Editing session 1

Today I started editing properly after my tests yesterday. I am going to edit the scenes chronologically as it will ensure my short film flows and makes sense. So I have started with the first scene in the coffee shop.

Scene 1 - Shots 1-20

Continuity and footage problems

I thought this would be straight forward but I had overlooked certain aspects of continuity. I took pride in the fact that when filming I filmed more footage than I needed and did a couple of takes of each shot. This way I should, in theory, have more than enough to play around with whilst editing. However, it doesn't appear this way. Continuity is very important to create a coherent scene. When filming it is hard to keep track of actor positions to make sure they are the same when changing camera position.

During the first 15 or so shots I think I have edited successfully and it flows as though it were one continuous action. This is an example of match on action, when one action take part over several shots.  Some shots were not as good as I'd have hoped, for example Jacobs head is slightly out of frame or the camera isn't overly steady. Finding out the shots aren't steady is incredibly infuriating as I took all the necessary steps to ensure that they were. I can only account it to the quality of my tripod and possibly if I was holding the camera whilst filming the shot, although I don't think I was. The tripod is now broken thanks to Jacob. To his credit he tried to fix it but one of the legs no longer stays in place.

Here is an example of one of my shots that didn't turn out perfectly. The lighting of the above shot of the coffee cup is very dark and low key. However through the magic of Final Cut I can change this. I used the colour correction effect on the shot. Editing the white and black setting allowed me to change the lighting of the shot making it more visible and matching the lighting of the other shots in the scene.

Before (left) and after (right)

Transitions

Between each shot I am just using a straight cut. This doesn't detract from the action and presents clearly to the audience that the scene is uninterrupted.
 
Between this scene and the next (the first of the dream sequence) I am using a fade transition. This signifies the change from reality to imagination to the audience. This is coupled with the camera panning upwards, connoting that Jacobs character is looking  to where a thought bubble would be (were they real).

I am also using the same transitions between scene during the dream sequence. For example between the two characters having the dinner date to the train station scene. This will remind the audience that the images on the screen are figments of the male characters imagination.


 The effect is implemented by a simply applying a pre-set effect in-between two shots.









This is as far as I got today. I am pleased with how it's looking so far. I will continue editing tomorrow.