Last year for the production of our opening scene we used an editing software known as 'Premiere Elements.' This year however we wanted to use a more complex editing software that gave us access to more advanced technology, enabling us to edit our film trailer more professionally, making it more successful and comparable to existing media products in the industry. The editing software that we are going to use this year is known as 'Magix Movie Edit Pro 17.'
For our camera/software practise we wanted to familiarise ourselves with a series of camera angles, shots and movements, using my younger sister as our subject. We would then upload our footage onto our new editing software where we would learn the basic skills for editing a film.
Software Practice
Firstly we had to import our filming practise footage onto Magix Movie Edit Pro 17. We were able to do this by selecting ‘import,’ clicking on; username-documents-media A2-filming practise, and in this file we found all the footage that we had filmed for our filming practise. We selected all of the files from this folder and then dragged them down into the timeline, as seen below:
We then needed to sort out which of the footage we wanted to keep, and which we needed to delete. We could do this by selecting a piece of footage, moving the orange bar to the section of that footage we didn’t want, and then use the ‘cut’ icon to separate the footage into two parts. We could then delete the part that we didn’t want, seen below:
Once we had sorted through all of our footage, left with only shots that we wanted to keep, we needed to add titles. We could do this by selecting ‘titles,’ select which type of title we wanted to add from the choice we were given and then, like our footage, drag it down into the timeline. After we had chosen the type of title that we wanted, we added our text and then selected general which enabled us to change our titles font, colour, position, size, ectr. Seen below:
To save time, if you needed more than one title you could simply copy and paste already existing titles, and then use click ‘general’ from the options in ‘title’ if you want to make any changes to the text, seen below:
After we had added all of our titles we decided that there was sound on our footage which we didn’t need or want. Firstly we needed to un group the sound from our footage, which we could do by selecting a piece of footage and using the ‘ungroup’ icon. Then you could minimise the sound, making it quitter, or simply delete it, seen below:
To add fades in between shots to make the footage run smoother we first decided to change from ‘timeline’ view to ‘scene’ view. In the scene view you are able to see the fades from one shot to another, making it easier to see what fades you have, and what fades you don’t have. To use a fade you could either select ‘fade,’ where again you are able to choose from a large range of fades, dragging the one you want down into the box between your shots. Or you could use ‘timeline’ view and simply drag the line on your footage towards the centre to create a fade between your shots, seen below:
And finally, although we didn’t add any effects to our filming practise we found that you could add effects in exactly the same way as you add your titles and your fades ectr. By simply selecting ‘effects,’ dragging down your chosen effect onto the footage you want to change. We found this is best done whilst in ‘scene’ view, seen below:
