Editing Blog Lesson

Today in class we learned how to set up the camera, how to dump our media onto the computer, and how to actually edit the footage we got from the camera on the computer. For the camera setup, you’re supposed to plug in the camera strap to charge it. In order to charge it, the camera needs to be turned off and the camera flap where you view the footage from needs to be closed. It takes a long time to charge, so it’s best to charge it about a couple of days before use. The cameras battery is very powerful, as it lasts very long. A button that is silver with a red line is used to start and stop a take. I learned that I should take as many takes as needed so that I can get more options for a successful shot. When using a tripod, you should take the plate off of the tripod (disconnect it) and then attach the camera to the tripod. The camera must be attached tightly and safely in order to allow to accidents during use. The tripod allows you to do tilt, pan, or oblique shots and angles. Lastly, I learned to always close the tripod even if moving a few feet to avoid any accidental trips or falls.

You have to use one login per group because the footage stays attached to the login. The footage will not stay on the computer. To start importing your media to the computer, you must first open pinnacle so that it loads up and is ready when the time comes. You must then create a folder. The folder should be named Comm (for commercial), or the topic of your commercial. Then you insert the SD card into the computer and look at the DCIM folder. The footage is in order of date and time, so it is easier to spot your media. If the media isn't located in that folder, you then go back to the beginning and go to the Private folder. Then you go to AVCHD, and click the next folder. From there, you will see a folder named Stream. Stream contains all of the footage on the SD card. Highlight the videos you need (from Stream or DCIM) and drag to the new folder. Once you're done, you just need to pull out the SD Card from the computer; no ejecting is needed.

From here, Pinnacle Studio is opened and ready for use. Make sure that the bar is not there, indicating green for done loading, yellow/orange for still loading, and red for unable to load. On the top tab, make sure it says Edit instead of Organize. Click Import on the top right area, go to Desktop, and click on the plus (+) sign. Look for the new folder (named Comm or commercial topic). The media should pop up. You can deselect and import whatever media is necessary, but make sure to get all of your footage onto the program. Click "Start Import". Build your media on the AV Track 2. Use AV Track 1 for Titles and Text and AV Track 3 for music and sounds. The vertical red line is called the play bar and you can drag it along the footage to get to a specific spot to make sure the media isn't blurry. You can delete media by clicking on it, hitting the split button, then clicking a certain clip and hitting backspace. When you right click on a clip and hit "Open Editors Effects", it has selections on effects, transitions, etc. You can right click on the track and detach audio. For titles, click the T and change font, color, size, etc. To export, you do file, save movie as, and then add it to your folder. Name the commercial your topic name, and then export as MPEG-4 on Full Size SD.