Time to edit!!

 This is not the first time we have had to edit. But it is the first time we have been putting together acting scenes, which is a little different from editing a music video or a commercial. We had most scenes filmed and ready to be put together. But we ran into problems running them cleanly together. For some reason when we added them in, the scenes it was very obvious that they were all different shots put together. For a lack of better words, it was blocky and the transitions between them were not clean at all. We tried a few different things in order to fix this. First, we tried to use transitions at the end of one scene and feed it into the next one. That worked for the most part but the screen would go black for a second and then the next shot would show. So this was the next problem we had to deal with. We thought maybe if we cut off a little off of each end and beginning it would get rid of the small black in between the scenes but it made it worse, now the black screen was there for even longer. We went back to square on and instead of adding the transition to the end and begging of every scene, we added it into the bridge in the middle. This ended up working the best and all the scenes we had strung together beautifully. The next thing in the process of editing was finding watching what we had througha dn seeing what worked and what didnt. We decided to be as constuctive we could be we would watch it individually and take notes and the come abck togetehr as a whole and watch together and explain our notes. Through this process all our thoughts were able to be heard and we got all of our points across whichh will only benefit the movie. Now that we know what we need to re-film and what still needs to be filmed we will take a deeper dive into what that process will look like. Most likely we will be taking another filming day. As well as redoing this this same editing process in order to complete this portion of the film process

first round of filmimg

After school we planned to film our scenes. Luckily this time around we were successful in getting together and were able to film. As you know our film is about two people who play volleyball, though one of them is very passionate about it and the other is losing themselves and doesn't seem to enjoy it anymore. Filming this portion was very emotional for me because I could compare my past to it. Though now I have re-found my passion for volleyball once upon a time I considered quitting and never going back to it. So when my partner was having a hard time really getting into the character. When watching some of our films back before going through the next scenes we saw that it didnt seem real. The feelings that were shown through the camera didn't seem real and i couldn't compare to it. So we took a break and talked about it. We all agreed there needed to be a change but we didnt know what. After evaluating together we decided if I shared what it felt like when it really happened maybe they could understand where i was coming from. Once we did this, not only did it bring us together but it helped us in the scene. When we finished the next shot you could feel the emotion through the camera. When we watched it back, it was ten times better than the first and we were all happy with how it came out and were able to move on in filming. As we proceeded, I was enjoying it more and more. I believe that i have now found a new passion and it is for filming. I took a first hand in making sure we got all the angles we wanted from our storyboards. We know that some of the scenes are going to need to wait until later though. When we tried to film some, we realized we really needed a tripod. The problem was none of us had one so we asked a friend and they said next time we could borrow it. We are going to try and put together some of the scenes we have now and see where we need to re-film or edit out. 

Practicing makes perfect!

     It was essential that I practice several volleyball skills that would be required in the film in order to ensure that our production was authentic. It wasn't too difficult for me to practice a little bit extra because I had already been playing for several years and play on our school team. Volleyball is a fun and exciting activity that may be played indoors or outdoors. I initially needed to find a court to play on and practice on. I went to a park close by. As soon as I found the park, I gathered all the necessary equipment to practice safely. You can create a volleyball team or play and practice alone. While practicing alone can help you focus on your technique, playing with others can help you hone your skills more quickly. I made sure to fully warm up. This will ensure I am loose and prepared for sudden and fluid movements to get me ready for the big movie day. I then started building upon my foundational abilities. 

    This category includes serving, passing, setting, hitting, and blocking. Serving needs to be mastered first because a game cannot begin without a serve. It's important to start each point in the same manner. After a serve or a stroke, receiving the ball requires the use of a vital skill called passing. Effective passing is essential for your team to have a good play. Raising the ball allows a teammate to spike it down over the net. It's important to be accurate and have good hand-eye coordination. The most exciting action in volleyball is hitting, often known as spiking. In an effort to score a point, you leap and firmly strike the ball over the goal. Blocking, which involves leaping and catching the ball before it crosses the goal, is another essential skill. 

    To improve at volleyball, I had to practice every day whether it be in or outside of school. I took part in numerous exercises and pursuits. In order to enhance my techniques, I also watched videos of top volleyball players in action. Communication is essential in volleyball. Make sure you're directing their attention to the ball's location and speaking with your teammates. I collaborated with Aidan, another member of my group, to assist him and practice myself.

Taking the right steps

We finally had the opportunity to film after a week without any fresh footage. Unsurprisingly, we had a lot of work to do. The scenes we had to reshoot were one thing that was absolutely given top priority for us. Some clips just did not meet our needs after analyzing the existing video and having multiple discussions. They were either shot in a way that was confusing to the audience, overly loud, or fuzzy. Reshooting was absolutely required, and it gave us much better material to develop. Today, we concentrated on recording the training montage that will appear in the movie. The actors had to play volleyball with each other while being photographed in a number of close-ups. 

