The film

Being Pagan from Matt Myrddin Draconis Howard on Vimeo.

Broadcast edit review

Having reviewed this edit I feel that this is the one, most of the technical issues have been rectified. Although, some do still remain. There is nothing I can do about these issues as to remove the sections would ruin the flow of the film entirely.

The decision to draw out the interview footage into the moot section I feel was a good one it has broken the section up rather than leave it as a single heavy lump in the middle of the film.

I am pleased with the result, I feel that the film paints the picture that I wanted within the parameters that I set out in the beginning.

Broadcast edit

Having reviewed the first 30 minute edit and after tutor feedback I have decided to make a further edit to iron out some of the technical issues within it. I have chosen to remove some of the technically challenged footage and replace it with more technically sound footage. Keeping the whole film to 30 mins and keeping the same timeline of events, although I have decided to spread the interview across more of the film to break up the second section.
There is still a small issue with the wind in one section of the film however, it is a smaller section than before and to omit the whole section would be detrimental to the final piece as it is an integral part of the story that I am attempting to tell.

reflecting upon this issue, there was no other way around it. it could not have been filmed any differently as this was a live event that only happens at this time of year and in this location and as with any outdoor documentary shoot, what you film is what you get and you are always at the mercy of the elements.

Audio edit

Following a review of the exported film I found that I was not happy with the audio and decided to further edit this.

To do this I first exported the audio track from the film as an MP3 and then imported it into Adobe Audition

I had found that some areas of the audio were very quiet and needed amplifying whilst others were very lound and needed de-amplifying. The whole of the audio needed normalising I also applied noise filters to certain areas.

The one issue I coukl not resolve however, was a wind issue during the festival shoot and so I had to leave the section in as I felt that it was integral to the story. I do not feel that it will present too much of an issue as it is obviously a live event and as such, aspects such as this are to be expected and cannot be controlled.

2nd edit (from 1hr to 30 mins)

Following the tutorial I set about cutting the film from 1hr to 30 mins. This had to be done in such a way that the message was still clear and that justice was done to the people involved. When I reviewed the full edit I realised that there was a lot of dead or unecessary footage which could be removed, thus improving the flow of the film while still painting the picture that I had originally intended.

Upon reviewing the 2nd edit at home however, I found that I was not happy with the film's audio and felt that this required some editing work.

1st edit tutorial 14/5/2013

Following feedback from my tutor regarding the first 1hr edit, I requested a tutorial to discuss this feedback.
The 2 main points for discussion were: cutting the film to 30 minutes and altering the timeline of the film.

It was decided that by losing some of the unnecessary footage and altering some of the transitions, the same message could be put across in a 30 minute film without taking anything away from either the message or the people involved. This edit would also improve the flow of the film

It was also suggested that I alter the timeline of events within the film however, The timeline runs in real time Ie. The events within the film such as the Imbolc ritual and the Beltane festival only happen at that time of year and in that order so I decided to keep the timeline the same, once I explained this the tutor also agreed. .

Being Pagan !st edit

Being pagan. The first, hour long edit (Compressed)

Beltane festival shoot

The shortage of crew led to some problems when shooting as we had to focus on getting the footage of the festival, forsaking both of the booked interviews due to a shortage of time. However with the footage we did shoot I felt that there was still enough footage to create the film that I had wanted.

Wind was another issue - It was wild, and nothing I could do could stop it from affecting the audio.

Beltane festival shoot full edit (compressed)

Moot Shoot - 21/03/2013

My local moot agreed for me to shoot at the March meeting which happened to be a meditation workshop run by my good friend Iain Broadley. Now although the workshop was not necessarily pagan, as Iain follows the Buddhist teachings. Meditation is a tool that we pagans do use and it was more centred on the techniques rather than the religious aspects although in some peoples eyes paganism does include buddhism under it's umbrella. again I opted for a two camera approach although a small handheld camera was also brought by one of the crew. I also opted to utilise the natural lighting rather than set up lighting rigs, firstly because it would appear more natural and secondly in respect of the sensitive nature of the workshop and out of respect for the moot members I wanted the filming to be as unobtrusive as possible.

This turned out to be the best shoot so far with the previous lessons learned being utilised. We achieved some really good, usable footage. 

The full moot edit (compressed)

Imbolc Shoot 2/2/2013

After making contact with various members of the pagan community I was invited to film a well dressing and Imbolc ritual that I was attending in Bromborough. I acquired a second cameraman for the shot as I intended to have a wide establishing shot and then a hand held setup for the close ups. I also intended to shoot some cutaway footage to break up the finished film.
All went well apart from a couple of dodgy camera shots due to the terrain (falling over plant roots etc.) and the second cameraman being a little over enthusiastic with the zoom. However, the cutaway footage proved useful for covering up these small issues. The beauty (and issue) of the organic way in which I am shooting this documentary means that I have more footage than I need, and therefore I will have to be ruthless when it comes to the editing.

The edited section of the film (which will later be interlaced with interview footage and cut further)