Editing Session Nine

In this session we decided to go through the sequence as a group and identify any aspects of it that we weren't happy with or that we thought needed changing. This was just to make sure there were no continuity issues or anything we hadn't spotted before.

The first thing we noticed was that the 'Wellington Productions' at the very beginning of the sequence was not on the screen for long enough. This just meant we had to extend the black clip and extend how long the titles were on for.

Then we realised that the sound effects over the females sections were too loud in comparison to the lack of ambient sound in the males section. this meant we either had to add more sound over this section or turn the volume down on her section. First we tried to find a radio broadcast with Marilyn Monroe speaking to add over the top of the first half of the sequence until the song comes on. We thought this would make it seem that the radio had been on the whole time and when the song comes on its because he switched the radio to the CD. We found a interview with Marilyn speaking about happiness which we thought was relevant to our sequence. However when we listened to it we realised that we preferred what the silence in the first section represented as it was more unnerving to watch. Therefore, we turned down every clip that was over the top of her clips to make them more subtle.

Next we realised that the credit that said 'Liv Mclean' was also too short on the screen. Therefore, we kept the credit as it was and extended the clip featuring the computer.This made the credit appear on screen longer so it was easier to read.

We also noticed that in some of the shots of the female sat on the bed, there was someones bag and coat in the background. We had no other footage of this shot so we used the Ken Burns tool to edit out the items but still keep the footage.

Editing Session Eight

In this editing session me and Liv decided to focus on the credits. We began by looking through the sequence and finding clips within it where we could place them. We had to look for clips where objects moved horizontally across the screen so we could make the credits seem like they were appearing behind them as the object moved across the screen as I had practised previously. We also considered the fact that as we were using white font, we couldn't use a clip where the lighting was too high key as the credits wouldn't be visible. We also referred to my research about order of credits, names and titles that should be included.

After we had decided where we were going to place our credits, we decided to start by doing the last one as it was the easiest. We chose a clip where the villain walked from right to left across the screen from the kitchen to sit down and ate his toast. Originally we tried to place the text on the fireplace. However, when we had done this and watched it back we realised that because the camera didn't pan in parallel to the top of the fireplace, the font seemed to be moving up the wall. Also, because we had to blade the credit tab frame by frame, it meant the lettering was positioned differently in relation to the fireplace in every frame as when we positioned them they weren’t exactly consistent with the previous frame. Therefore, when we played it back, because the credits moved slightly in every frame it appeared to wobble and shake on the screen. We tried to find a way of tagging the text to a specific point on the frame however we didn't manage to find a way.

Instead, to fix this, we came up with the idea of moving the credits position on the screen as we realised if we didn't put it in relation to anything, it wouldn't appear to shake. We chose to place the credits in the right hand bottom corner of the screen so they could still appear to be revealed as the villain walked across the shot. This worked much better as the credits were stationary in the shot but still swiped as he moved across them. We achieved this by blading the credit tab frame by frame and adding a letter of the credit title as if it was being revealed behind him.

In the next session we will have to focus on adding the rest of the credits in before the music is switched on. We would prefer them to be revealed before the radio is switched on as it is the beginning of the climax so it would be more effective if nothing distracted from the action within the shot after this point.

Editing Session Seven

When I looked back at the sound we had edited in the previous session I decided to start thinking about the very end of the sequence. At the time the sequence was in an order so that the male walked through the door, the female turned around, the male stood still and the female spoke. This then cut to a black screen for two seconds before showing the title. The sound was currently overlapping the dialogue and it all finished in sync with then end of that clip. when I watched it back i realised that you could barely hear the dialogue over the sound effects. I tried turning the volume down on all the clips however then the desired effect of increasing volume as a way of increasing tension wasn't effective so I decided to cut the volume of the sound effects before the dialogue.

However, when I looked at where the sound could finish before the dialogue, there was no appropriate place to stop it so I tried changing the order of the clips. I changed the clips so that the female turned around, the male walked through the door, the female spoke and the male stood still. This made more sense as it means the last thing the audience see is a long shot of the male looking directly at the camera. We also slowed this clip down to extend how long the audience had to look at him to make them feel uncomfortable. This seemed more sensible as we could build the sound effects up and cut  them off at the end of the ale walking through the door using the females dialogue as the climax.

After changing the order of the clips it meant there was a silence over the clip of the male stood still staring at the camera. This is because we had cut the sound effects before we had previously planned so there was now nothing to replace it. Therefore, i searched for a 'rise' sound effect to add on the top of that as a secondary climax which finished before the title. Instead of having silence over the title i also decided to add a faint heartbeat over the top and fade it out to create a sound bridge.

Editing Session Six

In this session we decided to focus on the sound in the second section. We had previously decided we wanted to layer different sound effects to build tension, using the title 'Carmen' as the climax.

