Advanced Editor: Evaluate to Redefine Objectives

Year 10 Evaluation 

Aim 1:
To make sure my audio fits in with the story/ documentary well

Objective:
Find a slow music that can bring the mood to a more calm and subtle story.
Find a best fitting tone that can flow with the documentary and not bore the viewer watching.

Evaluation:
Strengths:
The music I used was purpose by Justin Bieber, instrumental version(piano) . I feel like since it was popular and many people may have knew this song so it could have catch the the viewer's attention. With this music, it brings a emotionless mood with a nice calm vibe as its a instrumental piano piece. It's a pretty sad and slow song but with the piano it adds a bit of depth to the music and raises up the mood. I lowered the volume of the audio when there was quiet audios and interviews as it was a bit hard to hear what they were saying.

Weakness:
I feel like it was really repetitive and I should have used different variety of songs similar to that to keep the watchers interested.

Improve:
If I did this again, I would use different musics that are similar to this music so it wouldn't sound as repetitive and lose the viewers watching interest. By using different music could also change some of the mood to what the voice over is saying and what the interviewee is saying.

Aim 2:
Having a nice quality video and try adjusting the sound quality.

Objective:
If the audio is bad ask the production technician to re-record it.
Try to steady the video by using a video alignment tool.

Evaluation:
Strengths:
I tried really hard to reduce the background noise, I think that the audio was better than it was originally but still not as good.

Weaknesses:
I feel like the audio wasn't as good as it should be because the product technician used an iPhone and there was a lot of background noise.

Improve:
I would ask the product technician to ask the interviewee to either re-record the audio or add subtitles for the viewers watch.

Year 11 Evaluation

Re-evaluating

I will also evaluate from last year to improve so I can take the video to the next level. Last year as an editor my weaknesses were having the song really repetitive and it bore some of the audience and the audio quality was not good at some time as the product technician used an iPhone so it created lots of background noise.

Weaknesses

• Repetitive audio
• Used only 1 song which could bore audience

To improve: Use a variety of music, use the music to change the mood to the voice over or interviewee answers.

• Background noise - Audio Quality
• Interviewee's voice was hard to understand

To improve: Remind the product technician to use a microphone and maybe if it's possible re-record the audio, and add some subtitles for the voice-overs and interviews so it would be easy to understand what they were saying.

• Communication with director
• Wasn't much communication with director so didn't know what she wanted
• Everyone was unorganised as we didn't know what to do next and when to do it so borrowing the camera and microphone supplies was unavailable

To improve: This year as a director, I will be checking everyone's blog to see what they're doing and how they're doing. I will help them if they're stuck on something or don't understand something. I will remind everyone what they need to do ahead of time.

• Rushed work
• Last year as an editor I got all the b-roll, interviews and information last minute so I had to work overnight finishing the video which made the cuts and transitions very rushed.

To improve: Remind everyone to send the videos and audio to the editor once they retrieve it. After the editor finishes editing the video he will send it to me so I can retouch it or see what he can do to improve and add to get the viewers attention or to get the message across.

Strengths

My strengths last year as an editor was relating to the audience by using cuts and audio that everyone was familiar to. Using the Justin Bieber piano purpose audio helped set the mood for the video but also relate to some viewers as it was popular at that time which caught some viewers mostly teenagers attention. (Teenagers = focus audience) I also tried and set the volume for the music when there was voice-overs and interviews so it was easy to hear what they said. I also tried to reduce the background noise by using different applications which helped understand the interviewee more but it still wasn't as clear as I hoped.

Evaluation Matrix

Editing techniques and terms I learned from last year + brief explanations

1. Assembly Editing 
• Putting all of your clips together
• Overlap of action from different angles which makes the sequence:
• Tighter
• Shorter
• Repetitive actions removed
2. Jump Cut Edits
• Unnatural Cuts
• Usually used to create tension
3. Graphic Match Edits
• 2 scenes linked by images - similar look
4. Cross-Cutting
• Cut between one subject
• Intercut with shots of another
5. Pacing
• Rhythm of cuts
• How long a shot is on the screen
• Cutting to the beat of music helps establish the pace
6. Transitions
• Usually for slow-paced documentary
• Dissolve
• Cross Fade
• Slow Swipe
7. Point of Editing
• Editing shouldn't draw attention
• Audience shouldn't notice it's overly edited
• Ok to have some cuts
• Less is more