Factual Evaluation

Introduction

For the Factual piece, I chose the Delicious Peace, for this piece I was asked to complete a 40-second advert for a forthcoming series for the National Geographic Channel. I created an advert for 40 seconds and I feel that even though some parts could still be improved in order for it to be at a professional level of which I will discuss and evaluate below.To start the process I began by Importing and organising all of the footage into different keyword folders, I did this because it made the editing process more fast and effective meaning I didn’t have to sort through anything whilst editing together the 40-second piece.

I then went on to begin editing together the advert for the national geographic channel, about coffee makers in Uganda. During the process of editing, I decided to start off with a few shots of coffee beans being poured in these shots I slightly colour corrected them to make them pop a little more.I did this because at the time I felt that it was more likely to attract the viewer’s attention and be more aesthetically pleasing to them. I chose to start off with these shots because in a lot of adverts about coffee beans somewhere near to the beginning of the advert there is a shot of coffee beans being poured which I wanted to emulate because I felt that it would capture the audience’s attention and encourage their further interest throughout the 40 second advert.

I then listened to the narration tracks and after choosing the tracks I thought would go best with the visuals provided I added in the narrations in an order of which I thought would go well within an advert and then added in the visual corresponding and linking to the narration. I did this because I thought it suited the adverts purpose to advertise a new upcoming series for the national geographic channel. I thought that the narrations I chose were suitable and went well with the visuals the way I edited them together so that the clips linked to the narration. I also went with the soundtrack that came with the footage I did this at the time a lot because of convenience although I feel that the soundtrack did suit the visuals and audios and went with the whole theme of the advert.

I also added in map graphics early on in the advert as I thought it was effective as it helps the audience to associate and be informed from the very start that these coffee makers are in Uganda. After watching the visuals and doing a few trims just to finish off the visuals I added in 3 crossfade visual transitions I did this because I thought that the three transitions I put in there needed to be in there for things to be a little less jarring the first I went from coffee beans to the map graphics then I added in a crossfade from the nature to the farmers picking beans which I did beacause I thought it made the narrration transtion to talkning about the farmers more effective I the ended with a crossfade to black. I did this because I thought it was an effective way to end the video for the audience. Throughout this process I also used some of the original audio from some of the clips and faded it in and out I did this because, I thought it would give the advert more of an appeal towards the audience rather than either no audio on the clips only and soundtrack or no fades which would have made the cuts a lot more jarring for the audience.

Conclusion

To conclude throughout the process of the post-production of the advert I chose to prioritise emotion, story and rhythm of the six of Murchs rule because I felt that they were the ones which would suit the audience best. this is because foremost if the audience feels emotional towards the people in the advert they are more likely to watch the upcoming series, if the audience felt a hint of a story but with no ending it could intrigue them to want more and finally by having a little rhythm it added a bit more interest for the viewer watching the advert whom would expect a good rhythm in the upcoming series, therefore, promoting the series and serving its purpose to advertise. Although I feel a lot went well I feel that I could still do with improving upon my natural sense as for when to cut certain clips together as well as making sure every shot makes sense. I will do this by further practising my abilities in these areas of editing.

December 22, 2017 0

Fictional Evaluation

Introduction

For the fictional piece, I chose to complete the edit from the Burnt Dinner footage. I was asked to use continuity editing conventions to hide your cuts and produce a coherent piece. As well as constructing an effective storyline ensure that you address the audio mix and complete basic colour corrections and grade for the completed edit.

To start the process I began by Importing and organising all of the footage into different keyword folders, I did this because it made the editing process more fast and effective meaning I didn’t have to sort through anything whilst editing together the fictional piece.

I then went on to begin editing together the clips into an order which I thought made sense narratively to be a coherent piece. I did this because I thought to have it in order first made sense and once that was done I started to make alterations such as some colour and exposure correction on the shots. Which at the time I thought had gone well although after further looking at my finished piece some shots have exposure problems and one had a red tint to it which I didn’t notice whilst editing as shown below.

This happened because I was going from the settings by eyeing the shot whereas I should have used a luma histogram as shown below. as well as using the colour histogram to colour correct. Which is something I will do the next time I correct any shots in post as to not make this mistake again.

After doing this I started altering the audio tracks completely separating the alarm track and alining it and fading it out and in and then duplicating it. I did this because it made it seem like the alarm slowly got quieter as the shot went on to a shot away from the alarm to the woman and was time correctly to cut off at the second the man presses the button to turn off the fire alarm. I did this because it makes the starting look and sound better than it just cutting off randomly. I also used a J cut to make two clips fit better together because of a grunt the man makes which before adding in the J cut was off-putting but with the J cut makes the shots fit together better.

Something that at the time I missed and should have fixed is the mono audio which means that in some scenes the audio comes out the left speaker and other times the right which is off-putting. to improve next time I will check the audio to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

I did use some match on actions when the man puts his hand on the woman’s shoulder as well as when the woman was walking and putting down the chicken I did this to mask the cuts although I feel I could have done them a lot better as they aren’t in my opinion completely invisible cuts.

