I think overall I have learnt a lot about the concept of editing the different genres during this module. The one I have learnt the most on was the Night Journey one. This is due to the fact there was so much freedom to edit it, as could literally do anything with the footage where as the other 2 there was a basic structure that was needed to it.

The first piece that me a Jonny edited was the Night Journey piece.  I think overall it turned out very well and I'm pleased with it. I think that Chris was right and that the middle sequence is very slow and needs more clip to fill out. The beginning I think is the strongest part as the music really helps set up the scene. One part I really like is the dream sequence as I think I managed to get the transition in and out of it very well so it fits in with the structure of the piece. If I was to do it again I would make sure Jonny did his fair share of the work as I did the majority and think I could have benefited from the second persons input.

Some thing else I would do again is I would be more experimental and play around more. I think I stayed very safe with the carriage scenes where there was a lot of opportunity to play around with the footage. If I was to do it again I think I would definitely be a lot more experimental.

The second piece that we edited was the Documentary piece. I felt that I did the majority of this piece and that it turned out the way it is due to my editing. As I have said in my posts, I decided to take the interview aspects and edit these together to create the structure of the piece. I wasn't comfortable letting Jonny do this as I was unsure on his ability to create a structure but I think I managed to create a good one that flows nicely and gives a good insight into his life as a rock climber. I think the thing that lets it down it the sound design and the cutaways. The cutaways work at times but towards the end I had a lot of difficulty with trying to no reuse shots and using images that relate to what is being said. As I was sitting doing the editing I gave Jonny the task of finding the music but he had to go so in the end I did kind of give up a little. I think is we had some strong music and I had some help then this piece could be really strong. If I was to do it again I wouldn't just assume Jonny's doing work I would actually sit and make him do some so that it wasn't all down to me.

The Last edit we did was the comedy piece. I really enjoyed this piece as it was all my ideas and didn't have to rely on anyone. I picked the scene in the lounge as I think this is a really simple scene but has a lot that I can do in the edit. As I progressed with the edit I learnt a lot about sculpting the actors lines and acting. They mess up a lot and repeat lines that I didn't notice at first but then it was clear that he's stalling to remember his lines. I think with this piece I am pleased with it overall but there is more I could do to it. Like Chris mentioned during the review I think I could have improved the audio a bit more. There was slight clicks in the talking where it has been cut, I did add a cross fade to most of them but on some you can still hear the clicks.

If I was to do this last edit again I think I would try and do it in avid to learn how to use that software. I’m comfortable on using Final Cut Pro as I use it a lot and want to be able to use Avid just as quickly so I think if I hadn’t had another 2 edits to do, with have a lot of effects so are time consuming this last couple of weeks, I would have spent more time learning and using Avid.

Released in 2010, this film follows a character and how he made Facebook. The film was edited by Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall and won an Academy Award for Best Film Editing.

I found this interview with them both and found some of the things they were saying very interesting when they walked about how there would be like 99 takes of a scene and they would sit and go through every take. There isnt a hero take where everything goes right so its all about takes the best piece form each take to put together.

As editor they don't enjoy being on set and as Baxters says about how he doesnt like seeing that its not all real. I think this is important as an editor not to be on set so that its a new insight into the piece without being influenced as to what the set was like as the audiences wont be able to see what the sets like.

Here is the interview:



