Creative Critical Reflection

     I made sure I got all the shots for the commercial that we needed, eye level shots, long shots, etc. I made sure the actors are in frame. I needed as many shot opportunities needed in order for me and my groups vision to come to life. Some shots were shot in slow motion in order for me to use time-ramping in post; I pre-planned and made drafts of the commercial and even tested new effects for a general idea.

    My whole thought process was as of an actual editor for a real commercial, making actions real ones would, doing techniques that are useful to the whole process. I made sure to add certain effects only when needed, I made sure timing was used correctly as timing is extremely important to the editing process, audio mixing to make sounds more clear and less painful to hear, I layered, grouped and organized video and audio tracks and fixed rendering settings for the best end results.

    I had to make sure the visualization was perfect down to the pixel on the screen. I used color correction and make other sources fit into the video, I used a lightning vfx plugin that generates and animates lighting that is fully customizable, I used time-ramping on slow motion shots for a smooth speed transitions and I messed with the blending with 2 clips for an overlay effect.

    My group and I shared input with one another, letting our imagination go wild. Originally, there was supposed to be a fire effect used to show how fast Jorge was moving, but due to limitations from the plugin used, I decided to change it for a lightning effect. I added a vignette filter and cinematic filter plugins to make the commercial look more professional and extortionary. I additionally made split screen shots out of 2 clips and made sure they timed up perfectly to not only to each other but also the flow of the video itself as well.

    I wanted to make everything to look like a real news report in the final part of the commercial. Despite us not owning a microphone that looks like a news reporter's microphone, we still agreed to just do the shot without it. I made sure they were loud enough to be hear over the news music but not to loud to where the audio was clipping.

    I decided to make a 3d render of some 3d letters saying 'Nike; Just do It; Pegasus 38' at the end of the commercial. I used a website called Panzoid that works like any other 3d rendering app like Blender and Cinema 4d, it is simplified for anyone to use and I manage to get used to it ever since a year after the website first launched. I made the text models, added a chromatic texture, added bloom and light ray effects, added a pink glow to match the shoes accent colors and finally rendered the final product. 

    In the end, the end result was really incredible and I am proud of what me and my group did in this project. This is truly those most I've edited a video within a whole week.

My experience from the Project

    Originally, I was unconfident in my abilities and skills as a video editor and as a team member, but after this project, I feel a bit more confident in my ability. I learned new things as an editor and improved my skills overtime. I've been editing video for about 5-6 years, I didn't think I saw progress until recently, having people help me and give criticism to my work, giving me compliments, it helped me be more confident in my love for editing as a whole.

    As for my group, I really admire them, there is a huge diverse in personality in my group. Some wants to learn from me, some wants to know more about me as a person, I am truly glad to be in my group. Hadar, Alex and Jorge are extremely supportive people and honestly really fun to be with.

    Finally, the final result of our commercial. It is by far, the most difficult video I've had to edit in such a long time and I was really excited to challenge it. Despite all the troubles with software, file corruption, rendering issues, etc., my group and I were able to finally pull through and finish our commercial. I am genuinely happy with the end result and I am excited for the next project.

I helped teach my group on how to edit videos and how to layer with Premiere Pro

    When I came into classroom with my group, I immediately got my laptop out and started a new project on Premiere Pro. Since this is the first time I am using Premiere Pro in such a long time, I lost some experience from the software. I asked my group if the song in the commercial should be changed, as I recommend them a song called Fire made by TheUnder.

    My and group and I decided to keep our old song and progressed. I added the shots and song to the media bin and made a small layout of the commercial in the timeline. I keyframed the opacity of the clips, made adjustment layers and learned how to speed ramp, which is essential for the project. I decided to teach my group about adjustment layers, layering and why they are both important. I am not that good at explaining in specifics so I decided to show them what happens if you don't do these in certain situations. 

    After that, Hadar asked me if she can edit the video and I agree to let her. I made a copy save file then let her take control. I don't want to make this sound like I am being rude but she really didn't really know what she was doing. She somehow made mask from a black and white filter, she messed with the clips and made random arrangements, she also wanted to make the screen black, so she downloaded a 1080x1920 png of just black and added it to the timeline instead of moving the clips and leaving a empty space.

