It's official: I will be posting the link to my documentary on the "Product" page at 9am on Monday, May 25th. I was able to successfully upload the video last night. It took two tries (the first time the upload stopped with literally two minutes left) but it has the highest quality available for viewing.
Since my last post I did run into two problems when editing: 1) My interview clips for the Anti-Iraq War section just would not cooperate with Premiere Pro. Each time I would attempt to use them the whole software simply crashed. I read countless Adobe discussion boards and talked with my cousin who is an expert at Premiere, but could not figure out what was going on. Unfortunately, the section is not in my final cut. 2) A lot of music = a lot of glitches. As stated earlier I had been working on backing tracks with GarageBand, but when I actually inserted these into the documentary everything would really slow down and the software became really choppy. So, I created much shorter tracks for the header of each section, and that worked out really well. There's also other amazing music featured in the doc, and I'm really happy with how that turned out! I really don't have any other updates except that I'm so happy that the documentary is ready for viewing. Both my eyes and my MacBook are grateful to be finished editing for a while! :) My MacBook was definitely not engineered to be a hardcore film editor, but I'm thankful that it cooperated for a majority of the process. I also quickly want to shoutout the people who have helped me during this process. Everyone who did is featured in the credits, but here's a short list: my family, my mentors, the participants, and the elected officials. I also wouldn't have been able to do any of this without the Eney family and Severn, so thank you!!
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I've got REALLY exciting news about my project, and without my mom it literally never would have happened. To make a very long story short, I had a narrator for my project, and then COVID-19 happened. I was planning to narrate, but it was very strange to have me narrate a scene and then have the documentary cut to an interview of myself (two Mackenzies? The world isn't ready for that). My amazing mom volunteered to narrate, and we just decided to roll with it. After 3.5 hours of shooting and many laughs, I finally have narration to drop in my film (all the other interviews from earlier have been edited)! Because I don't have enough historical media to fill the entire doc, my mom will be on camera, but it will work out.
Now, let's get down into how my project's been affected by the pandemic.... How has COVID-19 effected my project regarding my schedule, resources, and outcomes? Well, as discussed earlier, I had to change my narrator, but that ended up working out really well. Because my project only involves a computer, hard drive, and working Internet, the public closures have not affected my project at all. It would have been cool to get some "fluff" footage of historic Annapolis or even Washington, DC, but that's out of the picture. With what's going on right now with the pandemic I've found that my work ethic has changed; rather than steadily working on the project, I'm either doing nothing or working on my doc for hours. There is absolutely no in-between, but I've been working on a hard, evened-out schedule to wrap everything up and ensure that I'm not overworking myself during my productive periods. What have I learned in light of the circumstances brought about by COVID-19? What have I learned? That's a great question. I've learned that it pays off to do a lot of work early on in the Fellows program. I'm grateful to have completed all of my interviews and to have a solid understanding of Adobe Premiere Pro. Before COVID-19, I was hoping to meet with my out of school mentor around this period to just "straighten out the edges" of my doc and have a more smooth editing process. Obviously, that is not possible now, but I have a strong enough understanding that I've been doing well. Specifically what am I doing to reshape my project in light of COVID-19 and quarantine? Honestly, nothing too much. I have a cool project that I'm collaborating on with the Severn music department, and because school is virtual, I've left the project entirely up to them!! I'm sure it will be great and I'm really excited to show it off in my documentary -- but, don't want to reveal too much at the moment. And that's basically it. I'm going to keep editing and finish the doc soon. I'm hoping to either upload it to Youtube or Vimeo. To make a long story short: Spring Break was not in fact a break.