Talking with Angus Wall & Kirk Baxter [Interview]
"As a filmmaker, David Fincher has the reputation of an extreme perfectionist, so finely attuned to detail that he doesn’t trust anyone else to get even minor secondary shots. That vision earned him an Oscar nomination as the director of “The Social Network” – but what about the guys who have to work with him? While Mr. Fincher is celebrated for doing dozens and dozens of takes , what’s often forgotten is that other people then have to look at each and every one of those takes to put the film together. Apparently they don’t mind; the editors Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall, and the sound designer, editor and mixer Ren Klyce have all worked with Mr. Fincher multiple times, on films like “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and “Zodiac.” They are all Oscar-nominated for “The Social Network,” and are working with Mr. Fincher on his next film, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”We got them together for a phone interview recently. Mr. Klyce called from his studio in San Francisco, Mr. Wall from his office in Los Angeles, and Mr. Baxter was in the building that Mr. Fincher owns in Hollywood, which he uses as a production hub. It’s a pretty distinctive location. “They’ve used it in movies – they used it in ‘L.A. Confidential,’” Mr. Baxter said. “It’s got a huge tower in the middle of it. It looks like someone giving you the bird.” They talked about cutting down Aaron Sorkin’s script without cutting too far, Mr. Fincher’s superior visual sense and his habit of talking to himself.
Is Fincher as exacting in the post-production studio as he is on set?
ANGUS WALL: Ultimately, he’s that exacting. He’s very good at giving you direction. He can advise you on how to think of something conceptually as well as advise you in the pronunciation of the word ‘the.’ I don’t mean to make light of that. There are times when the pronunciation of a word, particularly in this film, is critical. The nuance of how someone says a word is part and parcel of their particular performance. With a movie like this, with such an abundance of words and the fact that there are these elliptical conversations, where particularly in the opening scene of the film, they’re really having three conversations at the same time, it’s important that every possible nuance be milked.

How do you deal with that in the editing room?WALL: It was a little too short at the first assembly. Because it was an 160-odd page script, there was a lot of pressure on ourselves that it not be 160 minutes long. As we were assembling, we cut things as tight as we could – we wanted things to be short. [But] when we first viewed the assembly, there were things that we realized blew past, that we realized we had to add – little things, like very little things, like frames, to have dramatic moments last. I think it was an hour and 57 minutes, and it’s just shy of two hours now.
So you barely added anything.WALL: When a film is as ballistic as this one is, adding frames here and there actually had a pretty profound impact.

Do you have to deal with all 99 takes, or whatever, of every scene?KIRK BAXTER: There are circled takes. He may shoot 99, but we may get, in that case, something like 60. It’s a lot. There are that many for a reason, because there’s a very specific thing that he’s going for. We actually use bits and pieces out of a lot of those takes. It’s not like there’s a hero take that has everything we want. We actually have to scrub every bit of those.
REN KLYCE: With the circle picks that you guys have with 60, we get all 100 takes of the sound. So after David has thoroughly exhausted what he can get, what’s in the bin from Kirk and Angus, then he’ll lean on the sound department to see, is there anything we haven’t found that we have to troll through. Sometimes David will watch, and he’ll start muttering whatever the line is – ‘It’s on your blog, it’s on your blog,’ by Eduardo’s character – and he’ll be saying it in a way that he wants to hear it. So you know that’s something David isn’t satisfied with.
BAXTER: Yeah, you always have one ear on the back of the couch listening to him. He’s usually after clarity and simplicity.
WALL: There are instances where he does just three takes.
Do you ever go on set?BAXTER: Rarely. I tend not to enjoy it. I don’t like seeing the surrounding of the set, I don’t like knowing that it’s [false]. I take everything for granted, that it’s a real place.
KLYCE: The mood on the set can be stressful and oftentimes tense. You don’t want to have the memory of, that’s when David was really frustrated of such and such. There’s a different kind of layer of memory that gets put on a scene, whether it be a location or a sound stage, where your memory of it is ruined in a way. The rug’s been pulled out on you.
BAXTER: And then when David arrives and says, look at the cement between those bricks, it doesn’t look real –
WALL: He’ll really obsess over something your eye won’t really see. We worked on a film, “The Game,” and he was obsessed with the walls, they were slightly buckled. And he wanted it to be straight like marble.
BAXTER: I remember in ‘Benjamin Button,’ when he was concerned about [the young Cate Blanchett’s] wig, we were cutting the scenes with the wig on, he was saying the wig looks terrible, and I was like, is it a wig? It’s her hair! I couldn’t tell. He reshot it, and you look at the new scene and it’s like, that’s so much better. It’s only by going through David’s journey that you realize.
What do you think of your Oscar chances?WALL: I think it’s impossible to predict.
BAXTER: I thought “Inception” was going to get nominated, so it’s hard to know what’s going on.
WALL: Unless it’s a movie that’s cut where the editing is very apparent –
Like “127 Hours,” which was a surprise nominee in that category?WALL: That’s a movie where the editing is in your face. Editing is a tool for expressing something. In “Social Network,’ it’s a different thing. I don’t know what it is specifically – it’s trying to immerse you in an experience so the boundary between the movie and the viewer disappears.
BAXTER: Essentially all you are doing is servicing the story. I find it very difficult to speak about in these kind of moments – it really is just all about those elements coming together. Because you’re cutting fast or cutting slow or letting that moment resolve. It’s hard to pinpoint when it works. It’s easy to pinpoint when it doesn’t.
WALL: It’s hard to call out one part of the film, as a craft, it’s hard to extricate one part of it. It’s wonderful to see the movie get attention. I truly don’t think any one of us thought that was going to happen.
BAXTER: I said it out loud! We’d all just come off ‘Benjamin Button.’ I said, this is an odd movie for us. But ultimately, the best editing Oscar should go to the best-told story. Were we the best-told story? I don’t know."
By Melena Ryzik on February 11, 2011.Source: http://carpetbagger.blogs.nytimes.com/


