Saturday 30 June 2012

Diary of a Film Project: Part Four

The Editing Process
Thursday night saw our first “hands on” video editing session, and it was also our last class of the year. 

The learners were all new to Movie Maker, and so Clint talked them through the editing process step by step on the white board, while they followed on the classroom computers.  Clint had put a folder of video and audio clips on each computer, and the learners were able to play around with the material: selecting and editing clips to complement the monologues. 

There were two issues here: first of all, two hours is not sufficient to edit a whole film  - even a short one like ours. Secondly, it isn’t really possible to edit a film “by committee” (there were six learners working on the editing process!)  So, the learners edited as much as they could (for first time editors they did very well indeed!) and Clint will edit a final copy of the film and  attempt to create a unified vision of the learners' vision. The class also has their work to date on DVDs, so they can work further on editing their own “individual” versions of the film over the summer holidays if they wish.

The final copy of the film will then be sent to my colleague, Steve, who will add his own original soundtrack to the film. We can then start planning our premiere and getting ready for our very own version of the Oscars!

This was my last lesson with this particular class, who I have worked with for the past three years. I’ve had a wonderful time with them: not only have they been consistently motivated, cheerful and enthusiastic, they also supported me unfailingly through my stressful DELTA year and all these observed lessons, questionnaires and experiments. They have shaped me and my teaching: I will miss them.