Final Blog: Commercial Project

Today, we started to finish up our editing completely. However, on both days we were scheduled to edit, we ran into two technical difficulties. The first one is that our editing software, Pinnacle Studio, was very slow so it was hard to cut videos according to what was needed. The second problem we faced was that the people who used our assigned computer before us didn’t plug it in after they used it. In those two days of editing, our computer ran out of battery three times. Besides these two issues, the editing process wasn’t too terrible. We did need help when creating different editing styles like a split screen, so that’s not quite done yet. Even though the project may seem pretty much finished, we still have to cut our video down to the 30 second time limit. We also have to add in our sounds. This includes the Barbie theme song and the McDonalds jingle voiceover. We should be completely finished by next class.

There were quite a few things we had to change from our storyboard because the clips we took were too long. For example, the scene where we are walking to the table and talking about what we wanna be when we grow up had to be cut. We chose this clip because it was already repetitive with the previous clip of us walking. We also weren’t able to film an establishing shot of McDonalds because we filmed on school property only. We changed the scene were you see what’s in our happy meal to just two trunk shots of the children on a split screen. Although we had our storyboard planned out and  all, we did go off track a little just in case we didn’t have enough footage. However, we definitely filmed more than needed and will probably just cut everything to match the storyboard exactly, except for the changes stated before. Some of the extra footage we recorded would definitely add to the storyline but since it’s just a commercial it’s not necessary. For example, we shot a clip were the two girls show each other what Barbies they received and then go to a bench to play and y’all about them, however this clip was way too lengthy. Another example is of a clip where the girls turn to the camera and say the Barbie motto but we aren’t sure if we wanna keep this clip or not.

Overall, this project was a great first experience at the filming process. It showed how people in the film industry go through the process of creating media. This project was super fun, I definitely enjoyed learning and creating. This makes me super excited for the next projects to come as the year progresses leading up to the final movie project. Since film is the industry I would like to work in in the future, this class and these projects are great ways to increase my knowledge so I am prepared. In future projects, I would like to improve on the editing and try new and more advanced features. Also, I would like to be able to film and dump a lot quicker so that we have time to complete other aspects of the project. Lastly, my final thing I would like to improve on is my blogs. I would like to be able to go into more detail about what I did during each step. In conclusion, this project wasn’t perfect but enjoyable and interesting.