Editing Practical
Post-production
Before, we managed to edit the match on action of the opening waking up scene fairly tightly, despite minor continuity errors like Emma's hand changing position in relation to the sleeping bag. Nevertheless, we moved on to focus on the montage which we also previously arranged according to our storyboard with some alterations like rearranging and removing the bathroom scenes.
This was edited slightly including speeding up the planned time lapses of traffic and trimming clips, yet still remains well over the 2 minute limit. Consequently, I was in charge of being very harsh and cutting and trimming clips.
This first started with trimming more clips, yet when we got to more significant and larger clips, there was some disagreement with what extent to trim to or maybe remove clips. This happened for the long walking clips.
Instead, I managed to trim both of the clips until Emma's position was fairly similar in both and then moved them together to include a graphic match to show that the homeless character is always moving between locations etc. Although, this made a fairly long clip of walking, it meant we were able to trim both clips' length and get a shorter duration.
These clips were both stabilized to remove shakiness, yet we assigned Angel to later use "After Effects" to further make the clip smoother and make the transaction/graphic match more professional, as the clips are slightly different.
Furthermore, a similar graphic match/continuity technique was used between the transactions of two other scenes. This was decided as when the following scenes were trimmed, I noticed the similarity of an object walking from left to right. It wouldn't be noticeable but cutting the below together so you eyes follow the object from left to right (i.e. pedestrian and kid) and makes the clips more fluent rather than having so many choppy movements in frame.
Above: An extreme long shot and a long shot.
Once doing this, the clip was under the 2 minute mark. Therefore, we hoped including the chosen production companies would extend the duration of the clip. Emma downloaded and inserted the clips, which we selected as a group. This included the decided major production company "Film 4", which usually helps fund the production and marketing of British social realism films like "Trainspotting".
As a group, we also choose to use my production company title as it supposedly was the most fitting with our genre, as Angel's was said to be like a horror production company and Emma's sparkly production company introduction didn't fulfil the 'gritty' urban feel we aimed. Personally, I felt Caitlin's was suitable as well and was better quality due to its simplicity, as when mine was added its low quality makes it hard to read the production company title. Also, the sound was too loud and abrupt, so we had to lower it.
After this, the film opening still didn't reach the 2 minute mark, but we still needed to add in the title. The title was created by Caitlin after researching conventions of title openings from social realism films like "Fish Tank", "The Selfish Giant" and "Trainspotting", all of which use simplistic white font typically on a black or dark background. To link with our decided name "CARDBOARD CITY", based on the district in London which used to be populated by those that are homeless, the font was similar to the typography used in the London Underground. Although it is not immediately recognisable, we still felt it was fitting and conformed to the simplistic style of font used within our genre.
As planned in our storyboard, this title was inserted in between the closing of the locket and the start of the montage. We felt, including a gap with a black screen would be less abrupt than just immediately showing the title after the planned snap of the locket. I believe this was a good idea because it allowed me to manipulate the sound of this scene and creates a better impact and transition into the montage.
Similarly, at the start of the waking up scene we inserted another black screen and using the "Dissolve" effect provided, made the start fade from black like planned. Collectively, we decided that this fade was incredibly quick and didn't have the effect we wished for. Emma tried to blade sections and exponentially alter each frame's opacity. This took a long time and still did not have the result we was hoping for, so we continued to use this "Dissolve" effect.
Still this did not reach the 2 minute mark so my group inserted repeated scenes like Emma walking a time lapse instead of the shots we were unable to film or include i.e. the bathroom scene. We planned on going back and filming the graveyard scene at a different, modern location. Yet, upon watching and discussing we felt doing this would add a conclusion to the locket idea, and hence, make the opening scene appear like a short film. Instead, Emma and I returned to Maidstone to film some shots we planned in our storyboard and had to cut. This involved the bench scene of Angel walking away from Emma in disgust, before realising that he will be in the "scum" scene. Instead, I was used in the recreation.
Other realisations while editing included the talking on camera, blurriness, shakiness, continuity errors and other incidents where unwanted props were in frame. Some of these were sorted by using "Stabilizer" and sound manipulation. Yet, one issue included the begging shot, unfortunately where I can be seen holding Emma's bag. Nevertheless, sadly this is included in the film opening as no one failed to notice apart from myself. Including the newly filmed shots allowed for no repetitions and the film to reach the 2 minute mark. With this in mind we began colour grading, manipulating sound and adding in the credits.
Above: A long shot.
With all the shots finally added correctly, I began with Angel to colour grade. Previously in preparation I researched colour grading and attempted a dark, grimy style. Angel and I both agreed this was too dark and didn't suit the atmosphere we wanted to achieve. Instead, Angel began editing the colour of the waking up scene. As a group we decided to use a low saturation, slightly dark and muted palette. Angel tried to remember the changes almost like saving a preset, that I did in "After Effects", but found that due to different lighting of clips the colour is different. So, I helped altering the colour of the clips in the montage where the lighting was different. I did this by eye, which is not very efficient but it got the job done.
