[Resolution Unit 8] Editing Progress Update 1

I've made quite a lot of progress since the last video editing update, equating to about 6 minutes of video. The plan was to edit the video in segments because from experience, I know that the software I am using (Pinnacle Studio 18) does not handle long & complex projects well. The two primary problems is that it makes the program run slower due to the amount of information on screen at once, but also, there is a higher chance of the program crashing during exporting the project into a viewable .mp4 file. As a result of this, I decided I would render each scene separately into shorter .mp4 files, and simply combine them by putting them all into a Pinnacle Studio project and exporting them again. This can have effects on the quality, but that will only happen if I export the same file atleast 3 - 4 times - exporting it twice will have no noticeable effect.

Scene 1:

With the opening credits, I wanted to establish a somber tone - as if the event detailed in this video actually happened. Using war footage helps to give this tone, as it's a real thing that affects real people, which also grounds the video in reality. If I were to start with a more science fiction tone, it would defeat the point of what the video is trying to do. Instead, I follow the war footage with the science fiction tone with the text detailing the events.

Scene 2

In this scene, I delve deeper into the story, specifying objects found at the 'suspected site of origin'. I found this scene fun to write, as I was able to go quite ridiculous with the theories and explanations, considering what the footage was actually recording. One of the problems I can see arising while editing this scene however, is that it may end up too much like my final video produced for my A2 Coursework, which this is intended to be something of a development of. Something I want to be careful about is the amount of text on the screen at once. So far, however, I seem to be keeping it under control.

Combination

Once I was happy with both scenes, I exporting the second one, which in total took around an hour and a half to two hours. I realized that the first scene was simple enough that I wouldn't need to export it in order to save issues down the line - so I simply planned to add the exported Scene 2 to the Scene 1 project. I had various problems with this process, as Scene 2 kept crashing mid-export for some inexplicable reason, to my dismay - to put it lightly. The third attempt worked, and so I got to work on combining the two videos.

It was important that the cut between the two scenes was absolutely seamless, with the first scene ending with a musical build-up, and the second scene with quite literally a bang. This wasn't too hard to edit, as it's a fairly basic transition between scenes. The trouble came from when I realised I had forgot to adjust some of the text from Scene 2. meaning I would have to edit and export Scene 2 again... or would I.

As it was only a small section that needed changing, I realized I could go back into the Scene 2 project, and copy the part that needed changing into the new project containing both Scene 1 & 2. This was a messy process, and I had to make sure I had got them line up to the milisecond, but it worked.

Before:

After:

Below you can see the video in its current state, as of writing.