We replicated the practice run's passing, setting, and hitting drills in our practice sessions. They viewed our playing from a variety of perspectives. In order to acquire decent pictures for the camera, I concentrated on how my hands and arms moved when I received the ball. Several shots of the ball in motion were also successful. The ball sometimes ended up in bushes or hitting the sand, which was symbolic of the experimentation and failure we wanted to emphasize in this section. We recorded multiple takes of this. We were told to perform poorly in some games on purpose. We want to highlight how Randy's character develops during the montage. To do this, we recorded shots of him making mistakes and succeeding in a variety of tasks. We also recorded a few takes in which Randy might have performed a task imperfectly or without using the right approach. To make sure we have a variety of viewpoints of the performers, several takes were recorded. When all of these clips are combined, it will demonstrate Randy's skill development over the course of the movie.

Team Meeting

 Unfortunately, the group was unable to get together this week to shoot. This caused us to fall behind for a few days, which was quite frustrating. Many of us had jobs, and even when we didn't, others had commitments they had to keep. We still found time to discuss our movie despite this slight hiccup. To iron out the kinks of the project, the group agreed to have a phone call. We were once more fixated on the entrance. The introduction's formatting is unknown to us. As a result, we all had many various suggestions for how to carry it out. We all offered suggestions on how to adjust specific scenes and dialogue to fit the introduction. We know exactly how we want the names and titles to be shown, even though details like the typeface haven't been worked out. This might mean that some of the sequences need to be reshot, but we have no problem making this change in order to get the greatest possible result.

    The committee decided that in order to define the locale of the movie, we should use landscape views. A group member and actor named Randy offered to film this section alone. We don't have a lot of time to capture insignificant details like that, so this would be a huge assistance. Since the director's job is shared equally by all of us, we also talked about the camera angle and shot selection. Victoria and Aidan decided to edit the movie themselves. They had no problems with this because they have the most editing experience and they like it the most. Working with them will also provide me with a new set of eyes to look for errors or more effective ways to complete tasks. The team looked at other free options to include non-diegetic audio into the movie as we waited for a response from Bakar and the other songwriters we contacted. I think we made some work on the project even if we were unable to film this week.

Spring Break!

The group came to the conclusion that before we tried filming again, we needed to iron out a few more details of our project. Thankfully, we were able to complete a lot of tasks before spring break. The editing and CLAMPS of the production were our primary concerns. I helped them look over a few fresh editing programs to see if I could help them add anything fresh to the mix. My group did much of the editing for the last two projects with Video Leap. Even though we have no plans to use the application once more, switching to something new might provide us access to more interesting effects. I was able to test a few of the scenes we filmed using different programs to see what may be altered. I'm not sure what to eliminate from the footage at this point because we are still so early in the filming process. However, I gave them constructive criticism to help them come up with new edits they could make. 

    I discovered I needed to help source music for the project when I was browsing editing programs. I helped write a couple of emails to the people who control the Hell N Back song's master use and synchronization licenses. The song was co-produced by a production team that has previously worked with celebrities like Kendrick Lamar and independent musician Bakar. We are waiting for their reply right now. I believe it will be a fantastic complement to the introduction if they agree to let us use the song for our project.

    All of the actors will wear contemporary athletic attire. It's crucial that we are all at ease because we'll be spending a lot of time outside. Very little makeup will be worn, but sunscreen will undoubtedly be available on-site. No matter how skilled we are as individuals, every character is an athlete. Therefore, our attire must reflect this. The volleyball and net are the most obvious props in the movie. To make the characters seem more realistic, we might give them items like backpacks and water bottles. Such matters are uncertain because they are merely provided to give the movie an authentic sense. I'm hopeful that once these issues are resolved, filming will proceed much more smoothly.

A Beach Day

 We began the filming process quite early in order to avoid the problems our team ran into while working on our prior project. This worked to our benefit because today we worked out a significant portion of the film's framework. I'll admit that I started to lose track of the path the film was supposed to go. When I joined the group, everything was made plain. We traveled to the beach for our first day of filming. Unfortunately, this didn't turn out to be the ideal set that we had anticipated. Filming on the beach was challenging due to the strong winds. There were also a lot more individuals than we had anticipated.  The weather and congestion made it very challenging to hear the conversation. We thus looked for a different location for the sequences that were intended to take place at the beach.

Hagan Park, a park close to our school, turned out to be an excellent replacement for the ocean. A neighborhood has a modest volleyball court made of sand. Since we were the only ones utilizing the court, we felt more comfortable filming there. We also had the freedom to shout as loudly as we pleased without disturbing other visitors while playing. We were able to resolve our weather-related problems at the beach by filming there as well.

We concentrated on filming the opening sequence after getting settled in our new filming site. Both at the park and the beach, we took a number of pictures. This is because we haven't made up our minds about some aspects of our project. We will have a lot clearer understanding and be able to discard the stuff we don't need once we get all the film reviewed together. For the time being, I would say that today was a step in the right direction toward finishing the project.

Everybody Starts Somewhere

 All of the actors honed their team volleyball skills in preparation for filming. Each actor had to sharpen their talents in order to make the project seem more real. One actor needed to be taught how to play completely. Given that the character he plays is in a comparable circumstance, this worked out perfectly. This practice led to a fantastic day of getting ready for what waited ahead. I was able to give them ideas for camera angles while observing how we interacted with one another. I also had the chance to practice my lines before we recorded. It was difficult to acquire close photos without running the risk of someone getting hit, so I had to be mindful of how I played. 

Everyone warmed up before the day began. To prevent injuries, everyone stretched and took deep breaths. A sport that may be played both inside and outside is volleyball. We worked on our skills outside on a sand court with a net for our movie. We worked on our talents both individually and in groups. It demands good hand-eye coordination and teamwork to play volleyball. To get ready for the recording, we each worked on our passing, blocking, and striking. During this procedure, a number of the movie's scenes and images were workshopped. Most of these actions will be shown in a training montage, a typical component of sports movies. I am our most seasoned player, with experience from previous years of playing that allowed me to assist the other guys with easy errors regarding technique. We all viewed films together to observe how professional volleyball players behave on the court after a long day of rushing about. This was a fantastic way to cap off a long day while still learning important details for our movie.

Sound Selectahh!!

 The team has been putting in a lot of effort to get the movie ready. Although we haven't yet begun filming, we have seen a number of movies to assist us better understand what we want to do. The way that each film establishes the tone, concept, and place varies. They mostly accomplish this through sound, and specifically music. Due to this recurring theme, our crew has been researching other songs we may employ to improve our project. The crew has examined a number of songs from various genres to see which would work best for our project.

A song had to have a broad upbeat vibe and basic lyrics in order to be considered for the project. This introduced us to songs like California Girls by Katy Perry, Malibu by Anderson Paak, and Hell n' Back by Bakar.  The opening is where these songs are primarily being analyzed. The songs and sound editing that will be used in the finished movie need to be decided upon with further thought.

    Even though they were all listed together, not all of these songs necessarily meet our criteria equally. The Katy Perry song should surely be kept in mind as a last option. The first two competitors are more comparable. Whatever we determine should be in the movie, we can't violate anyone's copyright in the process. 

It's critical that we bear in mind the copyright for the songs we utilize in the project because failure to do so could make it fully upgradeable. The next step was to arrange our schedules so we could finish the assignment. Despite the fact that we are all incredibly busy, we want to accomplish the job before anything else. The fact that the majority of the team operates as one unit when it comes to scheduling reduces confusion, which helps a little. We all have jobs in addition to our extracurricular activities at school, so staying organized is crucial. The project will be captured on camera for at least three days. There will be a changing number of actors and settings each day. The majority of the project will ideally be shot on the weekends when we are free from the demands of school. 

Delay in production...lockdown

 Once the storyboard was finished, the group convened to discuss certain aspects of the project. During this meeting, various important details were resolved, even though each member had their own distinct thoughts on how the filming, directing, and editing should be executed. Despite this, a consensus was reached fairly swiftly.

One key point that was brought up was the locations where filming would take place. Everyone agreed that certain places were necessary for the project, but since filming on school grounds was not permitted, alternative options had to be considered. The group thought that shooting at the beach or in parks would be ideal, but there were concerns about noise levels and inclement weather affecting the audio quality. It was crucial for the actors' voices to be clear for the audience's benefit. The group also discussed shooting scenes in homes or gyms to capture specific moments and include a training montage, which is common in sports-themed projects.

The group also deliberated on the cast and crew. While the group would have complete control over the filming, directing, and editing processes, additional help was needed for the acting. To expand the cast beyond just the group members, friends, and family were invited to participate. Furthermore, many scenes would be filmed in busy public places, so incorporating background characters and ensuring chemistry between the cast was important for a natural feel.

As the project progressed, the group continued to make changes, but the diversity of opinions within the group has helped enhance the project's overall quality.