Editing - Reflection on Foundation to Advanced Portfolio's

I gave myself the the deadline of completing the editing of my music video this week, and I was very fortunate enough to complete this task at the end of school today. It has taken actually only taken me 2 weeks to put all of my filming pieces together, and at the end of this fortnight I am surprised by how efficiently and quickly I completed this task and after watching it all through today I am very proud of it. 

Last year was obviously my first time filming a short-film, let alone anything remotely important, and was by far my first time using the technology of the camera, tripod and the iMac computers for our editing. Judging that I was new to all of these facilities, me and my other group member was able to finish the editing process in just under 2 weeks (similar to what it has taken me this year). However, last year there were several factors that made this process a lot more simpler than this years:

1. There was 2 of us - this year, every responsibility is mine and at the end of the day everything is down to me. Last year, there was me and an additional group member which meant we could split the responsibilities up, and even though the editing process was a pretty joint thing, there were some occasions where if I couldn't make it to a lesson or I had to do other school work, my other group member could continue which wouldn't stop us from falling behind. Whereas, if that were to happen to me this year, I would have no-one to fall back on and my work process would be much slower.
2. More pressure this year - last year I was new to all of the facilities so there was almost definitely going to be some mistakes or learning curves, but this year I am experienced enough from last year and therefore have the pressure of making sure my final piece this year shows that. I think this added pressure has meant I have wanted and also needed to spend more time on this music video than last year's short film just to make sure everything is squeaky clean and as good as it gets. 
3. Last year was a 2 minute film opening, not a 4 minute music video - I definitely think this was an important contributing factor to why this year took longer as I did have much more clips to go through and put together because the length I had to film was obviously much longer this year. 
4. Less lesson time to edit - as we have our exam in January as well, we have to split up our lesson time with editing and exam preparation which means I had to use my own time to complete most of the editing. 
5. More courses - this year I took up another 2 AS courses, Biology and EPQ, which means I have extra work to complete in the same time that I have editing to be done. Last year, I didn't have this so I had almost double the amount of free lessons that I have this year.

The following images are screen shots of how I tracked the editing process last year on my blog, and the evidence to show it took me just under a fortnight to complete it all. 

All in all, last year was a much easier and better time for editing, although I haven't let any of the above factors, and many more, get in my way of achieving my targets and finishing the first draft of my music video. 

One thing I have decided to change from last year is to get some formal feedback from my media teacher, and also record a possible target audience member watching my first draft and then questioning them about potential improvements afterwards. I think I was so excited to have finished the editing process last year that I exported it and uploaded it to YouTube and various other networking sites right away, whereas this year I think I am going to take my time more and make sure I do it the right way. 

I think a positive from last year's editing process was that I monitored my achievements well and was able to blog about them almost every time of what we had done that session and the reasons for it. However, I think I have stuck to my target of being more experimental and creative this year and instead of just simply monitoring my editing progress, I have given a much more detailed explanation behind all of what I have done. 

Which editing was the most successful?

I think I can learn from the mistakes of last year to put this year right - e.g. the quickly uploading to websites rather than going through, improving and getting feedback, and I have definitely taken my time slightly more to ensure the final product is the best of my ability. I definitely enjoyed having a partner as back up for my foundation portfolio work, although I have flourished with the individual work this year and I think I have shown that I can work successfully in both a group and by myself. I hope that my final product can be contrasted against my foundation portfolio project in the way that I have been more experimental, creative and confident in my editing, which I'm sure it does.