Class 1 - Create a Simple Video

For this first workshop, I took some time to just learn how to navigate around, from looking at the online curriculum, to viewing the intro videos, and then launching the link for the live online portion of the course. For the assignment, we are to create a video project showing cutaways to the beat. I've downloaded Premiere Pro, I've watched Matthijs' video examples, and I am ready to go!

Class 2 - Planning a Video Project

I missed this online class and had to go back and watch the recording, but I watched all of the examples given and read about different camera shots and how to plan them. The examples given were great - I even made my own template off of the one example shown. At first, I didn't understand the 30 degree rule and the 180 degree rule, but after watching the online class with visual examples, I think I understand now why the line of sight of the cameras are so important. I decided to go with the assignment of making a storyboard from the "Don't Be Late" theme, and do a video plan about all the lame excuses people give (and I've given) for being late. Here's my storyboard.

Class 3 - Creating a "Rough Cut" Video

The storyboard was pretty easy to create, and it did make filming a lot more simple. We happened to be staying at a Holiday Inn over the Easter holidays, so we decided to film the short takes from the business center of the hotel. The only problem was that it was hard to control the ambient noise in the background, so with each take you can hear different background noise going on. I also had a problem with different zoom levels with each take - I forgot that I had zoomed in a little on one take, then zoomed back out for other takes (darn it). So, now that we are back home, there is no way to change the original footage, but I'm hoping that I can make some adjustments in Premier to make the zoom a little more consistent. My rough cut video is below:

Class 4 - Creating Animated Titles

This assignment was the most difficult yet, because I had never used Adobe After Effects before. I watched the instructional videos over and over (especially https://vimeo.com/325851016, https://vimeo.com/328993375 and https://vimeo.com/329980077) and tried to follow the directions exactly, and still had problems. I finally was able to come up with some animated titles that appeared to animate and write themselves across the screen for my "Excuses, Excuses" video, and here is the final product below.

Class 5 - Final Project

I took the feedback I got to heart, and I decided to add a flash transition between the various takes of excuses made by my subject. I don't know if it added to the humor in the video, but I do think it added to the flow, and how the employee character is full of excuses for being late (even if they are lame excuses). Adding transitions was pretty easy, and I figured out that by right clicking on the transition, I could also set the duration of the transition. I decided to make the flashes pretty brief (15 frames each) to add to the "rapid fire" feel to the excuses being given.