This is probably the heftiest part of the project, or at least the one that feels like it. Ladies and gentlemen (and non-binary friends), editing has officially started.
I will admit, I went into this fully knowing Monster #2's capabilities but MAN was I impressed when I actually saw it in action for the first time since February. Even with 4K footage, this legend was playing it back with no issues, even letting me speed things up to 2x or even 4x speed when re-listening to the interviews. There was NO LAG. I swear it was probably one of the sexiest things I have ever seen. By the end of this project, I will surely be converted to a Windows user.
During my free hour, I proceeded to line up all the interview clips together (we couldn't edit the interviews in one take since my A/C kept turning on), syncing the audio, chopping them up so that we only had the parts of the interviewees talking, and then getting them ready for transcriptions. I decided to not begin transcribing yet since chopping up the clips was taking longer than I thought, but I did decide to do a very small yet important thing: rename clips. This was for two main reasons:
1. Staying organized and being able to identify what a clip is from the name alone
2. Preventing any linking issues: For Counter Conformity, we often had clips that had the same name (for example two files named "C0001") because we were using two different cameras that both started at C0001 and continued to add on as more clips were recorded. When I was trying to export the final version, my computer unlinked everything and accidentally re-linked every edit to the incorrect clip. It was such a painful experience - definitely one I would not like to experience again.
I decided to follow a simple formula, mainly for the interview clips. Before the clip number, I would add three letters:
- S, M, or T for Sabrina, Maya, or Tess
- I for interview clip
- A or B for A cam (main camera, wider shot) and B cam (second camera, tighter side shot)
This definitely helped me stay organized as well as gave me a lot of peace of mind. Not to toot my own horn, but it looks pretty awesome now:
After getting Sabrina's interview ready, I began looking for the transcription tool on Premiere that I have been using for both of the documentaries I've made so far, especially since it's so useful. To my horror, I realized that Monster did not have the version of Premiere 2021 that had it, leaving me to resort to my own computer for transcriptions. I exported the chopped up interview (about an hour of footage), imported it to my computer, opened up a Premiere 2022 project and began transcriptions. I thought that it was going to take a very long time (especially due to the length and quality of the footage), but surprisingly, it was relatively quick (about 25 minutes). Here is a screenshot of Premiere while it was working its magic earlier today:
After this, I had to correct some minor transcription errors (words that were slightly off, grouping sentences into each answer so it was more organized, etc.) which took about 45 minutes, but overall it was really smooth. Having interviewees that speak clearly was definitely an advantage. After this, I exported the transcription as a .txt file and saved it to my computer. This is what it looks like (notice the time stamps and everything for each answer):
Anyway, I am now working on Maya and Tess's interviews. I hope to get these transcriptions done and carry out my usual line-edit workflow, which includes the following:
- Pasting all of the transcriptions onto a Google document
- Going through and highlighting the best answers, often creating a more revised version of the structure and color coding each part of the structure in order to know where to put each answer, or part of an answer
- Put each part with similar colors together
- Re-order each answer within each section of the documentary in order for things to flow well
- Grab this skeleton of the documentary and start putting those clips onto the timeline (this is where the timestamps at the top of each answer get really handy!)
- Edit out parts and overall work on the flow of the line-edit until each interview leads into the other, creating a cohesive narrative that follows a logical and easily-comprehensible structure
- Finalize the line-edit (I usually get someone else's opinion on it since they have a fresh mind when watching it) and begin adding B-roll
I hope to get the line-edit done as soon as possible! I definitely have a lot of work ahead of me but honestly, I'm willing to put in the work. Kim and I had a talk the other day and decided that because we only have one computer and our schedules don't really line up too much (especially because she has been working a lot), that I would handle editing and she would handle the social media and magazine article. Obviously we will help each other when we both have the chance, but honestly this was such a relief because I know she knows her stuff when it comes to social media (she was Vice President of our TV production club last year and had to run the "socials" for it) and I already have a relatively fast-paced, established workflow for documentary editing. I just hope that we are still able to collaborate as much as possible especially with a lot of the important final decisions coming up soon (ex: documentary/docu-series name, minor graphics, etc.). I'm sure we will be okay especially since we work really well together, but we just have to make sure we stay on track and do whatever we can to make this documentary the best it can be. I'll post updates as soon as I can.
No comments:
Post a Comment