Post-Production
My First Version
I edited this video using Adobe Premiere Pro. To start, I imported all the footage I shot. Then, because I had a lot of archive footage, images and interviews, I kept it all organised in different bins (folders).
I first imported what I call the title sequence. This included an archive video of a giant dog chasing a horse and rider around the field. I liked that you could hear the dog barking and the rider's screams (who was recording). I thought this video clip was very relevant to my topic. I then added fade transitions at the start and end of the clip.
Using the captions and graphics window, I added some statistics. I also applied the fade transitions to these captions. I wanted to shock the audience into gaining their attention.
It was after the statistics that I added my animated title sequence. I watched and analysed Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb. The title sequence isn't shown in this documentary until around 6 minutes in. I liked that it gave the filmmaker time to impress the audience before the title sequence.
I separated my main sequence into five subsequences. This was to make it easier to edit and colour.
- History of Horses
- History of Dogs
- What's Changed?
- So it's just training?
- What laws are there?
My first subsequence was the history of horses. I thought it was important to touch on this topic because we need to care for these animals and protect them. They were vital to winning hundreds of battles and assisting us in everyday tasks before mechanisation. The majority of footage in this sequence was archive footage, illustrations and photos. I searched for relevant videos on pexels.com and youtube to go with my script. Some of the footage also belonged to me from previous projects I've done over the years.
My second sequence was the History of Dogs. This section is very similar to the first in the way it has mostly archive footage, illustrations and photos. However, I wanted my documentary to be objective, which meant I couldn't come across as biased to either side. So I included information about the history of dogs to remind the audience why dogs are essential to us and have been in the past.
I could not time these sequences correctly until I filmed my voiceover. I thought it would be better to have too much footage than too little.
Moving on to my third subsequence, Whats changed? This sequence included my first interview. Debbie is a qualified dog trainer who I asked to answer some questions. In the beginning, I needed to show the data on pet and dog ownership in the UK. So I created a graph to show the increase in the dog population from 2013 to 2021.
To edit my interview, I inserted the camera video and my lav mic audio into the sequence. Then, I synchronised the audio by highlighting both audio tracks and right-clicking. Next, I unlinked the camera audio from the video and deleted that old audio track. I then moved the lav mic audio onto audio track 1 and linked the video and audio back together. Linking them together will prevent any accidental un-syncing.
I then adjusted the sound on the clip using the audio panel on the software. Choosing Dialogue, Clear up noisy dialogue and lower the volume to -1. I cut out all the bloopers using the razer tool and kept all the relevant answers.
The So it's just training subsection included two interviews at that time. I edited them, in the same way, I did the first, although I wanted to use some of the B-Roll/cutaways I filmed on location. The India interview is my favourite due to the quality of the additional footage I filmed that day. The weather was excellent, and I had the best equipment.
I went through all the footage I took and added short bursts of cutaway footage to overlap the interview video. So India would have around 5 seconds of screentime before cutting away to relevant footage of dogs and horses.
I needed to add two images that I got from running my survey. To do this, I screenshotted the piecharts and results from the website and imported them to my project library.
My final subsequence was called What laws are there? This subsequence also included two interviews. I edited them the same way as the others. Again, I mainly used the audio from the lav mic because it barely picked up any too little additional ambience or background noise. I was amazed at the quality of the camera footage as the days were very bright on the day I filmed these. I relied on the colouration settings to lower the contrast and exposure on several videos to avoid washing the interviewees out.
I screenshotted several images from the legislation websites (Dogs) Protection of Livestock Act 1953 and Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. I imported these into my sequence and adjusted the scale and position settings to get them to roll down the screen. This took me a while to get the timing right, but it was easy to adjust the keyframes.
I did several shoots for clients outside of college hours, and they permitted me to use some of the footage in my documentary. So wherever I had a gap, I used my stock of B-Roll to fill it.
