Critical Evaluation

Lewis Hague - 20043546

Throughout the module in post-production, I have learnt many aspects associated with editing film that have helped me produce my three editing tasks. From second-hand research I undertook outside of workshops, to the range of films we looked at in class. I now feel more confident in editing films and working as a team/collaborating with other people.

The 3 main projects we undertook throughout this module included a thriller/drama titled 'Night Journey', a documentary on rock climbing and a comedy titled 'Out O' Date'. Editing these three films has given me experience in being confronted with different styles of films to edit. One drama, one documentary and one comedy. All in which I discovered required different types of editing techniques. Chris was hugely helpful throughout the course; he taught us many things including the importance of building an emotional connection to the characters, which is fundamental to the success of a piece.

_____________________________________________________________________________

The first task, 'Night Journey' I feel went well; Fraser (my partner) and I managed to create an atmospheric cut that engaged the audience with the character(s) on-screen. 

We used a couple of non-diegetic soundtracks/effects throughout the film that helped the story progress. From studying post-production, I have learnt that choosing the right music to use in your film is such an important decision. Most of the time it's your key to emotion, and you don't want anything too over-powering that will convey the wrong emotion. I'm happy with the tracks we chose; they're not too over-powering for the audience and they don't 'force' an emotion upon them, I feel they're more atmospheric than anything. 

The process of producing a fine cut Fraser and I were happy with went better than I expected. We first began by logging all the footage and re-naming it all on Final Cut Pro (FCP). We labelled the footage following the same format (e.g.) - 

How we labelled our footage

• (No sound on the clip) 

CU (The type of shot, in this case close up) 

NIGHT (The time of day)

EXT (Interior or exterior)

TRAIN PASSES (Short description of what's happening in the shot)

"• CU NIGHT EXT TRAIN PASSES"


We were taught the simplest way of labelling footage to make our job easier and more efficient when editing. Throughout the module I have learnt the importance of labelling all the footage and categorising them. Before-hand, I often shied away from labelling all the footage, I would only label a few clips that I felt were of importance. But I soon discovered that by labelling all the footage I would be able to edit much more quickly and efficiently. 

Whilst labelling the footage, we would label/categorise any good/bad takes that were worth using (or not). This once again made the process of editing quicker and easier. (Shown left) Each colour indicates whether the shot was a bad take, a good take etc. meaning if there were more than one take of the same shot/scene, we would be able to identify the best one straight away.



After logging all the footage, we began the rough assembly... so we created an assembly following this structure -

[Shots of the train passing through the countryside] -> [Shots within the train station] -> [All the scenes onboard the train juxtaposed with shots of the train passing by] we went with this structure because we wanted to initially let the audience know that the story will take place on a train, hence why we showed the train passing by on the tracks before we cut to the train station footage. It was also to create an intro before the story got going.

After looking through the footage I thought it would be a good idea to show the villain in the film straight away to create an impact/connote enigma. Later in the edit I added an echoing drum sound effect to introduce him 'with a bang'. The shot cuts to black and then the story itself begins, leaving the audience wondering 'who is this man?' I enjoy leaving the audience wanting more, I think it's an effective technique that helps keep hold of the audience's attention.

Me and Fraser devised a system of editing 'Night Journey'. We felt it would be easier if we collaborated with one another and threw ideas into the mixing bowl, went away and edited a section individually. Then we met back up, watched whoever had edited a section and made any changes then. This technique actually worked brilliantly. As Fraser or I were able to follow on from what the other person had done.

Once we had finished the edit, we watched it through many times and made any changes that were necessary. Any ideas we had, for example making the dream sequence towards the end slightly blurry to indicate it was in fact a dream, or Fraser's idea of fading out the shot in which the main protagonist falls asleep, to once again indicate that he is now dreaming were embraced.

Fade out to connote the idea of a dream

Dream sequence with an added blurred effect

We never had conflicting opinions which greatly helped with the process of the edit. Our thought-paths appeared to be on the same wave-length and the film we edited I think feels seamless and well-constructured.

Referring to Walter Murch's theory of six, we stuck with creating an emotional connection to the main character by always cutting back to him. The story progressed via the use of 'small-montages' of the train passing by and the dream sequence.

Strengths

I felt we created an atmospheric piece that is clear enough to understand but implements a sense of enigma.

The edit I think is well put together; a smooth piece with the combination of music

The use (but not over-use) of effects e.g. opacity, fade-ins, fade-outs on both the visuals and soundtracks/effects etc.

Cross-fade to show time passing

Weaknesses

The sequence towards the end in which the train comes to a halt, appears to be a continuity error in which the curtains are open and then closed again in the next shot, with the couple missing.

I wonder if some of the narration/dialogue appears random at times, but perhaps it was the script itself that felt 'strange'.

