What were some of the most interesting discoveries I made while working on this project? About some of the problems? About myself? About others?

I discovered a lot about Sony Vegas Pro 15 and video editing in general. I thought it would be way more complicated, but as it turns out, video editing (at least at the level I’m at) is quite easy. However, it didn’t take me long to run into lots of problems with my PC. Unfortunately, Nvidia Shadowplay (which is the software I use to record gameplay) was lowering the performance of my computer drastically, which forced me to turn to OBS instead and record everything. I discovered that the engineering field isn’t really for me. Things related to computer parts are just not as enticing as they once were.

What were some of my most challenging moments and what made them so?

Some of the most challenging moments include when I was just starting to learn video editing, and when I was stuck in a loop trying to figure out what was wrong with my PC. I remember when I first started learning Sony Vegas. It was a loooong process. It took me a while to get into the groove and edit way faster and more efficiently. It also took me much longer than I expected to finally find out that the source of all my performance problems was the one program I use to gather clips for montages.

What were some of my most powerful learning moments and what made them so?

I would say the most powerful learning moments were when I finally figured out how to use Sony Vegas. As I stated earlier, it took a lot of time and effort. In fact, when I first started out, I didn’t even know how to trim clips! However, with time came more and more knowledge. If I hadn’t spent so much time learning how to edit, I wouldn’t be where I am today, finishing a montage a month.

What is the most important thing I learned personally?

I think the most important thing I learned personally is to keep going. All the problems with my computer were really starting to get to me. A computer as good as mine should have no problem running Sony Vegas smoothly or running Overwatch without any frame drops. If I had just given up on the matter, I wouldn’t have been able to optimize my PC’s performance, and a bunch of good gameplay clips would’ve been really messed up. However, I was able to persevere through the hardships and get to the heart of the problem.

What did you accomplish this week?

This week, I was able to start on my fourth montage. Last month, I was able to finish my third montage, but due to the short amount of time I had to finish it, it was more of a minitage than a montage. It still ended up being very nice (I consider it to be my best so far). However, I was able to accumulate way more clips this month, allowing me to start editing earlier. I’ve already got my songs for the montage picked out, and I added a few clips into the mix.

What are you working on right now?

Currently, I’m working on the montage. As of right now, the montage is first priority. I can always do the research later. Research on computer parts doesn’t need to be done as soon as possible, since it’s not something that changes frequently. However, ever since I dropped streaming, one montage per month had become an absolute MUST. It’s the very least I can do, since I’m not streaming any more.

What do you plan to do next week?

I know I probably sound like a broken record, but I just want to say that these montages are hard to make. They take a lot of time and effort, and its a trade-off of time for quality. The more time I spend making a montage, they better it will turn out. Therefore, I plan to spend as much time on it as possible. This month is going to be kind of busy, but I’m 100% sure I’ll be able to finish this montage before the 30th.

Deliverables for April

April 8th – Start editing montage #4

April 15th – Continue editing

April 22nd – Continue editing

April 27th – Finish montage #4 and post on Youtube

What did you accomplish this past week?

This past week I gathered a whole bunch of gameplay clips. I think I recorded at least 10-15 clips for my montage within this past week, which is great. It got me the clips I needed to start on my fourth montage. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to finish my research. However, I plan to get that done soon.

What are you working on right now?

Right now, I’m still working on my fourth montage. I started recently, because I didn’t have enough clips until this past week to actually get things done. I’m still deciding whether I want the montage to be 6 or 10 minutes long, but I’m leaning towards 6 at the moment. I’m making decent progress. These things take a while, but hopefully, if I work efficiently, it’ll be finished by the end of March.

What do you plan to do next week?

As of now, the one thing at the very top of my priority list is finishing my fourth montage. From prior experience, I know that these projects take a really long time. I need to put as much effort as I can into putting this montage out by the end of the month. At the very least, it will take me 5 days. At the very most, I will complete it at around mid April, and I don’t want that.

Deliverables for March

March 4th – Research information on GPU’s

March 11th – Research information on hard drives and SSD’s

March 18th – Begin editing fourth montage

March 25th – Finish fourth montage

What did you accomplish this week?

This week I finally finished my third montage. It did take a while, but I completed it last week and uploaded it to YouTube. The montage took a lot of effort and was very time consuming. Making sure that everything flowed nicely and also make sure the clips lined up with the music was a tedious task. However, I had to make sure that I was pumping out at least one montage a month, and fortunately, I pulled through.

What are you working on right now?

Currently, I’m still farming gameplay clips for my montage. This process might take a while, but the end process is worth it. The better the clips, the better the montage will be. I’m also taking it a bit easier right now, since I just finished a montage. I’m currently continuing research on GPU’s.

What do you plan to do next week?

Next week, I definitely won’t have enough clips for a full montage yet. In order to make sure that I stay productive, I will do more research next week. I’m behind on it, and I hope to catch up. For the next week or so I will research information on graphics cards. The following week, I hope to complete research on hard drives and SSD’s.

Deliverables for February/March

February 4th – Gather up enough clips for third montage

February 11th – Return to editing third montage (I had already started it previously, but I didn’t have nearly enough clips at the time)

February 18th – Continue editing

February 25th – Add finishing touches to the montage

March 4th – Research information on GPU’s

March 11th – Research information on hard drives and SSD’s

March 18th – Begin editing fourth montage

March 25th – Finish fourth montage

What did you accomplish this week?