As a group we began by searching through the sound effects on Final Cut Pro. We found effects that we thought we could use to layer on top of each other to gradually increase the volume and tempo. When we found the sound effects we chose a sound effect we wanted to run the whole way through the second section and layered it over the song that plays on the radio. We did it so as the radio gradually faded out, the base layer faded in. This created a bridge so it didn't just cut between the two different sounds.

Next we began to cut the other sound effects and layer them on top of each other to make the volume rise and fall before the final climax. We faded the beginning and end of each clip in and out again to make sure the clips built up gradually rather than just play over the top of each other.

Editing Session Five

Session 5:
After we had finished the sound on the first section in the previous sections, we initially planned to move onto the final sound section in this session. However, when we sat down as a group and re listened to the sound we weren't as happy with it as we had been at the end of the last session. So we decided we would get audience feedback on the sound we had done so far.

We asked people within our target audience to listen to the sound at the beginning and give us some feedback and we would decide weather to keep the sound or change it depending on this feedback.

After reading the feedback it is clear to us that the effect we had aimed for with the sound wasn't portraying clearly enough. Most people seemed to know the female was dreaming but didn't like the fact the sound increased and decreased, was over the male sections and was of children laughing. Although we had purposely done all these things to make the audience feel disorientated, only one person who gave us feedback picked up on that. Therefore, as a group we decided to delete all the sound on the first section and start again.

Moving forwards we have decided that in the next session we will have to experiment with the sound and keep getting audience feedback. The fact the two narratives cut into each other makes it difficult to have a constant sound track. However, we all agreed that we still want to use the ambient sound track we did add on without blading it otherwise the clips would be completely silent which isn't professional. We are thinking of trying to incorporate some more subtle effects of children giggling in the beginning of the females sections. Them being subtle and one person giggling rather than a whole playground makes that sound effect shorter to fit in with the short clip and more subtle. We could also make these effects more prominent as the females clips progress to make the transition into the song more smooth.

Editing Sessions Three & Four

Session 3:
In session three we began to edit the sound. Now the sequence is cut into each other, the narrative is complete so we decided to focus purely on sound until we had finished this. We would then focus on titles, credits, transitions and anything else that needed attention. So, as we had initially planned we began to search for sounds on the internet and on Final Cut to add over our slips. We muted every clip we had other than the one where the villain pours the water at the beginning and then split the narrative into sections where we knew the sound would be different. We decided to split it into beginning, middle and end as we knew these would be three clear different sound groups. For example for the first section (from the beginning to the radio being switched on) we knew it would be mainly ambient sounds and dream sound effects. The middle section (when the radio is turned on up to when the villain leaves the house) would be the non diegetic sound track. The final section would be from where the villain leaves the house to when he enters to females room and this would be layers of sound effects to build tension. In this section we decided to focus on the middle section briefly and then the beginning.

For the middle section we knew we were going to use the song we had picked based on our audience feedback; Marylin Monroe: My Heart Belongs To Daddy. Therefore, we downloaded this off the internet and imported it into final cut. We then added it to the project and cut it down to get rid of some of the clip as the sound file was 5.01 minutes long. Once we had cut it to a more sensible length we listened the clip to try and fin which section of the song would be most suitable to use. When we listened to the clip we decided it would be effective and important to have to include 'my heart belongs to daddy' to relate to the dialogue at the end of the sequence. So we found the section of the song that included these lyrics and cut it to the right place. When we listened to it we realised there is a drum beat just after 'daddy' which was close to the clip of the female opening her eyes. Therefore we decided to extent the beginning of the clip and move it backwards to make the drum beat and her eyes opening in sync to emphasise her waking up. We then decided that until we moved onto editing the end section of music we would leave that clip for now.

To begin with for section one, we planned just to leave the ambient sound from the clips running through the whole of the first section. However, when we listened to the clips with the volume on, we realised that we the directors and actors in some of the clips were talking to give direction. Therefore, we decided to find an ambient sound track that we could put across all the clips and remove the original audio. This would make it more consistent and it meant no one was talking over them. However, the one clip we were relying on to use the diegetic sound was where the villain pours the water. When we listened to this we realised that half way through the clip there is someone talking in the background. We decided that instead of finding a sound effect for pouring water, we would use the blade tool to try and edit this out. Therefore, i used the zoom tool to see the clip frame by frame and identified exactly where the talking began and finished by using the sound bar to see where the volume peaked. I then used the blade tool to segregate this section and i deleted it. I was worried that when we then watched this back there would be a continuity issue as it would be obvious there was a frame missing. However, when i watched it you couldn't tell because the shot is showing the bubbles created by pouring the water so you couldn't tell.

