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Editing Process Log:
To start the Editing process we first needed to choose the right editing software. We decided we needed to use something familiar so that we would have a vauge knowlege of how to use the program, and wouldn't waste too much time learning to use a editing program with a steep learning curve as many professional editing programs do these days. Members of our group had experienced using NHC VIDEOPAD PROFFESIONAL as a software in prior editting work not related to this media project and so we decided as a group that this would be the best program to use as it had a lot more simple user interface than proffesional editing programs however did not comprimise of the proffesional features we needed for our film editing. Prior tto the actual editing of our prodution we went away and watched tutorials and read online doctuments, in conjunction with 'playing' with the editor using stock videos in order to learn the in's and out's of editing with it.
Scene 1: Protagonist Walking in
We Started our editing of our production with the first scene. This Scene introduces the protagonist to the audience by the action of him walking down a road, across a road and into the alleyway which is where the climax of our opening scene happens. We felt that the introduction of our character was incredibly important and that there were so many different ways we could film it. Because of this we took 17 takes of this opening scene and decided that we'd choose the most effective in our editing process
After Looking through all 17 takes, and after much deliberation we chose this shot to be the opening scene of our production. this is because it showed the most continuity out of all the shots as the whole shot was filmed in one pan. In the other shots we tried to film one angle then switch to another whis lacked continuity (as between takes the surrounding are would change) and often altered the height of the shot and it's angle making it unitentionally disorientating.
However there was one main problem with this shot. Because it did not stop but rather panned it lasted almost a minute, causing it to be drudging, uniteresting and taking up the much needed time of our thriller opening. We Faced our first problem, we needed to find a way to shorten this clip without disrupting continuity and making the shot disorientating. After deliberation we decided to try cutting the shot up into jumpcuts to shorten the time and speed up the progression of our sequence. We tried this but it seemed to ruin the clip as it made the movement too fast and it became confusing. We needed a soluion, which we found through the use of a black screen. By adding a short duration black screen between the shots we were able to cut between movement without it being confusing. We also found this to add tension in conjunction with the music we had in our production, and really added to the feel of the confused characters mind.
We were so happy with the use of short duration black screens between jumpcuts we decided that this should be staple throught our production and thus decided to use it in all our cuts.
The next part of our opening scene in our production involved the protagonist crossing the road into the alleyway. This was a fairly simple shot and we only took four takes, it was easy to identify the best out of these takes as it was the one where we could see our protagonist clearly. we chose this shot and the only real editing to do to this clip was to trim a bit off the opening and the end of the clip (where we took time to start and finish recording) and make sure the match on action was perfect.
Scene 2: Main Conflict
The Next scene would be a lot harder to edit as the storyline was more intricate and would require a lot more thought. it consisted of the main protagonist , seeing and facing off with a version of himself concieved in his mind. This was the real climax of our thriller opening and needed to be editied in such a way as to convey what we wanted to get across to the audience. we wanted this scene to be very disorientating however we did not want to comprimise the storyline.
We Decided to split up the main conflict sequence up into three distinct sections in order to make editing in order easier for us. This is as follows:
1.the walk down the stairs
2. The looking up of the protagonist seeing himself
3. the protagonists meeting in the middle of the alleyway + conflict
There were a lot of difficult techniques we needed to apply to this editing process. The order of filming events as we wanted it to be edited is as follows:
1. The protagonist walks down the stairs into the alleyway very disorientated and dazed
(this translates into editing as we take the clip of the protagonist walking down the stairs into the alleyway using jumpcuts to create a disorentating effect)
2. The Protagonist walks into the alleyway confusted with his head down. He rises and lifts his head up only to see another version of himself.
(this translates into editing as a jump cut from the stairs to where he stands in the alleyway. over the shoulder shot from antagonists perspective, switches to protagonists perspective as he lifts his head up. they start walking 90 degree moving shot around antagonist as protagonist looks dazed/ confused. jump cut switches with conflict {on 90 degree shot only}.)
3. Conflict between main protagonist and antagonist conflict, however only protagonist is there in his mind, He's not actually physically there.
(this translates into editing as a single shot which shows characters walking towards each other, camera angle drops down and when resurfaces at same angle prior to drop but only with protagonist there. Jump cut switches between this shot and 90 degree moving shot to build tension with music and keep interesting with the varying of shots.)
