The first thing I did was assemble all of the footage together on the timeline to form a rough cut. This was very rough as I hadn't captured all of the footage (such as the changing times on the clock). Once I had placed all my footage on the timeline, I decided to do a little bit of colour work and also flicker the images of Ellie in and out of the frame. This was so that I could present the rough idea of my visual design to Mike in the rough cut.
The colour work I did was just to match up the colour of all the footage so that they all looked the same and all looked like the took place on the same day. Unfortunately I couldn't get my actors together on the same day so the colours were slightly different in the footage as the weather on each day was slightly different. I think I managed to get the footage looking the same - this wasn't going to be the final colour look but at least I have managed to get the colouring to looking like the characters are there together in the same environment. This skill has proved to be valuable as now I know that in future, if I can't get my actors together and the weather is similar enough, I can film on separate days and correct the colour to make the footage match up. Obviously it is far more ideal to get the actors together on the same day, but at least I have this skill as a back up option if the same problem arises in the future.
I made sure that my raw footage was quite flat to make the colour grading process easier and more effective. I feel that my final colour grading gives a good result as the orange flowers now stand out from the blue / purple tones of the rest of the footage. I achieved this by firstly changing the colours of the images. I gave the shadows quite a strong purple / blue tone, changed the highlights to a faint light blue tone and then changed the mid tones to be an orange tone. I then increased the saturation of the mid tones to make the orange flowers stand out and also increased the saturation of the shadows to make the contrast between purple and orange greater. I then decreased the saturation of the highlights ever so slightly. I then faded the images to an opacity of 98% and layered this over a cream background. I then added a hard light effect and changed this to 40. This allowed me to get a nice contrast between the purples and oranges whilst remaining a soft look. This is something I set out to achieve in my visual design and mood board and I feel that I have achieved it.
I have never done a great deal of colour grading before - I usually just colour correct the images so that they all match up in colour. This project gave me a good opportunity to play around with colour grading and advance on this skill. I will definitely be paying more attention to colour grading in the future as I feel that it has the opportunity to change the whole look and feel of a film. I do not feel that the look of my project and the emotion I wanted to portray (sombre but comforting) would have been anywhere near as effective without the colour grading.
One part of the edit that I was particularly nervous about was flickering the footage of Ellie being present then absent from the shot. I had experimented with this in my short experimental piece 'Despair' but not in such a complex way. I had to ensure my footage with Ellie in it and without her in it perfectly match up. I did this by first capturing the shot with Ellie and marking where we started and finished each shot. I then reviewed the shot to check the focus, colour and content to make sure it was the shot I would be using. I then went back to the start point of the shot and filmed it again without Ellie in the frame keeping all settings on the camera the same. After this I took closer up footage of Ellie to incorporate into the flickering shots.
I think this was actually very successful and I am pleased with the outcome. If I were to do this again, I would have used a fig rig with the camera so that the footage was more stable and therefore would match up even better in the edit. That being said, I still feel like my handheld method worked well to achieve what I set out to.
At the end of the piece, I decided to add an effect to look as if the camera is tracking out. This originally was a static shot, however, I feel that it lacked emotion this way. The tracking out shot helps to isolate the subject in the frame, making him smaller which adds to the sombre atmosphere. Although he is comforted by her presence in the thing around him, I still wanted to reinforce the fact that he is now without her and I feel this slight movement does that. I have really learnt how camera movement can affect the emotion within a frame.
Possibly the most time consuming part of the edit was the sound design. I started off by finding a sombre but cinematic track to use as background music. I wanted music that sounded hopeful in some places and sad in others. I looked through the royalty free music in the youtube audio library and found a piece called 'Boat Floating' which had the exact feel I was looking for. I did edit the music slightly when I matched it up with my rough cut. For some sections I slowed the music down (i.e. in the sequence where James is looking at picture of Ellie on his phone) - this was to resemble the more sombre / mournful aspect of the sonnet.
I then returned the pace to its original speed during the sequence where Ellie is following James through the locations to give more of an impression of a chase (even though it is not a fast chase, he is still following her to find out where she is leading him).
