Production: Editing my footage

This is the second half of all the footage I have edited for my short film

I am slightly concerned about the grainy quality of my footage on the YouTube videos, as my footage does not look like that in iMovie. However, I am hoping that the low picture quality is due to the fact that I chose the option 'share for web streaming.' After putting all my footage together I realised that I do not need to film anymore footage as I already have 17 minutes worth and the recommended maximum length for my short film is 5 minutes. Therefore I need to cut down my footage to the most interesting parts, or the parts that I think best show what Matthew is really like. During the lesson I showed my footage so far to my classmates and they gave some great feedback about what they would like to see in my film. They thought that it would be good if I had narration over some of the slower pieces of footage, but leaving the sound on for some of them could be quite poignant. They also suggested that I included footage of myself or my parents talking, as this would give the narration a more personal feel, as the viewer would be able to see my expressions and reactions. They also asked me lots of questions about Matthew which gave me an idea of what people wanted to know, which will help me in my editing process and when writing my narration.

Production: Editing my footage

Today I finished editing all of the clips I had of Matthew into the bits I potentially want to use in my short film. Whilst I am still undecided on what order these clips will go in, or whether I will use all the footage, I put all of the clips together and used the 'Share' option in iMovie to upload the video to YouTube. I compressed the movie for web streaming, then tried to upload it to YouTube, however, the film was rejected because the length of the film was too long (17 minutes.) I therefore had to split the clip in half so only managed to upload half of the footage to YouTube this lesson. I will continue to upload the rest of the footage next lesson. I have included annotations over the various clips giving my opinion on them and detailing my decision making process in terms of whether or not I will use them in my final project.

Extra research: Nick Hornby's writing on Autism

Ms Casson recommended that I looked at the author Nick Hornby's writing about his child with autism. I found an article on the Guardian website. The part I found the most interesting was the introduction he had written to a book of short stories which he had editing called 'Speaking with the Angel' where he describes a day in the life of a family with an autistic child;

''He sleeps five or six hours every night, in fact, which means that if he can be kept awake until, say, nine, then he will wake up at two or three. He is upset and frustrated, so he screams, and his parents, who have maybe slept three or four hours, feel a mixture of exhaustion and depression and panic - they live in a small flat, and the walls are thin, and they know that they are not the only ones who are disturbed on a nightly basis . . . It is six hours until one of them starts work (the other would like to work, but in the absence of any suitable school place for the child, it is not possible), by which time the child will have attempted to hurt himself by hitting himself hard and repeatedly on the head, and maybe thrown some food around, and refused to use the toilet and ended up soiling a carpet, and demanded in the only language he has at his disposal (one word, repeated with increasing force and volume) to go out to the park, even though it's pitch black outside . . ."

This gave me some inspiration into what to write for my narration and made me think about what parts of Matthew's daily routine my audience would find the most interesting.

Production: Tripod footage

Over the weekend I filmed some more footage of Matthew this time using a tripod./ I found this filming technique a lot more effective, as not only did the tripod encourage Matthew to interact with the camera more but it also meant that I could leave it running for longer and also keep filming even when I had to help Matthew do things. Capturing this sort of interaction could be very useful for my short film and I found that Matthew responded a lot better when being filmed using the tripod. I originally thought that I would film some more footage of him using this, but I believe that I already have enough footage for my film, therefore this will not be necessary.

Production: Reviewing my footage

After looking and editing my footage this past week, I have had to reconsider some of my original ideas. I originally planned to have my narration over the top of action of Matthew. However, after looking at my clips, I think some of them would be more effective if I kept the sound in it. Therefore, this may mean that I need to cut down on my narration, or film more footage of Matthew. I also want to review my narration again and complete a final draft of it. Over the weekend, I plan to film more footage of Matthew as I have managed to borrow a tripod.

Production: Editing in iMovie

This week I began to edit my footage using iMovie HD. At first, I found this challenging, as I have only used video editing software once and I've never used this version of iMovie before. However, I soon managed to get to grips with it and I have now discovered how to split clips and cut out footage I no longer need. AT the moment I am in the process of watching each individual clip and cutting out any parts that cannot be used (because he isn't looking at the camera etc.)

Half term work: Footage

Over the half term holiday I began filming footage of my brother for my documentary. As my brother is such an unpredictable subject, I was unsure about what footage I would get and could not really plan when to film him, so I just had to have the camera ready with me at all times! When I showed the footage to Ms Casson, she suggested that I used a tripod to capture some more action as my camera work was shaky, which I plan to do in the coming weeks. However, overall I am pleased with the footage I've got and will use the next couple of weeks to edit it.