Editing Task
Editing is a very important part of film making, it takes a whole load of shots and fixes them together with sound and effects and then creates a final product. One of the most interesting things about editing is the comparison between the number of shots we filmed on shoot day and the number of shots that were actually used in the final cut. We filmed about eighty shots and only used twenty or thirty in the final cut. The programme we used to edit was Final Cut Pro, which was easy to use and was sufficient for all of our needs. The first thing we had to do was to watch all of our shots which took up two or three lessons and then to make a file in Final Cut Pro called rushes which we transferred all of our shots into to ensure they were not lost or ruined. As well as this, we also made a file called Bin which we put the best shots into, the ones we were likely to use. And we didn't even use all the shots in the Bin. We then began editing and watched the shots in the bin to decide which ones to put in. We originally started with Tommy crawling into view to set the scene, however we realised that this was a continuity error as that happens after Bobby has already fallen asleep in the hotel room, woken up and turned the light on. So we re-arranged it to make the clips in a chronological order. There were many different reasons for discarding the clips, for example at one point there was a disagreement in the group as we had many different extreme close ups of the poison falling down the string, one of which was very slow and big but was at the back of the string and so could not be seen as easily as one of the other shots of the poison where the poison fell down the string but the poison drop itself was not as big or impressive but we had to settle for the shot where the poison fell to the side as it was overall a better shot and the poison could be seen clearer. We wanted to create meaning for the audience and demonstrate that our film followed the conventions of a thriller by using lots of cuts and close ups to build tension and create suspense.
We used many continuity editing devices, for example we used match on action with a shot of Tommy's face and eyes looking at something and then we cut to a shot of Bobby to show that Bobby is what Tommy was looking at.
I think finding and creating the right pace for our thriller was quite hard as we filmed so many close ups and shots that we bought looked good that we wanted as many as possible in the final cut but that resulted in our first cut having way too many shots too quickly and it looked too fast and did not build the tension and suspense we wanted from our thriller. So to fix this we decided on the best shots and removed the ones that weren't needed which slowed the pace down a bit and made our thriller more intense which is the idea, to intrigue and pull the audience in. When Bobby is getting his murder weapons out of his case we originally had many quick cuts of Bobby getting every item down and putting each one down and in the end it looked messy so we slowed it down and decided what we did and didn't need which looked a lot better. created perspective in many ways in our thriller. We ideally wanted to make Bobby, the victim, appear weaker and more vulnerable. We also wanted Tommy, the assassin, to appear as a villain and a stronger character. We achieved this in a number of ways through editing. We had Tommy looking down on Bobby, showing that he was physically and metaphorically overpowering Bobby and is stronger. We saw Bobby sleeping, as an innocent victim. Many of the shots of Bobby were from above, looking down on him, to show that he is the weaker character.
We ideally were not going to have any sound, however on film day we recorded the sound of the air conditioning system in the studio to put over the top of the shots with Tommy in the attic. However when editing we did not use this and instead a sound programme, looking for an eerie and sinister sound that created tension and suspense. We tried many alternative sounds, for example a piano sound that could have been classed as being happy instead of chilling, however this didn't work with our thriller, as suspected so we tried more sinister piano sounds but in the end we created our own. We used many low sounds, and the sounds we chose did in the end sound a little like an air conditioning system. We tried to change the sound or add in an effect every time something important happened, for example when Tommy entered for the first time. My favourite bit about our sound is at the end when it gets lower and lower and fades off as the poison falls down the string and then how there is a few seconds of silence before the titles and some white noise comes up. I think that is a good end to our thriller as it leaves the audience wondering what happens next. We found the sound process hard as in our group, none of us study Music Tech which made it harder for us but we kept trying with multiple different sounds and eventually created an intense sound sequence which builds the drama in our thriller. The sounds we used demonstrated that our film is a thriller as they were mainly low and were not happy sounds and instead were quite dramatic and tense used to build tension and drag the audience in.
Personally I liked the editing process, probably more than the filming process as in my opinion the editing process is more group related and everyone has a say whereas in the filming process everyone has a role and does what they are supposed to do. Final Cut Pro was easy to use when you got the hang of it. I think that the editing process was easier at the very beginning when we were deciding what shot went next because we all worked as a team and put our ideas in, however we did have arguments which is understandable.
If I could go back and do it again I would not do anything differently as I think we all worked hard and our final product is the best work we could have done and I'm happy with it.
The only part of editing that I disliked was finding and creating the sound as we had a few arguments and we found it incredibly difficult, probably harder than the entire editing of the video.
Overall we worked well as a team, we had minor arguments which were settled rationally and we made all the decisions about what to edit, how to edit the pace and the sounds all together and if a member of the group was not completely happy, we discussed it. I tried editing on the computer with the programme as well as giving my opinion. We all put in extra time outside of lessons, alone or in pairs or the whole group.
A lot has changed since editing the preliminary task, the preliminary task was easier as we had less shots so less to choose from and the duration of the video was much shorter and a lot easier. Editing the thriller was harder as it was more important that we get it right as there was more shots and we used music and special effects. The main thing I've learnt from the filmmaking process is appreciation for how hard people have to work and how long it takes. I had no idea how long it takes to edit a two minute sequence which made me understand why it takes so long to edit and film bigger projects. One of the main challenges we had to overcome is tension within the group, during the duration of the filmmaking process we learnt to express our opinion in a civilised manner with our opinion. I think making our thriller easily seen as a thriller was hard as without the music and with the wrong pace it could have been an action movie and didn't look very interesting. 
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