Editing Diary
Wednesday 25th November 2015
We started editing, we had new software to work with so we spent the hour learning the basics of how the soft ware works and started the beginning of our rough cut
Friday 27th November 2015
We knew we had two hours to continue work in today so we straight away carried on with editing and getting our rough cut put together. We focused on getting all the clips in, with some editing being done but not perfected as we have to get our rough cut due in soon. We made some important decisions such as getting rid of some shots, most being a few that weren’t quite filmed right or that we didn’t need.
We also found that we had missed one or two close ups that we were meant to have filmed but didn’t, so just decided to get rid of them as they weren’t really needed within the film.
There were also some shots that we didn’t feel that went well on after the other like we had initially planned so this lead to us cutting some clips and making them into two shot that we could then separate and slot between other shots to make the film look more continuous.
We had our shot list and script up on another computer so we could refer to this as to what shots were meant to be where and when they should be speaking etc. This made it very easy to put the different film clips into order quickly and efficiently.
We finished our rough cut in this lesson and decided we would start looking for music and post any ideas on the group Facebook page.
Wednesday 2nd December 2015
As a group we searched through shared folders which are obtainable to everyone; these folders contained musical tracks that could be considered useful for our final production. Unfortunately we could not find any tracks that were suitable, however this was a useful exercise as we decided what music was needed. This included an acoustic guitar track for the beginning of our film as well as additional sound effects such as rustling objects and loose change.
We also edited some of our production by cutting down shots that were deemed too long and put a slow motion effect onto some shots to give a more realistic representation of a character awakening for the audience.
Wednesday 6th January 2016
On Wednesday, we continued with some of our editing and looked around for some music.
Friday 8th January 2016
We discussed the sound effects we thought we might use within our film, these included paper rustling to add to one of our scenes, the one where Ethan picks up Matts stuff, and some changed being dropped for the scene when Matt picks up his hat with the change in/ or when we drop change into the hat.
We found several different music pieces to use for the beginning scenes of our film when there is no dialogue we are going to put these over the top of our film to decide which sounds better. Jordan was to download these, then bring them into the next editing session.
We talked about the fact that we would not have any music for the scene by the subway until the dialogue comes in the next scene so that it does not suddenly jump from being all music to nothing and just dialogue.
We discussed re-filming and planned to re film on Friday the 15th. We wrote down the new scenes we would do and discussed the shots. We decided to get rid of our original scene 2, and re-film this in the subway but using the same shots. Then we would film new shots for the chase scene but keep the shots up until the two shot of them running.
The new shots were, two shot or wide shot of them running with M far behind E.
Tracking shot of E running.
Close up of E in a said location
Shot of M running up to said location E, and then he gives up.
Wide shot/ tracking of M walking back from giving up.
The cut and replicate last shots of M walking past the car park (because we could hear change in the original shot).
We discussed that Tristan would bring the Jacket for Ethan, the bag that Matt used, beanie and gloves for Ethan and put a jumper in the bag so it looked padded
Joe would bring the guitar, and cast.
Jordan: Shot list
Monday 11th January 2016
Jordan and Joe did the editing of the scenes we were keeping and made sure they were how we wanted them, whilst Faye and Tristan went out and recorded the two sound effects we had discussed.
Wednesday 13th January 2016
We added the acoustic guitar track onto our rough cut to act as background music. As a group we decided it would be a good idea to fade the music out to add a naturalistic effect onto our film, we also decided that we would fade the music out during the evening scene before the protagonist talks, allowing diegetic sound to replace the background music for the remainder of the short film so the audience would be able to hear the characters talk and therefore understand the storyline.
Due to complications, we decided to search how to fade music out and discovered numerous tutorial videos online that proved to be useful with what we wanted to achieve.
Wednesday 20th January 2016
As a group we placed our newly filmed footage in replacement of the old. This required us to look back through the film to be able to place the right scene in the right place, we also shortened more of our new scenes.
We received crucial feedback, this included:
* Transition shots to show progression of time, such as the change of scenery when busking.
* Perhaps a cutaway shot to also show progression of time, this would be necessary in the change from day time into night time.
* It was suggested that some of our script could’ve been shortened, such as when Matt (the protagonist) cannot bring himself to steal the items, the line used was ‘I can’t do this, this isn’t right’, a tip we were told was that actions should be able to tell the story and not necessarily the lines, leading to the tip to shorten the line to ‘I can’t do this’
Although we believed this feedback was useful, as a group we believed some of it was not possible to use as the deadline was fast approaching. Therefore, we decided to use transition shots as this was an idea that could be done in the editing programme.
Friday 22nd January 2016
We continued the editing of our short film, we decided to focus on titling. Due to time restrictions we decided to place the titling in the same shot as the film whilst it is playing, we looked through multiple title sequences to try find a suitable one.
Monday 25th January 2016
We added transition shots to our production to show the progression of time, these were added during scene changes. We also created the company logo which we would use at the beginning of our film as well as the end credits to go at the end.
Wednesday 27th January 2016
We were given vital feedback again when our film was viewed:
* The acoustic guitar track playing before the actual film begins to add a sense of fluidity, we decided to add our logo onto the beginning with the track playing in the background.
* In future to shoot the same scene in multiple ways so we have a variety of choice, this piece of criticism was used in the scene where our antagonist steals the items.
However, this feedback (although useful) was not possible to integrate into our final production due to the deadline.
Overall, in the editing stage we largely worked as a group. There were a few times when we split up and work on different things like when we had to work out how to fade the music during the film this was something Jordan and Faye worked on whilst Joe and I worked on note making, ensuring we typed up all of the editing process as a group. Towards the end of the editing process we split into pairs with Jordan and Joe working on getting shots together whilst Faye and I worked on things like sound effects. We found pieces of paper, rustling them in front of the phone to record the sound which we then incorporated into our final production, we also used loose change and dropped them into a hat and recorded that sound effect; as when we tried this on the filming day it was unsuccessful to hear. I personally found working as a group on the editing really helped, especially since we could all enforce new ideas and help one another out during difficulties. It allowed different ideas to be expressed and we could think of the best ideas for editing, because there were 4 of us we were able to ensure that the rough cut and eventually the final cut was completed on time.