http://editorunderconstruction.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/talking-with-angus-wall-kirk-baxter.html

In the lesson today Chris was reviewing our Edits here are the comments he made during it:

• come in on tray/ pain in arse - dead air - don't need cups being given out
• for grounded his performance - good decisions
• cut out after b-mail to get to punch line - needs to trust how think gag should go.
• needs to compress to get to punch line - architecture of gag
• Clicks beginning of penny
• add mix in audio to get rid of clicks
• no laughing when he laughs 
• christ on bike need to come in quicker
• end of CU

The sound for the comedy was quite good quality the olny thing was that you could here the difference between the LS and CU shots and the CU shots were a lot more clearer. This meant that i then tried to sync the CU sounds with the LS shots. This worked will the only part that didn't work was the part when Penny says the business if running okay, This then meant i had to then leave the LS sounds so its not quite as clear but can still understand her.

As they are sitting in the lounge you can hear in the background Penny typing so I havn't added in any extra sounds. I think it could do with some extra atmos like cars outside passing by and that. I think that even thought this is missing it still works fine.

Was Watching this music video and thought the editing was so clever. Its one long take but rewinds and fast forwards to the right parts in the song. I think this is such a simple idea but works so well.

Heres the edited version:

Heres the original un edited version:

When you watch the unedited version you really see how its all put together and all preplanned and rehearsed. I really like the way its constantly changing pace although its just the one shot it still manages to be constantly moving and adapting to the tempo of the song. 

Looking through the footage i thought i would edit the scene in which they are sitting in the lounge. I started off with naming my clips and as the crew used a clapper board i named the clips with the shot numbers and takes too.

I looked through the script to help with the rough edit but i just went of what i thought would fit best. Thisndidnt take long to do.

Once i had a rough assembly i got Chris to go through it and he showed me how much they mess their lines up. I tried to cut most of it out but there is still one part where Alf says No twice but i think if i get rid of the second no it will jump too much so left it in.

I tried to make sure i used a lot of CU's to help the audience to get involved in the actions but i used the odd long shot to show the actions and reactions to certain things, such as when Penny shows them the Laptop. Also when Alf makes the comment about the emails being shit i left a little break before Tony starts talking so that the audience can have a moment laughing at the joke.

Chroma key is also known as Blue Screening and is when the actor standing in front of a large blue screen and acts out the actions. The camera operators then switch the Blue Screen for the background that they want. You have to be careful what colour key is used so that you avoid colour bleeding. Traditionally the colour is blue but more frequently the colour is green as skins tones stands out well. also if the colour has bleed then is can be more covered up easier. 

Luma Key is similar to Chroma Key but is do with the brightness levels. A brightness level is set then either higher or lower pixels from this point can be turned off. This works better with black and white as it is good at creating greyscale images.

Sourced from This Website

Was looking at montages the other day in the lesson and Chris used 127 Hours opening as a good example of one.

