Regional Identity: Post Production Diary

What is a post-production diary? 

A post-production diary is a chronological log that describes the process past the point of filming. This can include: editing, feedback, prototypes, and the final product upon completion.

3/03/22: Initial Editing:

Upon finalising the shots that would be used in my final documentary, I began to edit my interviews. I started with editing the interview with Leon Hutchinson. Upon reflecting on the footage I captured of Leon, during production, there were many features I realised could be adjusted in the editing process to make the footage more suitable for the final product. 

Firstly, I started with cosmetic changes to the footage. I used 'Lumetri Color', a tool on Premiere Pro used for adjusting the colour grading of footage, to adjust the aesthetic problems with the shot. I found the initial shot to have too much intensity and not enough sharpness - with too much overhead lighting. This is something I should have seen to during production, though can be remedied in the editing process. 

I found, that due to the overhead lighting, the background was too bright and thus retracted from the black background. Using a black background is often used in shots to differentiate the subject from the background. Due to overexposed lighting the background isn't as juxtaposed as it could be so I plan to alter this in the editing process going forward.

Using Lumetri Color, I altered the following properties: Intensity, Faded Film, Sharpen, Vibrance, and Saturation. Through experimenting with the intensity, I decided on upping the given value to 68.1. Intensity is the brightness level of light and it brightens up your subject. For both natural light and studio light, you can modify the light source to change the intensity. Increasing the intensity of the subject further juxtaposes the subject from the background, which is something I hope to achieve in editing this clip.

I increased the faded film to 6.4, this is a minor adjustment. I also increased the sharpness of the image to 8.5, similarly a minor adjustment. Sharpness increases definition in the subject thus focusing the viewers attention on the subject.

I increased the vibrance to 53.2, as to better balance the colour pallet of the image. Vibrance boosts colours that are more muted and it mostly ignores warmer colours (yellows, oranges, and reds), while prioritising cooler colours (blues and greens). This works in tandem with change in highlight tint. Vibrance increases muted colours - while the highlight tint has been placed more towards the red side of the colour wheel. In doing this - all colours are brought to the forefront.

I also adjusted the highlight tint further towards the colour red. Red has the connotation of warmth, and by making this slight adjustment the shot looks more inviting to a prospective audience member. 

Here is a comparison of the shot, prior to editing and the shot proceeding editing. I feel like the new shot has a much more appealing colour grade. 

Secondly, I had to cut the interview. When shooting, it is expected that all footage will not be used in the final product. Therefore I must edit the footage to only contain the most valuable parts to make the clip, overall, more digestible for a viewer. 

I used the cut tool to discard any non-relevant footage from the timeline. This included me introducing myself to Leon, and myself asking questions. Rather, instead of having me ask the questions, I will have a transition slide with the question on as to create a feeling of spaciousness. Here is the timeline, on Premiere Pro, of Leon's interview after having been cut.

I then used the graphics template to add text on screen, to create a transition between Leon's answers. I used the Text tool, seen as a T on the above image. Using the graphics tab, I added in subtitles. Subtitles are advantageous for communication purposes. I experimented with various fonts, though found the provided font's simplicity to work in the context of the interview. I also widened the space between clips as so the audience has enough time to read each slide.

Once I had ordered the clips in correct sequence, added a transition slide between each clip with the relevant question, and added the relevant subtitles, I exported this interview in itself to be a prototype for which I would base my process on whilst editing the other interviews. Creating prototypes also helps identify problems which can be amended later in production.

To make sure the video is good quality for when it is exported, I went to File > Render Effects In to Out and rendered the effects so they run smoothly. I then went to File > Render Audio, to make sure the audio is at the best level of quality. Finally, I went to File > Render In to Out to render the video files.

I exported the interview as a H624 Blu Ray file, this is a high quality file format and is the most suitable format for platforms such as YouTube and Blogger, where this clip will be posted. The preset for this video is 1080i 25. I set the video dimensions to 1920 x 1080.

Once the file was exported it, for a reason unknown to me, exported as two separate files: an m4v video file and a .wav audio file. This meant, upon placing this clip in to my timeline on Premiere Pro, I needed to put these two files together to get the original product I made prior. As to make sure the two files are synced up in terms of audio and video, I placed the two files on the timeline and used File > Link to link the files, thus making them one product once again. 

4/03/22: Adjusting footage:

I When adding the interview with David Andrews on to my timeline, the fit was far too zoomed in to the frame. As to remedy this, I used the grab tool to re-size the frame to it's original size. I edited this interview very similarly to the way I edited Leon's interview, in that I would cut out all unnecessary footage so that the product is as concise as it can be. I also used transition slides to contain the relevant questions, as I did with Leon's interview. However, I did not find that I had any issues with the colour grading of this clip and the lighting was generally competent.

4/03/22: Graphic Match

11/03/22: Fern Interview Sound Fix

In watching the interview with Fern Gallagher, I realised that there were some problems with the sound present from the editing process. The audio is very fuzzy and Fern's delivery is inaudible. As to remedy this - I tried manipulating the audio using Premiere Pro.

In a bid to make the audio, for Fern's interview, louder I upped the A1 channel to the highest level. However this did not make the audio any more discernible as an audience member. I then tried using a denoiser to create an audio gain by 10 dB and while it did eliminate some of the background fuzz - ultimately it made the vocals sound incoherent.

19/03/22: Creating an open sequence:

During the opening sequence, I slowed down footage using right click > Speed/Duration > Speed > 70%