In conclusion, I am happy with the edit we have produced. The biggest thing I took away from this project was the importance of creating a connection to the main character, without it the audience don't care and why should you.

______________________________________________________________________________

The second task, 'In A Climber's Hands' was a documentary about a man rock-climbing as a hobby. Me and Fraser followed the same routine again by logging the footage, labelling it all and assembling a rough-cut.

Overall we are both happy with final outcome. We had a few problems along the way, such as creating a first edit with soundtracks we discovered we couldn't use, which was unfortunate because we both really enjoyed the edit. However our second and final edit we are just as happy with; the soundtracks used are not overpowering and the structure (interviews combined with scenes of him climbing/talking) felt fluent and well put together.

Adding titles to the opening shot.

The things I have learnt whilst editing the documentary include the following -

• The importance of cutting to the subject when they are saying something of importance.

• Interviews are key to the progression of the story.

• If the main subject talks about something, then show the audience what they're talking about... for example in our edit, the main character states  how Stanage Edge is one of the most famous climbing ares in Britain, so we cut to a shot of him stood looking up at Stanage Edge. (shown below)

 Me and Fraser followed the same editing process as we did with 'Night Journey' and once again it worked effectively; we were able to collaborate together when we needed to do so and edit together as well as separately when we needed to do so.

The strengths of our piece include the following -

The distinctive soundtrack put over the film that features a crockery/distorted sound effect that fits the piece/is not overpowering.

The length of time between the subject talking. We allowed enough breathing room for the audience to take in the scale and landscape of the scenery.

The amount of information we chose to include I felt was enough, and the information itself all felt relevant to the story.

Personally the jump-cuts I incorporated worked, because the piece is about a young boy rock climbing and the jump-cuts I feel would appeal to the younger audiences. It also shows the progression of time in a 'modern' way.

The weaknesses of our piece include the following -

The quality of the interviews were very poor, the sound quality was almost not usable so it was hard to find the right dialogue to use.

This shot should have been taken out - it's too overexposed and almost looks as if someone has photoshopped half of the picture out.

There are a few shots of him climbing that I feel go on for too long, and the shot themselves are not that visually pleasing. (shown below)

________________________________________________________________________________

Our final task was to edit a comedy titled 'Out O' Date', this time individually. I was looking forward to having the opportunity to work on a project myself,  as I had experienced working in a team for the last year and a half, so the opportunity to work alone and incorporate my own ideas was welcomed.

I am very happy overall with the edit I cut together, however I found it very challenging at times... I spent many hours on certain sections trying to perfect the audio as in certain clips the audio was either missing, or cars would pass, and cars wouldn't pass in other shots. In certain circumstances I overlaid multiple wilds tracks to try and make some sections blend together naturally.

Overlaying wild tracks... I also overlaid another wild track
of 'cars passing by' to make the scene more seamless.

Throughout the edit, I stuck to the importance of cutting quickly, not to stay too long on one person. A quick, snappy edit can increase the pace of a comedy and increase the humour. I also learnt the importance of cutting to people's reactions when something funny was said. It increases the comedic value if the audience can see the person's reaction to something.

I added many fade-ins and fade-outs to my sound effects/dialogue. It helped make the piece more fluent and natural. In one case, to end the scene in the car-park and introduce the scene at the house, I added a long fade-in of the milk van parking up as to make the transition feel natural. (shown below)

I also added a comedic tyre screech but decided to take it
 out after the feedback I received during the screening.

The sections in which the car approached and the woman walked over was a challenge to cut. I had to rapidly reduce the amount of time it took for the lady to walk over to the main protagonist.

The footsteps were a challenge to sync but I feel in the end I did a good job of making it look/sound natural.

The last section of the film in which the milkmen arrive back at the house I feel I did particularly well at. I feel I made the right cuts where they were needed, no shots carried on too long and the sound edit was strong enough for it to feel natural.

Unfortunately during the whole edit, I noticed a couple of 'blips' in the audio when I was cutting, the blips weren't in the audio recordings themselves but an issue within FCP that I didn't know how to solve. Apart from these hiccups I feel the transitions of sounds work well.

In conclusion I think my cut of the comedy 'Out O' Date' is well-paced, feels natural and the cuts arrive when they are needed. The sound isn't perfect and you can slightly tell when audio ends and comes back again, but I did my best in overlaying wild tracks, adding fade-ins etc. to make it seem as fluent as possible.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Reflecting back on this module, I have made a lot of progress in my knowledge and understanding of editing. The research I have undertaken that is discussed earlier in the blog, combined with the sessions in class have made me feel more comfortable and confident in editing film. I have experienced working as a team and working individually, both in which I am now more confident with. I am looking forward to expanding my knowledge of editing next year and tackling any tasks that come my way.