    After experimenting, I try to help and teach Hadar a little more after and try to hear her out on her opinions on the commercial. I tried to reopen the original project and it re-opens Hadar's version instead. So I clicked on the file again, same result, Alex and I were very confused. It took me a couple second for me to realize, I messed up once again with project files. I said that I made a copy of the project file, not a new version of it, which means whatever changes Hadar made, it would save on both. I restarted my laptop and I reopen the project to find, nothing. The project file, just out of no where, reset itself causing even Hadar's version to be deleted. That means for the second time, we had to restart the editing process due to a project file technicality.

A Complete Editing Mess-Up

    My group and I, when given the chance too, immediately went straight to work on discussing the commercial final draft. I grabbed my laptop, opened my editing software and begin to explain what changes and fixes I made to the commercial. I explained and taught my group how to do the lighting effect I made, I let Hadar mess around in the software and fix things to her liking and see if we all agree on those changes. In the final shot of Alex and Jorge racing, when Jorge wins, Alex is supposed to "trip and fall" onto the ground, but with the vignette filter I added to the shot, it was cutting Alex out and I pointed out how there is to much negative space so she told me if I could try and have it zoom it into Alex as he falls.

     I managed to get all the fixes that my group points out and I start collecting and adding other clips that still haven't been transferred yet while working with what we have now. My first goal was to add another lighting effect to the final shot where Jorge beats Alex. I effectively get it done by saving the effect I did before as a preset, reopening it on a new layer, animate, fix and keyframe the effect onto the clip, first goal down.

    While editing, I also noticed the software being slower than usual, which I found weird due to my laptop being way more than capable to handle this type of work. I reopen the software after it crashes and reopen the the auto-save, which it was before I remade the effect. That means I had to restart all my work that I made within the last 7 minutes. I was able to get it done in 3 minutes, and the results were way better than before.

    Jorge, Hadar and Alex also wanted to give me some input about how dark the commercial looks and how it should be brighter. So I lowered the amount of the vignette being use and fixed some color issues. When doing this, the software then crashed about 5 times and we all joked about how the power of the Pegasus 38's (the shoe we are promoting) is too strong for the computer to handle.

    After I finally fixed the issue, I started to work on blurring out the Adidas logo on Alex's shoes. I added blur to the clip and masked it out into a circle. Not to my surprise, the software crashed another 4 times, which makes it up to 9 crashes within a hour. I finally pulled through and finally manage to finish blurring and so I decided to save the progress made so far. Sadly, the software crashed while saving, which has happened to me before but wasn't a huge issue until I try to reopen the project file. It turns out the project file is now corrupted and all the work has been deleted and are forced to restart. I was really annoyed at the fact that it crashed while saving since I can easily remake the project, I just don't want to since the one we got was really good and probably the best version we could ever have on this project. My group weren't mad at this either but highly suggested I download a different software. I've decided to switch to Premiere Pro instead since there is people I know that uses Premiere Pro and comes up with extremely amazing end results with their own projects.

The latest and last version of the original rough draft:

Reshooting and Rough Drafts

    My group and I met up and started talking about scenes we may have possibly missed or messed up. I mentioned that we need a shot of the shoes by itself or a shot of Alex and Jorge running while the camera follows them.

    We went to the track to continue working as I open my laptop and open my editing software to make a rough draft of what our final product could look like. I manage to get most of the shots downloaded onto my laptop and available to use to make the rough draft. I made sure to let my group know that I am always able for any criticisms or inputs.

    I first lay the clips down on the timeline to get a flow of what I want. I mainly focused mostly on the slow-motion clips as they are the most vital shots for the commercial. I then searched for some vfx plugins in my software's plug-in library. I found a plug-in called Ignite Fire which simulates a fire effect/animation

    I attempted to make use of the effect by masking, keyframing, layering and color correcting but the end result looked unrealistic and out of place. The mask wasn't really effective and made the fire look sloppy.

    I then restarted the and instead worked on the colors and vibe of the commercial. I wanted to give off a cinematic feeling and inspiring, also extremely persuasive. 

    I grabbed a plug-in called Ignite Cine-Look which does everything I was looking for at once. All that was needed was some color adjustment and lighting fixes. I added gamma and color correctors to the video track and it was some what nice to look at. I was also given some positive criticism from my group on how the video looks so far.

    I also added some time ramping, brightness and blurs to each time a kick or snare would hit when the song in the background plays. I wanted for a nostalgic feeling of 2010s-2015 so I grabbed a dubstep classic made by Tristam and Braken called Flight.

    Around the end, my group and I left to go back to the classroom but I was still thinking about how we are going to get our special effect on the shoes until I though of a better alternative. I've decided to add lighting to the shoes and runner, like if he is the flash.