After filming my voiceover in college, I came home and edited it using Adobe Audition. After exporting it and importing it into my main sequence, I cut it up and added it to my subsections. Only minor adjustments needed to be made to the sound recording. Mainly the volume was lowered, and I added A subtle Female Boost to the voiceover track.
Next, I adjusted the length of all the archive footage to match the words up with the video and photos. Again, I used markers to assist me.
I then began my search for background music. I didn't want anything with lyrics or a heavy beat drop. So instead, I searched in my own personal collection of copyright-free songs which I've used on previous videos. Amine Maxwell - Amelia was the only song I liked from my music folder, so I went onto YouTube and looked at the Vlog No Copyright Music channel. This website has thousands of free copyright-free music. After searching for a while, I then found the following four songs.
INOSSI - Wonder
INOSSI - Infinite
INOSSI - Sad Sky
INOSSI - Waiting
The artist INOSSI had hundreds of songs on this website, and none of them had lyrics or heavy beats. However, I found all these songs to be just what I needed. In the description of these songs it stated:
You're free to use this song in any of your videos, but you must include the following in your video description (Copy & Paste): Song: Amine Maxwell - Amelia Music provided by Vlog No Copyright Music. Creative Commons - Attribution 3.0 Unported Video Link: https://youtu.be/N1jADSL290Y
I added these songs into my original main sequence and needed to adjust the volume to -30. My voiceover audio and the interview audio needed to be louder than the background music.
Last, I needed to adjust the colour. I made the original sequence into a sub-sequence so it would be easier to add a 'Lumetri Colour Effect'. Then, after spending some time searching for the right creative filter, I settled on 'SL BLUE MOON'. I liked this one primarily because of the cool/cold tones. I needed to make a couple of adjustments to the original shots for the colouring to be consistent all the way through the video.
Overall I am super happy with my version #1. The video length was around 16:36, and we had a maximum length of 15 minutes. So I went back through the whole video and cropped sections where I could. This wasn't the end of the world because I think I dragged on a bit in my voiceover, and I didn't want to lose the audience's attention.
The beginning of the documentary is something I'm really proud of. I love my animated title sequence, and I think it looks very professional.
The audio quality is consistently high all the way through the film, and I'm glad my lav mic worked well outdoors.
Next time I'd like to film more of my own footage rather than use as much archive and stock footage as I have done this time around. I know that if I had more time, I would find a way to do this.
Hi Joanna
Here are my thoughts! Fantastic interviews throughout, some excellent original footage and a good quality voiceover, well done Joanna!
Here are some areas for improvement, the main issue for me is the start......
- The audio on the opening clip is really poor and I feel doesn't start your documentary well! You could try isolating the 'I'm going to call the police!', cut out the rest of the audio, layer in some background ambient audio and maybe some music and dog bark sounds to simulate what the original audio was if it had been well recorded? Maybe the clip could be shortened as well but still remain impactful? I know this feels like a lot of work, but I think this is the main thing which needs fixing Joanna as the start of a documentary really needs to be perfect......the other option would be to remove this and start with your title sequence?
- 'Whats Changed' at 5'15 should be 'What's changed?'
- Jump cut at 13'32, maybe do a dissolve here so it's less noticeable?
- Caption at 14'03 gets a bit 'lost' in the straw? Captions holds on for too long as well.....
- Similar comment to 3 at 14'15
Thank-you for your hard work with this Joanna 🙂
Paul
My Final Version
First, I cut the audio clip from the rottweiler clip. Then, I cut it up into sections and adjusted the audio using the auto adjustment settings on Adobe Premiere Pro. Next, I downloaded a forest audio ambience track from YouTube and imported it to my video. After adjusting the volume, I added some fade in and out transitions to the track.
I then added back some of the barkings a shouting from the original audio track. This worked out well as my brother didn't notice that some of the audio had been artificially replaced and improved.
I changed the camera angles at 13:32 and 14:15 by scaling the video in and making minor adjustments to the position settings.
I also added a black stroke effect to the caption at 14:03. I did this to make the text stand out more against the haybale.
This feedback was constructive, and I was happy to act on it.