Conclusion

To conclude, I feel that this piece could have gone a lot better and i may have created a more coherent piece although because of the time constraint i was a little off and thus I don’t feel like this edit was my best. to make this better I could have used more shots that fitted better such as using the light coming on as a transition as well as using other shots to build more tension and make more narrative sense. although overall I feel that I mostly followed the brief, but could use a lot of improvement.

December 22, 2017 0

Post Production Module

December 22, 2017 0

Editing report

Editing Essay – Dale Salter

Introduction

In this report, I technically analyse two sequences by the technique’s which have been used to edit. The two pieces I will be analysing is a fictional piece: The opening scene from Whiplash and a factual piece: Ant colony raids a rival nest from the empire of the desert ants. In this report, I suggest the effects of using different editing techniques and how it could change the audience’s view and feeling of a media text whether it be fictional or factual.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg9nx_q-XNs

Fictional Piece – Opening Scene Whiplash (2014)

In the opening sequence from the film Whiplash, the sequence starts off with a black screen of which the name whiplash appears with an increase in pace drum beat until a quick cut is used to a shot of a young man playing the drums. From just two shots in the opening sequence, the audience already has an idea of the theme/tone of the film, this is because the audience had a lot of time to come up with ideas from the mostly black screen. This may have been used by the editor of the film to create an idea in the audience’s head of what is going to happen or is happening even though there is just a black screen with the text Whiplash. Walter Murch says – “An ideal cut for me is one that satisfies all the following six criteria at once: 1) it is true to the emotion of the moment; 2) it advances the story; 3) it occurs at a moment that is rhythmically interesting and “Right””. In the sequence of the black screen and the shot of the drums being played it may satisfy the emotion of the moment, advances the story and occurs at a rhythmically and correct moment.

In the following shot from the dolly zoom shot into the character playing the drums, an audio transition is used cutting from the shot of the character saying I’m sorry I’m sorry for which the word sorry is just slightly carried over to the to the hard cut to the other character, therefore, using a J cut. In this sequence, it uses a lot of J and L cuts throughout leaving just a little of the audio for half a second either from the shot before it or from the shot to come. It may use L and J cuts throughout the rest of the scene to keep the audience interested and present in the scene. Cameron Christopher says – “This is referred to as a “ping-pong” editing, which can be disorienting and kind of stylistically boring. By using a J-cut, you could stay focused on Person A’s face when Person B begins talking.” This may have been used in this way as it is a standard way of making conversations more interesting, pacy and watchable by the audience.

It then uses an eye line matches throughout, which may have been used by the director in order to create an ongoing dialogue\conversation between the two characters. Ian Hider says – “The Eyeline match between a person and the object they are looking at should act as a guide for shooting: crossing the line can confuse the viewer.” Eyeline matches may have been used is continuity editing by using eyeline matches it makes the hard cuts a little less jarring to the audience and a little more understandable.

Throughout the rest of the sequence, the use of rhythmic editing is used. Karen Pearlman says – “Cutting frequently around a conversation may make the performances seem edgier or sharper. Here we are not looking at durations of shots directly, but at the content curve of movement within the shots and either cutting it very sharply, which creates a sense of pace being quicker” In the sequence rhythmic editing may have been used to build interest and keep that interest from the audience, if it had not been so rhythmic it may have been a lot more drawn out and may have been boring to an audience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5YaihAtnC4

Factual piece – Ant colony raids a rival nest – Natural World – Empire of the Desert Ants – BBC Two

In the ant colony raids a rival nest sequence from the documentary Empire of the desert ants from the natural world, the sequence starts off one a close-up and is then transitioned continuity editing. it cuts from a close up to a long shot of the ants travelling. Walter Murch Says – “Cutting from a full figure master shot, for instance, to a slightly tighter shot that frames the actors from ankles up. The new shot, in this case, is different enough to signal that something has changed, but not enough to make us revaluate its context.” This use of continuity editing may have been used because it makes the cuts more invisible, which makes the audience focus on the narrative of the scene rather than the cuts because it is less jarring.

This sequence uses a lot of elliptical editing which cuts out certain unnecessary shots, however, it still follows a successive narrative which the audience can easily follow. this is furthered by the use of a mode of access which is the narrator’s voice. this voice is used to match the visual and help the visuals to further the narrative/ story for the audience to follow. it uses this narration to make the Juxtaposition of the clips which is the way the clips are cut together more fluid and invisible almost like a match on actions although there isn’t really any way to tell if an exact match on action may have been used to make the video more continually edited. The way the mode of access has been used may have made the view of the ants change for the viewer making their travels more interesting and to inform the audience.

Conclusion / Comparison

Both of these sequences have used a lot of different editing techniques either to hide cuts and make the video flow better or for other reasons such as rhythmic editing, narrative and to make the audience feel certain emotions. which follows some of the 6 rules created by Murch, each piece has used different parts as they are different pieces.