As a group we needed to think how we could incorporate conventions into our film and make the sequence look professional. We made the narrative as simple as possible and scripted a diegetic conversation explaining to the audience why the two lovers couldn’t be together, as well as using a classic chasing scene. As editor I needed some long, smooth, continuing shots of (Hyden) the lover running ‘to get his girl’. However when editing I discovered that we hadn’t filmed enough footage and it was very difficult for me to try and make the sequence have pace, make sense and continuity. I found the walk leading up to the conversation between the two characters hard as there were no shots of them actually sitting down. Also there was no footage of them walking all the way to the steps, there was record of them walking half way to a bin, but this was 5 feet away from the steps. The next shot was of them walking up the steps, but no footage showing them walking the 5 feet between the bin and the steps. I now had to try and create an authentic conversation so I used reverse shots. This took many lessons cutting so that they didn’t jump and the background looked the same. I also used some fast close ups to break up the sequence to try and hide the fact we hadn’t got enough fluid shots. On top of this there were many shots when the actors had said a line from the script, made a mistake, moved around and changed their position and then continued to start speaking again. Unfortunately for me the conversation was only filmed twice and each time the positions of the characters were very different. If we had got some different angle shots for example low, high angles or from the side perhaps the break a ways would be less obvious…as well as looking visually better. This is why the conversation looks rather choppy and has lots of quick cut a ways; however it was the only way the script would make sense to the audiences.
The soundtrack produced by Rebecca helped tidy up the sequence and finish it nicely. The music had a fast tempo and an up beat tone and rhythm; she used the guitar and piano to create this. As editor I used close ups to show the reactions of the characters, to make the conversation feel more intimate and to engage the audience. If I were to use many long shots it would detract the focus off the main characters and make their surroundings more important and possibly provoke the audience to wonder why have they shot such a long shot of the location? To give the film our own touch we used costume, one of the micro elements. Like the ‘The Notebook’ set in the 1940’s with their beautiful outfits we made a statement but chose the 1980’s. We wanted our film to look different to other groups so instead of having a specific style of filming we chose to focus our ‘group style’ on the costume side and wore heavy boots and clashing patterned shirts to make it apparent that it wasn’t set nowadays. Our location didn’t scream out any time period and the market square is timeless as opposed to the Grand Arcade which is very modern.
We had many difficulties and problems however our first general idea was that we would film from the market square to Cambridge railway station but this was not possible as we weren’t allowed. We wasted time drawing up storyboards on how we would film it when we could have been using this time too actually film. On top of this a member of the group decided to drop out of AS film which meant the remaining members and I had to work extra hard. As individuals we watched other films to see how a climax where the lover realizes they’re making a huge mistake is made. We then brought these ideas to college and incorporated them into our final narratives.
The feedback was good and we asked the viewers if our characters, genre and narrative was believable and of good enough quality. We got some good tips on how to improve the continuity of the editing, flow of the sound effects and improving our dubbing as sometimes it was out of sync. They mentioned how some of the camera didn’t follow the rules of camera work but were nice and steady. The comments were useful, constructive and will help future projects.
In conclusion as editor I worked with the Mac and the Final cut express program most of the time. At first I found all the equipment difficult to use but as the weeks went by I became more familiar with it all. Overall I feel this project went well, we worked together as a group and helped each other when need so. I definitely leant a lot and my editing abilities have improved too.
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