Making Changes

As mentioned in the last blog post, during the group meetings I got a lot of great feedback on how to finish my documentary and changes I could make to improve it. I took those changes into account and now I can finally say my documentary is complete! In this blog post, I am going to detail what my exact process was for making those changes. 

My first step was the smaller stuff. I started by fixing the transition between interviews. I got rid of the fade I had previously used and took Ace's advice. I lowered the volume on the b-roll and started the interview voiceover sooner. This also helped with another issue in that sequence. There was a cut I had to make so ending the voiceover and showing the interview at that cut made the transition and the interview much smoother. I also zoomed in on the phone footage and although it's still not the most clear, it is definitely better and more visible. The last small thing I cleaned up was an obvious cut at around the fifty-second mark and just switched to the other angle, which made it look cleaner and more cohesive. 

Now it was time for the bigger changes. The first big change I tackled was finding music. This was the one that stressed me out the most. As mentioned in my blog post, "Listening To Music" (linked here), I found two songs but did not like the way they fit into my piece. But as music was becoming a more suggested comment, I knew I had to find something. I used the website Isa recommended which ended up working very well. It took me a while to find something I liked but when I did, it was unavailable due to me not having a premium account for the website. This was very frustrating but after looking around for about twenty minutes, I found something I liked and thought would work. I downloaded it, put it onto my timeline and it fit perfectly. It was neutral but also still conveyed a serious yet uplifting tone. I lowered the volume so it was still heard but not the main focus of the piece. I made cuts and added more music when necessary to make it flow well throughout the piece. Adding music was a great move and made the piece more cohesive. The song I used is linked here. 

Another addition that made the documentary more cohesive was adding a title card. I first tried Ace's technique of starting from a black screen with the voiceover as an audio bridge to transition to the interview but I hated how it looked. Because of this, I figured I would give Canva another try and it worked. Instead of creating the title card I had originally envisioned which was a rainbow flowing across the screen with the text behind it, I decided to use my logo. I added animation to the different aspects of my logo, particularly the rainbow and the text. I made it so the rainbow would move down and the text would move across. Although it isn't what I initially pictured, it still worked to create a solid introduction and highlight that my documentary starts from the beginning of the episode. 

My title card

I exported the project and sent it out again for some final feedback, but everything was all good! I am so excited that the main component of my project is finally complete! I am going to continue working on the print component and start thinking about the questions for my critical reflection. Wish me luck!

"Love who you want to love, and do it unapologetically, including that face you see every day in the mirror."

- George M. Johnson, All Boys Aren’t Blue