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  Multiclip Editing in Final Cut Pro

Posted by Douglas Herman in Digital Video -4 day a week - Herman on
LOOK TO VIDEO TUTORIAL BELOW FOR MULTICLIP EDIT IN FINAL CUT PRO. 

FOLLOW THESE STEPS FOR SAME RESULTS OF MULTICLIP EDIT IN FINAL CUT EXPRESS

1. Load all video.

2. In the canvas, resize each video track to 1/4 screen. Cam 1 - upper right. Cam 2 - upper left. Cam 3 - lower left. Cam 1 is the "base video track, i.e., video track 1... usually the wide angle, but whatever makes sense to your project.

3. Sync, or position, the three video tracks. I usually do this via audio tracks, but video works as well. Just remember that the process is tedious, and accuracy is limited to the frame rate of the video. That is not necessarily the same timerframe of the audio, but close enough, ... most of the time.

4. You can now see all of your video in the canvas. Mute the audio you do not want to listen to while editing, but do not delete yet! With the razor tool you can cut and trim, from the top clip down, to your heart's desire.

5. When editing the sequence is done you should revisit and do two things. First, resize each camera angle to full screen. A tedious process. Second, begin to trim any video on lower numbered tracks that will not be part of the full screen display. I believe this will reduce the file size of your final export.

6. Review video. If you are satisfied with the look, it is time to address audio.

7. Eliminate the audio you do not need.

8. Save your project frequently throughout the entire process.

9. Review, review, review, until you are either satisfied or sick of the whole project. Refine, refine, refine, until you are sick of the project.

10. Once you are satisfied, follow the guidelines on Moodle for MAKING VIDEO INTERNET READY

Requiem for a Dream: Film Review

Posted by Joshua Martin-Corrales in Digital Video -4 day a week - Herman on

Requiem for a Dream, what can I say that hasn't already been said? Well, actually probably a lot. Let me start off with my god honest opinion of this movie, it is a fantastic movie, but it is not an easy movie. I watched this movie twice, and the first time, it beat me senseless, the movie came across the room and it slugged me real good, so when I watched it a second time I thought I'd be fine, wrong, the movie beat me senseless again, completely remorselessly, and perhaps even harder than the first time. The movie is sharp, strong, and like I said, it hits you hard, not in an action movie way, but in a way that the movie beats on your psyche till all you can do is sigh and hope to feel better later.

Let's start with the title, going at it from the top, you might think, "Kinda a cheesy title." Well, let me break it down, Requiem for a Dream would mean, the song for the rest of the dead dreams, that's one hell of a title, it implies two things we see in the movie, dreams, and them being utterly and completely destroyed. The movie is divided into three segments, Summer, the beginning, Fall, the middle, and Winter, the end. Not exactly cheery, but neither is the movie.

The movie begins pretty weak, to the point where you might think that it could be (gasp) a bad movie. The first few shots are pretty cliche, and don't do anything for me, with several basic shots and possibly my least favorite, a cut down the middle shot that has two images displayed. However, the movie sets its tone so powerfully for that first part, in an opening scene where the main character, Harry steals a TV from his mother in order to pawn it for drug money, specifically money for heroin. Before we even see the title of the movie, we see most of this action, ending with the golden line from Harry's mother, Sarah, "As long it all turns out OK."

The acting in this first scene, once again, doesn't do much for me, the lines are delivered, but the movie starts so suddenly that it makes little sense to the audience. However, the acting throughout the movie is surprisingly good, even Marlon Wayans and Jared Leto manage to be very good, of course Ellen Burstyn steals the show as Harry's mother, Sarah Goldfarm.

The movie, as a whole, is about addiction, and how it ruins lives. Every character struggles with their addictions with a dream in mind tossed aside by their addiction. As the movie moves forward, these addictions become more and more extreme, culminating in frightening situations and an overall terrific ending. But let's not be too hasty.

The movie is heavy on foreshadowing, every single line seems to reek of the stuff, and all throughout the first act, characters seem to allude to their ultimate fate, whether it be something slight, or almost overwhelmingly obvious. The beginning also works hard to establish motifs, the sudden and sharp cuts that signify drug use instantly get in your head, and leave a powerful effect. It also shows the style of camera work, no shots are completely steady, and the camera shakes slightly even in pans to set an on edge move, like I said, the movie is sharp. The score settles into the movie early on as well, establishing itself in the opening sequence.

