Brief 3 - 'Out Of Date' Feedback

I have received some helpful feedback on my comedy rough edit:

 To reduce the amount of time it takes foe the woman to walk across the car-park. Initially I thought I had cut this down enough, but I was told it still needed cutting down considerably, so I cut a second or two from each frame to reduce the length.

 Before, in this shot it looked as if the man was waiting around, so I cut on the point in which he is turning around, to create a snappier, more effective and believable edit.

The length of this shot was reduced as it looked as if he was about to talk.

 I created a quicker cut to show more of the woman's reaction when the man insults her. Thus hopefully creating more of an impacting on the audience.

The milk van initially came into the shot, but now I have cut it in which the van is already in shot.

- creating a faster paced, snappy edit.

The line in which the woman says "Oh bloody hell, I go' get' frozen peas"was in my rough edit, however I never cut to her saying it. This was because she is smiling in the shot and it put me off using it. But I was told a cut was needed when this line was said, so I created a quick cut lasting 1-2 seconds.




UPDATE

I have added a tyre screech sound effect for the van clip (above) to add comical effect.

Brief 2 - Climbing Documentary

Fine cut

Currently me and Fraser are fine-cutting the rock climbing documentary 'In A Climber's Hands' to make it ready for submission.

• We have extended the fade out on the second soundtrack to make it end on the beat/cut.
Why? The shot of him sat on the rock after achieving his climb is more effective with the sound fading out before it cuts to the shot.

• Cut out the sound of the wind and extended the previous sound to take its place/input a fade.
Why? The wind is obviously off-putting and poor quality.

• Cut the soundtrack (below) earlier and extended the fade, we felt the ambient sound of the footsteps worked effectively just below the interview fades in.

• Chris mentioned we had two endings, so we have taken the final bouldering footage scene and slotted it in-between the first sequence of bouldering/the scene of him climbing with harnesses.

Editing (25/04/13)

I this session, we continued to look at our narrative films that we will be presenting next week. Chris showed us some more possible topics for research, including the following:

• Senna (2010)
• Use of music in Shane Meadows films
• The Swimmer by Lynne Ramsay

Books:

• A Broadcast Engineering Tutorial for Non-Engineers
• Film Style and Technology: History and Analysis

Chris told us the correct way in which to post produce films:

Shoot -> Post -> Importing -> Converting (PRO RESS 422) -> Log -> Sync-sound -> 1st assembly

Chris stressed the importance of syncing up sound from the recording device (in this case the Marantz) to the visuals.

Saving Private Ryan - Omaha Beach

'Saving Private Ryan', (1998) is probably most famous for its opening scene on Omaha Beach. The film won many awards including oscars for the following:

• Best cinematography

• Best director (Steven Spielberg)

• Best effects, sound effects editing

• Best film editing

• Best sound

I do believe the opening to 'Saving Private Ryan' is a showcase in masterful editing, from the sound effects, to the visual cuts, the way in which emotion, fear and action is portrayed. 

I'd like to focus on a small segment that features in the assault on Normandy beach, the part in which Tom Hanks' character Captain Miller has exited the boat, and is taking shelter behind a blockade on the beach. Miller is traumatised, dizzy, confused and some-what frightened. As the audience, we are witnessing this scene through Miller's head. The audience is transported into Miller's body and we're witnessing/experiencing his current state of of mind. This is achieved through the use of POV (point of view) shots, and the sound that is muffled and faded. It's as if a small bomb or grenade has gone off and the excessive ringing has distorted and fractured his sense of surrounding and hearing. 

 This section appears to be slow down slightly, and the imagery judders, shakes and jumps, connoting and corresponding to Miller's current psychical state. This editing technique is highly effective as it clearly represents what Miller and the soldiers are going through. The sound continues with its muffled, distorted effect to further emphasise the effects of being in combat. The camera continues to cut from Miller's POV, to MCUs (medium close-ups) of himself. This allows the audience to witness what he's seeing and for us to witness his response. It also further creates an emotional connection to the main protagonist as we being to sympathise and believe in this character. - A powerful technique seen in most films to keep the audience entertained, connected and interested in the story.

The sound then takes a dramatic change in effect and fades in heavily back to reality. We begin to hear the explosions, shrapnel, soldier's shouting, the waves crashing onto the beach, bullets and ricochet. The sound fades back in as one of Miller's private's asks him what the next move is. 

  

The sound parallels Miller's current psychical and emotional state of mind, by fading back in as his private is trying to communicate with him. Hand-held shows are used to emphasise the action, further making the audience feel more involved, as if they're on the battlefield with the soldiers. 

We never see any German's faces during this scene, just an OTS, and or a POV of them raining down fire on the America soldiers assaulting the beach. I believe this helps build an emotional connection to the allies and a 'hatred' the the Germans. Without seeing the German's faces, we can't connect to them in any shape or form, however by constantly showing the allies' expressions and emotions, we are allowed to build that bond and empathise with the characters.

The editing techniques in this scene, especially the sound really highlight and bring the scene to life.

Bullet Time - (The Matrix)

Bullet time is a special and visual effect that refers to a digitally-enhanced simulation of variable-speed, for example slow motion.

Super slow motion was relied on heavily in 'The Matrix', but certain moments in the script called for something special. These scenes required dynamic camera movement around slow motion events that approached 12,000 fps (frames per second). This is known as 'bullet-time photography.' The passage of time is slowed down so that an observer can see individual bullets flying throughout the scene at a conceivable rate, or any fast-moving object, sometimes with streaks and trails made visible.

The effect is achieved by a set of still cameras positioned around the subject that all capture the action simultaneously. This effect is different to normal slow-motion because multiple cameras are placed around the subject, rather than having one camera move around the subject at an unachievable high speed. 

To produce this effect in 'The Matrix', the camera path was pre-designed using computer-genrated visualisations as a guide. The cameras were positioned behind green-screen, allowing them to add any effects in post-production, and a laser-targeting system was used to create a smooth, complex curve effect seen in the final scene. 

Technology and innovation in this modern age has allowed us to create some incredible effects, and I can't help but think there are many more ways in which we can capture film waiting to be discovered. I'd imagine the editing process of a scene/effect like this to be complex, interesting and fun. The effect is not seen in a lot of films but when it is pulled off correctly it creates an incredible visual effect that adds another layer to a film. 

Morris Dancing Documentary Feedback

Whilst undertaking my post-production module, I have also been editing my documentary production for my Documentary module. I completed my final rough cut a few days ago and I took the opportunity to show Chris to gain some feedback on the piece.

There was one major issue that I wasn't aware of until quite recently. This was that when undertaking an edit, it is my job to sync up all the shots with the correct audio from the Marantz, not to leave it for the sound designer to complete. I never thought about this because in the past, during any production the sound designer has synced up all the sound. It appeared that most of the other groups were also doing the same thing. However now knowing this, it's almost common sense for the editor to sync up the sound, as when it comes to the assembly/rough cut, you are aware almost straight away of the quality of the sound, instead of leaving it til the last minute for the sound designer only to possibly discover that some of the sound is almost un-usable.

In future I will be syncing up the sound with the images before I begin an edit. Currently I don't know how to sync up and merge audio with imagery, so I hope to learn this in the final year as I have chosen post-production for one of my final year modules.

Chris also mentioned that in the industry, asking a sound designer to sync up  the sound for you is as if you're throwing money down the drain. It's such an easy, simple job that most people can achieve.

Regarding the feedback on my piece, the following was said -

• Colour correction needs adding in certain shots
• Take out some shots that don't sit well with the overall feel of the piece
• Perhaps add titles/names to the piece to clarify who'm is talking, who the audience is watching... when, where, who, what etc.
• It would have been interesting to know the backstory of one or two people in the piece - follow someone around, from getting ready before the performance, to their 'daily routine'. It would have been interesting if one of the dancers had an interesting lifestyle behind the paint, for example if one of the dancers was a teacher, and one weekends he drives his car into town, puts on this make-up that's almost a disguise of some sort, and performs to the public without anyone knowing who he is.

It would have been that 'gem' that added an extra layer to our documentary. However it is too late now to make or add any changes but I am happy with what we've achieved.

Colour correction was implemented to some of the washed out shots.

On the right, our primary interview we kept going back too due
to its information and the charismatic people involved.

• A good mixture of dancing footage
• Some shots are generally not very good - this leads onto the point that the edit was difficult. I did struggle to find shots that were both visually pleasing and 'stable'. My stable I mean, almost every shot of Boggart's (the main Morris group in the piece) was hand-held, at the camera/shot was constantly moving, jumping, shifting around from person to person, which made it almost impossible to edit. It forced me to make a cut every 2 seconds, furthermore making it difficult to even reach the 5 minute mark. Saying that, I feel our piece doesn't need to be longer than 5 minutes, I managed to create an effective balance between the interviews, dancing and sound.

The interview on the right unfortunately wasn't useable due to the poor quality audio.

Alice, who did the sound design, has done a good job of keeping the interviews/sounds/dancing seamless throughout the piece. The sound never dips or cuts out in the piece, it's rather a flowing piece that gels together nicely.

My learning process through the edit has improved considerably, my general process of editing has been quicker and more efficient. I've managed to achieve this by the use of shortcuts, which saves a considerable amount of time.

I like to approach things differently when it comes to editing. Not to play it safe and go with the norm, I believe in challenging the audience and their expectations... creating something different or adding something that makes them think 'Oh, I didn't really expect that.'... With the footage I had for the documentary, for the opening I put together a mini-montage of dance footage and overlaid the line "Drinkers, dancers, thieves" into the piece, to add a little 'spice' that would get the bowl rolling and set the mood for the piece. The mood being one in which that is not serious, but a fun, energetic and informative piece.

I will be making a few final changes to piece before the presentation on Monday.

The Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar

The music video directed by Michel Gondry, uses digital effects and real footage to sync the visuals with the soundtrack. The video features a single shot where the camera is placed looking out of a moving train's window. It took 3 months to post-produce this film.

The video/visuals on-screen gradually and intelligently sync to the rhymn/beats of the music. This is sometimes represented naturally in the world via for example a large metal obscure building, or in other cases the simple but effective way of going from day into night, and back again. The visuals begin to repeat themselves (this is probably done via the use of either CGI or clever editing), to furthermore sync to the beats in the song.

The picture below, is an example of the beats syncing with the buildings/visuals on-screen. THe two white drums are to beats, and the tall white ball-pointed buildings are higher notes.

The music video is in some ways mesmerising as it feels natural yet hypnotising. I have never seen this type of work expressed in a music video before, but i consider it original and very effective. Looking further into this music video i discovered that the shots in which the train passes through Valence and Nimes was shot multiple times (around 10) during the day just to get different light gradients. This expresses the work and commitment gone into creating this original piece, and I feel it's a great example of clever editing.

http://vimeo.com/1255501

Comedy Edit - Logging the Footage

Whilst looking through each clips, I began to label the ones that were good takes, thus making it a more efficient process when it comes to editing the piece. 

 I labelled each scene, shot and take, followed by EXT (exterior) or INT (interior), then the type of shot it was. In this case, MS (mid-shot). Finally I labelled what was happening in the shot in short hand to make it easier in identifying which shot is which.

 A majority of the footage was unusable, so I labelled it as 'NG' (no good).

This shows the final stages of labelling the footage... I will now begin to assemble a rough cut.








The importance of following the editing process is slowly but surely being drilled into my head. It gives you a clear pallet to work quickly and efficiently with.

Brief 3 - Comedy Edit

For our final brief, we have been instructed to fine cut one scene from the comedy 'Out Of Date'. We were informed that the dinner scene was very difficult to attempt, due to the difficulties in continuity and the fact that the room itself was too small to properly capture a quality scene.

Taking this on board, I have decided to choose a different scene and perfect that. After looking through each scene, I've decided that the opening scene in the car park is the best one to edit. The scene seems interesting enough, and it uses itself as an introduction to the rest of the film.

The scene I have chosen to edit.

The final edit must be near 2 minutes long, so if I haven't reached the required length after the edit I will implement scene 2 into the film, the one in which the pair return to the house in their milk van.

I'm looking forward to working individually on this edit, as I'll be able to see my own capabilities and solve any problems I come across on my own. I've never edited a comedy before, so this is new to me. I expect the timing of the cuts to be one of the key factors in achieving a good edit.

'Bourne Ultimatum' (2007)

Christopher Rouse

Christopher Rouse won the 'Best Film Editing' Oscar for his work on 'Bourne Ultimatum' (2007). Rouse shows mastery of story, character and pacing.

I have seen all of the Bourne films apart from the latest one, and the editing style has always impressed/intrigued me. At time however the editing is so fast-paced and jerky that you lose track of what's happening, and in some cases it makes you feel nauseous. I can understand the style of editing chosen though, the action on-screen, Bourne's constant fugitive status and need to get away. The editing style puts the audience in the front seat of the car and doesn't hold back.

