This document summarizes Finlay McCall-Smith's reflections on filming test videos and editing them in Premiere. Some of the key challenges included positioning the camera effectively, keeping camera settings consistent between shots, and managing time during filming. Editing challenges included keeping footage looking consistent and making the final product feel fluid. The main lessons learned were to take more footage than needed, use editing to fix mistakes, and have solid ideas and a shot plan before filming. Action points for future projects include making a shot plan, using a tripod, pre-planning camera settings, taking extra footage, and utilizing more effects and colors in the final edit.

1. Test Video
Reflection &
Review
Finlay McCall-Smith

2. Tasks
• BEFORE you start this proforma, make sure you have
exported your 2 videos from Premiere and embedded
from YouTube to your blogger
• Make sure you have sent your blog address [NOT the
login page address] to your tutor
• Once your Key film and test music video are exported
and uploaded you can then clean up your files and
delete the footage from the computer or archive to
One Drive
• Then you can begin!
• Feel free to add extra slides, notes, images, etc where
necessary – make sure you answer the section fully.
Make a point with an example, explain this and link to
other points and your future practice

3. Filming - camera
• List and discuss a minimum of 3 areas you found interesting, difficult, what went well, what was less
successful, etc about using the camera.
• I found it difficult to consider where to place the camera at certain times and what heights would be most
effective when shooting. When using the tripod, it was difficult to get close enough to the wall that our
enclosed shooting space would fit the subject, without preventing ourselves from seeing what’s on the
screen of the camera or operating it effectively.
• I thoroughly enjoyed the customisability of the camera’s settings that allowed us to make edits to the way
our raw footage would look before the editing process. This included changing settings such as aperture,
ISO, optical zoom, focus and white balance, all of which allowed us to contribute to an image that felt more
authentic and in line with our visions. I feel the only difficulty I experienced here was being aware of how to
keep all these settings consistent throughout shots, though the editing process did help resolve that despite
editing generally being a last resort due to it often lessening the quality.
• I felt I had trouble with camera movements at time. We, as a group, often found it difficult to move focus
when characters were getting further or closer, as well as struggled to make movements with the tripod that
seemed fluid and seamless. This was likely due to the tripod being more stiff and the camera lacking any
degree of video stabilisation than if we used more bulky equipment. Another way we could’ve resolved this
issue is if we had the camera shots planned out prior and all of our shot focuses considered so we could
make appropriate, pre-thought out movements when needed. This was difficult for us to do with the time
constraints so most of our work ended up being free hand and improvisation but this definitely would’ve
contributed to a higher quality end product if we could’ve had the extra time.

4. Filming - people
• List and discuss a minimum of 3 areas you found interesting, difficult, what went well, what was less
successful, etc about working with others on the test filming
• I believe our coordination in communication and coming up with ideas quickly was good. We didn’t run dry
on shots to film until the end of the given time and the overall concept, though it took some prying, was well
enough to do the job. We mostly all contributed to being in front of the camera too which is not something
often easy to become instantaneously comfortable with even trying
• One area we fell slightly flat in was time management. We didn’t manage to get maybe as many filler shots
or even main shots as we would’ve liked and it definitely harmed us in the editing process. Shots were often
also clumsy and because we hadn’t given time enough to evaluating the quality of each shot after it was
taken, it meant we had a few essential shots that were of inadequate quality to use and therefore had to be
shoddily worked around.
• One other area we had difficulty with was remaining consistent in the way we set the camera up for shots.
This was a crucial error to make however, as it allowed us to experiment as individuals with the concepts of
all these different settings and see them all in real time without any restrictions. Therefore, it was likely to be
that we wouldn’t all be able to revert our shots back to looking like one anothers’. This meant that we ended
up with certain shots in the final cut being adjacent to cuts that didn’t match at all, sticking out and making
the piece less fluid. An example of this would be a dark, cold shot next to a warmer over-saturated or bright
shot. If this were a large budget production that was intended for public release, we would most likely have
taken care to write down the values of each setting to revert them as and when needed but since this was
just for experimental purposes, I don’t believe this error was particularly worth note.

5. Editing
• List and discuss a minimum of 3 areas you found interesting, difficult, what went
well, what was less successful, etc about your editing in Premiere
• I found I was successful in the way of managing to clip videos together without
always having something to fill the space and improvising with little footage by
using de-noising, video stabilisation and re-colouration effects to make previously
unusable footage into something more professional.
• I found I was also successful at cutting shots to match the beat of the song in the
music video test and relatively similarly at cutting shots to match the growing
intensity of the key video. I found more frequent shots lead to higher levels of
tension and vice versa.
• I found I was unsuccessful in keeping all the images consistent throughout and
editing the piece to a degree that makes it seem fluid in any way. This also links in
to the fact I hadn’t experimented much with visual effects and thus most of what
the end product was, was the raw footage we had when we started.

6. Reflections – what have you learned?
• What are the 3 main things you think you have learned from these exercises?
• I have learned to always take better care when taking the original shots and to
take far more than you need as it may come in handy later as filler but also to
make sure the quality of the shots that are pivotal to your plan are always of
acceptable quality before moving on.
• I also learned that editing can be used to fix an array of mistakes in shooting and
though it shouldn’t always be something to fall back on, the editing process is
where you can make some of the biggest differences to the pacing and overall
feel of your piece. The same lot of footage can be edited to appear sad,
disconcerting, joyful or mundane, depending on how you use colour, editing,
music and much more.
• The final thing I learned is to make sure you have some solid ideas for your
shooting before it starts. Even if it means taking a portion of time out of shooting,
it’ll benefit you in that you’ll know what to do later on when you’re using the
camera. This also means making a detailed shot plan in most instances.

7. Action Points
• Make 5 action points from the work you’ve done here that you will be
considering and using in your music video project [it could be a
technical aspect with equipment, time management, working with
others, planning, etc]
• Make a plan for shots.
• Make sure to use a tripod or something else to keep the footage
clearer.
• Make sure to pre-plan focus and lighting, aperture, white balance.
• Make sure to take more footage than you need.
• Make sure to use more diverse effects and colours in the final piece.