The first week was rough. I was mostly coming to terms with our new normal, grieving senior year, and mostly focused on taking care of myself. Am I mad that my project wasn't my main priority? Absolutely not. I really needed the week, and I think it ended up working in my favor. The second week was much more productive than the first. After days of lounging, I was so ready to continue editing the documentary, and I just focused all of my energy on that. This ended up working really, really well (and I'm really proud of that because honestly this pandemic is mentally draining, so the fact that I can actually be productive is crazy). I've refined/worked more on the script, and I have about 30 minutes of the documentary edited. Now, let's explain that a little more.... Prior to the outbreak I changed my mind and reached out to my music/producer friend, and he was more than happy to narrate the documentary with his perfect, spunky voice that matched what tone I was going for. He lives in Denmark but was visited Maryland in early March -- however, he went home early due to the coronavirus and wasn't able to narrate. This is TOTALLY understandable and I'm not even mad. However, because of the stay at home order, I'm coming to terms with the fact that I have to narrate (and be on screen sometimes for the narration). It's fine. I'm over it. Everyone is sacrificing things right now. That being said, I still need to do some filming, so I'll knock that part out soon. What I've been working with is the interviews. If you look at my script, you can see that there are interviews incorporated with the narration. I'll leave space on the Premiere Pro timeline and edit the interview chunks. I'm fixing audio, trimming things, playing with certain frame sizes, etc. It's been so fun!! That sounds sarcastic but I promise it wasn't!! I've also been tinkering with GarageBand to make backing tracks. I've also been working into the interview clips photos, newspaper titles, videos, etc. I shouldn't have any problems with the images under Fair Use law. However, Premiere Pro does like to keep me on my toes and sometimes swaps audio clips. Person A will be on the screen, but I'll hear Person B talking. It's an easy thing to fix, but it gets a little annoying. Also, Premiere Pro is such an "intense" program that my MacBook has to decrease the viewing rate so that it's not glitchy. According to my computer-programming uncle, this shouldn't be a problem if I want to export the final product with a better quality. I'm so happy with my progress. So much has been unexpected recently, but at this point I'm just going with the flow. Even with online school starting tomorrow I'm confident that I'll be able to continue working productively -- this project has been something to keep me entertained while we all socially-distance. Just a quick little update on my progress....
I'm about to start production and I'm so excited. I have almost all of my screenplay finished, but I'm going to start editing now in case I find that I need to change anything in the script (this is also easier for gauging the length of the documentary). I also have been working with Mr. Donn to get a group of student musicians to record a cover of the song "We Shall Overcome." It's a perfect song for the film and I've heard back from multiple students, so I'm really excited to see how this turns out. I also met with Ms. Maxey and Mr. Kunst and shared my progress with them. They only had one recommendation, which was to see if I could possibly use some of the Fellows budget to buy photos that I can use. I'm looking into this and trying to figure out prices, but I've been doing pretty well finding royalty-free images. It's been a little while since I've last posted an update, but I'm very happy with the progress I've made over Winter Break. Between Christmas, my birthday, New Years, and being sick, I believe I've accomplished a lot and am excited to keep working. So, here's what happened:
I have been working on a screenplay for the documentary. Just before exam season struck I set a goal to complete 60% of my script, and while I'm certainly not a mathematician, I believe I've reached that. But first I wanted to give a shoutout to my mom. She has a degree in video production, and after having her review my script over break she pointed me in the direction of writing an actual screenplay, which is much more convenient and official-looking rather than just having paragraphs on a random Pages document. Thanks to the Internet I was able to download a template for a screenplay and transformed my basic script into a much more functional document. It took a while to figure out, but I eventually got down the basics of formatting. The screenplay also allows me to insert production directions and tips for when I assemble the documentary. I'm also stoked to announce that I've completed all of my interviews!! Looking back at the footage is amazing and I'm so excited to work with what I have. My microphone really worked out, and for the most part the lighting and background is good (and I can always improve these things in the editing stage). However, I do have one interview left: me. I'm going to discuss the movement for common sense gun legislation. I initially thought about interviewing others involved with March For Our Lives, but this is actually the first time that I've truly wanted to speak about my beliefs. I'm definitely an introvert, but I really want to "take the reins" on this one and have the courage to truly document myself. I wanted to complete this over Winter Break, but because I was sick for the latter half I was not in the best condition to be on camera. I hope to complete this interview in the upcoming week. I also watched all of the interviews and transcribed each of the clips. I originally forgot about this crucial step, but as soon as I tried to incorporate footage with the script I realized that it had to be done. It took a while (and some really fast typing that has a few typos here and there) but I now have 19 full pages that detail all of the interviews. I'm really proud of this and it has helped my screenplay tremendously. I've also spent time researching databases that have royalty-free images for my documentary, and I've found a few. I'm still educating myself on copyright law, and I'm meeting with my out of school mentor soon, but I need to confirm that I can use images online for free if my documentary is educational and not for-profit. However, between photos provided by the interviewees and friends from social media, I'm gradually collecting images and sources to use in the film. I've decided that I will most likely narrate the film, as well. I still need to continue on the backing music tracks (just light things on GarageBand) but I don't believe creating these will be very complicated as I'll just be tinkering with a digital drum machine. In total, I'm happy with my progress and can't wait to assemble the documentary soon. Below I've attached photo examples of the transcripts (top) and screenplay (bottom). As of right now I have scheduled all interviews, acquainted myself with Premiere Pro, learned how to use film and audio equipment, started a script (which is hard to do without knowing exactly what the interviewees are going to talk about), created both general and specific questions for the interviewees, and am currently shooting interviews.