What you notice, early in the movie is that the shots are warm, not very dark, they let in a lot of warm orangey light to reflect the season the movie begins in, Summer, but as the seasons progress, every single set the movie is in gets paler and less warm, almost colder as the seasons get colder and colder. The tone also changes with the seasons, while during Summer everything is handled fairly well in a relaxed matter, by the time Winter begins, the excrement has hit the fan. The lamer shots disappear, and the movie becomes the violently sharp thing that kicked my ass both times. The dialogue gets more tense too, you can feel the effects of the seasons changing on the characters as the stakes get higher and higher, while relationships between them get more and more strained. The movie's smash cuts pick up, and the transitions are less basic, even disappearing, the effects of constant drug use become painfully obvious in a terrifying scene involving Ellen Burstyn being attacked by a refrigerator. The movie doesn't stop there, it picks up to the point where everyone's dreams are ground into nothing.

The movie is a dramatic and powerful experience sure to entertain and absolutely destroy you. I end this review with a bit of dialogue I had with my sister upon finishing the movie, having never seen it, I asked, "So spring never comes?" To which she replied without missing a beat, "No one makes it through the winter."

Sound: A+, great score and snappy noise makes the movie feel completely real and totally adds to the feel.

Visuals: A, minus the very beginning, all shots are perfect for the tone of the movie, and the seemless transitions during dialogue make the visuals a treat. Not to mention some excellent special effects and make-up.

Acting: A, you can never take Jared Leto too seriously, but that just might be my problem. Besides that, amazing acting, Ellen Burstyn of course stealing the show.

Story: A+, like I said, the first half drips foreshadowing, and the second half drips tears onto my face. A fantastic story.

Overall Grade:
A+, would watch again if I'm ever too happy.

Memento

Posted by Lamaya Mapp in Digital Video -4 day a week - Herman on

A killer with Amnesia ? There are very few Suspense/Thriller movies with this concept. When you think of a killer, you almost consider that person an animal. In this case he would technically be an animal because the one of the things that separate a human from an animal is in fact memory.  Go figure.  What this character represents, the structure of the film and the refreshingly new idea brought to the table is what made this movie great, brilliant. Leonard is on a quest of vengeance.  

    This movie starts off with a close up shot of the main character, Leonard Shelby, an investigator that is trying to figure out who raped and killed his wife, looking at photographs of a dead body.

As the move progresses it reveals that Leonard Shelby is in fact the killer of this man named Teddy. The movie is backwards. He takes the photograph of Teddy, then it rewinds back to him shooting Teddy and then all the way back to the Inn where the movies then stops moving backwards and continues forward.  He uses pictures and tattoos for him to remember who he has to kill and where he needs to go because of his short term memory and on the bottom front and back of the photographs he’ll have the person’s name and number and something like “Don’t believe his lies. He is the one kill him.” in order to remember his duties.
 

The main character can’t remember anything really except the day his wife was killed. His mind is so complex but at the same time understanding. He has the ability to remember something so explicit and yet can’t remember something as simple as a name. The character’s problem is what makes him unique and interesting and makes me want more.
   
    As the film continued I noticed something going on with the colors the director decided to used in this film. Nolan used black and white sequences to show what happens in order and use the parts in color to show it in reverse. This was also a huge part of why the film was entertaining because he kept the viewers thinking and thinking until finally the two different sequences met.  This also made me feel what the character was feeling, confused and lost, which was a good thing.
In the pictures below it shows the two different color sequences, the one in black and white going forwards and the color one is played in reverse.

The middle-end to the end of the story, the main character meets with this woman, Sammy Jankis who at first has a weird relationship with Leonard. He met her during his job before the attack in his home happened. (The attack killed his wife and is the reason he has amnesia) We find out that Sammy was in a car accident. Later on in the movie she kept asking for her insulin but didn’t remember she had it already, neither one of them remembered and as a result she fell into a coma and died.

    There wasn’t much music in the movie but mainly towards the climax it became very intense and scary.  Every time the main character got close to kill someone the music became louder and scary , but right before he does kill the the music is calm which always is scary.
    The climax was also relieving to the mind after all this thinking, it reveals piece by piece and makes sense out of everything in chronological order (black & white) . His wife who was Sammy wasn’t really anyone and his actual wife survived the attack and was diabetic and that his wife died of insulin overdose and not “Sammy”.  Teddy ends up saying that  he even has a “John G”  name. This causes Leonard to write down Teddy’s driver’s plate and and get it tattooed on him and that lead to the very start of the movie to Teddy’s death.
 

Film Review: the Grave of the Fireflies

Posted by Fangda Luo in Digital Video -4 day a week - Herman on

Film Review: the Grave of the Fireflies

The film begins with a scene of the boy Seita after he is dead, giving the audience a understanding of this movie that it is a tragedy.

