Editing Diary

Editing Diary

Did you have any problems? What went well? What went wrong?

At the beginning of the filming, we made the mistake of thinking that we were filming for the first 15 minutes only to find out that later when in the editing stage that we hadn't actually filmed anything from the very beginning of the day and it was just clips of us all talking and discussing ideas whilst the camera faces the ground. We did at one point, surprisingly, manage to film in a public play park with no interruption from the general public. We expected to be asked about what we were doing and were ready to be told not to film but nobody seemed to have an issue with it. Despite this, we made an effort to keep most of the other children in the area out of shot as it wasn't too much hassle. The child actors we had starring in our film, Vinnie and Sadie Thwaites, were absolutely incredible. They followed direction amazingly and knew almost all of their lines whilst only being sent the script three days prior. They were truly professional and we couldn't have asked for better kids to have been in our project.

Did you have enough footage?

We actually wanted to get more footage than we had at the end, however the camera ran out of battery and we had no choice but to stop. Luckily, we had 3 hours worth of films and what we did film worked well. We did have to take a few re-shoots with transition shots the next weekend but we did not need our actors for this so it was relatively hassle free.

Did you have to re-film anything or film extra scenes?

As mentioned above, we had to go back for some more shots as transition pieces but other than that, what we had, worked pretty well. There are a few production stills that we took as well, they are at the bottom of this point. We used a handheld camera to film and we had an army geared tripod, but we didn't really use it for many of the shots as it was relatively short.

What was the shooting schedule?

We filmed from 11am until 2pm on Tuesday the 11th of April. We met our actors in the play park in Belfairs Woods around this time. Amy was in-charge of the organisation with our actors, directing and had contact with Sadie and Vinnie's mother so that the filming was planned around their school and work schedule. As we filmed during the Easter holidays, it was a lot easier to find spare time where the actors, especially Sadie, weren't on a print or commercial job. We decided that one day filming with the actors would be enough if we just shot as much as we could until the camera died and we were unable to continue filming. However, we did re-shoot some establishing shots on Sunday the 23rd of April, when Amy went to Belfairs alone to take some extra setting and transition shots. This only took 20 minutes to complete.

What was the weather forecast?

The weather wasn't really a huge problem, as we would've gone ahead with the plan even if it was raining. Rain could've in fact helped us with things like keeping the park empty. However, the day we did choose to film on was sunny and bright. Luckily, the park was fairly empty anyways, so this didn't cause any issues.

In terms of extraneous circumstances, we filmed during the Easter holidays and we were unsure if there was going to be any community or council events going on in the park. As a result, we looked on Southend-On-Sea Council's website to check so we could plan-ahead and couldn't find anything that would interfere so we went ahead and filmed on that location. On the day of shooting the additional transition shots, the weather was equally as sunny and there was a fair number of clouds in the sky to film.

How was the footage edited?

Our footage was edited in Sony Vegas Pro 13. We personally chose this software as it is easier to use as a result of our familiarity with the software in in comparison to iMovie. The Sony Vegas Pro 13 program also allows you to add more effects (not they were need in excess for this project) as well as better textography styles (fonts, colours etc).