I've enjoyed filming the most. It's really fun to actually meet the people that I've been emailing and to hear about their experiences. I often find myself having to create quick follow-up questions because they will talk about something that's really interesting that I want to include in the documentary. Experimenting with lighting and the microphone is also fun, and I'm really happy with the footage I have so far. During this process I've been keeping myself organized through various documents that outline storyboards, have interviewee lists, and just general notes for the film. By playing around with Premiere Pro often for fun I've also become experienced with the software, which is super helpful because it's a little complicated. At first, I struggled a lot with using audio equipment and figuring out how to get the best quality when recording. However, after purchasing a good mic for my iPhone and practicing with it, it became easier to use. It's also a challenge to write the script; I have to create a balance between history, entertainment, and actually allowing interviewees to share their stories. While researching the topics isn't too hard, trying to make the documentary engaging for the audience is difficult because I just don't want to bombard them with facts. Here's a list of things I still have to do before the May deadline: - Finish shooting interviews - Continue working on script - Find historical videos, photos, etc for documentary - Work on basic soundtrack - Edit the recorded interviews, adjust audio - Identity a narrator and begin that process - Assemble the documentary on Premiere Pro I've split the rest of the project into phases: Phase I - Shooting - Recording interviews (basic editing afterward) - Traveling around DC, Annapolis, etc to shoot little clips for filler - Writing script based on interviews Phase II - Collecting Media - Photos, videos from history - Relevant songs from history - Working on soundtrack (GarageBand) Phase III - Post-Production - Advanced editing on footage (audio refinement, cropping, color editing) - Assembling the film with Premiere Pro and.... Here's my schedule through Winter Break: - Finish filming interviews (this should be finished by the end of December unless any new interview opportunities come up) - Find photos and videos for the doc (Civil Rights, Vietnam, and Iran media due January) - Continue script work and have at least 60% written by January The bad news: Apple is really stubborn when it comes to iPhones and external microphones.
The good news: I finally found a mic that works. I took a quick trip to the Apple store this weekend and purchased a microphone. It's really cool and has a great sound quality (see photo below). It is also compatible with an app so that you can change the audio gain, input area, etc. I was able to use the new mic when interviewing Congressman Anthony Brown this morning! He was a great interviewee. He was very informative and had great answers to all of my questions. With the new audio equipment, I'm very happy with the footage. The plan for the future is to continue interviewing people. Last weekend I filmed my first interviewee! I got some really good footage and was able to experiment with various questions and camera positions. My interviewee discussed her activism regarding the Vietnam War, and what was really cool is that she still had various items from those days that she showed to me.
I've finally decided that I'm going to be shooting the documentary on my iPhone 8. Originally I was going to film on my Nikon DSLR, but for some reason it isn't compatible with outside audio equipment and it's built-in mic isn't the greatest. So, I'm using the audio equipment Vicky lent me and will be using that from now on. Until a few days ago, I apparently was missing a connector cord (so, I wasn't able to use good mics when recording my interviewee -- it's okay though). I purchased the chord and am now running audio practice tests. My script is going well, it's mostly just discussing the background of the topics. Once I actually have interviewees on tape then I can continue to write more. Working with video production is also going well! It's mostly just trial and error, but I'm having a fun time. I'm back from vacation and ready to get back to work! I've been contacting more interviewees and setting up solid dates -- shooting is planned for October and November to give me time to better my questions as well as leave plenty of time to produce the video.
I haven't had too much time to tinker with audio equipment yet, but that's okay. I also need to purchase an external hard drive to save the film so that my computer doesn't destroy itself. They aren't too expensive, so I'll be adding it to my financial spreadsheet and am hoping to purchase one soon. I've also officially switched my topic from Apartheid in the 90s to the environment in hopes that I can actually find an activist from that period. Ok - so it's August 1st, which is kind of crazy. But first: a summer recap!
What I've done for this project so far:
When I met with my mentor Vicky, she gave me excellent tips on how to do interviews as well as tricks to navigate Premier Pro. She also stressed the importance of audio and was kind enough to let me borrow some equipment (iPhone microphone, normal microphone, various cords -- she did say certain parts I would have to order online but they're super cheap). Vicky also said that I could borrow lights for when I'm shooting. Originally I was planning to use my standard DSLR camera, but as of right now I'm still trying to figure out how to connect that with the mics. Vicky said that my iPhone 8 should work perfectly fine, as well. We also discussed licensing for photos and such, and apparently it's much easier than I thought it would be. I also decided that when interviewing people I want to have to cameras rolling: one direct and one that's slightly off to the side. I'll be on vacation from August 3rd-August 10th, and I don't think I will be able to get too much work done then. However, I'm not too stressed as I feel I'm in a good place. |
Mackenzie
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