A montage is basically a sequence of short shots that show a progressive in time condensed into a few shots. They are primarily used to open a film to help set the scene or during a film to progress the time on without making a jump. A famous example of a montage sequence is from Rocky I when he is training. This sequences shows him training and running along changing locations. It shows the audience a long period of narrative time but in a very small amount of air time. As a viewer you except this quick progression and jump cuts as it is still chronological and makes sense as shows the natural progression.

Danny Boyle choose to use a montage sequence at the beginning of his film 127 House to help set up the themes for the film. This sequence is made up of split screen shots of crowded places with a lot of movement, this relates as an opposite to how James Franco is during the majority of the film when he is stuck in with arm behind a boulder. It shows so much communication and busy enviroments mixed in with shots of James Character getting ready to go out on his own without any form of communication with anyone, isolated almost.

When editing my Narrative pieces i had to ProRess all the clips as we had filmed on DSLR cameras. Here are the steps I took to do it. 

When opening Mpeg Streamclip you are presented with this window. Ignore it an select at the top under the heading List, "Batch List". You will then be presented with this:

You then clip "Add Files" and select the footage clips from the DS Card. When selected you must make sure the settings are correct before continuing. the compression must be "Apple ProRes 442" and the quality must be 100%. Must also check the frame size that it matches the capture size. When I was burning a quicktime to DVD i had to click limit data rate so that it would be small enough to fit onto a DVD. 

Once done click "To Batch" and click go to start Proressing.

As I wasn't sure on how Jonny edits and I wanted to make sure we have a proper structure to the piece I said to him that I would go through all the interview stuff and organise the interview to make a structure to the piece and Jonny said he would go through and sort out the footage and put sequences together so then we could combine the interview bits I have with cutaways and sequences that Jonny had put together.

After Spending a lot of time going through all the tapes and doing a transcript for int interview I then started going through and picking out the part I felt were strong and deciding how I thought they would best fit together. When editing my Documentary together last semester Debbie had suggest that I edited into sections of the different subject matters as then it would be easier to move around each section until I was happy with the overall structure. I took a similar approach to this. I got the section introducing rock climbing, bit on rock climbing at Stanag Edge, piece on safety and then the piece on Bouldering. I decided that it would be easier to figure out the overall structure when had the actual sequences of climbing as we could see what pieces follow on well and what pieces don't.

Meet with Jonny one day and he said he had made a start on the introduction to the piece. When he showed me it it was only a small number of shots together. I didn't really think it worked well as an introduction as was him pulling rope up at the top of the cliff and I made it clear to him that I didn't think two of the shots worked next to each other as they are too similar and I don't like how it seemed like a jump cut.

Edit of interviews

Couple of days after I organised to meet Jonny so that we could start going through the interview and clips together and start piecing them together. When Jonny came in he was unable to show me what he had done since last time as someone was on the Mac he was on previously. Then when they left he then said he hadn't don't much else since last time. As he then sat there on Facebook and not helping I decided I would then go home and do it in the comfort of my house.

Edit when meet Jonny day before

Jonnys edit of the cutaways and climbing sequences

Jonnys ending sequence edit 

The Day before it was due in he then had produced me with all the work he had been doing. I felt that this was a very poor amount for him to do. At this point I had already done an rough edit with a small gap in the middle of about 30 seconds and about 30 second at the end. He was surprised I had done so much but I felt that as it was due in the next day a lot more should be done before this point.

I left Jonny with the edit on my Mac and he added in a few shots at the end. These did look alright but then when I actually filled in the rest of the gaps they did not work with continuity so I had to change them. All the tracks that I had edited to and used I don't think worked very well with the piece so I said to Jonny, as he was sitting there not doing anything, to try and find some music we could use. After only finding one track that didnt not go with the piece at all he then had to leave.

I then decided that as I had done everything for this and most of the last piece I would make the edit presentable and then leave it as that. I filled in the last few gaps and then left it. I was not happy with how it was. I think the interview pieces flowed well and was a good structure but then the sound, music and the cutaways made the piece weak.