The longest part of the sound design was adding in the individual footsteps for each step the characters took. Although this was time consuming, I feel like it is very effective in displaying the chase between the characters. In the rough cut where I had no footsteps for the characters, there was something ominous and unsettling about it which was not the feel I was going for. I want it to feel strange but not unsettling - I feel that the strangeness comes out in the visuals and the sound of the flickers rather than in the sound design as a whole.
I feel that my edit has definitely developed a lot through the different stages, incorporating a lot of the feedback that was giving during the viewing sessions.
Changes I made following feedback:
- In the rough cut I didn't overlap the audio of the voicemail and the visuals of the clock and James waiting. It was suggested that I overlap them so that the audios and visuals don't seem so separate. I have no overlapped this footage and feel that this works a lot better.
- In the rough cut I had no footage of the flower being posted through the door - leaving the audience confused as to why there was suddenly a flower on the doormat. I have now added this clip in so that the audience know someone has posted the flower through the door - therefore prompting James to find and follow the trail.
- In the rough cut, when James loses Ellie in the lane, the audience's vision was obscured by James standing in the way of the view of the empty lane. I then found the footage I had captured of a slightly different angle of this shot where the audience can see that the lane in front of James is empty.
- In the rough cut it was suggested I incorporate a line from the end of the sonnet at the end of my piece to reinforce the narrative. I did this and then decided against it as both myself and Mike didn't like the look of it. This goes to show how all experiments are not necessarily successful. I decided to replace this with a credit showing where the film had been adapted from.
- In the fine cut it was suggested I either include a clip of James buying the flowers or show them sitting on the side before showing James waiting and looking at the clock. This sets up the narrative and shows the audience that he is waiting for her to get home so he can take her for a date - not that its just any normal day. I added this in and definitely prefer it to how it was before.
- In the fine cut I kept the non diegetic background music running all the way through the piece without any peaks or troughs. Following feedback, I decided to reduce the music almost to silence when James loses Ellie to show that the music comes with her, it represents her presence.
- In the fine cut the circling shot around James was still a little murky in comparison to the other shots. I increased the exposure and contrast on this shot so that it matched.
- The only piece of advice that I was unable to implement was changing the eye lines of the characters as this would involve re shooting which there is no time for. This just means I need to keep this in mind in future and ensure the eye lines of the characters match.
What went well with the edit:
- The colour grading. I am really happy with the colouring of the project - it is similar to the colours I wanted to experiment with from my mood board. This is a skill that I have been able to enhance in this project and am now able to use confidently in the future.
- Displaying my narrative. When filming the footage I was unsure whether the shots would piece together nicely in order to display my narrative. I was worried that the shots wouldn't match up and that the audience would be confused by the narrative. However, I feel that the edit works well and the narrative is clear to follow.
- The flickering shots. I am really happy with the effect of the flickering shots. It helps to hint to the audience that Ellie is not really present in body but in all the things around. I feel that my footage all matched up well, enabling this flicker to be as convincing as possible. I also like the sound of the flicker, as it helps to suggest that something isn't quite right about following her. In the rough cut, not all the flickers had sound and the ones that did were quite soft. The final sound for the flickers works well to jolt the audience into questioning whether she is really present.
What could be improved in the edit:
- The flashing of the sirens when James arrives at the accident. I feel that they work well as sirens and work well to suggest that there has been an accident, however, there is something unrealistic about them which makes them a bit less convincing. I created the overlay by inserting slightly different blue coloured ovals over one another and faded them in and out so that they resembled the blue flashing lights of sirens. I then layered them over the image of James using both a hard light and hard mix blend mode. I feel that if I had a bit more time I would be able to make them more convincing (i.e. by playing around with the size, opacity, colours and blend mode a little more)
- The sound design. Although I feel that the sound design works well, it was the more rushed aspect of my project as it was a lot more time consuming than I anticipated. Whilst I like the effect of dropping the music and bringing up the nature noises when James loses Ellie in the lane, it feels a bit amateur and not as smooth as I hoped. With a bit more time I feel that I could have made it work better.
- Not necessarily the edit but the shoot in general - making the eyelines match. Since this has been pointed out, it has really been bothering me. In future, I will make sure the characters eyelines match.
The Final Cut:
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