Event 1 - Main sequence - Editing Process
1. The protagonist walks down the stairs into the alleyway very disorientated and dazed
(this translates into editing as we take the clip of the protagonist walking down the stairs into the alleyway using jumpcuts to create a disorentating effect)
We started off editing the main sequence in the same way we did the previous one, by choosing the clips to use for the sequence. out of the 17 takes we took of the 'walking down the stairs' shot we narrowed it down to two shots that we would use. One of the protagonist walking down the stairs and on of him first setting foot in the alleyway.
we knew prior to editing that we wanted to use jumpcuts whilst the protagonist was moving down the stairs to disorientate the audience and to build tension in the film. But during the process we realised that using jumpcuts in conjunction with short duration black screens was more effective and thus used this technique throught.
Clip 2 of protagonist walking in alley.
Clip 1 of protagonist walking down stairs.
Clip 2 of protagonist walking in alley.
Clip 1 of protagonist walking down stairs.
Jumpcuts follwed by black screens as transitions.
Jumpcuts follwed by black screens as transitions.
transition between clip 1 and 2 using jumpcuts and following match on action.
transition between clip 1 and 2 using jumpcuts and following match on action.
Event 2 - Main sequence - Editing Process
2. The Protagonist walks into the alleyway confusted with his head down. He rises and lifts his head up only to see another version of himself.
(this translates into editing as a jump cut from the stairs to where he stands in the alleyway. over the shoulder shot from antagonists perspective, switches to protagonists perspective as he lifts his head up. they start walking 90 degree moving shot around antagonist as protagonist looks dazed/ confused. jump cut switches with conflict {on 90 degree shot only}.)
This part of editing required a very good knowledge of how to cut/trim clips in order to fit the match on action rule. It started with an over the shoulder shot to the protagonist. as the progonist lifts his head to a point where he can see the antagonist the view switched to an over the shoulder shot of the protagonist looking at the antagonist. followed by a smooth transition into the 90 degree moving shot.
This shot transitions into a 90 degree moving shot circling the characters, starting from behind the antagonist. This shot was to be cut together with the shot from event 3.
Over the shoulder shot from antagonists perspective. Protagonist slowly lifts head.
Switches to 90 degree movement rotation shot.
As head level of protagonis reaches one in which he can see antagonist the shot changes to an over the shoulder shot from his perspective.
90 degree rotation shot.
Event 3 - Main sequence - Editing Process
3. Conflict between main protagonist and antagonist conflict, however only protagonist is there in his mind, He's not actually physically there.
(this translates into editing as a single shot which shows characters walking towards each other, camera angle drops down and when resurfaces at same angle prior to drop but only with protagonist there. Jump cut switches between this shot and 90 degree moving shot to build tension with music and keep interesting with the varying of shots.)
In this event there are cuts between the 90 degree rotational shot and and the single drop shot.
90 degree rotational shot
single Drop shot
90 degree rotational shot
Transitions are jump cuts
90 degree rotational shot
90 degree rotational shot
90 degree rotational shot
single Drop shot
Scene 3: The Protagonist Escape
This was the final scene of the production. And in most ways, it was the most fun to edit. We had a very good idea of how we wanted this edited. It starts with the protagonist waking up otut of his trance (whilst seeing the antagonist, a version of himself created in his mind). He starts to run away, and as he does he drops a red card out of his pocket. It shows him run out of the scene, after his has left the scene you see the alternate version of himself (antagonist) come in and pick it up. Quick cut - showing the protagonist run into another alleyway, which is a dead end he reaches the end, looks for a way out (pov shot), panics and then decides to run out of the alleyway and in the other direction. he reaches another road, pats himself down, lookes around (pov shot) and leaves. It cuts to blank , you see the alternate version of him walk away with the card. another cut to blank, you see the alternate version hold up the card and smile in a creepy manner. Scene ends.
Wide fast Pan across road showing him run.
Cut to him running round corner almost falling. Follows match on action.
Protagonist runs out of scene.
Reaches dead end. Panicing. turns round. POV shot.
Runs out of dead end. transition to POV shot looking around
Walks out onto another road.
Cut back to antagonist walking out, blurs out.
Blank, followed by shot showing protagonist walking out further. Blank
Shot of antagonist smiling.
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