First Pass Edit: MR271 - Ewok Log Trap

YouTube Link: youtu.be/MJQrzOW4DnE

This FPE has a runtime of 3:08:40, only 4.6% of our footage was used in the episode.

• Edited Episode: youtu.be/_JDERB00Av8
• FPE Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJp0X6DVFEcil7oLxZ67SsMp5rGkGb8fn

Look at that efficiency rating, boy howdy. This was an interesting one from top to bottom.

The build happened basically off-camera (although was recorded piecemeal for b-roll) which I think was a test to see the viability for such a structure. A problem we often run into is trying to do big builds during the actual episode, and it can become an environment that constricts the time and space needed to actually figure things out. That can then back us into a corner of "we already have 2 hours of footage, whatever we have right now is good enough because we have no other option than to proceed." Then we have a ton of footage that we can't really use and the build doesn't make much sense. Looking at you lemon stun gun. This method however would, in theory, make production more efficient and have builds go smoother. We should also have more lessons at the end of the video because more troubleshooting and experimentation would be allowed to happen.

All this said, and yet it's still one of our least efficient eps to date, haha. That's largely because of the skit, not the build. A good portion of the extra runtime is audio running between shots for the skit. None of us were aware we would be doing a skit until maybe 30 minutes before recording, so there was a lot of thinking on our feet that had to happen. Add to this, the model AT-ST which Annaliese had finely crafted, was not built for long-term endurance. So after sitting around HQ for a couple months, come shoot day it was really held together with tape, glue, and a dream. It needed a few touch-ups between shots as it started to develop a serious lean being tossed around so much.

Then we have the commentary portion, which was an extremely last minute addition. The build b-roll was intended to be played over Brian and Jason's description of the trap, but there was so much specific visual indicating (pointing at things and saying "this," "that," "there," and the likes) that to cut away to b-roll would risk losing a lot of context. But then I couldn't really just present the b-roll as is, because the guys were talking over it as though there was no recording, with bad camera audio no less, and there was no self-narration explaining what they were doing. To not include any of the b-roll felt cheap to me, where we start with a fully-built contraption with no real nod to its creation. So I felt like the commentary option was really the only viable move, thankfully it's been fairly well received, as far as things go.

I'm glad the video turned out to be as fun as it is, hopefully this FPE conveys both the chaos and cascading corrective measures that followed its creation.

(side note: this file was a fairly large upload, so it might take a day or so for YT to finish processing the 4K, or even 720/1080 at this point, so put this one in the queue until then if that's important to you)

Brandt H. -- editor, camera operator