Maeve Catherine

Having the opportunity to refine my videography, editing, and video/audio storytelling skills has been great as someone who loved the art in high school. I was challenged while creating several different projects, including a short podcast episode, a video montage, a how-to video, and finally a mini documentary.

Reading Tom Schroeppel’s book, The Bare Bones Camera Course for Film and Video for basic tips and techniques for video and audio production has been essential in aiding my eyes to sparkle again when I think about video/audio editing. The most important part of sharing these blogs share my research and work with an audience who want to learn and critique. In the “Some Final Words” chapter of his book, Schroeppel explains, “Learn to welcome criticism of your work. And learn to criticize yourself. It’s the only way to progress. Every criticism, no matter how ridiculous it may seem, can tell you something about your work.” I am thankful for all the feedback and critiques I have received over the last seven week and will continue to make adjustments to my projects as more come. Thank you to those who have sent me feedback, I truly appreciate it!

Inspiring Creativity

In my blog Lighting For Good I shared my preproduction plans for the mini documentary I created this week called “Hubbard Park Festival of Silver Lights”. But before editing my final project, I refreshed myself on L and J cuts and finding strong examples in tv shows and movies.

This scene from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone has great examples of L and J cuts. The first example starts at the 54 second mark, when Hagrid is propping the door back into place and Uncle Vernon’s audio begins to play, which is an example of a J cut. An example of an L-cut plays shortly after, specifically at 1:08, when Hagrid turns to walk by Harry’s aunt and uncle, exiting the frame. The audience still hears Hagrid talking to Harry while the audience is still looking at the adults staring at the hole in the ceiling and than later to Harry’s cousin. These decisions allow for the audience to see important reactions which the scene plays on.

It might be surprising but even animated movies can have L and J cuts. In this scene from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, there is a great example of a J cut at 1:21 when Cal Devereaux, the police mans son, invites Flint to be part of the snowball fight. The J cut helps the audience be caught off guard with Flint which is then followed by a L-cut of Steve’s screeching at 1:37 when he is mentioned to be throwing the chocolate snowballs.

To continue with my examples from animated movies this scene from Big Hero 6 has more great examples of L and J cuts. At 2:07 Hiro is looking at GoGo’s bike and is caught off guard when he’s examining the the magnetic field of the design. Later at 4:50, Tadashi, who is out of frame, calls out to Hiro so that he could follow him to a different room but while the audience’s view changes to Tadashi nodding his head to Hiro, Fred’s audio about the sandwich continues. These types of audio cuts allow for two stories to occur at one time without the audience getting confused.

Executing the Holiday Doc

I filmed with my IPhone 16, tripod, three lights and lavalier mic to create this mini documentary. After spending two hours in light rain I collected enough b-roll of Hubbard Park to call it a night and begin my rough edit before interviewing my sister in the morning. Some challenges I faced were getting shots of people enjoying the location because of the rain. In general people who did come to enjoy the experience did not leave their cars which also meant that I had to worry about the amount of light that was hitting each shot I got. I did my best to get wide shots, medium shots, and close up of the displays but some videos did not match because of the different amounts of cars that passed through a shot. However, I’m pretty happy with how this came out.

Come experience the Festival of Silver Lights with my sister Grace and I: