Editing Lesson Blog

     Today in class we learned the procedures to check out a camera, how to use the equipment, and how to edit on Pinnacle studios. In order to check out a camera you, first have to fill out the Equipment Agreement Form located in the cubby of our classroom. Then you will bring the form to the teachers desk, line up and wait until you receive a camera and equipment. On the Equipment Agreement Form you have to fill out all the information besides the item number. Once you receive your camera and tripod the number written on the case is the item number which you will write down on the form. Once everything is signed and you received your camera and tripod you then place your form in the class folder near the entrance of the classroom. Since our commercials will be filmed during class and on campus, we will have a media pass which everyone is obligated to sign the paper in order to film outside of the classroom. Along with the media pass every student has to have their school ID on and visible at all times in case of emergencies and codes during class. For our class we only have one SD card reader that everyone must share. To use the SD card reader you have sign it out and place the SD card from the camera into the SD card reader. Once you dumped all your footage on the computer in your personalized folder, you take out the SD card reader, take out the SD card and return the SD card reader back into the basket for others to use.
     To turn on the camera all you have to do is open the viewfinder and to shut it off you just close the viewfinder. The tripod can extend it's legs however, you always have to close the tripod when moving and place everything back into their case to prevent yourself from losing the equipment. To attach the camera to the tripod take off the little attachment from the tripod and click it on to the bottom of the camera and turn until you hear the little click. Once you have heard the click tighten the attachment under the camera and place it back on the tripod. You can easily do a tilt, pan Oblique/Dutch/ Canted   shot. You could also do a hand held shot since the camera can easily fit into your hands. The camera comes with a shared SD card and a USB cord if you wanted to dump your footage at home on your computer to prevent anyone from deleting your clips. The camera takes really long to charge however, once it is fully charged the camera will last you a long time. The camera are touch screen and easy to use. You have to turn in the camera the next day when it's due back.
    The editing software you will use is Pinnacle Studios 17, 18, or 19 they are all the same. Open up a new folder on your desktop and drag all you clips and footage from your SD card to the folder. You have to make sure you have to use the same computer everytime and in case any of your group members are absent you need each other's log in information. All of our editing process will be done in class on the computers. To start the editing process you have to place the SD card into the SD card reader and plug it into the computer. Look for your footages in DCIM and make sure the date and time are correct. Highlight your videos then drag it into your new folder, then click out of the SD reader and take out your SD card and place the SD card reader back. To import your videos into Pinnacle Studios you click the import tab then select your videos. To edit all you click is the edit tab at the top and it will bring you to the editing page with raw footage and 3 different AV Tracks. AV Track (1) is used for titles, AV Track (2) is for your footage, and AV Track (3) is for the sound. In order to save your movie, commercial and music video you have to save it to your folder. When you finish editing you must export your project. When exporting make sure you choose MPEG-4 and is full size SD (good quality). Once your project finishes exporting to your folder make sure to check that the video is exactly how you want it to be then close Pinnacle Studios.