major Project: Creating and editing process. Part 1

 In this blog, I will show you how I worked on creating my final version of the motivational video for my portfolio at De Montfort University. To create a video clip and edit it, I will use the Final Cut Pro program, the same program I used for the test version. To start with, I opened the software and created a new project that I put the previously recorded motivational speech in the Adobe Audition software.

This speech will be my starting point on which I will navigate. I will listen and choose the most appropriate visual footages, as well as add music that I will balance so that the music is heard, but does not interfere with the narrative.

So my second step was to put music on my speech. I decided to use the same theme as in my experimental version of the motivational video. I did this for a number of reasons, such as this music is quiet and doesn't have too loud or quiet parts, but goes evenly, just like my speech. In addition, this soundtrack is free from the site https://www.bensound.com and I don't have to worry about being sued.

I downloaded the music and first(1) went to settings to adjust the balance between voice and music. to do this, I lowered the music volume by 32.7 DB. This turned out to be the best option and more pleasing to my ears. After that, I changed the duration of the musical accompaniment(2) so that it was on a par with the motivational speech. To do this, I used the side faces of the audio track, which allows you to quickly adjust the duration of the audio sequence. And the last adjustment that was done with the music was to increase and decrease the levels at the beginning and end of the video, so that the music has a smooth start and end.

My next step in editing was to add subtitles so that the audience could better understand my text, as well as in case of some errors in my pronunciation. I have previously researched how to do this and know several options, for example, for my experimental version, I added titles after uploading the video to YouTube. In my final version, I will do this in the Final Cut itself, because my project implies that I am progressing in the Final Cut software.

To create the title, I used the prepared text that I spoke during the speech creation process in Adobe Audition. So I just press the Option+C (MacOS) keys to add a title. After that, I just copy parts of my speech to the window that appears for subtitles to appear on the screen.

Also I did not forget to change duration and put subtitle in the right place. Basically, subtitle in Final Cut is 2 seconds what is not enough to read full sentence.

After a while, I finished creating subtitles for all my speech, I used the standard black background for white titles, as this is something of a gold standard: the text will be visible in any case, and it will also be easy for the audience to read.

Now I can start working with the visual storytelling series. To do this, I will use free footages from the Internet. Moreover, I already have a dozen footages that I downloaded from the site pexels.com , to make an experimental version.

In order to use the right footage, I have researched several YouTube videos previously, in order to see how more successful creators use their materials. As I wrote earlier, the footage doesn't have to show the same thing as the speaker says. For this reason, for example, in a video that begins with a quote from a famous person, the University footage is shown, not the person himself. For this reason, I found College footage, as a visual series, for my start. In this footage, the camera is approaching the College, so the viewer should have the feeling that he is immersed in the College itself.

However, this footage lasts a full minute. In the video examples I analyzed, the footages had a duration of no more than 10-12 seconds, so I decided to cut this piece and choose the most appropriate moment. The most appropriate moment for me is where the camera has already lowered and makes a small turn to the right, this moment should not be seen by the audience, as it looks low-quality for a 10-second moment. So I cut the footage using the moment after the camera turns and where the camera starts to approach the College. I took the footage from 25 seconds to 45, and then increased the footage playback speed by 50%, because the footage is too slow.

In order to speed up the video, I clicked on the footage, and then on the speedometer icon under the viewport and doubled the speed.

The second footage, which I will insert after the first, will be a girl with a book on her head, she should represent that learning is not easy and thus fill my speech. This footage was used for my experimental video clip. The third footage, where the speech is about a large contribution, but a low rating, I put a person who writes something on a transparent window, but then takes off his glasses to take a moment to rest. This footage, like the first one, is very long, so I cut 10 seconds from the final part. Next in my speech are the words that people are weak and will come up with excuses for their failures, but I could not find a suitable footage among those that I had. So I went to the sites with free stock footage to fill up your library with the necessary materials. I used the keyword "lazy" for the search, as this is the most appropriate word among other options. I quickly found what I needed and clicked download. A young man throws paper wrappers at the foot of the stairs, a fitting metaphor for what I mean in speech.

Next in the video will be another moment where someone's hands are studying the material from the book.

My next part of the speech is the story of the writer of the Harry Potter books. On the one hand, it would be good to show it for your project, especially since it is completely about it. However, I couldn't find any footages that I could legally use. Therefore, I drew attention to the already analyzed examples of videos that were in my posts earlier and the fact, as I mentioned above, that in such situations, the creators simply use some kind of footage in order to minimize this problem. So I used footage from the library (also used in the experimental version) so that the visual narrative wouldn't be greatly disturbed. However, I found a problem with the lack of available footage, because it is not enough to cover the 48-second-long match that is dedicated to Rowling.

I again went on a trip to sites with free footages. This time I used the keyword "library" to search for the footages I needed. The result on the pexels website gave out 116 different footages. However, I only need horizontal footages, so the number has been reduced to 76. I was one of the first to take a footage that has one author, but the camera on the other hand, it will help me to dilute the visual range, but the style will remain the same.

Two of these footages I decided to dilute with shots of a girl which is busy by writing.

The next sentence in my speech is about JK Rowling's speech to Harvard students. So I was still on pixels and decided to look for a suitable footage with the keyword "presentation". The options turned out to be different, but the most unsuitable ones are those where there is already a speaker, since this speaker is not JK Rowling himself, and if you insert another person, especially another gender, then the visa row is violated.

So I changed the keyword to "audience" to find footage of students listening to someone and not seeing the speaker. I quickly managed to find the right footage.

I download the footage and insert it in the video row. I do not forget to do the usual complex. I select the most appropriate 10 seconds and insert them in the appropriate place on the audio track.

At the end, I added three footages to show first the lazy person, then the one who is learning, and the last footage shows the person who is learning in dark colors, which is a very good footage to finish the main part of the clip.

    I finished with the main editing, now I want to upload the result to my YouTube channel so that viewers can see my progress and changes compared to the experimental version. I save the video using File - > Share -> Master File (default) to save the video clip. I use the standard recommended settings.

I also save subtitles for videos using File -> Export Captions... Here I also use recommendations and get a file in .itt format

Now all I have to do is upload the video to YouTube and upload the subtitles, which I do. After uploading the video, I go to the subtitle settings and select the upload file tab, then select the file that was compiled in Final Cut. After that, the subtitles automatically appear on my video clip.

This completes the process and I can show you my work.

This is not the end of the process, because I haven't done a lot yet. I have to fix some minor bugs and add some filters. What's more, I have to do credits at the end of the video. I will show this process in detail in the second part.