I found it very hard as I was doing it on my own and didn't get to discus or get another viewpoint on it so got stuck on what to put in the gaps. I think if I was to have this help from Jonny this piece would have been a lot stronger but its hard when I dont have that support. Im very fussy when it comes to my edits and I'm a perfectionist but in no way did i stop jonny from doing anything but when it got the a few days before it was due i wasn't going to not do anything just because hes suppose to as i want to create good strong pieces of work.

Edit that was Presented

Presentation

Everything people said i agreed with. the music level are all over the place but ideally i would put it into Soundtrack Pro and do the sound properly. I think it was George that said he want to be able to hear him climbing and not the music. I was a bit cautious of this as thought i might be boring and just put music on it so that it was a bit more interesting. But i do agree i think parts need to have breaks in the music too and when I go over it I think I will definitely make sure that this. Some of the things that were pointed out i already knew, like the text and the music then, but i was planning on redoing the titles and making it in time i just hadn't had time too.

While the footage is capturing I was sitting and making notes on the interview and what he was saying so that I could go through and make a narrative for it.

Tape 5 - Untitled 16:

• When you climb outside and its freezing cold like it is today it takes quite a while for your fingers to warm up. so the process you get hot aches which isn't a nice process at all. So when I was on my climb before  i was climbing with very very cold fingers, which isn't the nicest thing.
• Its great to be out in the peak district for a change because we've been indoors.
• Yeah its usually in the summer when we come outside to climb, its usually to cold and to wet in the winter. 
• So the difference between boldering and climbing is with climbing you use rope and you use difference bits of equipment all together to keep you safe while climbing. BANGING 
• The difference between boldering and climbing is with climbing you use rope and pieces together to keep you safe and can climb a lot higher and do things you wouldn't do without a rope. With boldering its a lot more close to the ground. You use pads to keep you safe and you take breaks and do really hard moves that *** because you are close to the ground. 
• Usually boldering is the most difficult, it had the more difficult moves. You push yourself to the limit when your bordering because you haven't got that fear which you do have with climbing because your very high. Boldering your close to the ground and you don't have to think of the safety side of it.
• We generally come out climbing for the entire day, generally in the peak district or further a field. We'll stay for a weekend of stay for 6 months whatever, just depends on the circumstances.
• There are lots of different ways you can train at becoming better at climbing and a lot of them do involve strength. So to do with your fingers, what i think is most effective is to hang off a sort of finger board, which is a glorified pulling bar. Its a piece of wood with different holes in and you hang off your fingers and it gets stronger. 

Tape 6 - Untitled 27:

• Was too cold today, holds are big and good bur if hands are cold cant really fill them. So wasn't ideal.
• I would have fallen if wasn't holding one, its just cant tell if its a good hold or a bad hold, its very insecure.
• We use the ropes for safety, put the metal runners in the rocks then they will catch me if I fall off.
• The holds on the finger board and climbing wall are very small, tips of fingers, where those up there are big holds so can hold on for longer. (Repeated)
• ***** where we are now is one of the most famous climbing area in Britain, is famous from abroad as well. This route is a classic so a lot of people do it. a lot of people fall off it as well from what i see when Im here. with the ropes that helps them so they don't hit ground.
• Sometimes but not on ****** but on some of the climbs you get scared and think your going to fall off. 
• Either that or you fall off but hopefully you've placed your protection alright. 
• Well usually when you get to the top your very pleased with yourself but  today i was just relieved to be off the climb because it was so cold. But as soon as you get to the top the *** kicked in and you have a moment to yourself swearing trying to warm up

Tape 7 - Untitled-/27: Same interview as above but a CU on face 

Tape 9 - Untitled 342:

• Yeah in some way its been fun, its always nice to get out. even if today is the coldest day.
• Erm these particular climbs which i have done quite a fews times yeah.
• one that we've done today, it would probably be ****** the one on the erect side where i was trying to get heel up. its very good.
• Cold makes it very difficult, because to start with you cant feel your fingers but then you do warm up. when its really cold it makes you think its more *** easier to injure say you fingers.
• i would go as far as saying ive injured it, its tweeky, like fingernail i can feel it starting to go. and if it does go mean 3 or 4 months of climbing, definately not worth it. 
• certaintly no more then 3 days in a row. the thing with grit stone is it wears down the skin so quite a few days it wuite unusual as your skin will disorientate. 
• around here are made of grit stone and lime stone. *** grit stone is more about friction.
• with grit stone, when its cold the friction is better so you have to find a balance between cold and too cold. today it was too cold.
• Spain, 
• Thats where we will be this summer.

