Category Archives: final cut studio

Continued Learning

adult learning, documentary film, final cut studio

I’ve been working on my final project for Adult Education…a video that reflects on my own learning and learning in general.  I started, as I usually would, with about four pages of single spaced text.  Something just felt wrong…too many words for a movie.  So, the first step was to start thinking visually…what pictures and video clips was I going to use to tell the story of my learning this semester.  How could they tell the story along with fewer words from me.  I think I have accomplished that.  Once I had the script, I could start collecting the materials which mostly consist of clips from films I’ve watched this semester.  I took care of that on Thursday.   And here’s the secret:  with a clean script and all the materials in one place, putting the film together has gone relatively smoothly.  I still have a ways to go, but writing and editing the script and thinking about the clips as I captured them really put the film in my head before I ever opened Final Cut Pro.  It’s funny in a way because it is very similar to the process I use for writing.  I read, I jot notes, I blog a bit, I start constructing sentences in my head, so that by the time I get to the actual writing, the paper is almost done.  The biggest difference here is that I started putting the visuals together in my head.

My only concern is that I am using single, lengthy clips from the films rather than several shorter pieces.  It seems to work but it isn’t typical from what I’ve seen.  I would like to do one sequence of short, quick shots.  I’ve seen that in some movies and it looks cool.  I dropped in a quote from Knowles at the beginning and I’ve got a great one from Eartha Kitt for the end but dropped the idea of splicing in quotes throughout the film.  I may go back to that but for now I like the transitions between sections.

As with each project I’ve done, I’m experimenting…in this case, it’s using music or the soundtrack of the films along with a voice over.  I may need to redo the voice overs at the end and figure out how to make the films quieter when I’m talking but for a first step, it’s not too bad.  All in all, it’s been a productive film day.

And I keep learning:

1.  After spending about an hour trying to copy the captured clips from the computer in the media center to my hard drive, I discovered that because my hard drive is Windows formatted, I can only copy about 3 gigs at a time.  Since I didn’t want to reformat the drive, I borrowed one from Troy, but I may need to invest in another one. They are so small now.

2. I needed some soundtrack music so I bought a couple songs from iTunes.  (Remember when you had to go to a store?)  After downloading them, I discovered they weren’t in a format that FCP can use and because they were purchased, I couldn’t convert them.  (That seems like a violation of my rights as a buyer.  I would be able to convert them if I bought them on CD.)  So, undaunted, I went to the web and in just a few minutes discovered the work around:  burn them to CD and then re-import them into iTunes and you can convert them.

King Rail at Assateague

adult learning, final cut studio, Video

Can’t believe it’s been a week since I’ve posted…working on my field-based research project as well as thinking about my final project for adult education. More on that later…meanwhile, I am trying to start a weekly schedule of posting little videos. Here’s one of a King Rail hunting in the marshes at Assateague National Wildlife Refuge. I wanted to play around more with titles so there’s no voice over.

The Saga

final cut studio, Video, YouTube

So, I created a video in about two hours but have now spent almost that much time trying to get it to show up correctly in YouTube! I thought I had solved the problem before I took a break for dinner with a guest. I figured I hadn’t rendered the title correctly. (In fact, I thought maybe rendering was the issue with the graininess of my early video but that’s another story and it didn’t seem to be since I re-exported it, too, this evening.) Anyway, I tried rendering the title and re-uploading but still just got five seconds of a grey screen where the title should have been. Now, back at it, I have tried saving it as a quicktime movie rather than an mpeg-4. But that seems to be causing trouble for YouTube in terms of doing its own converting. YouTube does suggest using an mpeg-4 format.

So, I just went ahead and put it on my own server. And after another 10 minutes have discovered that WordPress doesn’t allow the embed tag so here’s the link: Whimbrel video.

It DOES allow you to embed video from YouTube and Google, but I’ve already given up on YouTube. Maybe I should try adding my video to Google while we sit and watch election returns since YouTube still has not processed my video! I am NOT impressed.

NB: I put it on Google in the mpeg-4 format and lost my titles again! I am trying the Quicktime version now since Google says it will recognize that. Just going to leave this edit window open. This is the last chance and then I am going to bed. Add another hour worth of time to trying to figure this out!

A few minutes later…good news…in Quicktime format, Google shows the titles. So, here’s the embedded video:

My First Project

adult learning, final cut studio

My first movie–Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary–is in the can.  Actually, it is is the envelope since I burned it to DVD.  I really want to upload it to the web but can’t seem to get it small enough.

I am, all in all, pretty pleased with the project. It definitely evolved.  I had originally planned to do just the music part, and only added the introduction over the past few days after I had an inspiration.  I think the introduction helps because it names a lot of the animals you see in the musical part.

I picked Corkscrew as a topic because it was small; we only spent a few hours there.  Unfortunately, that meant we didn’t have a ton of footage; you’ll see a lot of repeats, like the little blue heron.  We probably stood and watched him for 10 minutes so he shows up a lot in the video.  As I consider my next project, the amount of video and number of images available will be a consideration.

I only used a few transitions in the piece.  I want to experiment with them and filters during the next project.

I think I wasted a lot of time on the music.  Using midi files with multiple tracks will help speed that process along even if it means I’m not performing the song.

What A Difference

adult learning, final cut studio, learning contract

Haven’t posted…been too busy working and learning to reflect. But now, as my (hopefully) last DVD is burning with my first FCP project on it, and I’m waiting for a load of laundry to dry before heading out for the day, I can sit back and think a bit. I’ll at least start with the first question:

What did I learn?

I learned how to do a few technical things in FCP and GarageBand, but I also learned some personal things, too. (Or maybe re-learned since I’ve fallen in this trap before.)

Continue reading What A Difference →