The Editing Process

Here is some brief notes regarding some of our decision making in the editing process of our music video.

• Originally the skateboarding scene was going to be majority snorricam, but as that seemed slow and quite dull, I broke it up with clips of him doing tricks.  - Possible chance to shoot extra footage and add in more shots of him from different angles.
• The lighting whilst using the snorricam was very dark on his face, so using the editing tools, gamma, brightness and contrast, I have made it slightly lighter so it's easier to see his face.
• Added affect on Callum as he leaves the house and jumps on skateboard - ghost trails - which add the sense of fast movement in slow motion. 
• Added a transition from the table & ring of fire to Megan and Nick doing a shot to signify a time change. 
• Non additive dissolve - "Compares the pixels in the two clips and displays the lighter of the two as the first clip fades out and second fades in"
• Same transition used from the shot of Megan to the 'rave' scenes.
• Overlap of clips and 50% opacity on the sequence of Callum and Vicky going up stairs to connote a drunken memory - blurred and no correct order to sequence of shots, all just on top of each other. 

Changes made after second rough cut

Our second rough cut featured all of our footage, with basic editing by being cut to roughly the right length and in the correct order. After getting some feedback on our second rough cut, and most people saying that they liked the footage, Emma and I then went back to Final Cut and started our final stages of editing. 

• Cut and reverse. When Callum goes down the stairs, to make the shot a bit more interesting rather than one long take, we have cut and reversed 2 of the sections, in time to the beat of the song, to make it a bit more in sync with the song. 
• Tighter cuts on the sequence of Callum going to the fridge, making it flow more smoothly. 
• Instead of having the lip syncing in the car one continuous shot, we have split up the shot with some cut away shots, which in our second rough cut we had at the end of the sequence. This creates some more shot variation in the sequence.
• Getting out of the car - before I had cut the long pause between the car lights turning off and them getting out of the car. Dave picked up on the slight jump in editing, and so instead of cutting, we have split the clip into 3, and have the middle section sped up to around 140%, which I think gives a nice, subtle effect along with the part of the song as a cloud lifts and the lighting on the car shifts. (easier to see visually than explain)

• From audience feedback, we were told that the transition from normal lens to fisheye wasn't very smooth. After playing with some different effects, we have put on Light Rays effect, which distorts the image with bright rays of light. Using this affect on the shot of the DJ, and then the beginning of the fisheye clip, creates a more subtle transition as well as a time ellipsis effect. 

• The ending of the video, where Callum and Vicky go upstairs, the lighting seemed really bright and a bit unreal in the situation of a house party and so using the Desaturate effects, I changed the colouring a little bit, just to make it match the rest of the footage more.

There have been times where we've had to choose between different editing effects.
Some have been more simple, with something like the order in which shots appear, others needed a little bit more thought over, with the various effects available on Final Cut.

Here is an example of two clips which we have had to decide over.
Whether to keep it simple sequence which visually is easy to follow, or instead use effects to create a visual representation of the situation - being drunk.