The next exercise is to edit together a documentary on climbing. The folders of footage given are not the whole of the footage. There was folders missing such as tapes 3 and 4 so when I got the tapes of Chris I started off by capturing these first before going through the other footage and finding what was missing.

Since looking at the rough edit with Chris there was only a bit of refining to do, maybe add in a few more close ups and adding in a train montage in the middles for an extra break. I took the edit home.
I felt that if I was to add in more close ups i feel as though i would repeat the shots over so haven't added any more in but I did take the advice and added in a few more shots of trains to create the break in the middle. I think this has helped as you hear the narrative say about falling to asleep around 3am twice so gives a little bit more of a break in between this. I reorganised the sound clips so that they were all on the right tracks.
I also decided to colour correct a few of the shots, for example the shot when he grabs the chain was very blue compared to the slightly warmer shots of sitting in the carriage. So I just added some slight orange to the mid and lighter tones so that it matches up better.
Here were some notes I took about the thought on our piece:

• Really good opening and use of music, the talking could be like 10 frame slater to fit in with the beat of the song

• If spend more time on it look at 2.48 - thats where the work needs to be done.

• Also when he say s 3-4 in the morning could be moved 10/12 frames to fit better. 

• Dont over use the music as it looses power

• Could have tried the same melody but on a different instrument.

I wasn't too pleased with the final edit I felt like I could have done a lot more to it to make it better, especially the middle section which was pointed out. I did like how the dream sequence came in but I wasn't too keen on the end but there was limited ways to finish it so managed to come up with that. I think what I have learnt is that the use of voice over is hard to use but I think it worked alright in this as I managed to create a story that flowed with it. but as I said in the presentation I just put it together and made it fit following the basic narrative of the script.

The first stage of the edit is to cut up all the clips. Jonny was my partner so he cut up the first few rushes and I did the rest.

When copying the clips over the all went off line so had to reconnect it and put both of our clips together in one FCP.

I then started the edit. After reading through the script I just started going through pieceing the pieces together as close as i could to the script. Here is the screen grab after the first afternoon editing it together:

I took the edit home to carry on doing work and to start adding in the sound but when I came back into uni I didn't copy over onto my hard drive properly so then i had to go to my lesson and left Jonny editing the sound and adding in some more clips. 

When I returned I carried of moving things around and adding in the remaining sound and creating an ending for our piece. 

Notes made during seminar on 7th Feb:

Walter Murch - Rule of Sixth

1. Emotion - 51%
2. Story - 23%
3. Rhythm - 10% 
4. Eye Trace - 7%
5. 2 Dimensional Space of Action - 5%
6. 3 Dimensional Space of Action - 4%

Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)-

Voice Over

• Older voice then in picture
• Its like your with him - connect with him
• Purely with him for 7 mins but do not loose attention
• He's having a rant
• Pauses are important - stop and listen to whats going on on screen
• Well acted - tones in his voice
• Fast Paced - Strong script
• Quickly introduces a lot of characters and a lot happens

Picture 

• Simple Titles - noise or cars
• Sound of three doors closing and do not see a thing, no need to establish woods - will slow down pace.
• When shoots the body - frames tinted red
• Guns echo - would naturally reverbed in boot
• Camera in time with music then freeze-frame
• XCU on eye - eye is the gateway to the sole, Its is not a POV but is a personal POV from him and his memories
• Only CU is on boss - shows his importance.
• Lots of camera movement to keep pace moving
• Very small pause in VO to say 19 - frames it.

When opening FCP must check the user preferences are correct. They are as follows:

• The auto save must be set to 5 minutes so that if something goes wrong and the mac breaks you would have only lost 5 minutes worth of work.

• Onto the tab timeline setting un tick drop frame and set the time to 10:00:00:00. Also change so that only the name appears not a thumbnail