Session 4:
Because we ran out of time in lesson after editing out the people talking, we picked up the editing at lunch that day to try and get the first section finished. When we came back we found and downloaded our ambient soundtrack off the internet and put it into the sequence. We also decided that we wanted to add sound effects to make it clear the female princess was dreaming. When we thought about what she would be dreaming about we decided to relate her dream to the way she was kidnapped. For example we had the idea that if there was water sound effects she could have been kidnapped at the beach, or children laughing would suggest she was taken from a playground etc. When we thought about these two options we decided the children laughing would be better as it makes it clear she was kidnapped as a child and is more like a stereotypical dream sound effect. Also, the water sound effects could have been confused with the sound effect from pouring water into the glass. So we searched 'children laughing in a playground soundtrack' and listened through the ones we found. WE picked our favourite and downloaded it. When we added it to the sequence we initially planned just to play this track over the females clips. However, when we did this, it sounded really strange for laughing to be introduced and stopped without it fading out or blending into another sound. Therefore, we decided that we would try to make the soundtrack continuous through the whole clip but make it louder on the females sections and quieter on the males. So first we bladed the children sound effect and ambient sound effect at the beginning and end of each of the female sections. Looking back on this we didn't have to blade the ambient effect as we didn't end up changing the volume or blending this clip. However, it was useful to blade the children's effects as it allowed us to overlap each clip and change the volume  to make it increase and decrease at the right times. When we listened to it when we thought we had finished, we realised that there were times where the volume didn't fade in and out very well and it sounded like block noise. This was because we had overlapped the clips but hadn't faded them in and out of each other so there was a jump in volume as one clip finished and the other started.  Therefore, we used the sound bar on the clips to fade the sound in and fade it out which made a massive difference.

Editing Session Two

21/02/17

In terms of the different sections, we had previously decided that because there were two narratives that would be cut into each other, we would each edit our initial clips we individually shot. This would involve trimming and cutting them to ensure the continuity was consistent throughout our own footage. This was in case we were missing footage or needed to re-film any sections we would know which member of the groups footage that was. Once our individual sections were sorted, we decided we would come back as a group and cut the two narratives into each other together. This is because it would have been difficult to do this individually separating it into four equal sections. So, for this session our main priority was for me to edit my individual footage and then to reconvene as a group to cut the narratives into each other. We decided we would focus on sound, credits and titles in a later session.

In my second editing session, the rest of my group had already had their individual footage edited so they were within their allotted 30 second time allowance. However, because I wasn't present for the previous session my footage was not yet cut. The first thing I did was trimming each of my clips to get rid of any irrelevant footage and to ensure there was continuity throughout my clips. The biggest problem I found was that when I had put all my relevant footage together, the clips came to a total time of 55 seconds. This was an issue as we all knew we were restricted to a strict time limit of 30 seconds to stay as close to the brief as possible. Therefore, I had to consider ways of cutting some of my clips down using methods like jump cuts and taking out any footage that wasn't strictly relevant to the time line. For example, there was a clip of the villain eating toast which I decided to take out as we already had a brief clip of him eating so it was not essential to include. When I had cut out everything I thought was necessary, my section was still over the time limit by 24 seconds. However, when I spoke to my group we realised all our sections were over the time limit and that it would be sensible to cut the narratives into each other before we all cut out more footage.

When we were cutting the two narratives into each other, we sat as a group and went through the process of cutting the males narrative into the females. We decided to do it like this because we knew that both narratives were already in order, so inserting one into the other would be the best way to go about it. We came across some issues when we did this in terms of our initial plans, story boards and shot lists. For example, we planned that when the female looked out the window it would cut to her point of view of the villain walking across the courtyard. However, this was not possible because it wasn't consistent with the continuity. Instead we had to edit the clips to make it seem like the female was looking out of the window for him but couldn't see him. Then the audience would see him walking across the courtyard and she wouldn't which explains why she is so surprised when he enters the room at the end of the narrative Also, the fact the clip was at 3 minutes 44 seconds was another issue. We got around this by again cutting parts out of the narrative that we didn't need. We could see this clearer now the two narratives had been cut into each other. By the end of the session we had our sequence cut down to 2 minutes 3 seconds which is within the brief. We finished by splitting the final narrative up again into approximately 30 second time periods. This means that moving forwards we can insert credits, play with the volume and music and put title sequences into our own sections again.

The main techniques and tools I used throughout my editing session were the cut and trim tools and the blade tool. I only focussed on these two particularly in this session because I was only concentrating on my time limit and continuity. I had never used the blade tool but I found it extremely useful. It meant that instead of having to insert the same video multiple times into different spaces in the sequence, you could just split one clip into multiple sections. This also meant the continuity was perfect as I wasn’t trying to find the right time to cut the different clips to make sure they stopped and finished at the right time.