Today was pretty rough. I woke up today with great optimism but things change on the fly later along the road. I had a few bumps I had to endure with today but like anyone coming into the film industry, you have to work with what you have. I've done quite a bit of preparation for today's event, and Russ can testify to that claim. With new things come new opportunities. So I had to quickly adjust to the situation.
So before I left out to Russ' house to go film I had to make sure I had everything ready to go so there would be little room for error.
TIP #1 : Always prepare for the worst possible situation
Here's what I brought!
HDV Camera
32 gig SDHC Card
Tripod
Xbox 360
Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition
Marvel VS Capcom 3
Custom HRAP VX SA
Madcatz SE (Slightly Modded). I call this the B!@#% stick, lol.
Studio Headphones
Blue Yeti Condenser Microphone
5x USB 2.0 Cords (You can never have enough!)
Hauppauge HD PVR
Laptop
Xbox Live Headset
Microsoft Xbox Controller
So yeah, oh whole lot of stuff! I think I managed to list everything down, but I probably missed a few things.
So, I happen to be walking to Russ' house ON THE HOTTEST DAY EVER! I was sweating buckets. Don't forget to bring your towel and a spare shirt. Last thing you need is to smell on the set. Always have spare stick of deo or body spray.
So I'm at Russ' house waiting for Russle because well, he's just getting off of school. I didn't wait long but I was occupied by his house guest who were very nice and offered me a drink while I waited. Be sure to always say thank you to those who're kind to ya. No one likes a rude guest.
So me and Russ are chillin' in his room as I unpack. To his surprise, he was shocked at all the equipment I brought. The setup was pretty legit to as it took up a decent amount of space in his room. After we got to setting everything up, we began to do equipment test right away!
Tip #2: Always test your equipment before starting any project. If you have a deadline to uphold and people need to be places after the show, you need to make sure that you make time so that you test the equipment and not take up any more time that you need to!
As my luck would have it, my laptop ran into a few problems with recording footage from the hauppauge. Rather than take up time trying to diagnose the problem, I figured out that it'd be less time consuming to just install it onto Russ' desktop. Windows XP did it right the 1st time around! Once we installed everything on the Desktop, everything ran smoothly. During the installation, we played a few matches of AE to gauge were me and Russ were at in terms of skill level, and I was happy with our performance.
So we went through a mic check, a haupp check, and a camera check. Everything was on point and we were ready to go. We discussed what we should open with 1st and what small things we should talk about before we started. Doing this ensured a higher quality product. After we made our opening statements, we agreed that we would try to keep a natural feel to the show so it was left unscripted. We have an outline for the episode, but we figured scripting it would be un-ideal.
So we started great with the show, and we immediately went to online matches. We figured we try to be funny and down to earth as possible without sounding cheezy, cheap, or unprofessional. It was tough getting our 1st few matches, because it almost seemed like the players didn't want to play. Couldn't find a game for like the 1st 1-2 mins, lol. :P
Like with all online games, we got good games and we got bad games. We however, managed to win all of our matches online. It came down to the wire sometimes, and we even lamed it out with a time out victory! But without spoiling the episode too much, I'll cut it off there.
After we spent about an hour or so recording the footage, it was time to transfer files. This is the one thing I didn't take into account. How was I going to transfer files from the desktop to my laptop. Russ cpu is pretty old, so it didn't have an SD slot. He didn't have a card reader. I didn't bring my flash drive and he doesn't own one. So how do you transfer files then? Hosting sites of course!
So I decided to upload to my Mega Upload account. Sadly enough, the max file you can upload on MU at one time conveniently is 2 gigs. The capture footage was about 2.24 gigs, so it was too much. MU has a service that uploads higher than 2 gigs but the amount of time it takes to upload it was unknown. So we ran into a really tough spot. We decided to try and upload it and hope it works, but we both agreed that I should always carry my flash drive and 2, I should come download the files on my flash drive when we're both available.
I'll be going to his house to get the capture files. In the mean time, I'll be working on the intro for the show, as well as other things regarding the show.
As a film maker, you have to know how to manage your time well. A lot of your time will be eaten up with working with editing software all day long. Any editor will tell you how long it takes to edit videos. It takes even longer if you want to have a quality video. The best thing you can do when it comes to making shows, or even small video series, is to decide whether or not how you want it to look. There's things like intros, outros, cut offs, host bars, and a whole bunch of stuff. Almost too much to describe. If you do a good job, you can use what you learned on your future projects and you can also try to learn other avenues of the industry as well.
So yeah, I've been doing a lot of stuff today, and guess what I have to do when I get home? Work! The life of a film editor is never truly over. If editing is something you have a passion for, you'll have to understand that it's not a job that is easy, time-friendly, or appreciated. Some people do understand the need for film editors and respect them and their decisions, but in the general publics eye, they assume it's an easy job. News flash! It isn't.
It does pay really well and it's a highly sought after field, so you can't go wrong here! :P
I love my job and the people I work with, so I got really lucky! Stay tuned for my next blog and keep an eye out for
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