Editing session 2

Today I continued editing my short film. It's really starting to come together. I am now well into the dream sequence having editing the running scene, film scene and spinning/car scene.

The running scene

Continuity

This scene was fun to edit as it is the first of the dream sequence I am starting to see the initial premise of my film (a spoof rom-com) come to life. This scene is a take on the classic "running towards each other in a field" scene that is so commonly associated with the romantic comedy genre. To add a humorous take on it I have done two things. The running lasts a lot longer than in normally would, making it seem like they are running a ludicrously long distance. I have created this effect by cutting between the female and male characters as they run towards each other. A very long shot then reveals that they were actually not that  far and it shouldn't take them that long to reach each other. Secondly, the running is really over emphasised. Jacob was really good at this and it's transferred to the screen brilliantly.

Cutting between Olivia running and Jacob to show it is a simultaneous action. 

At the end of this scene Jacob falls over, this was a bit harder to film to make it look natural. But luckily, Jacob was really willing and gave it several goes until it looked right. (During this time we gathered some spectators.)

To make the action of him falling look alarming to the audience I used shots from two angles, one in front and one from the very long shot position to show where the characters are in relation to each other.

Him falling.                                                                                       On the floor.

After falling my favourite shot so far is featured. I starts with his glasses in focus (in a level angle shot) and close the the camera amongst the grass. He then proceeds to pick them up and place them back on his face as the camera pans upwards changing it to a low angle shot.

The film scene

During this scene the couple are watching a horror film, the female is calm but the male character is scared witless.  This is a case of role reversal, it challenges the audiences expectations of typical character types/conventions.

The first shot is of a DVD cover insinuating what the couple are watching. I chose the film 28 Days Later because it is a well known zombie film that my target audience will probably of heard of if not seen. The camera tracks from right to left. Originally the shot tracked the other way, however the following shot of the couple pans right to left. I wanted the two shots to move in the same direction to help with continuity , making it less disorientating for the audience. It also just looks smoother. I was reluctant to reverse the shot of the couple as it's important to me for the audience to see Olivias character first, I think this make Jacobs characters reaction funnier as it has already been established to the audience she was fine with the film. This plays on the expectation that women are less into horror films than men and that men should be comforting the women hiding behind a pillow, not the other way round.

Editing the film scene.

The spinning/car scene

As I said in an earlier post the footage of the male getting hit by a car didn't look right when sped up, hence I decided to put it in at normal speed. This way it looks like slow motion. I will keep it this way in my first edit to get some peer feedback.

Before he gets hit by the car the couple spin. This footage turned out really well and the actors facial expressions (especially Jacobs) are really funny. I have cut between Jacob spinning and Olivia spinning to again like the running signify that they are doing it simultaneously. I then added in the footage I edited when testing this scene on the end.



Transitions
As I stated in my previous post I am using fade to white transitions between each scene during the dream sequence to remind the audience that it is a dream and not reality.

What's next?

More editing! This process takes a while but it is well worth devoting the time to it.