Editing Process

Unfortunately we are unable to show our product on this blog due to copyright however the product can be accessed through the Hurtwoodhousemedia log in on youtube. During the pre-production stage we made storyboards so we could have an idea of what the final project was going to become. After months of preparation, the shoot day and weeks of editing we finished the pop video. In our editing process we used Final Cut Pro which is a time line based system. We incorporated special effects in our work such as de saturation of colour, jump cuts, blurs etc. this was done through the programme Adobe after Effects. We considered using the technique of montage in our work and it proved to be extremely effective. This idea was inspired by one of Russia’s most prominent filmmakers, Sergie eisenstein, who was also known as the father of montage and our mode of address. Einstein’s work was closely examined as a guide for our own work. His work played an important role in our own work and gave us ideas that we are now pleased with as we look at the finished product. Another programme used in the editing process was a programme called Colour to de saturate the images, making them either darker or lighter. Colour is a programme which allows you to change the appearance for the images, for example you can change the hue and saturation as well as brightness and colour of your video. Using Colour can sometimes be a very length process though because instead of being able to apply settings to the whole video you have to edit it shot by shot.

From my own personal experience I found the process of editing difficult as I knew little about how to use the programme but with the help of Matt and Luke, it become easier to use. We begun the editing process as a group yet as time progressed we took alternate turns to edit as we all had different ideas as to how our video would be constructed and, ultimately, how the finished product would look. In order to hasten the process of editing we applied the shots to the time line for the whole length of the shot and then placed smaller shots over the top of this. Though most people would have followed their storyboards, we did not due to last minute changes. For our group, it was just a case of experimenting with what worked and what didn’t. After we had finished our draft, we showed it to one of the media teacher’s mat, who gave us advice on how to improve it. Mat helped a lot as it was difficult for us to criticise our own work and we needed his aid to steer us in the right direction, giving us tips on what looks bad and what looks good. In the process of editing one can either use continuity editing or discontinuity. Continuity editing is editing that usually follows a certain pattern or a cuts on the beat. Discontinuity editing is the opposite of this, can often come across as quiet random. We chose discontinuity editing for editing our own product. We wanted to reveal the unstable and unbalanced mind that our star had. Whilst editing we also looked at theorist Negus to help us apply editing conventions. We subverted Negus's conventions of short shots; we also used a wide and extensive use of shot types, camera movements and angels which fitted nicely with our theme. From this experience I now feel more confident with using programmes such as final cut pro and feel my techniques have adapted since last year to give me a more sophisticated outlook on editing.