The Importance of Transitions

What are three key new things about transitions that you learned from this video?  Why did you find each of these interesting?

Three key things about transitions that I learned from this video are the the possible and effective uses for cutaways and cutting on action for scene transitions and how transitions should be planned prior, not just in post. I found each of these interesting as I hadn't really though about how cutaways or cutting on action would be viable for scene transitions. I only ever viewed them as useful during a scene to make it smoother or show off more ideas. However, it can be utilized effectively as a creative and meaningful transition. Planning transitions prior is something that I hadn't previously considered all that deeply. But after watching the video, I realized how important it is to plan for these things in order to make a film flow so much more smoother.

Natural Transitions

What is a natural transition? What are the three different techniques that this video mentions? What would each of them add to a scene?

    A natural transition is one that utilizes elements in the shot to create a wipe, usually to change location or time, while looking more natural than a computer wipe. The most common example of this would be having a car pass and the scene changes as it passes the camera. Some different techniques used by the video are match dissolves, camera movements, and filling the entire frame with the wipe object. Many of the examples used in the video are match dissolves, such as using two objects of the same shape and dissolving from one to the other. Camera movements can be used to move what changes out of the frame, which can be done by tilting up to the sky then down onto a new location, or hiding a cut in a swish pan. The last technique is the most used in the video. For instance, the car fills the whole frame when it wipes and they also zoom in until a subject fills the entire frame, e.g., the walls, bushes, and sky. Each transition is able to add a smoother change in time or location or they can create an idea or feeling based on what is used to transition, i.e., objects used in a match dissolve can cause the audience to form a connection between them.

Editing with J & L Cuts

What is a J or L cut? What do they do? How can they improve your edit?

    A J cut is when the audio for the next shot starts before the cut and an L cut is when the audio continues into the next shot after the cut. They both get their name from the way they look on the track when editing, creating a J or L shape. The J cut can be used to soften a more abrupt cut or create a sense of urgency by making the first shot feel like it's been cut short or interrupted. The L cut is used to extend a scene, making the scene feel like it's lasting much longer and slower, which can create a sense of importance. These can also be used in dialogue, where you see it happen most often, and with different shots in the same scene. I can use them to improve my edit to elicit emotions from my audience and smooth more abrupt transitions from scene to scene.

Premiere Pro Shortcuts

Summarized three of the shortcuts from this video that you plan on using going forward. What are each one's functions? How can they save you time going forward?

    Three shortcuts from the video that I plan on using going forward is shift and delete, the d key, and control g. Pressing shift and delete will delete the selected clip and the ripple that would have been created in its place. This would save time as you won't have to select every clip ahead and slide them back or right click and select delete ripple. The d key selects whatever clip that the play head is on. This will save time as I wouldn't have to move my mouse and select whichever clip I wanted to. This also works well with the ripple delete as I can more easily select then delete the clip without disrupting everything. The last one is control g, which allows you to group selected clips. This saves time as there are sets of shots that I finished cutting and want to move around as a single unit. This removes the hassle of always having to select each clip every time as selecting one selects all of them.

Exporting Your Project

What are the key factors to keep in mind when exporting your project on Premiere Pro?  What are some mistakes that you've made so far that you can fix?

    Key factors to keep in mind when exporting your project on Premiere Pro are the sequence settings, the format and codec, and fine tuning your settings. The sequence settings are important to think about depending on where you want to deliver your project. This is because uploading on Youtube or Vimeo needs different setting compared to quickly delivering to a client or making a hi-res master. The format and codec is important for playback. The best codec to use is H.264 and the format should be based on the project but 1080p is usually the way to go. Fine tuning your settings is often overlooked and so its something to keep in mind. The article recommends checking the "Render at Maximum Depth", changing the bitrate Encoding Settings to VBR, 2 pass, and setting the max bitrate to double the target bit rate.

    Some mistakes that I've made so far that I can now fix are not fine tuning any settings. Previously, I hadn't even touched bitrate settings or turned on the "Render at Maximum Depth" setting. So taking that into account for my next export may help the quality of my work.

San Jose State Field Trip

After touring California State University San Jose's film production facilities, what aspects of their program or resources stood out to you, and how do you think these could influence your approach to future film projects?

    Some aspects of their facilities that stood out to me was the size and different sections. As we walked along the hallways, I noticed that they had many different areas in the building, such as the costume rooms, a theater, the radio room, the sound room, etc. This means that there are a multitude of students with different skills that can be useful in a future film project and I would be able to rely on them for their specialties. On the other hand, many of the rooms we toured were very small in size and underwhelming, which left a lot to be desired. An aspect of their program that stood out to me was that it wasn't impacted. Mr. Furtado has mentioned that typically film courses are very impacted, especially the better ones, so considering that, I may deduce that this program isn't the best, either in curriculum or technology. Thus it may subtract to the possibilities of future film projects.

What is a codec? What is the difference between a codec and a container?

What is a codec? What is the difference between a codec and a container?

    According to the article, a codec is the order used to layout the data of an audio or video file in such a way that it can be used for playing, editing, or transcoding. This process is coding and decoding, which is where the word "codec" comes from. The purpose is to make the file sizes much more manageable to allow you to do what was previously listed by compressing the information before decompressing for usage. While a codec organizes the data, a container is what holds the information, such as audio, video, and other information, together. Containers have file extensions such as .mov or .mp3. Some containers only work with specific codecs, like the .mpg with MPEG files, and some work with a variety, such as the .mov container.