This past week I actually did a lot of editing. After being busy with a bunch of extracurricular activities for a while, it felt good to get back on my computer and open Sony Vegas Pro. I finished the majority of my third montage, and am fairly close to finishing it up. I was planning on doing some more research. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to it, because I was way more focused on getting my editing done with.

What are you working on right now?

As I stated previously, I’m currently working on my third montage. I think the hardest part of the montage is making sure that the clips line up with the music. Making sure the beat of the song matches the clips perfectly is what takes me the longest. However, the end product is 100 times more satisfying to watch. I’m almost done with editing the video.

What do you plan to do next week?

Hopefully, I will be able to finish my third montage. In January, I decided that I would try to finish one montage every month. Previously, it was one montage every other month. However, to do the fact that I’ve pretty much stopped streaming completely, I decided to challenge myself and up the standards. I also plan on learning some new transitions in Sony Vegas, because the ones I use are getting kind of old.

How have I grown throughout the process?

I think I’ve really become more mature as a person in general. This project has really taught me how to prioritize things in my life. I think with all the stuff going on in my life, whether it be school or extracurricular activities, it’s become more and more important that I learn how to properly prioritize things. It also taught me to do things on my own. Before, my parents would always be the one who told me to do my homework. Now, I have a lot more control over my own life.

What areas do I still need to grow?

I think I still have a problem with procrastination. I may have my priorities straighter than before, but that doesn’t matter if I don’t get anything done. This is also a big problem when it comes to doing my 20time Project. Sometimes, when the thought of editing out another montage crosses my mind, I tell myself, “Ahhh, it’s ok. I can do that later.” This is a big problem, because it results in my not getting nearly as much done as I should’ve.

My Next Steps

I think in the next couple weeks I really need to step up my game (pun intended). But in all seriousness, I really need to pick things up a bit. I’ve gathered a bunch of different clips already which is good, I just need to do the actual editing. The editing part is going to take a while, that’s for sure. But hopefully, I will be able to get through it and start cranking out a montage a month since I’ve decided to pretty much drop streaming.

What did you accomplish this week?

This week I haven’t done much. Unfortunately, I’ve been really busy with extracurricular activities recently. I haven’t found the time to hop on Sony Vegas and continue editing my montage. I have, however, managed to continue on with my research on computer parts. I have learned a lot about computer parts so far by using online sources.

What are you working on right now?

Right now, I’m focusing way more on the editing side of things. It didn’t take very long for me to realize that my computer wasn’t going to be able to stand up to frequent streaming for very long. I’ve finished a major portion of the video already, I just need to finish it up. I’m also still researching about computer parts. Currently, I’m finding more information about GPU’s.

What do you plan on accomplishing next week?

Next week, I plan on resuming my original schedule. I hope to continue on with editing my montage. I also am going to do more research and hopefully find out a lot more about Graphics cards. I plan on doing this through videos on Youtube and websites on Google. I will try to put aside other things and make 20time higher on my priorities list.

What did you accomplish this week?

This week, I was able to solve a problem that had plagued me for about 3 weeks already. Ever since Thanksgiving break, something has been going on with my computer. Streaming suddenly became very demanding, and whenever I streamed or recorded gameplay with any software, I would get very bad frame drops and my computer would refuse to work. However, after resetting my PC and installing a couple programs, I was able to fix this problem. I am still testing to see if I have completely solved the problem, but so far it’s been working pretty well.

What are you working on right now?

As I said previously, I’m still in the process of testing some things with my PC. Hopefully, all will go as planned. If this is so, then I might be able to jump back into streaming. Otherwise, I might need to move towards Youtube videos and edit out more videos. I will also try to focus on learning more tips and tricks when it comes to editing with Sony Vegas Pro 15.

What do you plan to do next week?

This depends on how well the testing goes. If problems with my PC are fixed, I will probably get back into streaming. This will also allow me to get more gameplay clips so that I can edit a montage using Sony Vegas. However, if things don’t work out the way I hope, then I will just make a montage out of the gameplay footage that I already have. I will also continue to troubleshoot.

Deliverable Update

I have met the majority of my deliverables. The only thing I still have left is to do research on CPU’s. I have already done research on RAM, which is one of my December deliverables.

How have I grown?

I think I have become much more outgoing. I’m naturally shy, and I’m only loud around people I am comfortable with. However, streaming made me step out of my comfort zone and interact with people more. This helped me in many different ways. It may seem intimidating to think about strangers watching you play video games, but after a while, you get used to it. I think I’ve also become more comfortable with where I’m at as a person. Before, I would look around and feel bad about not taking any SAT classes or missing out on the PSAT. I think that accepting the fact that I suck at video games has actually helped me to kind of accept where I am in life.

What areas do I still need to grow?

I think I still have a lot of room to grow as a person. I still need to grow more comfortable interacting with other people that I’ve never met before or didn’t really talk with as much. I also need to become a more effective communicator, which is actually very important in video games. I’m still working on processing information very quickly and relaying it to others in a very efficient and concise manner. I think that if I grow in these two areas, I will become a much better person who is easier to work with.