"It takes tremendous skill to be able to weave half-second fragments of these shots into a coherent scene with logical pacing. There are so many possible combinations of shots that a weaker editor could miss the mark entirely."

The most memorable scene that features the most memorable edit is the scene in which Bourne is running along the rooftops, jumps through a window and fights a man in an apartment. The hand-held footage used almost throughout the scene adds to the intensity of the scene. It makes the audience feel part of the action and the cuts seem as if they symbolise Bourne's mind and psychical state.

The apartment scene/fight.

I have always enjoyed the use of hand-held footage, I think it's an effective piece of film-making that works especially well in thrillers, action and horror genres. Editing hand-held footage is always a fun task; with the camera moving around so much, you're able to make the important decisions on how long to stay on one shot. In most cases, you're required to make several cuts in just a few seconds to remain the level of continuity and relative footage on-screen.

The use of Voiceover

The use of voiceover in some of the programmes shown on UK TV appears to be used for comical effect, and too of course keep the audience informed and on-track with what's happening on-screen. The timing of voiceover in film is very important. Knowing when to bring in the voiceover and when not to use it.

We have used voiceover/narration for the first two briefs, the rock climbing documentary and 'Night Journey'. At first it was difficult knowing when and not to use it. But after spending countless hours editing and implementing the use of voiceover in film it now feels a natural process.

'Come Dine With Me' and 'Magaluf Weekender'

In both of these programmes, the use of voiceover in my opinion is used for comical effect. Secondly but still importantly the informative value.

Comical effect - 'insulting' the people on the show, often with sarcasm.

Informative - Introducing the show, explaining what's happening, their backgrounds etc.

A cookery show pitting contestants against each other to wine and dine, then rate their hosts.

A reality/documentary following four people working in Magaluf as hotel assistants/party hosts. 

Montages

A montage in film is an editing technique in which a series of short shots are edited into a sequence to condense space, time, and information. A montage is a great way of getting a lot of information across to the audience in a short period of time. Examples of effective montages are shown in 'Election' which I briefly discussed near the beginning of this blog, and the '127 Hours' introduction that I also discussed at an earlier date.

The element of time is expressed in montages; condensing a long period of time into short cuts, often combined with a soundtrack. 

Team America: World Police (2004) Montage

The montage scene in Team America could be seen as a satire aimed at other films who use the technique.  The soundtrack used in the montage features the lines "We're gonna need a montage, it takes a montage, to show the passage of time. Show lots of things happening at once, remind everyone of what's going on, every shot show a little improvement, to show it all would take too long. If you end on a fade it seems like more time has passed." 

I think this is brilliance, displaying a montage that contributes to the overall story ark of the film and ironically using the soundtrack to ridicule the technique, but actually doing it in the film. In this case, the shots chosen show the main protagonist working out/training in order to attack the villain in the film and rescue his friend.

Team America aside, most films use the montage technique to great effect in order to progress the story forward and put the audience on a level playing field with the characters on-screen. 

I have yet to create a proper montage during my last years at Uni, but I have edited footage together in the past to music to create a montage. I think it's a fun and interesting process that I would happily do again. 

Documentary Feedback

We received highly positive feedback on the final piece, however there are some things that we were recommended to change...

• Take out the overexposed shots i.e. the ones in the snow
• If the climber says something of importance, or is highly passionate, then show him saying it
• Longer fades in some of the music/narration
• Two endings! Eliminate this

I agree with all the comments mentioned, and me and Fraser will change this accordingly to create a stronger, more visually pleasing piece.

BLOODROP

 'BLOODROP' is a short film directed by Alexei Popogrebsky. The film plays with the idea of perception, what is real and what is not. It tricks the audience's brain throughout its 6 and a half minute length and keeps you wanting more. One of the main reasons the film was created was to take the opportunity to test some concepts in 3D, and see how it would translate to 2D. I've always seen 3D as a gimmick/a way of getting more money out of people, but after seeing this short film, it's clear that if implemented in a different way, it can work brilliantly. (I've yet to view Bloodrop in 3D, but I imagine that with the visuals on-screen and the complexity of the idea, it will work). The edit is well-consructed and fits nicely with the visuals, I will discuss this below.

http://vimeo.com/28786762

Not one word is said throughout the film, but I still feel a strong connection to the main character. This is due to the facial expressions, his mannerisms, movements and body language throughout the piece. The music also helps progress the film forward.

