Encounters at the End of the Earth

I should have known things were going to easy with this project. No good film and consequent film edit should be without a momentary flight of panic of some kind. It's like how they used to christen a boat by smashing a champagne bottle against the hull (note: do they still do that?). It's good luck and that's how I'll look at my last two or three hectic days finishing up my project. 

First issue? Resolution. The home video footage was exported at a crazy low res, and then I ran into all sorts of issues with compressor trying to get the footage back up to snuff. What I did was try to export the entire DVD of footage in larger dimensions, using different codecs. First I used the wrong codec, then I ran into an issue with my hard drive filling up (note: a whole DVD through Apple pro res takes up a lot of space, we're talking like 50 GBs). What I should have done and eventually did do is this: 

Trim the footage I need in compressor, re-edit the footage into Final Cut. It sounds difficult, because you have to find the same start and stop points in the edit, but guess what? It was insanely quick in comparison to the alternative (and I did try the alternative first, came up with more resolution issues that I solved through this process). And really, it didn't take that long at all because the real time consuming task is deciding on the edits in the first place. Oh well, we live and we learn. 

My second issue? Sound. My monologue was no good, it already had issue with fidelity which I was aware of but I wanted to keep it because I liked the cadence and the tone and it was hard for me to strike that tone the first time. But then I found out that you can hear people talking in the background (personal note: the sound booth in the editing lab will not cut out the chatter of students in the room). Funny enough, it would be nearly impossible for me to tell when editing in the lab with others, because it sounds just like people are talking in the room (also, it would be hard to tell for me because I am like half deaf). 

In any case, I ended up re-recording my monologue. Another future note? I will never record my own monologue again. I'm too particular, I obsess over the phrasing of a word and start all over, if it sounds like I have too much saliva in mouth, whether I can hear the headphone cord rubbing against zoom, it's bloody ridiculous. I don't think I would be that particular with other people, not sure why. 

Finally, the great news is that my monologue sounds really good (I think anyway). It has a very similar cadence and tone but it's clearer in its delivery and it's not so low that I have to bump up the levels to high and slightly distort the sound quality. Also, I fixed all my resolution issues (including a couple random shots that were not home video) and it looks amazing. And I fixed a couple audio issues that I didn't even realize I could fix. AND I made all these small adjustments that help tweak the pacing and I caved to Andre's suggestion for a dissolve at the end of Part II which actually looks pretty cool and all in all I'm really proud of my film and I am excited to show it!