Once I had
completed filming all of my animation, I then began to start editing it all
together. I started this process by adding both of my video files to Adobe
After-Effects,
and once I added them to the program, they both appeared on the
time line,
ready to edit.
Once
I started to edit my film, there were a few problems I had encounters with, one
of
them being my body sticking out of the designated “White zone,” created on
the set of
my film. To combat this issue, I created a mask layer, and went
through the animation,
frame by frame, and moved the mask layer’s points
according to where I went over the
white zone, adding a key frame to every
change.
Once
I had completed the white zone problem, I played through the film to ensure
that all
of the mask were in the correct places. I found that the “feather,”
effect on the mask,
worked well because of the smoother edges, making the mask
edges much less obvious.
I also lowered the masks opacity slightly so that the
edges of the mask would meet the
edge of the film smoothly and would not show
any mistakes.
After
I had edited that part of film, I moved onto the introductory part of my film,
which
involved me being filmed in front of a green screen. I opened this video
in After-Effects
and began to edit out the “green,” by changing its colour from the "green screen" panel, to orange, and then managed to change the orange to white, blending it in with the background.
Once
I had the film in the correct order and put together, I then went onto editing
my film.
To do this I opened up the film in Final Cut Pro and began to cut it
up into individual
segments. This then made it easier for me to see which parts
I could edit first, and the
first piece I began to edit was the longest part
which happened to be me painting the
large E4 logo.
Once I had
used the tools in Final Cut Pro to speed up the selected piece of film, by
about 200%, I then moved the three pieces apart from each other and began to
edit the
final piece of the film which was focusing on the E4 logo beginning to
drip. I had to edit a
few pieces of film out of it, because there was about
three seconds worth of unwanted film
where I was unsure how to stop the
constant photo taking. This made the film run much
more smoothly, and gave me the
opportunity to edit in frames that I will in order to make
this animation look
more like a silent film.
To do this I
opened up a document in Photoshop with the requirements of “web and devices,”
and began to draw out the frame that I will apply to my whole film. I changed
the frame size
at the top and bottom so that the frame was even, and coloured
the entire frame black to
match the ones that would be seen in most generic
silent films.
I then
opened up Adobe Illustrator and began to draw out the designs for the frame
which I
put into my film. I looked through a number of silent films and found
that the frames of the
films usually consisted of swirled and floral patterns,
the kinds usually found on old fashioned
mirrors. The design I went for was a
swirl and tear drop look, and I tried numerous ways to
draw out this image, including
making my own style of paintbrush, and using the pen tool.
I ended up using the
paint tool, and edited the lines to make them much smoother and more
flowing,
which in the end, worked out very well in my opinion. I then changed the size
of the
“tear drops” in order to make them the correct size for the Photoshop
document.
I then chose
the swirl pattern to go on both the top and bottom of the frame, which I got as
central as I could, and added them as smart objects before putting them in
their places for
definite.
I
put the images on a new layer and filled in the colour of the shapes to make
them stand
out fully against the black background. I did experiment with
colour, where I used a mix of
greys and even some pastel colours, before realising
that pastel colours would not make
much of a difference since the film is in
black and white.
Once
I have the swirls placed correctly onto the border, I started to place the tear
drop
shapes onto the new layer on my Photoshop file. I wasn’t quite sure where
about I would
put them to begin with, as I originally wanted them on the left
and right sides, stretched
apart like the swirls were, but I eventually decided
on placing them at the corners of the
border, and I feel this makes the frame
look more ornate and like an antique rather than
something more modern. Once I had
completed the look of my frame for the animation, I
saved it as a file to use
for web and video purposes, and uploaded it into Final Cut Pro and
stretched it
across the time line, so that it would last throughout the entire film.
I then went
on to make a take frame, where dialogue is displayed to show what the
characters
are saying in silent films. I began by making a canvas the size of
what would be the space in
the middle of the ornate frame I made, and then
chose and old, but legible style text to use
as the written dialogue. I feel as
though this worked out very well as I asked numerous
people as well as tutors
and they thought it looked rather authentic, I also added two
tear drop shapes
around the words to exaggerate and pronounce the words more.
After
I had all of the elements of my film put together in the time line, I went on to
edit
the visual part of my film by using a variety of the settings available on
the Final Cut Pro
program. I chose to edit the blur settings so that the
picture was blurred slightly, making
it look slightly older and less HD than it
is.
Here it
shows the final adjustments that I made, visually, I added some visual effects,
such
as the Gaussian Blur which is what made the film so blurred and old
fashioned. I also added
the “Bad Film,” filter, which helped me make most of my
changes to my film. I increased
the saturate amount, scratches, hairs, and dust
ever so slightly, which gave the great old
fashioned Victorian film effect,
which turned my film into the exact thing I had envisioned.
I also ended up
increasing the jitter Amount as well, which gave the film its jumpy and edgy
feel.
Once
I had taken the appropriate measures to ensure my film looked as authentic as I
could, I went on to “colour correct” the E4 logo in my film so that the colour
would remain in the logo whilst everything else was in black and white. To do
this I went to the “3 Way Colour Correct” option on the menu in Final Cut Pro,
and made sure that the saturation and Lumo were not selected, and opened up the
range of colours that I still wanted to be visible throughout the video, I chose
anywhere between lilac and violet, as the E4 logo is somewhere between those
two colours and this made the E4 logo retain it’s colour throughout the film.
I then went
on to add some sounds onto my film, I obtained these sounds through the means
of the sound program named “Logic Pro,” found on the computers in the Music and
Theatre
building, so there would not be any legal issues.
The
sounds I added included that of an old school film projector, which links in
with the editing
I did of my film. This sound is very authentic, and even has
the click sound at the start of it to
signify the projector being turned on,
this works very well with my film because there is a
slight jitter at the
beginning of the film. I was also searching for some form of Photoplay music,
usually found in silent films which comes with a full orchestra, however I could
not find a
sample of music without copyright issues, so I went in search of
simple piano music. And to
my luck I found quite a few samples of piano music
from all ends of the spectrum, from
western style bar music, to chilling and
spooky samples. I ended up choosing a simple and
echoing piece. I feel as
though this music sample is most effective because it isn’t so busy
that it
takes away attention from what’s going on in the film, and does the opposite by
exaggerating the movements and happenings in the film.
This was one
of my favourite projects to do this year, as it was mostly hands on
and I got
to paint my face, making actual fun out of the project. It was the
project that I was completely excited about from start to finish and I am
overjoyed with how my final, 10 second animation
turned out!