The opening shot (above) zooms/pans out to reveal the room we're in, and by focusing on the picture from the initial starting point, it gives the audience understanding that this picture is of significance to the film. The non-diagetic soundtrack is a fun, spontaneous and unpredictable track full of blips, some percussion and electronic sounds, all in which connote a sense of enigma and spontaneity.

After the camera pans across the room in a single take to reveal the main character, we are treated with a couple of simple but effective cuts, cutting from a MCU to a LMS to show the audience what he's up too, in this case, it looks as if he's making tea on the hob.

The sound of a train about to pass and the ringing of the 'warning' bells fade in, combined with the red lighting effects on the wall. As the train passes the window bursts open, blowing everything everywhere and causing the picture in the opening shot to smash and spurt out a black envelope. Whilst this scene plays out, the soundtrack fades in once again but this time it is more spontaneous and has an almost electronic rhythm to it. In my opinion, it portrays the impression that this isn't the first time this has happened before, and that the character has to deal with this problem on a daily basis.

There is also a quick cut to the picture during this scene, further highlighting the idea that this picture is of importance to the storyline.

As he closes the window, the music fades out and remains at a lower volume... this is a nice little editing technique that parallels the visuals on-screen with the audio. As he opens the envelope and looks at the picture inside, he acknowledges that the picture is more than it seems. The soundtracks continues throughout this segment and beyond at a lower volume, it helps progress the story and 'feel' of it. It rises again when the main character attempts to play a game with the woman in the other room (picture), it helps add to the humour on-screen.

The editing cuts back and forth from the main character to the woman, showing both reactions. As our main character realises another train is approaching, the intensity of the soundtrack increases, subtly triggering a sense of urgency to both the main character and the audience.

The editing in Bloodrop uses sound to its advantage throughout the piece, along with the CGI, set-design, cinematography etc. The final piece I believe is brilliant, brilliant because of its approach that is like no other I've seen. The set is beautifully and carefully designed, the effects put in place are all there to create an impact in which they do so, as well adding to the story. The contrast between the casually dressed 'everyday' man and the mysterious woman in her blue dress add another layer of sophistication to the final piece. The editing and sound I discussed earlier combined help create a fluent and natural piece that simply works.

In all, Bloodrop is fun, quirky, witty, post-modern, and most of all, different. (It's not everyday I see something that is almost completely original, but I think we have one here.)

Brief 2 - Rock Climbing Documentary

Me and Fraser decided it would be best to start from scratch with the rock climbing documentary edit. We felt it allowed us more freedom to implement our own ideas into the project.

After naming all the subclips and putting them into separate folders, Fraser did the task of assembling a rough cut. We went with the idea of starting off with the bedroom scene (location 1), then moving onto the bouldering location (2), and finally the climbing with ropes location (3)... after I looked at the edit, and fine-cut it, we still had to fill another 40 seconds or so. Because of this, I decided to show more bouldering footage up until the end, however I now realise that it seems as if we have two endings, which you should never have for a short film (if any)!

For this scene, I used the jump-cutting technique for when he is climbing the wall, I feel it worked well with the soundtrack and offered a different take on the standard 'one-shot' clip.

Throughout the edit I implemented jump-cuts and synced it with the music; for our first edit it worked brilliantly, however later on we found out we couldn't use the music... so in the end we had two edits, and of course went with the second one. Being brutally honest, I prefer the original    edit a whole lot more than the second one, probably due to the soundtrack and the way in which it worked so well. But on the other hand, sifting through for a fitting soundtrack for the main edit proved a challenge, but one in which we had a strong and positive outcome.

For the opening (LEFT), we went with the panning shot (on a crane) that reveals the climber achieving his goal to the top of a huge rock. We felt it was a fitting opening, a striking and memorable shot to open on that will grab the audience's attention.

Throughout the piece we aimed to give the audience breathing space, as to almost 'let them be at one' with the scenery, the location and the concept of climbing. To do this, we continuously faded in narration in small to medium bursts, never too much to lose the audience's attention with a wall of narration.

The titles also swept in from the right, not too big and over-whelming to take away the intensity on the opening shot.

We added fade-ins, fade-outs and adjusted the sound levels when the narration was played. We would lower the volume of the soundtrack when the narration was played, and rose the levels back up again subtly when it had finished.

We decided to get rid of the basement footage entirely as it was all poor quality.