VD: It's Go Time

Updates

Hey, blog. It's the last week of writing to you. I'm honestly feeling sad about that, considering writing every week for the last however many weeks has made me realize I actually really like to blog, especially when it means maintaining a consistent topic and developing something that feels more long-term, and more meaningful. I'm currently in NYC!!! I've done some really fun things, and while doing so I have filmed my first CCR. As I wrote about in my last blog post, one of my ideas was to film around the NYC locations I am visiting, including scenery the people. I wanted to do this to make my CCRs look more visually engaging and original than simply talking to the screen. Although there's nothing wrong with that, I know I can do more. I have to write both of my CCR video scripts and film my second one, as well as edit both videos of course. I will begin to edit the one I already have clips for, as I will voiceover my answer to the 2 questions onto that video.

As for the actual opening, I have been researching and asking for guidance in terms of editing. The day before I left, one of my very generous and kind friends Maria came over to my house to give both me and my sister (she's also working on her opening) a rundown of how to use Adobe Premiere Pro, the editing software that we are both using to edit. Although I have used Adobe Premiere Plus before for a school video, both my sister and I had specific questions to ask her. For example, I wanted to know how to add a camera footage filter (which I now know is called an overlay) over the film clips, as well as for shots where Doran is being watched through his computer camera. I also wanted to know how to fix audio mistakes, such as if I wanted to input a voice recording of Beth's questions to the girls to make her sound more interrogative and less passive.

Below is a screenshot of some notes of features and directions for myself that I made while she was giving us a tour of Adobe Premiere Pro, along with some pictures of us from the day:

Music

I have also begun to look at options for music for both my NYC CCR and the opening. For the opening, I want to start with a more suspenseful backtrack that accompanies Doran's emotions, as the buildup will be necessary to make an impact leading to the title slide. For the rest of the opening, I was thinking we could use a mysterious, jazzy sound that lightens the mood but also introduces the work atmosphere of the teenagers: controlled, yet not as targeted as TESTS. Additionally, I want the contrast in music to transport the viewers to the present (being "5 months earlier") than the initial scene. For the CCR videos, I only want to include music for the NYC one, as I want to match the energy of the clips and the second CCR video will be more intimate and "raw". I was thinking of funk music, as NYC feels more spontaneous than classical music for example. I have found four royalty-free music websites, also including sound effects that I could use.

The main two are shown below, excluding Epidemic and Fesliyanstudios, along with some of my options as I scavenged for music options for the opening/ CCR: