Fiction Adaption: Editing

I have been editing my final film and I am really pleased with the final outcome. I have put into practice all the research about colour correction and making the tone of the scene darker to give a different feel to the footage. I think it works really well on the flashbacks to have the blue tone and be darker. My main issue was that when I did my rough cut of footage it was nearly 8 minutes long after various edits it was still down to around 6 minutes. I then watched the film again and was a lot more brutal with the story, what was adding to it, what was distracting, what shots work, what order. Being the Director/Editor/ Screenwriter of this project definitely helped me to get the best out of the story as although I had to remove some aspects of my script, it has made for a far more professional and crisp story.

Pacing of the film was also one of my main problems, I found that the start of the story was slow and it builds to a faster paced climax. Without the music this really was distracting and I was really annoyed with how it was going. It really didn’t work at all but as soon as I added my score it just worked perfectly. The pace of the music really helped to peak and dip in the key moments and keep the pace moving without rushing or slowing it too much. It also helps to build for the climax really well.

Sound design on this film was another stumbling block. I spoke with ferg about how I wasn’t sure how to harmoniously have all the different sounds going on in the scene with the music and narration but he mentioned a few directors and editors work which I took a look at. I found that having the narration as the over arcing sound with the music and scene sounds softly placed in the background worked the best rather than fighting to hear everything. Someone mentioned that you can tell what’s going on in the scene without having to hear it but hearing just enough is ominous enough to work. I have added various layers to my audio to add a more real nature to it all. This includes the punch sounds, buzz track, hitting the ground sounds, footsteps, running, leaves rustling. I feel all of these layers contribute to making it a better piece.

Stay safe,

Helen