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Part 4 
Montage:
Post-Production

Check-in: Production

 

Welcome back, smartphone filmmakers! I'm curious how your shoots went. Let's spend a few minutes reflecting on how production went--the positives and the areas where there can be an improvement. It'll be helpful to share victories and lessons for everyone.

Post-Production and Editing

 

INTRODUCTION

 

Post-production is the time we dedicate to editing our film. It typically happens after you shoot all of your footage, but post-production happens with production in some cases. In Korean filmmaking, they have an editor on the set and it's helpful for them to see the film come together as they are making it, so they know what's working and what's not. I don't think this is a bad practice.

 

Editing is the actual bringing together of the footage from production and figuring out how to put it together to make your film. It also includes adding visual effects, transitions, music, and sound effects. It's one of my favorite parts of filmmaking because you have so much power to make the film better...and sometimes worse!

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UPLOADING FOOTAGE

For Android and PC users, here's a video I found on the subject. I don't have an Android or PC so let me know how it goes. If it doesn't work then I would recommend either emailing it to yourself (if it's not too large), or we can talk to Cristina:

EDITING DEMO FOR iMOVIE

 

Below I'll take you through the basics of editing, using iMovie as an example. I think for many of my students it's helpful to just demonstrate it first so you can see it in action, so below are two videos that show you how I would edit using iMovie. Then, after you watch those, you can use the information afterward as a reference.

Editing Part 1: Starting a Project

 

I'm going to use iMovie as my editing system since it seems most of you are using iMovie. For those non-iMovie folks, just follow along with your editing system. Most editing systems are pretty similar but their layout looks different and they have different features or present them differently. The bottom line is, editing is editing. The principles of editing are the same no matter which system you are using.

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  1. START YOUR EDITING PROGRAM AND MOVIE PROJECT. You'll find the iMovie icon. You'll see the "Create New" option and click it. Then, you'll see "Movie" or "Trailer". Select "Movie." The iMovie trailer is a fun way to make a movie quickly, but we're trying to move beyond that and have more control. However, if you're a beginner, I would highly recommend using the iMovie trailer.

2. INTRODUCTION TO THE MAIN SCREEN

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The main screen of iMovie is below and will be probably similar to most editing programs. There are four major areas on the main screen:

 

  • Library: This is where the media is stored on your computer. It's one main way to access all of your media (videos, music, etc).

  • Browser: This is where you have your film clips for your project located. It's where you store them before you put them onto your timeline to make your film.

  • Timeline or Project: This is your film. You drag the film clips onto the timeline or project and make your film.

  • Viewer: This is where you see your film. When you want to watch it, you see it in the viewer.

Editing Part 2: Organizing Your Footage

After you started your project, then, you can import the footage of your film into iMovie or your editing program.

 

Here are the steps:

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  1. Click on the "Import Media" arrow.

  2. A window will pop up and you'll select the video clips you want. If you press "command" and click, you can select multiple clips.

  3. Then, you click "Import selected clips"

  4. Then, you'll see the clips loading into the iMovie browser.

  5. If you want, you can label the clips. This can be helpful if you are doing multiple scenes and/or longer projects.

The Rough Cut: Putting the Film Down First

 

Now is time to put together the rough cut. There are two major ways I recommend going about this:

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The first way is putting the film down first. Basically, this is selecting the video clips and arranging them on the timeline. Here are the steps:

  1. Look at each video clip in the browser. As you drag your arrow on the clip, you should be able to see the video in the viewer. Then you can select the part of the clip that you want to bring to the timeline. In iMovie, it looks like a yellow outline.

  2. Then, you drag the video clip onto the Timeline. Or, in iMovie, you can press the plus sign.

  3. Then, you arrange the clips on the timeline and figure out what order you want.

  4. You can also lengthen and shorten clips to figure out the pacing.

Rough Cut: Putting the Music Down First

 

If you want to build your montage film around the music, it can be helpful to put the music down first. The reason this is helpful is that you can decide what kind of music you want and how long the video should be (in this case, we're shooting for a minute) and then use the music as the spine of the film. It can work well if you find the right type of music that fits your film's tone and the length of your film. Every song has a structure to it and that structure can dictate how your film will be cut together.