I did have an issue with maintaing the skin tones without making Emma look washed out due to the low saturation. Though this would help the overall effect that Emma is homeless and most likely looks malnourished. The most significant issues was with the artificial lighting of the Oxford Circus tube station. The light meant that there was a yellow bright hue that I was unable to remove. I tried altering the colour by adding contrasting blue hues, but this looked slightly to cold. I also tried lowering the saturation but the skin colour was not right. Instead, my group collectively decided that the following look would be okay.
Some other shots including the time lapses include bright colours which affected the colour grading process. Another issue with this time lapse is the sound. Most of the clips were muted so I knew I had to add sound to them, but we left this clip's sound as it is. We wanted a collection of harsh, loud urban sounds like trains and sirens and quieter urban sounds to reflect the mood and feelings of the protagonist in certain conditions. This included the addition of a loud echoing train sound during the confrontational "scum" scene, which rings out to emphasise and parallel the impact of the insult.
Yet, with this clip as we sped it up, the sound is also sped up. Our group queried over the idea that it seemed ridiculous especially with high pitched siren, due to the change in speed and pitch, but we stuck with the sound as we felt it had the urgency and collective abruptness of urban sounds we wanted to achieve.
The collection of urban noises was further developed by layering the soundtracks sourced as well as my own. I messed around with the volume to make certain sounds fit better, this was enforced by the use of the 'fade' tool that allowed me to layer sounds more effectively. However, the sound at the beginning of the opening scene is not exactly fitting, as the noises are of close traffic, while wanted more hushed and distanced traffic. Similarly, there are some shots of footsteps and passing people's conversations, although this adds to the atmosphere, is not exactly fitting when distanced pedestrians are seen instead of those close enough to hear their footsteps. An example of this is when there is a change in focus behind Emma as she removes her hood.
On the other hand, I felt the most successful sound was the start of the montage, whereby Emma closes the locket and it cuts to the title. The closing of the locket sound was located by the following site by Emma and we felt it was fitting. It was incredibly hard to try and get it to snap at the exact time, but after zooming in and adjusting the position of the snap with the frame of the locket shutting I felt it is fairly tightly done. I also manipulated the volume of this sound clip to make it quieter and less obvious but still remaining the impact as it transitions to the title. This impact was done by removing all sound apart from the echo of the diegetic locket snap as it cuts to black to make it more sudden. However, Emma and Caitlin commented that it is too loud. I tried making it a little quieter, but the volume was still queried. I think this was because of that echoey sound that heightens the snap. I thought this was effective, but I think the rest of my group was unsure. Unable to change the echo in the clip we moved on.
Next, Angel and I decided to introduce sound when the montage starts. This later developed to myself adding a loud car honk as soon as the title appears to gain attention and, therefore, create a bigger introduction to the film. This was quite sudden after the silence, so using the fade tool I was able to make it more subtle while still producing the impact I wanted to achieve. This non diegetic continues as a diegetic sound of the following clip to allow for a smooth transition into the montage.
Other less obvious diegetic sounds include the quiet diegetic rustle of the bin bag as Emma initially wakes up. This was also sourced by Emma, and like the locket snap, I had to try and find the appropriate frames to add this rustle. Once all of this was done, Angel began to add the credits.
The timings of the credits were decided by Emma and used Caitlin's simplistic white font like the typography of the title that conforms to social realism films. Although, other social realism film openings don't include any credits, the brief we had to fulfil included the use of credits. We were worried due to the montage that adding credits would make it seem like title credits, which is not what we were aiming for. Yet, influenced by my "Maniac" deconstruction, which also features quick cross cutting of locations, similar to a montage, we decided to add them in with a simple fade animation. We didn't want credits just to appear, and due to "Maniac"'s similar shots that use credits that slightly fade and glow, we thought this was best.
Without any credits in social realism films we have deconstructed we were also unsure whether to include just names or titles like "Directed by David Fincher" in other credits sequences like "SE7EN". Emma went plain and simple with just names most of which were made up so it didn't seem too much like title credits.
Personal Comments
Overall I felt the editing process was quickly and efficiently done. There was some tensions between the group in decisions, but we were all able to communicate fairly well. I felt more research could have been done in the conventions of social realism films so that we could make it more identifiable, but I think the actual footage with some errors and issues with mise-en-scene was what made the film not entirely what we wanted to achieve. Especially with the removal of the graveyard scene which Angel was worried about incase the film loses its only plot and context. Though I am happy we decided not to include it, as I agree it would look like a short film and I think it would cause more tensions while editing. Although, the removal of these planned shots could make it seem too simple, the amount of depth in our ideas around typography and sound, is what I believe made our piece successful.
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