Scene 52: First Impressions of Sony Vegas Movie Studio

I've missed  a week of blogging, so this week I'm going to be posting two entries to make-up for the one I missed last Tuesday. 

Anyway, as you may have guessed from the title of this post, I have recently acquired the new Sony Vegas Movie Studio version 11 editing software for a PC I am going to use just for editing.


Yesterday was the first time I've ever used the software, to edit a short film, and I have to say I picked up the basics pretty easily and Sony Vegas has a clear layout and a set of useful tutorials that can get you started and point out the important features -  and as a BBC editor once said to me, once you know how to edit you can use any software. Its just a case of re-learning which command key or tool does what.

That was the only problem I had, re-learning how to use the keys and shortcuts after having been used to Final Cut's style.

Final Cut is the software I've used for the last few years, ever since  I started using it at media college. I have used Windows Movie Maker, but that was when I was young and creating fanvids with still images. I've also used iMovie, but only to the extent of importing footage off my camera into it, and then exporting it as QuickTimes to use in Final Cut Express - the slimmed down version of FCP I have on my Mac. 

Anyway, so I had re-learn how to do everything, and most of it was straight forward. There was one rather irritating thing though - in FCP you hit the spacebar to start and stop playing the footage on the timeline or in the preview windows - in Sony Vegas you hit the spacebar to start the footage, but when you hit it again, it goes back to where you last left off - if you want to pause the footage you have to either mouse click the playback controls or press Ctrl+F12.

So of course, there I was hitting the space bar automatically all the time, or I'd click the mouse and not actually manage to click pause and the footage would continue to ramble on. It may take another couple of edits before I remember not to keep hitting the spacebar subconsciously.

Then again I managed to find out how to close a gap between tracks on the timeline and how separate audio  from footage through a couple of handy YouTube videos - and they are both straight forward to do. 

Now I've done the basic editing, the next step is titles, credits and exporting - all of which I've had a quick go at so far, but I really need to look at some more tutorials and get more comfortable with the programme. 

I am looking forward to finding all the FX effects and copyright free soundtracks Sony Vegas is meant to have somewhere in the programme, as it would be fun to add some explosions into something - at least I hope that's what the box means by FX! 

Anyway, I'll see how it goes. I think its very clearly laid out and has some nice features so far - for example being able to watch footage on your computer before importing - and I'm hoping to have plenty of editing jobs to do soon, so with practise, tutorials and a few good YouTube videos I should be an expert in it pretty quickly! 

In the meantime, does anyone use or have Sony Vegas Movie Studio? Any thoughts? 

Scene 51: My Top Three Media Websites

Well, its been a busy week for me. I've been editing a short factual film that I also shot. I shall never complain of lack of cutaways again.

I thought I had enough and then before I knew it there were blade lines - I currently use Final Cut Express - and only just enough  shots of random objects to cover them. I also learnt the hard way to manage and clean out my Render Files - I had junk in there from when I first started using my computer! 

Anyway, its been a long week, but I have been looking at gaining more experience out there in the world of media - having been pretty inert the last few months. 

So I've started gathering the cast and crew for a short film I'm going to shoot soon, tried to keep myself motivated with my new script - page 17 at the moment, and I'm wondering whether to keep going and not re-write anything until its finished, or to give into temptation and re-write my second scene now. 

I've also been looking for opportunities to do some freelance writing, and it occurred to me it might be worth doing a list of the websites I use for other media people. 

So here in no particular order here are my three favourite media websites, which I use pretty regularly:

Mandy.com 

A good place I've found, to look for jobs. They advertise not only jobs from independent companies, but the BBC also advertise there. Registration is free, and there is simple form and CV format you can use to apply to a chosen job.

Talent Circle

This site is more for independent and individual filmmakers, and markets itself as the world's filmmaking community. Free to register again, its a good place to look for work experience or collaborations. It also advertises courses and people can pitch their scripts on there too.

BBC Writersroom

One of the top places to go if you're a scriptwriter. It offers lots of advice, including guides to formats, a guide to writing a script and an archive of scripts to read. You can also look at their opportunities page for current competitions and call-outs for scripts.