 

I really like using this website Artlist to get my music. It allows you to search for music based on many factors that you need to consider and with a license, you can use the music fairly freely.

 

I'm going to let you use our account for which I'll email you the information. I'm going to be shutting the account down soon, so it won't last long. I do recommend if you're serious about filmmaking to get your own account.

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Here's how to use Artlist to get music for your film -

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Go to the Artlist website here:

 

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Then, you'll see the website and follow these steps:

  1. Sign in with the info I give you.

  2. You'll see on the left side of the front page, the following categories: 

    1. Mood​

    2. Video Theme

    3. Genre

    4. Instrument

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3. I find Mood and Genre to be the most helpful.

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4. Pick the kind of mood you want to have in your film. You can select multiple moods.

5. Then, select the genre of music you want. Again, you can select multiple genres.

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6. Artlist will start giving you choices based on these parameters. You can listen to each song by pressing the play symbol.

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7. You can refine your choices with the top bar above the songs. I find that the most helpful elements are: length (you can select how long the songs will be), tempo (you can choose slow to fast), vocals/no vocals (that one looks like a mic symbol).

8. Once you find the song that you want, you can get it by clicking the cart symbol.

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9. Then, you'll see the cart symbol at the top near Peter's Music say that it has the song. You click that cart symbol.

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10. Then it'll prompt you to check out. Click check out.

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11. Then, it'll say 'congratulations!' Go to Peter's Library to find your song.

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12. You'll see your song in Peter's library and click mp3 to download the song.

13. The song will now be in the downloads section of your computer.

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14. You can drag the song into your editing program now. 

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Titles

There are usually two major types of titles that you will be using: the introduction of your film and the credits.

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Here are the steps for the introduction of your film:

  1. Decide where you want the introduction of your film titles to go. This usually goes at the beginning but sometimes, people wait after the teaser or sometimes even the end.

  2. Then, you look through the titles that are offered and figure out which font and style fit your film best.

  3. Then, you lay them down onto the timeline. The titles can be by themselves or you can use an image, video clip, or background clip to be behind the titles.

  4. NOTE: If you want your film to look very professional, try putting "THE NAME OF YOUR FILM COMPANY presents..." before the title. It'll feel more like a real movie.

  5. NOTE: By having music and titles at the beginning of your film, you are setting up a distinct mood. This helps the audience get into the right frame of mind for your film. If it's a drama, they should feel a sense of drama at the beginning or whatever the genre is.

  6. For the credits, just pick the style of the credits you want and do the same thing. It's good to put anyone who worked on the film in the credits.

Transitions and Effects

 You may want to add a few more effects to your film. Here are some options:

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1. Transitions. This is how one clip moves to the next. Honestly, I think in the beginning most filmmakers go a little wild with their transitions where it's often not needed. The most common transition is crossfade, which is used for a passage of time, dream sequence, or fading in or out at the beginning or end of your film. But try them!

2. Color correction. If you want your film to look a certain way, that's where color correction is involved. There's a lot to color correction but for now, just try the different options available.

3. Cropping. This is how you cut the image to the size that you want. It's a good way to fix an image where the action is not as obvious. You can also use the Ken Burns effect which is fun and we'll cover it next time.

4. Stabilization. Sometimes your footage is shakey and you need to fix it. This can help.

5. Speed. This is one you'll probably use soon. It's a great way to speed up, slow down, or even freeze a clip. Play around with it. It's very fun.

That's it for now! There's a lot more to editing than what I've shown you today but you're probably only going to use some of this. But as always, ask me questions if you have them.

Homework: Uploading to YouTube or Emailing Me the Video

Everyone needs to email me their film by 1 pm tomorrow so I can prepare for Friday's class where we'll watch them all.

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When you're done making your video, you need to export it as a video file like .mov. Follow these steps:

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  1. Click onto the share button and click "file"

  2. You can title your film and then click on "Next"

  3. Then, make sure you put the file on the Desktop so you can find it.

  4. Then, you can try to email me the file. If it's too big, I would recommend uploading it to YouTube and sending me a link.

Here's a helpful video on uploading to YouTube:

Additional Info on Getting Your Footage to Your Computer

Below I've put some videos that address some of the issues that have come up with students having a hard time getting their footage onto their computer. I hope this helps:

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