Last stages of editing

I wanted the documentary to have an element of humour. The part where my grandma points at the fridge and introduces us to her grandchildren; i edited so that it seems like she is talking too much. I did this by cutting down the clip into section and between each section adding a fade out. This made it seem like she was being repetitive which creates an element of humour. However, i have had difficulties with adding the fade out transition because it mucks up the sound. I am still working on sorting this out, but i am fairly confident that i will overcome this problem by the end of the day.

I have edited the title on photoshop by sharpening the edges with a tool called Graphic pen. This made the font stand out more. I also painted in between the 3-D font in blue, so that it would be more prominent. I am happier with the outcome of the title as it now looks like how i originally pictured it. The bubble writing matches with the animation drawings and the intention was to make it purposely look like someone has drawn it free-hand. The title sequence makes the documentary look fun as well as adding humour.

editing changes

I was not happy with the way the documentary was turning out. The content of the opening was something that would be in the middle of the documentary and i felt i was steering away from the fact that i am only creating a 3 min opening of the documentary. So, i decided to re-edit the whole thing, by doing this i chose to just focus on the topic of food. The opening needed to be more concise and snappy, therefore i have snippets of each character's opinion of food- this way the audience are introduced to the characters.

Today, i was focussing on the title sequence. I finally got the drawings for the title, which i then scanned onto the computer. Like the animation drawings i sharpened the outline of the font on photoshop, as well as sharpening the pixels. This gave the title a hint of blue-i decided to keep this as felt the blue and white colours are what is commonly associated with "my big fat greek wedding's" font colours.
The trouble of putting the animations onto my movie line is that it is on a setting which zooms in on the clip for five seconds. It is easy to fix this, except it was quite time consuming and i had to repeat this at least 4 times.

Editing-5/1/09

I am still waiting on the drawing of the title sequence. Before christmas i scanned in some more drawings of dancing people to add to the opening.
I decided to edit the drawings on photoshop to make the outline stand out more. This started off as quite time comsuming, because i couldn't work out how to change it. Although i was pleased wiht the overall result.
I have been thinking about how i should finish the opening of the documentary. Looking through, i realised that there should be some more movement, so for now i have used a clip of me dancing with my grandad and placed a voiceover on the clip from my grandads interview; this then finishes with the camera on him.

Deadline extended

The deadline for production work was extended to the 16th of January. This made me feel much more at ease. Beforehand, i was feeling the preassure of finishing the documentary.
Editing was proving difficult as i couldn't make the cuts from one clip to another look polished.
I had got to the point where i had chosen what footage i wanted in my documentary, i then made the mistake of putting all the footage together. The problem was that the clips didnt follow or make sense and instead of an opening of a documentary it seemed like the middle.

Before we broke up for the christmas holidays i managed to re-edit what i had done. I also found that there was no humour, which is what the brief says. In order to employ some humour i used a clip of my grandma pointing and talking about photos on her fridge and integrated bits of this clip with an interview with my grandma. So it goes back and forth from the interview to her pointing at the fridge. This gives the effect of her "talking too much" and "going on a bit" especially as she repeats herself.

I also decided to start the documentary with me asking a question to my brother about greek food-my mum answers for him and then the music starts for the opening. This made the opening more interesting, whilst adding some humour. This is also a convention of "real life" documentary on channel 4, in order to capture the reality of the situation.

Editing

I have been doing a lot of editing recently. I am finding it quite fustrating to create a narrative for the documentary. Editing is very time consuming, for example putting some party footage between an interview with my Grandma proved difficult. The bit of the interview which is being relpaced with some of the party footage has to be the same length. Extracting the audio also has to be the same size as the party footage. My first attepmt of doing this was very time consuming and the cuts did not look sharp enough. The more i've practised editing, the better and quicker i get at it and i'm learning how to do something different each day.
I have also edited the animation drawings. On photoshop i sharpened the outline of the drawings, this is so the lines are thicker and blacker, which makes the drawings stand out more.
Because editing is very time consuming and the footage i am working with is difficult to cut because the interviewees over-talk which makes it difficult to cut; i am finding it challenging to meet the deadline.

Filming on the 10th of dec

I filmed an interview with my mum and brother. The intention was to create a cook a long session. So my mum teaching my brother how to cook, whilst me interviewing them. The interview didnt quite turn out this way, due to the arrangement of the kitchen and space for the positioning of the camera. However the footage i did film was very useful. I am more relived now that i have opinions of the Greek culture from the younger generation. I liked the set up of the interview. My past interviews have been sit-down ones, this one had more movement and because there were two people being interviewed at the same time, it was much more interesting. Interviews this time round were easier and quicker, as i knew exactlty what type of answers i was looking for. since then i have uploaded the footage onto the computer, i am a bit disappointed about the lighting and at times i think the camera is too zoomed out, which means you can sea the washing machine within the frame, but this could be apart of the mise-en-scene and the audience will be able to easily etablish the setting.

More production work

Last week i interviewed my cousin. The intention was to get a young Greek person's opinion of the Greek culture. Getting the mise-en-scene right was difficult. I had to film in school, so i used a school office. I had to try and make the office not look like a school and more homely. I started to film the interview as a long mid-shot, however i didn't like the way the interview turned out. My cousin looked isolated and the white walls gave a cold atmosphere. I decided to zoom in on her face to create a close-up. I was happier with the way the close-up made the interview look more intimate. Also the other interviews are mid-shots, so by using a close-up i'd be providing different camera positions.

The interview questions were:

• What do you like most about being Greek?
  
• How do you think Greek traditions have changed in your family since your parents moved here?
  
• Would you agree with the fact that your parents are more strict than your British friends parents?
• What do you like about Greek food?
• has growing up in the U.K made you value your traditions less?