60 minutes to 15

January 27th and 28th have been dedicated to re-editing a 60 minute film into a 15 minute "trailer" of sorts to be used at events to promote UCP's activities. The first challenge was figuring out how to get the film onto my editing software on my computer. This was made more challenging by the fact that I do not have the original files for the film in order to edit it from scratch as they were unavailable at the office. To solve this predicament, I found a way to transfer the DVD files onto my editing software which allowed me to edit the film; however, the audio and soundtrack of the film are unable to be edited due to the process of my transferring straight from the DVD. This I completed on January 26th. The 27th was dedicated to eliminating unneeded footage and putting together shots that I though should be used in the film. This process took several hours as it involved me watching the film fully then going back to the editing software where I watched the film again, this time cutting out the big chunks of unneeded shots. Next I took what was left of the trimmed down version of the film (which was approximately 30 minutes in length) and cut it down even further eliminating as much excess film as possible. This  third round eliminated even more and allowed me to start the process of putting together a jigsaw puzzle of a film. I had to grab scenes from several different parts of the film and recombine them into a logical sequence of events telling the story of the film, while keeping the message quick and to the point, emphasizing the achievements of the UCP consumers who were filmed. Once a rough draft was created, it was then reviewed again by myself and the VP of Marketing and Communications and the film was re-edited with certain parts added and other removed as needed. The final product is still having the kinks worked out of it, but it is now about 15-16 minutes long with a logical sequence and somewhat smooth transitions considering the difficulties.