Editing- As a Whole

Editing as a whole was a hard process, partially due to lack of time, but also because it's such a new experience, it's hard to get your head around it at first. Although, once I got into it, I quite enjoyed it.

Using Final Cut Pro was hard at first because it's not similar to any software I've used before, but after a few sessions, I got the hang of it and started to speed up when editing. I found it difficult to edit our footage into a sequence because the shots we took were more creative but didn't have much of a narrative because we didn't want to give too much away. Whereas with other groups' thrillers, they could edit their thriller together into a story, we had to try to come up with artistic ways of hiding what the boy is doing, whilst gradually leaking the information to the audience.

Originally, we were going to have more of a narrative with a boy going around his room, deciphering puzzles and then sitting down on his computer and hacking, although on the day, we realised we could actually create the same effect without filming around a boy's bedroom.

I preferred using After Effects to using Final Cut Pro because it's made by Adobe and I've used Photoshop before, so the layout of the software is very similar. However, it had always baffled me how people create animated title sequences so I really enjoyed stumbling through After Effects and learning how.

When making a title, I started by creating a new title card. Then, from a stock of images and footage, I would scroll through and find some appropriate items. I would then drag this into After Effects and add it to the bin labelled "Stills" or "Footage". After this I would drag the image onto the timeline and place it somewhere aesthetically pleasing. Next, going back to the stock of footage, I would find a moving image and repeat the process so that it was layered over the top. Then, pressing the 'cmd' button and the '-' and '+' buttons, I would scroll through, changing the effect on the layer until they combine and look pleasing. Then, I would add Key Frames and create a movement path for the image lasting around 2/3 seconds. Penultimately, I would add another layer, the name and position of the person and create a movement path for them as well. Finally, I would add some effects such as 'Blur' and 'Negative' to ensure that there's a theme through the title cards.

For example, this is one of the title cards I made.
I went and found the image which is some sort of map (the layer which says "ANTENNA SUBSYSTEM") and dragged it onto the timeline. Then, I went to the footage stock and chose the beams of light, which move, that go diagonally across the screen. After layering them, I held 'Shift' and used '-' and '+' to scroll through and choose an effect which was aesthetically pleasing. The still image was originally black text, so I applied the 'Negative' effect to make it show up against the dark background and also to create some contrast. Then, using Key Frames, I chose for the image to travel from the top right to the bottom left. Finally, I added the text and, again, using Key Frames, created a path for the text to travel along. Initially, the text sped across the screen, so I moved the second Key Frame marker further away to increase the time taken for the text to travel across the screen.
With all of this done, I played the title card, was happy with it and so I saved it and moved onto the next one.

I really enjoyed using After Effects, not only because it meant that I could learn new skills but also because it was really fun to create something which, in my eyes, looks quite professional.


Despite it being time-consuming, I enjoyed editing, especially using After Effects and would like to do it again in the future. Now, I'm looking forward to creating an interesting and innovative Music Video in A2.

Editing- Creating Perspective

We used a variety of camera angles to present our protagonist in a variety of ways, for example; we had an over shoulder shot of the boy on his computer, presenting him as inferior and young. Also, his body position and location denotes his character- he's sat cross legged, like a child, and is hunched under a table as if he's hiding. Children tend to hide because of their fear of being chastised by their parents and so this shows his childlike nature. Furthermore, the high angle suggests he's being watched by a greater power which is a theme in our thriller and so this relates to the idea that the character is kicking back against the higher powers.

There's a low angle shot of the boy which connotes his power- his superior intelligence. Even though the boy has Autism, he's more intelligent than most people and can hack into the FBI's database which obviously puts him of power and superiority.

Plus, because he's interested in political secrets, when he hacks into the database, I would imagine that 9/11 wouldn't be the only thing he would look in to. After reading some of the world's best kept secrets, about the world, the boy knows a lot about everyone and this knowledge puts him in another position of power. We used a shot of him looking directly into the camera as if it's the computer screen, although it gives the impression he is looking at the audience. This, therefore, insinuates that the audience, the public, are the numbers and secrets he sees on the computer screen and thus, creates the impression that he is watching us and by reading certain information, he now knows everything about us. The shot is low angle which creates the impression that the boy is omniscient and omnipotent.

Editing- Pace

Pace was something which was very hard to get right in our thriller because we open with a tracking shot and have a horizontal tracking shot in the middle too. We started with the camera fully zoomed in and zoomed out as far as possible- not in control of the speed or pace here- and then started to slowly move the folly backwards. This was the difficult part to pace as we had to try to match the speed to the speed of the zoom. Achieving this took us 5 or 6 takes, although we got it in the end. Again, the horizontal tracking shot in the middle of the sequence was a last minute thought. We did one take and realised that it was way too fast and wouldn't match the slow and steady pace of the rest of the sequence, so we had to watch the initial tracking shot to get an idea of the pace and then film the horizontal one again.
Also, when editing, we created a few sequences where we tried out different orders of our clips. For example, we had one sequence where we started with a focus pool on the keyboard and had the tracking shot later on. Playing around with editing in this way meant that we had to focus on the pace and in the end, we decided that the pace of the sequence flowed better when it started with the track.

Editing- Devices

As there's only one character in our thriller we didn't use a shot reverse shot. However, we did use eyeline match, when we see the boy's profile and then the screen, establishing what he's looking at. We used the slow tracking shot at the beginning to reveal the room slowly inorder to create more mystery and suspense. We also used a match on action at the end of the trailer when we see his hands on the keyboard and then we cut to the image of the screen and the words "I am solo" being typed in.

Aside from these, we didn't used many editing devices and instead focused on creating the mood and atmosphere we wanted by cutting between shots of the boy, his room and his computer screens, where the titles read.

Editing- Sound

For the opening sequence of our thriller, we used a technological sounding, non-diegetic, up beat soundtrack, as well as some diegetic typing sounds. These were the only sounds we added into our thriller because there's no dialogue. We intended on having a non-diegetic dialogue but never got round to it due to lack of time because of other commitments. However, this didn't alter the storyline too drastically- it meant that the link to 9/11 isn't as clear as we'd have liked, however hopefully the use of images of aeroplanes, especially Boeing 767s, will communicate this idea. The beaty non-diegetic music demonstrates our film as a thriller as it creates a feeling of suspense and anticipation which is classic in thriller films. As well as this, the loud boom sounds in the music, which link will the stillness onscreen, communicate further the feeling of suspense.

Editing

Editing has been a hard process for our group as a lot of our editing needs to take place in after effects. We've tried to create a narrative but the abstract style of the film makes this difficult to piece the shots together.
Our group hasn't used AE (After Effects) before so it's hard for us to create a quality piece of work, however, we're working hard to learn and produce a hacking sequence which looks similar to the game Uplink.



This is a printscreen of the game Uplink, which our hacking sequence is inspired by.



Props and place of purchase

List of props used:

• Screens
• Posters
• Airfix Model
• 2 Laptops
• 2 iPads
• Instruction Manuals
• Remote Control
• Light
• Desk Lamp
• Digital Clock
• Key board
• Headset

The screens, laptops, iPads, remote control, light, desk lamp, digital clock, keyboard and headset were all items we already had; however, the Rubik's Cubes, posters, Airfix Model and Instruction Manuals were all items which we had to find and we bought most of these from Amazon at reasonable prices. I also bought the costume from an aviation website.