Tag: WI

@Apple, Final Cut Pro, iPad Air, M1, Video

Day 10 – Self Improvement….

kmikulaj

I began placing videos in my timeline today. 

Final Cut Pro makes it very easy to select and place videos in the timeline. Once you get the hang of it becomes intuitive to do this. I can see why a lot of people like to use this software.

Even though it’s easy to do this it made me nervous and a little excited to be working on my project. Nervous because I feel like this needs to be perfect and be the best video that I’ve ever made. Excited because I want to see how it turns out well.

The whole time I was working there was a small voice in the back of my mind telling me that I don’t know what I’m doing and that no one cares about any of this. I kept telling myself that it doesn’t matter and that I’m doing this for myself. I can’t help but wonder whether there will be improvement. 

I know it’s only a small video in the grand scheme of things, but I really do want it to be good. I mean, why learn something new and spend all this time doing it for nothing. If I don’t improve, and if this project isn’t better than the original, I have wasted my time and my money.

One thing I do know is that I have put more thought and more effort into this project than I did the original. I think the preplanning turned out well. Now it’s just a matter of putting the shots in the proper order, tweaking them so they look like I want them to, and adding some final polish to it all.

It is already taking me longer to do this one compared to the original. The first attempt at this project took about two hours. I have already devoted 10 hours to this project and I still probably have 6 to 10 hours to go yet. There definitely is plenty of time and effort invested in making a decent video.

I’m going to end here for the night. My fuzzy cat wants my attention so I’m going to go play with him and scratch his head some.

@Apple, Final Cut Pro, iPad Air, M1, Video

Day 9 – Let me look at that again….

kmikulaj

Yesterday I spent a good chunk of time looking through the videos that I had shot and assigning keywords and scrubbing through to see what sections I like to each video and which I didn’t. I thought I was done with all of that but then I started looking at them and went through the whole process again today.

I don’t know if everyone goes through that if they walk away from a project and then come back to it or if it’s just some weird mental hang up, I have. Part of my brain was saying I was being compulsive while the rest said I had every right to do what I wanted. Either way, I do feel everything is categorized the way I want it now. So that’s an accomplishment in itself.

My brain though is saying that I wasted my time yesterday doing the same thing.

I have decided that I’m not going to change any of the keywords. I am also going to try and use all the videos as is without any additional tweaking. I don’t know how rational of a decision that is especially when I start putting all the videos in a timeline, but I’m going to try.

I am also beginning to remember what I must do to favorite a clip add a keyword so I’m developing a kind of muscle memory for final debt pro on iPad. That makes me feel pretty good.

I had to go back through some of the tutorials to remember how a video gets reversed. There are quite a few videos in the footage that I shot backwards for some reason. I don’t remember why but I realized that they needed to be reversed or they really didn’t make sense.

I also shot quite a few in slow motion so they need to be speeded by about 500% to make them fit with the other clips. Both reversing the clip and increasing the playback speed are in the same general portion of the app, so it was pretty easy to do both.

That’s it for this entry my cat is telling me that I’ve ignored him enough this evening and he wants attention.

Tomorrow begins the real work.

@Apple, Final Cut Pro, iPad Air, M1, Video

Day 8 – Every journey begins with a single step….

kmikulaj

So, I looked through all the files for the project and started adding favorites and keywords and trying to scrub through the videos to see what I’m going to use and what I really don’t like about each shot. It’s a lot harder than it looks. I tried to have enough keywords so that I could find exactly what I’m looking for in the videos. 

I also don’t remember having shot that much video. It has been a couple of years, but I really spaced that. It also made me think about how much space all these videos and pictures are taking up. I think I need to have them organized better. I also need to go through them and eliminate the ones that I don’t like.

The process has made me look at the shots and think about how they can all tie together. There should be some logic to the video not just a hodgepodge of different things. I’m trying to figure out what it is I’m trying to say in the video and why I want to say it. I’m trying to figure out how to organize my thoughts or maybe storyboard my ideas to have some logical progression. So, this has ended up being a good exercise.

The amount of time that is involved with this makes me appreciate what others who do this on a weekly basis go through. I’m just trying to do one little project and it seems like it’s taking me forever. How long does someone making a 15, or 17, or 30-minute video every week invest? I can see how it becomes a full-time job.

Yesterday, I thought the video I end up with might not be the same length as the original, but after looking at all the footage I have, it might be close. 

It’s also nice looking back and the videos I took and thinking about why a shot was interesting at the time. Seeing the subject and how it was captured by the drone’s camera. Seeing how some shots changed because of height or coming at it from a different angle. It’s been an exercise in self-awareness.

So that’s where I’m going to end for tonight. I have a lot of work ahead, but I’m also motivated to get it done and to see how things turn out. I don’t know how long it’s going to take to finish this project. I’m hoping not too long but I’m trying to give myself time, so I don’t rush it and end up with a video that I don’t l like.

@Apple, Final Cut Pro, iPad Air, M1, Video, YouTube

Day 7 – Drum roll please….

kmikulaj

Well, I decided that I’m going to redo my video of lake Leotta Park.

Looking at the video as it is right now the first thing that I’m thinking is that my redo is going to be a lot shorter than the original (2:56). I just get the sense that with what I’m learning from the tutorials, and looking at other sources online, the video that I shot it’s probably going to be about half of what it is right now.

So, I downloaded the original video files that I had for the first video, and I have them on my iPad Air now. I haven’t really done anything with them besides look them over. I haven’t assigned them any keywords or made any of them favorites. I just have them in a folder on my iPad. All the fun begins tomorrow.

My cat moo has been annoyed and with me lately spending so much time on an app. He kept bumping my legs with his head, so I had to give him some attention today.

The real work begins tomorrow, and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.

@Apple, Final Cut Pro, iPad Air, M1, YouTube

Day 4 – I know you want to learn Final Cut Pro, but why?

kmikulaj

A very good question.

I have Final Cut Pro for Mac and iPad. I have had both for a few months.

I purchased the Mac version and about a week later the iPad version came out.

Talk about timing.

So besides the obvious bet I have going with myself (nudge, nudge), why do I really want to learn Final Cut Pro?

Simple answer: I want to do something. I want to make something.

I want to make little videos that I can enjoy and, hopefully other people will too. That is the whole point to learning this app.

An early morning Timelapse.

Pretty simple.

I would like to be able to include videos with my other blog and have a YouTube channel.

That’s it