 

The way of using color in this movie is very unique. The scene of dead Seita is shown by using reddish color to portray the character and background, which is attractive since the dead Seita sometimes has some interaction with the actual world, or his memory. For example, when a guard at the train station threw away the candy can that carries Seita’s sister, Setsuko’s bone meal, the dead Seita, or his soul picked it up.

 

On character portraying, the film shows a strong contrast between different characters. In the aunt’s house, Seita and Setsuko’s cousin always spoke for them while the aunt was mean. Also in the later part of the film, when Seita and Setsuko lived the abandoned mine, without anything to eat, other boys ran pass them with nice clothes and went to fishing happily. Meanwhile, those adults are all different with each other on the attitude of treating Seita and Setsuko, for example, the aunt’s selfish but a little compassion, the old farmer’s sorrow, the doctor’s indifference and the demobilized soldier’s abhorrence, each person has his or her idiosyncrasy.

 

About the film itself, I have some opinions. Firstly, I consider Setsuko an innocent poor girl suffered in the war, but Seita a ignorant and lazy boy with a simple mind filled with militarism. If Seita really loves his sister, what he should do is not taking her to the seaside and play with her but trying his best to find a work or help his aunt’s family by doing housework. Although he was only thirteen or fourteen at that time, although he was brought up in a rich family, he should have grown mature enough to handle things, and the decision he made to move out of his aunt’s house is totally wrong and childish.

 

Secondly, being a Chinese, I really abominate what Seita thinks about war. Even before Setsuko is almost dead, he is still dreaming to join the army. What will he think him be doing? Killing Chinese or Americans? Although the main theme of this movie is about anti-war, Seita is apparently some sort of advocator for war.

 

Thirdly, the film itself is really moving and touches deeply into one’s soul.

Everybody knows from the beginning that this film is a tragedy, but people still feels sad or even cries for Setsuka’s Death. Seita and Setsuka's desperation  reflects the theme of protesting to war and a wish of hope. In the entire war, countless families like Seita and Setsuka's are broken and destroyed, and even seldom does one know whether their government is right or wrong. This film no longer shows a tragedy of a family, but a tragedy of a whole nation, a whole world.

Traitor

Posted by Gilberto Gonzalez in Digital Video -4 day a week - Herman on

Despite the fact it's a terrorist movie which I tend to not like the movie overall was actually rather amusing. There weren't very many parts which I could say were bad or parts I'd really want to critique. It was well done story line wise. The visuals of the movie were very nice with an exception of the angles in some of the running scenes, in the very beginning of the movie there was a scene with the US military running towards a building but the camera was looking at them from almost ground level so the majority of the image was the floor lower body of the people. I felt as if they could have done that better. There was a scene within the movie where they chased down a young terrorist the organization recruited and threw him off the side of a bridge to get hit by a train the angles and the way the camera was worked during the chase scene and the body being thrown was done well. The music in the movie kept it alive it made me feel some what on the edge of my seat as I watched. 

As the main character Samir Horn was organizing and selling bombs to the islamic organizations. He was a former U.S soldier and Citizen. The FBI, and the CIA begin to track Samir as he tries to set up multiple terror attacks on all 50 states. The movie ends with Samir saving his country he puts all of the terrorist on the same bus and it only ends up killing a few citizens and he becomes hospitalized and once he is better he is greeted by Clayton the man who was chasing him down.

Gaming and Growth

Posted by Douglas Herman in Digital Video -4 day a week - Herman on

SEI Center for Advanced Studies in Management at the Wharton School of Business (University of Pennsylvania) hired Rough Cut to produce a film about the pervasive impact and potential of gaming and social media on the marketplace.  


Joe Parisi-Main Editor, Jobe Naff- Defacto Director, Briana Stroman- Lead Interviewer, Fangda Luo- Sound Editor, and Joshua Martin-Corrales- Co-Writer, were the centerpiece of a panel discussion at SEI's annual board meeting at UPENN on Thursday, Oct 27th. Everyone stuck around for some really interesting group discussions on the vitality of gaming elements and thematics and how they can inspire exponential growth in the Board's respective business projects. Simply put, they killed it!!!

When you see this crew congratulate them for an amazing job. Many other students collaborated on this and deserve high praise, namely- Matthew Scuderi (narration), Robert Broadwater (interviewing and editing), Nathan Kamal (Original Musical Score "The Sounds of Our Generation") Amaris Romero (audio mixing) and special guest interviewees- Kabbour Rizq, Rashaun Williams and Henry Yam. This project was a truly amazing team effort and I am so very proud of their collective efforts. Once again, our students have proven to the outside public that teenagers can in fact be professional if given the opportunity. 

Check out our Rough Cut Production VIMEO PAGE for a higher quality version of this project. Enjoy- Mr. H

DVSR-002

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2011-12

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