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?

Feedback on filming on the 3/12/08

Filming was another success. The interview ended up being shorter than my Grandma's video, which proved helpful as it meant that I didn't have as much footage to scan through;which would have been time consuming.

Since the filming i have uploaded the footage on to the computer and started editing. The editing was easier and quicker than before because i knew what i wanted from the interview. I specifically picked out parts that would tie in with the interview with my Grandma. 

Looking back at the footage, i was disappointed at how the position of the camera looks too straight. However the fact that the eye-line is looking towards the right, makes it seem that the position of the camera is at an angle.

filming 3/12/08

Today after schooli will be going to my grandparents house to film an interview. I will be interviewing my Grandad, i have planned the questions i will be asking him, most of them are similar to the questions are asked my grandma in her interview. The shot list is also similar to that of my grandma's interview.

Shot list:

• Interview (mid-shot), him sitting on his sofa chair
• panning shots of all the family photos
• Long shot of my grandparents together

What i will need?

• Camera
• tape
• tripod
• plate

Editing 2/12/08

Recently i have been apprehensive as to whether i will get the documentary finished. I have good footage but i still need to do a lot more, such as interviews and the cook along. My cousins are hard to get hold of for filming and are quite unreliable , which is fustrating; so for now the cook along idea is on hold. However i still need to go to interview my Grandad which will hopefully be early next wee. This week i hope to have interviewed my mum and a cousin.

Today i have been editing the footage i filmed on sunday and have been trying to piece the documentary together. I have gone through the interview with my Grandma a few times now and have picked out the footage that i will be using. 

The music for the documentary is perfect and i have also being editing that, by making it sync with the opening footage of the documentary.

Filming-30/11/08

On sunday i filmed some footage of my 18th birthday party. I saw this as an opportunity to film a lot of Greek dancing and i got some really useful over head shots of my whole family eating and sitting together around tables. I will be using this footage as snippets that will follow interviews throughout the documentary and at the beginning.