It only took a month, but it's finally done. How we (re)unite is the second instalment of the Family Chronicles. This is the first video in which I used After Effects extensively.

I've learned how to create a mast around an image, how to write on an image and how to make them move. I've use the colour correct tools (I'm still trying to find the one that fits me best) and I've created and recreated the actions I wanted to see in a video.

In this video I don't look at the past, I look at the present. My family tries to meet once a year. This year, after not being able to last year, I decided that I really should go. And that it would be really interesting to ask my family what family means to them. The use on non-actors was the assignment and as none of my family members have ever been trained as actors, they were the perfect people to interview, especially when continuing on my previous video. It was a very interesting experience. I've realised that I need to work on my camera skills (see the difference in angles during the interviews), my audio recording (too much background noise) and my interview techniques. I have done some research into interview techniques, but I really should practice this if I ever want to interview anyone else.

I hope you enjoy the video!

So, my choice of animating part of my family tree means that I will have to learn how to use after effects. But the first step; making my family tree. I've gotten all the information, now I just need to make it into a graphic I can use.

I've learned how to use the masking tool and how to shift the lines to create a better cut of the object. This is a technique that in the end did not end up in my short, due to the effect not fitting the narrative. My work on that can be seen down below in the video. 



As you can see, I've tried to animate the heads of the people I've interviewed. However, due to the different positions in the footage and the picture, it does not match good enough to be fit into end product. There is also the issue of the colours not matching. Due to recording my interviews in several locations, the colours of the footage does not match to each other, but also not to the photo.

In the end I decided to go with a much easier effect that I could combine with the voice over work.

It's just a simple circle drawing effect. For this I used the write on effect and a bright red colour. I used some tutorials on youtube to make sure the effect worked the way I wanted it.

I've also used After Effects to animate a family tree. This effect was much easier, but it did make me realise I can make one layer a parent of another to make sure the moments are linked and synchronised. 



I've realised that although I love Premiere on it's own, After Effects is a combination of Photoshop and Premiere that is perfect for animating objects in a frame. This is something I hope to use many more times to create graphics in my future projects and to hopefully one day create an animation.

Even though I did not have script for this video before starting to shoot, I did have an idea. I wanted to go into my family tree and show how much family I actually have as well as how many family member I've already lost. And I wanted to know what family means to others who are a part of mine. How does it feel to be part of something so big but also so small?

Now I could have, of course, used myself as an interview subject. But I like being behind the camera more than being in front of it. I like the control it gives me. And I want to try something new in this video. I want to use a voice over in combination with visuals. So I will need to learn how to use After Effects to see if I can create the intricate and complicated family tree graphics I want.

All of this brings us to the script. So I already have my footage, however, due to me wanting to use graphics and a voice over, I will need to write a script for me to record. So.... Script in Progress

To achieve the look of this video I learned how to use After Effects to animate text, learned how to use keyframes to animate photo's and worked on colour correction. Contrary to most of the short films I've made, this one does not have a script or storyboard. The footage and pictures were already available, and I just started working through them. The export settings of the file are different from the ones stated by Fleeta due to the original size of the footage I've used. 

After so many hours behind a small screen editing this video, it was odd to see the video projected on a wall in that large a size. The personal nature of the video hit me again, as did the silence following it. I don't think most people in class knew how to react to such a personal story. Now I'm just hoping that it's actually good.

For my next video I'm planning on elaborating on my family. I'll be going to a family reunion at the end of reading week and plan to have some short interviews with my family members to use in my next video. I hope in the end with all the footage I shoot and all the footage I can gather while at home I'll be able to create a feature length documentary. I'm still not sure what the actual story would be, but my family has many stories, so I think it will be fine.