Editing 2

Another part of the video which I had to learn was how to make my footage black and white. After experimenting with the 'dip to black' filter I looked through the colour filter section and stumbled across an option called 'tint'. Using this I dragged and drop this filter onto every clip which brought them into the gritty colouring I desired from my research.

Tint feature for raw edgy footage effect.

The final thing I had to learn was about title sequencing. I have already got experience in Photoshop which is another programme by Adobe, In which I opened a new document which had the same dimensions as my video. Using this new file I dragged and dropped my desired text and saved this file and re opened it in Premiere Pro, which allowed me to then set a duration of this as a still image and then I faded this out to start and finish the video.

Ending shot and Photoshop file text ending credit sequence.

Editing 1

Prior to editing the final video together I had already had experience using Adobe Premiere Pro which is a professional video editing programme so I decided to use this piece of software again to edit this piece as I was familiar with the majority of the tools and so that I could improve my prior skills.

I started off with importing all the clips and dragging and dropping all the final shots one after one so that they were all in chronological order. This then allowed me the go through each clip and use the razor tool to cut all the unwanted footage off of each clip so that they all flowed smoothly together. Later on in the process of editing I zoomed out on the timeline and fine cut all the clips again to ensure the best flowing footage possible.

All the footage together and cut.

I use straight cuts for the majority of my video due to this being a key element of pace and the interests of the audience in multiple rap music videos but also a standout feature of BMX edits which I had analysed in depth prior. Some of my shots finish with the lens swooping away from the rider into the floor which decreased the pace of the shots. For this I had to research about transitions where I looked into a range of different ways in which the clips could flow a lot better and resulted in finding out about 'dip to black'. Dip to black made the videos transition fade to darkness in synchronisation with the swooping camera effect which then solved the pace problem. This was something key to improving the video which I found through a Youtube tutorial.

Dip to black found in the bottom left hand corner. This is a sequence showing the fade and its effect.

Test Shots

Here is a  video of some of the test footage I have created to show how we shot some of the clips in multiple ways to make sure the best shots were used for the final piece. When filming my video I had to make sure continuity was correct so that the video would flow properly once the clips were together and also my video was supposed to use a certain type of arty cinematography found in high profile BMX style videos ( my favourite Videographer would be John Hicks and his styling). Making sure the videographer and shadow was not in shot, shaky footage was avoided, natural lighting matched well creating lens flares, clothing and actor positioning matched was key to the success of the final clips.

The clips put together here show how certain angles and multiple attempts have changed the result and how from doing so I could choose what would work well for the final video.

Animatic

Here is my animatic. I took all the drawn out storyboard thumb nails and edited them together to get an idea of how they would all look in sequence. I personally like how they would look one after the other, however this animatic is very basic so all the shots are 5 seconds long which it obviously wouldn't be in the final video.

Filming Day 3

In the final filming day we needed to get the trick sequence filmed as this is a crucial element of the video. We arranged to go out Thursday 17th of March to get the clips however the weather wasn't sunny enough let alone dry enough for us to ride properly so we re scheduled it to the 19th. We came across some some problems that Saturday in regards to security issues and them thinking that where we were riding we were vandalising and causing damage to surrounding property which of course we weren't. In the end we were told to leave despite speaking to the manager and were threatened to get our riding equipment taken away which would have drastically changed my final video and plan as I would have to collect riding gear again which would take time to get together which I couldn't allow as the deadline is close.

Tom and I decided to go back and risk getting told to leave again, because within the matter of days our stuff could be taken which would have meant me re filming half of the video. On Monday the 21st of March we went back with the camera and after 15mins the security guard came back over. I then had a chat to the guard and asked to shoot here just for one more afternoon/ evening and I would never come back which we agreed on and managed to get all our final shots within this time period. To make sure we got the shots we wanted without risk (as I could never come back again) we got multiple shots that were the same so that I could pick and chose once editing.

Overall this was successful although there were lots of complications. I am happy I was able to speak as an adult to the manager and security and make out how important it was for me to get this sort which was lucky they let me in the end. In hindsight, I should have requested permission to use this area to film at this time and place however did not so as I had used this space for riding for years prior with no problems or interruptions at all. I also was under the impression it was public property due to the area being broken down and an unused space for years and have recently discovered it is owned by the council so writing for permission to use the space to film would have been the correct thing to do. If this product was for commercial purposes I would have to gain permission by the council however due to it not making any profit and being for educational purposes only I can leave it, however a valuable lesson for the future has been learnt.

Filming Day 2

The second filming day was the 23rd of January where we aimed to collect more shots for the trick sequence which starts half way through the video and also film the ending once the sun has started to set.

We wanted some really pretty and creative looking shots so Tom brought along his 'Camera slide' which allows the camera to be mounted and then move smoothly sideways which combined with some manual focusing in and out of focus would look really nice. We managed to collect a few shots of this style which I think would work well in and out of a trick and also some in-between shots giving the audience some background to the riding itself.

We got some cool trick sequences filmed which would work well in conjunction to the rest of the shots I had previously collected however didn't manage to film all of the tricks as we wanted to improve the obstacle/box we were mainly riding on. The improvement of the box could also be filmed from a 'POV' view which would make the 'day in the life' realistic and then the progression of building and then having fun would be more evident with this improvement. We stopped filming and collected more wood so that we could build it up in our next filming session.

We moved onto trying to film our final shot of us riding off into the distance which was difficult as we only had a short period of time to get the shot where the sun was and also people were driving in and out of the centre where we were filming making it difficult for us to get a smooth flowing shot without disruptions. We finally managed to get what we wanted which was worth the efforts in the end.

Camera Slide

Filming day 1

Filming day one set out well, the sun was out producing some really nice sun light for camera lens effects however the ground was slightly damp. This was a slight issue as the slick tires us boys have could easily slide out causing injury if a trick was landed slightly off centre so we both had to be careful of this.

We took my camera and Tom had recently brought a new filming camera as well, so we set out with 2 lots of equipment as back up if there was technical difficulties. We didn't encounter any social interferences with residents which was good as it could have effected the flow of shots we were collecting however half way through the filming session my camera died so we switched cameras, swapped lens and adjusted ISO and shutter speed settings so that the rest of the shots were as close to the first half of shots as possible which as a result worked well and saved the day.

The water became a problem once we got to the riding spot where the trick were supposed to go down as tricks such as 180's, 360's and bar-spins made the bike slide out from under our feet which meant we had to stop and complete the trick section of the video in filming session two. I predicted this might happen which is why I planned ahead.

Here are some photographs of use on the day...

The first set of images show how in the introduction the camera is spotted in the reflection of the kettle which was then corrected producing the same effect.