Music Video Editing Blog

  With all the footage filmed, it was time to edit. The biggest problem I faced going into editing was my lack of certain shots. I didn't shoot a lot of the scenes on my storyboard because I forgot. I needed to figure out how to work around that. Another problem was the time restraint I had. My peers had a whole week to edit, but because I am leaving school early, I only had three days. However, because I don't have access to Pinnacle Studios outside of school, I really only had two days to completely edit my music video. 

   I had many technical difficulties while editing. Pinnacle Studios was slow and often crashed. Sometimes, it wouldn't even open. Because of how frequently I had to switch computers, I decided to keep all my footage and work on a flashdrive instead of a desktop. I lost some time due to this; every time I switched computers, I had to re-import the footage into Pinnacle Studios from my USB. However, I think this was ultimately more efficient than using just one computer. 

  Pinnacle Studios lagged a lot, which made it hard to preview my video. This made the editing process especially difficult because of how I had to time the clips to the music at exact points. After a while, though, the lag stopped and I was able to properly preview the music video. Regarding the missing shots, I ended up replacing them with shots I did film while trying to keep the story as intact as possible. I think in some scenes this worked, but in others, the footage is unrelated. The end of the video is chaotic and disjointed, which I think ended up working for my music video. The song itself is supposedly to be a delve into insanity and my music video reflects that. In all, I am satisfied with my music video. I think I could have done better, but I am pleasantly surprised with what I did in the time frame I had.

Music Video: Filming at Arcade

      Over Thanksgiving break, I continued filming the music video. I wasn't able to film on Thursday because of the holiday. Ultimately, I was only able to film on Sunday because of work schedules. This worked out, though, because I only needed to go to one location: the arcade. When I arrived to the arcade, I noticed that the layout had changed a lot. Figuring out the new layout and where the games I needed to film were took some time out of actually filming the music video. Luckily, the arcade still had Dark Escape, which is a crucial part of my music video. Something I had to take into the consideration was making sure I didn't film other people. This wasn't too big of an issue for me. I went a little bit after opening hours (11:30am-ish), so there weren't a lot of people walking around yet. Despite this, I had a total of two shots with people in them, making them unusable.
    I had previously found out online that recording at the arcade for non-commercial purposes is allowed. However, I couldn't use a tripod or film employees without their permission. I didn't need to film employees regardless, but the lack of a tripod did have an effect on what I filmed. I had to get rid of the planned wide shot with me in it that was on my storyboard. Instead, I recorded a wide shot of the arcade without me in it to replace it. Additionally, as I was typing this blog, I realized I forgot to film any shots of my hand on the arcade machines. As of right now, I'm not sure how I am going to fix this. I filmed some shots of a hand that was on one of the games. I don't think this will match what I was looking for, though. If I can't think of an alternative before the editing process begins, I will have to use one of those shots.
   With those issues aside, filming went smoothly. I got most of the shots I needed. The biggest issue I am facing going into editing is how I am going to replace the missing scenes. I can't go back and film, as the cameras are due back on Monday morning. Despite everything, though, this experience was fun. I liked the atmosphere of the arcade and how easy filming went. This was also a learning experience. It helped me realize the importance of looking back at the storyboard for reference as I film. I will be sure to remember to do this while filming my final project.