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.