This is what I find that I've learned in the course of going "all out" on this video.
There are key elements in filming and editing a Narrative video.
Filming Key Points:
1. Making sure that the video that you're taking tells a compelling story.
2. Write a script before hand to give you a better idea of what shots to get. Video is more complicated than a slideshow because you're dealing with actors (in this case, sims) and moving footage that is dynamic. You're at the mercy of the game's time-clock. Some scenes may have to wait for a day (in game time)
3. Take that little extra footage: because when it comes to editing, more is better. Don't forget to shoot A-roll and B-roll, don't hesitate to pause the game while you reposition your cinematic camera. Do you want to get their expression when something happens. Pause the game and zoom in on the face.
4. Set up your scenarios in advance, make all the backdrops and locations that you're going to be using for the video. Get all the actors in their proper attire. Preparation is key.
5. Get your blocking right and make sure that your sims hit their mark, the last thing you need is an "extra" blocking your shot of the main characters which they're bound to do.
6. Get close-ins of key moments in your video. You want to show the faces of those sims as they react to what is going on. Don't hesitate to use fadeobjects off and get UNCOMFORTABLY CLOSE.
7. Sometimes you won't get the desired reaction...do a second take, and a third, and a fourth...you get the picture. There isn't a thing as "enough footage".
8. If you have sims at different life-stages save them in the bin. It'll make your life a heck of a lot easier when it comes to filming the different life stages.
9. You don't have to shoot in a linear fashion. Movie makers don't do this. They do several scenes from different sections of the movie in one day. Mainly due to lighting situations. Besides, you'll piece it all together in Edit.
10. It's important that you remind yourself that "You're having fun"...trust me, it gets a bit stressful...just like on a real movie set. Believe me, like a real-life director, I've been tempted to call-down lightning on any recalcitrant "actors"...just to give them a taste of my frustration.
Editing Key Points:
1. This is where it all comes together. You take those varied bits of footage (hopefully you've named them well so you know which footage is which and piece it into a narrative. This is where the timeline of your video editing program is key in working with the various clips. Upload them one at a time into your assets folder...in the order in which you're going to present the story. If you have a soundtrack, NOW is the time to upload that too, because this is where you'll be dealing with your editing...so that the flow of the video matches the mood of the music. I do this because I don't do speech in my videos. For me, the music is the key part of my videos - it sets the tone and the mood for the entire video.
2. When it comes to editing, chop out the "choppy" parts...where the camera hesitates...or you didn't turn off the pause button. That's why I said to take extra footage, because when you start hacking your video clips, you need that extra footage to chop to pieces. This is the point where you edit out your mistakes, pauses, and miscues.
3. Time Remapping...is your friend. You can go subtle with timing, adding a few seconds so that your clip meets a certain section of the music. Or you can go all out and slow down the clip if you want to get a slo-mo shot out of that footage. Don't hesitate to be creative with those clips.
4. Once you have all your clips laid out, now is when you have to figure out the timing for your video. Are you going to have one song as a soundtrack (if you're using a soundtrack) or more than one. Does your dialogue fall in the right spots because you need to line up the dialogue with the mouth movements of the actor. This will all affect your editing. I don't use dialogue on my videos, so it's just me, the footage and the soundtrack.
5. If you're doing a "narrative music video" take a listen-thru to the soundtrack that you plan to use. Make note of the phrasing in the music, where it crescendos (gets louder) or diminuendos (gets softer). Every song has its own melody and unique phrasing and you need to time your key emotional impact moments for those phrases.
6. Not only do you have to make a note of where the key moments are that make the most emotional impact for your footage, but you also have to key in your transitions. Watch the beat of the music. It's on those beats that you want to make your transition cuts. Don't chop a scene to pieces just to meet those cuts, but make note that you should end a scene on a beat and transition to the next scene.
7. When you start using transitions, it's easy to fall into the trap of using a certain transition for every scene change. Usually in cinematic, you use cross-dissolve and film dissolve as transitions to go from one scene to another. I tend to use film dissolve to transition between frames within the same scene and cross-dissolve to transition from one scene to another.
8. Don't be afraid to use jump-cuts. Jump cuts are used to denote a passage of time in the video. I've got several jumpcuts in one particular scene this particular video that I'm working on - and it was to denote the pasage of time in the midst of a conversation.
9. Usually your first cut isn't going to be the final cut. Sleep on the video for a night...look at it with fresh eyes...recut, adjust the timings - I had to toss my first cut and recut the video from scratch - I think it was for the best. When you look at the video with fresh eyes, sometimes you see glaring errors that may have been missed the first time. Don't hesitate to run the video several times. I think I've watched my video over 50 times already and that's even before finishing it. And each time, I've noted minor mistakes that I've corrected.
10. Like in shooting. Remind yourself that you're having fun. Yeah...you start seeing dancing pixies by about the sixth hour of editing.
Above all, remember that all the hard work is worth it...when you present your final result.
