic tools e.g. the razor blade, it was surprisingly easy. We faced some difficulties when we came to adding music because we had the music on a CD, which rather inconveniently could not be placed into the mac, since it had no CD slot; despite this we managed to transfer the music onto a USB stick and eventually onto final cut. For parts of our footage we wanted it to be slowed down to create a sense of time standing still, we worked out that in order  to do this we would have to make the duration of the clip longer - this worked really well.

The only thing that got truly annoying during editing was having multiple layers on the timeline, since when we were cutting other layers, sound would come out from, what seemed like, nowhere and we would have to try and work out where it was coming from. Also, once we had cut some of the shots out, we had forgotten to include the sound, this made it much harder to actually see where the sound had irrupted from. However, once we had sorted out all the layers and made the timeline more clear, it was much easier.

During editing we also wanted to make sure that the background noise was not overriding the actual dialogue and so we managed to make it quieter at points. As well as this we wanted at some points for the music to be louder. For example, at the beginning when Guinevere walks into the room, there is a record scratch, which we wanted to be louder in order to create an effect of astonishment and discomfort for all of whom were in the restaurant and the viewer. Another point in which we wanted the sound to override the dialogue was when Guinevere is talking so much that Edward completely zones out. 




We wanted the music to blur out Guinevere's dialogue so it would create the impression that Edward is no longer listening to her, but is listening to the more interesting music in the background of the restaurant.

After we had edited all of our footage we started letter-boxing. This was rather easy however it was frustrating that we had to apply the letter box to each individual shot. We also had to re-frame a lot of our shots in order to make sure that nothing was cut out of frame. We also needed to make sure that we had the same framing for each shot type, for example we made sure that when we go back to the two-shot that it was still the same framing, so the shots would not jump around.

Effects and Filters 
Luckily we had enough time before our deadline to have a go at some colour grading. We decided to make our shots have more red in them, to create the feeling of love and a first date, however, since it is a disastrous first date we added more blue to create a feeling of foreboding. We made a template to do this, so that we could use the same settings, similar to the framing, so our shots would not look jolted or have any dramatic difference between them. We also adjusted the light levels in each shot, in order to make sure that no shot was over exposed, or one being brighter than another.

Exporting 
Finally the time had come to complete our preliminary task, by simply converting it to QuickTime so that it was compatible for YouTube.