Hello!

I have had a lot of fun exploring how to use Adobe Premiere for this video story project! For this project I decided to create a tutorial video showcasing how to make a halter styled top out of an old t-shirt and scissors. 

Since the overall theme of my blog is fashion I thought creating some sort of DIY video to create your own clothing would be fitting. I wanted this video to be geared towards a female college student audience. I know being a female college student particularly in the greek community these types of DIY videos have been helpful for college football games, sorority events, etc. I actually learned how to do this technique myself from numerous youtube videos as well. 

Before beginning my actual design process I wanted to gain inspiration for this video from other famous fashion/lifestyle Youtubers. One video in particular that inspired me was one by a Youtuber names Natalie Lawyer. She created a video about college tailgating/game day outfit ideas. I really liked how fun and upbeat her video was which was something I wanted my own video story to entail.

Through the course readings for this unit I learned about creating a storyboard to plan out the overall timeline of a video to have an idea of the different types of content you would need to create your desired story line. This storyboard was extremely helpful in helping me narrow down exactly what I would need to film and the different angles and perspectives I would want to shoot.

After creating my storyboard I wanted to make sure I had a way to stay organized before I began to film. To do this I learned in the readings to create a project folder with an export and import subfolder within. After doing research and planning for my project I was ready to begin filming content for my video! 

To start off I wanted to make sure I had good lighting so my video would be good quality. I sat up a stand for my phone using my laptop to prop my phone up against so my video would not be shaky. In addition, I put one of my lamps right beside the camera to create the appropriate lighting to film. I first began filming the actual tutorial shots of me cutting the shirt. I had my roommate do the actual cutting so I could get the shots I needed.

I wanted to use bits and pieces of the 5 step method I learned about in the course readings to film my friend cutting the shirt. I mainly got close up on hand shots of the scissors cutting the shirt to really give the viewers a visual of the proper way to cut the shirt. I also used medium shots to give an idea to what the shirt should look like after each step so viewers would know whether they are on track or not.

I wanted to make sure I had plenty of content for my video so I used the 10 second rule for the majority of my shots. By doing this I was able to choose the best clips of the shots for my video. After filming the tutorial part of my video I needed to record my audio to match the videos. To do this I watched each video to figure out the narration of each shot. 

After recording the narration for each shot I needed to record a wide shot of myself in the actual final product of the tube top. I wanted this clip to play in the beginning and end of the video story so viewers could see what the finished product would look like. I also recorded two other narration pieces acting as an introduction and conclusion to the video story.

After getting both the video and audio content I needed to find background music to play throughout the video. I wanted the music to be upbeat and fun to match the ‘vibe’ of my video story. I browsed Soundcloud where I found a copyright free music profile called “Free Music”. I found the perfect background music and downloaded it to my laptop.

Now with my video and audio content along with my background music I was ready to begin the editing process within Premiere! 

I started the editing process first by adding all of my content (video and audio) into Premiere. After doing this I began arranging my videos into the proper sequence for the tutorial. I did this same step with my audio as well to make with my video. 

*** TIP: In Premiere when you drag a video over another video within your sequence this part of the video is cut out of the sequence which is different than Audition! I would suggest being extra careful when moving your videos around to make sure you are not cutting out parts you maybe did not mean to! This was definitely an issue I had at first but I after I realized this was the case I was more careful and my editing process went much smoother! ***

After arranging my content in the proper sequence I used the razor tool to cut out any awkward pauses or filler words out of my audio. I also used the mark in and mark out tool to cut down my video footage. After my content was good to go I added title screens to both the beginning and end of my story to act as an introduction and conclusion.

Finally I added my music to my story. I made sure the volume of the music was quiet in the background so I could still hear my audio tutorial. After this was complete I ran through my video one last time and then saved a copy to my laptop to be downloaded to YouTube.

Once my rough draft was complete I waited to hear back from my peers to get an insight on their feedback. Most of my peers really enjoyed my video and how I went through each step of the DIY process. Many of them however said I needed to lower the volume of my music so my narration could be heard more clearly. This was something I knew I needed to work on for my final, so it was the first thing I fixed in my revision process.

I opened my rough draft and began listening to each of my audio clips and adjusting the music so it was more faint in the background and also increasing the volume of my narration. Now, in my final draft my instructions are very clearly understood. 

Next, I wanted to add a few transitions throughout my video. I first added the cross zoom transition to the very beginning of my video. I felt this was a good way to lead into my video without it beginning in an abrupt way. I then added the push video transition between the part where I list the supplies needed and the beginning of the actual tutorial. I added a few other transitions throughout to make the video seem more complete and professional.

I also added a few audio effects in the beginning and end of my video to fade in and fade out the audio/music acting as an introduction and conclusion. Doing this step I felt really pulled the video together.

Lastly, at the end of my video I added a credit page that listed myself as the editor and gave credit to the music I used in my video. After this step my video was complete and was ready to be downloaded to YouTube.

Overall, I am happy with house this tutorial video turned out! I had a lot of fun learning how to use Adobe Premiere and think this will be a great skill to have later down the road!

CHEERS!!!