Here is my video for my very first Final Cut project, "I Won't Say I'm In Love" from Hercules!
This is my Self-Assessment for my project below that explains my process of this video and train of thought (if you're interested!).
For my project, I was very interested in doing video. I initially wanted to do a real-life video to a Disney song due to my love of Disney and also an opportunity to interpret the video in various ways. I also had the song “Belle (Little Town)” from Beauty and the Beast stuck in my head for an entire weekend. Thus my classmates and professor suggested to do a Disney video, and viola. I was going to do that song (Belle), but then I thought twice about it and decided to do a video with less people and less being outside (due to the weather).
After deciding that I was going to do the video, I had to do a fair amount of research. I went to YouTube and watched various videos that I thought I may be able to work with. I had narrowed it down to three and asked my friends for their opinions. I was able to bounce ideas off of them and I decided to do “I Won’t Say I’m In Love” from Hercules. What made this an even better idea was the fact that the project was due on Valentine’s Day. I then had to decide if the video was going to be set in modern time or if I wanted it to be parallel to the original video. I ended up deciding to make it modern for various reasons, such as money and time constraints.
From here, I went to find actors. I wanted the movie to be completely live action, so I figured out how many actors I needed, where we could shoot, and I went searching. Luckily, I have friends who love Disney as well and were more than willing to help. Now that I had my actors I had to find a time that would work for everyone. This was probably the hardest part of the entire process since if I did not have my main actor it was hard to shoot. I had to consistently figure out what worked for her, see what other actors were available, see when I was available, and edit my original ideas to whoever was available as well as the weather. Because Maryland weather seems to consistently change, I did not want to do too much outside shooting, which was completely opposite from my original storyboard.
Eventually it got to the point where tests were coming up for some of my actors, including my main actor, and I had to suddenly cut down a fair amount of scenes, and shoot what I could at the time. I had luckily managed to get down some of the most important scenes done: The opening scene, the Facebook scene, the toga party, and the ending scene. Unfortunately, the toga party and the final scene were both a bit dark, but at that point, I was unable to get another opportunity with the actors—they were too busy (and understandably so). This is where I learned more about Final Cut Pro.
I had been using Final Cut Pro for this entire video and it was a fairly smooth process. It did not take me long to learn how to work Final Cut and I really enjoyed the program. Getting the first verse, the bridge (chorus?), and the second verse was a very smooth process and I was able to perfect the timing of my video and the song. For the toga party and the last scene though, since they were both done in the dark, and since the light on the camera wasn’t as effective as I had hoped, I begun to see what I could do in Final Cut to make the scene brighter. I began going through the tools and using Google to see if there was a way to still use these scenes. I managed to figure out that I could use a tool called Color Correction 3 Way. It wasn’t ideal, however it made it so that the video could actually be seen. I first was trying to edit the scenes by changing the brightness individually, but I soon realized that I could save the specific color correction by adding it to my favorites and then adding it to each scene I used. This worked for my general purpose.
I soon ran into trouble when I realized that I was not satisfied due to a lack of variety of scenes. If my actors and I had more time, I definitely would have liked to shoot more scenes. Once I realized this, I made the decision to scratch the idea I had been working with from the beginning: making the video all live action. I then went to YouTube and found the video and downloaded it into Final Cut. I started from the beginning of my video and the beginning of the original video and began to edit. At this point I needed to figure out what parts I could cut in order to add the animated scenes. I locked various sequences quite often and rending the video every time I made a change quickly became rigorous.
Something I was very proud of was the timing my video. I really wanted the scenes to match up with the song. I was unsure if my actors were going to sing or not (partly because I did not want to make any of them feel uncomfortable), but my main actor is very musically inclined and very animated and I really enjoyed filming her. Between my desire to make the timing perfect, rendering all the time, and my last minute change to the entire video (as far as adding the animated scenes), it took a fair amount of time to complete the video.
I think my work habits were fine. I probably could have managed my time a bit better, but I now know how much time is required to do a project like this and I would be able to inform my actors before they fully commit to the project as well. Sitting down and doing it was actually a lot of fun, the most frustrating part was actually waiting for the video to render because I would change one little scene I had cut and it would effect the four sections after it, so it would take a few minutes to render. I think I would also try to get filming done as soon as possible in order to avoid tests coming up and the like.
I am happy with the final product. I wanted the timing to be perfect and it was. There are definitely scenes I would reshoot (specifically the darker scenes) and I would like to do more filming and try to get more people involved, but for the time I did it in, I am happy with the video overall. I am happy that the animated scenes were able to fit in as well. As far as the perception, I intended just to tell a story in a modern college setting (for example, the muses as friends and a toga party to tie in Hercules as well). As was made clear in my class, there are multiple ways to take the video, so if I were to edit it I would like to make the video more clear as far as the storyline goes.
Thank you if you took the time to read this, if not, I totally understand. No matter what my process was, I hope you enjoyed the video!