Diary of editing

03:49:00 Drew Anderson 0 Comments

Before the editing process we had to export all of the footage from the two SD cards we filmed on. This took some time due to the amount of footage we had from filming. The total size of the footage was roughly 7GB which was also reliant on the quality of the film (1080p). I then named all of the neccessary files ready for the import in premiere pro to make things easier and better organised.

Day 1:

Today I began the editing of the final video. Firstly, I began with improting the footage into premiere pro. I then began the process of making the titles at the beginning in after effects. This was a timely process which involved me having to create several keyframes and timings to the text. I then had to sync the text with the individual sounds of the typewriter so that it would sound believable but also to add depth and originality the clip. I then imported this aniamtion back into premiere pro where I created an overlay of old film footage. I then focused on the intro which I wanted to be more like a narrative/ storyline. Initially, I had to order all of the footage so that it made narrative sense. From here I could organise the timings and clipping of the video so that it would fit within the time limit. After I had sorted this I colour graded it by going into video "lumetri colour" editor. From here I could settings like exposure, shadows, highlights, and contrast. I could also choose from a range of cinematography presets. Although, in the first scene where the music hadnt cut it, I wanted the film to have a cold, isolated feel. To do this I changed the hue of the image slightly - but not too much as too overwhelm the natural style I was after. Once I had the video files and colour grading sorted I went in with the sound effects. I decided that I wanted there to be crashing wave sounds which I think works well with the undertone of melancholy. Also, I think these sound effects help progress the music video and makes the beginning narrative more interesting as opposed to being completely silent. The sound effects is also a very long sound bridge to the sounds of the waves that are used in the actual film later on which makes things link together so the viewer can almost predict what is going to happen before even seeing it.

Day 2:

On day 2 I started on the beach scenes. This was by far the most time consuming part of the video and in my opinion, the strongest footage. I really liked the lighting which I think really helped with the quality of the film. Also, the editing process took far longer because there was so much footage we could use and I really had to think about what worked the best and how well narrative was coming through by selecting that particular clip. Another time consuming aspect of the editing process was the fact that I converted the HD resolution to 60fps at 30x speed (slow motion). I actually had to create a new premiere project and change the sequence settings to the appopriate frame rate. I had to do this because the camera we were filming on could only film at 24fps which would have meant the footage (if converted to slow motion) would be very jumpy. After I had arranged all of the footage into the correct order and clipped every individual scene which took around 7 hours, I had to render it through. After this I applied a camera recording overlay to teh photobooth scene and also added a vintage film grain which I think makes the film look a little more believable and romantic. In addition, I also applied a film grain sound effect beneath the music audio just to mirror the visuals of the film grain and create this very raw and creative vibe to the film.

Day3:

On the final day I worked a little quicker with the basis of the film completed. This meant I could see what was going on and how the final outcome would be. At this point I primarily focused on the forest and norwich scenes as well as the ending. Again I repeated the steps of the previous clips, cutting and applying presets and colour grading to the footage. Although, for the end scene I had to be very careful with how I composed it. I wanted the end to be very dramatic and leave on an impacting message. Overall I think I acheived this, especialluy with the close up burning shot of the girl in the photo which only emphasises the emotion in the song and narrative. The ending is also fairly enigmatic which makes the ending all the more interesting.

To conclude, I am pleased with the outcome of the editing as I think I have acheived a somewhat proffessional style. I really wanted to convey this depressive message and harsh reality of relationships; something which I think I have managed to do. I also wanted the film to have a very natural energy which I think has been well presented through the hand filmed footage and the old, vintage styled effects.