Editing Techniques

                                                                  Editing Techniques

                      Assignment Breakdown 

For this assignment, myself and a partner were tasked with filming and editing 8 clips that would demonstrate some of the editing techniques that we were taught in class. This included, cross cutting, jump cuts, graphic match cut, fade in/out, shot reverse shot, wipe, dissolve, and cutaway. 

First, we planned a general idea of what we wanted each scene to be about and the locations/props that we would need from the prompts we were given, (some ideas we did not use prompts provided by our teacher) 

                                                                                                                                             Preparation 

Jump cut: A cat is shown lazing around all day on her pillow. Time passing shows her eating and indulging in catnip as well. (location: house; props: cat, cat treats, pillow, catnip, cat toys)

Cutaway (prompt: during an argument cut away to a ticking clock or unimpressed pet): Two people argue over who should get the last cookie, it cuts away to a dog which reveals that she has actually eaten the most out of the group. (location: house; props: dog, cookies) 

Dissolve: A full plate of cookies sits on the table, people take a few then it dissolves to an empty plate with just crumbs. (location: house; props: plate & cookie) 

Cross cutting (prompt: a character is running late for a meeting while another person impatiently checks their watch in a different location): One person is running late to a meeting, they race to try and get to the location in time. The other person wait impatiently. (location: park; props: none necessary) 

Shot/reverse shot: a person yells at a dog, the camera is positioned to show just them from the front, then both subjects when it turns. (location: house; props: dog)

Match cut: graphic match cut compares a clock and the moon (location: house; props: paper and pencil for drawing, clock)

Fade in/out: A person is hit by a hammer, it fades out as they loose consciousness and fades back in when they regain in. (location: house; props: hammer)

Wipe: (Prompt: A person opens a door - wipe into a new location) A school door opens transitioning to a outdoor scene in a different location. (location: school, backyard; props: none

                                                                                  Storyboards

                                                                                       Filming 

• The jumpcut was easy to film, at least in terms of camera techniques. The main problem we faced in recording was getting the cat to stay in frame, not face away from the camera, etc. Overall, it took around 2-3 different takes for each shot, but it was fairly simple so didn't cause too much trouble. 
• The cutaway was slightly more complex with camera angles, so that we could get a consistent low angle/high angle shot, we stayed in the same positions (me sitting and Cristian standing) between takes so that if we had to repeat a shot, there would still be consistency in the angles and our positions. There were still problems with using animals in our scenes though, since we struggled with getting the dog to face the camera. It took around 3-4 shots to get her to look even close to at the camera but the other shots without her were easier to do and only took 1-2 takes. 
• The dissolve was conceptually the most simple scene that we had, it was only supposed to be one camera angle and stay at that angle the whole time. But, my partner accidentally filmed vertically for one of the shots meaning that once we realized, we had to try and get the exact same angle and position when we reshot it. He also unintentionally filmed in slow mo when reshooting so it took maybe 8-9 tries to get both the clips that we needed.  
• The cross cutting took the longest to film, but not because of how many takes we had to do. This was the only scene that we were filming outside which meant that when there was noise or other people around, we had to stop and wait. Because we were filming in a park, there were people walking and biking in there area that we were in, so to be polite (and to have consistency in our shots) we stopped filming every time someone was passing by us. We spent about an hour and 15 in that park but we only had to reshoot about 3 times. 
• The shot reverse shot was difficult to film because of the high angle shot that we were using. Cristian is around 3 inches taller than me so I was on my tip-toes for filming since I was trying to get a high angle shot over his shoulder which made a lot of the shots very shaky, meaning we had to refilm around 4-5 times. Also, getting the dog to stay still was the most difficult for this scene. Cristian had to hold a treat in his hand and continually tell her to stay, but we had to redo a couple shots again because she would run off. 
• The match cut was one of the easier shots, I only took two different takes because there was a shadow in one that obscured what I wanted in the frame. 
• The fade in/out was a bit difficult because of the timing of the hit/fall. It was originally my partner who was supposed to be hit but he couldn't get the fall to be realistic at all and the timing was off so we switched places. We also had to put a mirror in front of us so the person falling could see when they were supposed to drop. It took around 10 retakes total.   
• The wipe took a handful of retakes because it was difficult to get the door to swing at a useable pace that could match up with how we wanted to edit it. But, the camera techniques were basic so that didn't interfere at all with what we were shooting. 

                                                                                  Final Video