Preliminary Task (Editing)

• What did we intend to represent?

Unfortunately, we did not have a clear idea regarding what story we were trying to tell through our sequence. This happened because we did not communicate enough in the beginning of the project. Nevertheless, we had clear in our minds that Celine, because of her overpowering personality, was going to be the lead, while Emma would be an intimidated, younger character who mumbled and did not say her words as convincingly as her counterpart. Other than that, we did not know much about what input was the best one nor we had enough time to give it deep thought. Moreover, we were told several times throughout the process that the Preliminary Task was not intended to stand out for its inventiveness. What they asked us to do was to apply the skills we had learned during the first Studio sessions to achieve an understandable media text with all the characteristics that makes it work to some extent.

• How did we do it?

When it was time to edit, Adri and I had to face the daunting task to put together coherently a bunch of images which did not bear much resemblance from one another. We tried to do this as well as we could, following the guidance that had been given to us previously. This means that we began with an establishing long shot to present the space. This was followed by a mid shot to draw importance to the person who is speaking. Next, we included an over-the-shoulder shot to give variety and help orientate the audience towards the other person, the one who talks now. And back to the other one. We wanted to keep a constant alternation but the camera remaining more time with the main character, Celine, to endear her with the audience. There is a strong, sharp cut in the middle of the dialogue, which is obviously a mistake due to the lack of time and also lack of effort and concentration from behalf of the actresses when shooting. They constantly moved and did not do the same scenes in the same spots, no matter how well organised and insistent we, as the camera crew, were. 

We eventually come back to the mid shot, as to re-establish the scene and clarify that everything looks the same way as it did in the beginning for the most anxious viewers. Many times we were following the storyboard, but we also tried to innovate. In the end we decided to give it a touch of comedy almost as an excuse for the non-professional result we had achieved. Viewing it lightheartedly as an audience would help to render a better overall impression. Comedy achieved by the prolongation of the close-up to Celine's shoes demonstrating her anger by stepping on top of the script, which portrays an almost caricaturist approach of the scene. 

We end up with a mid shot of her feet walking away, and then we draw everyone's attention to the closed door and to the torn papers in the floor, as a dramatic suspension which works as a contrast from the previous action. 

• Were we successful?

The mise en scene was nothing to boast about. Of course, the setting was perfect because it rendered the image of a normal living room where the sort of action we were asked to perform could perfectly happen. However, the costumes were not prepared beforehand and there was no clue of who were our characters and in what sense the dialogue was delivered. Furthermore, as I said in the previous post about the filming, Celine was holding her script all the way through so it destroyed whatever realism we had managed to implement in the scene so far thanks to the setting and our effort to perform a proficient job as camera women. I am glad we came up with the idea of stressing out that showing the script was something done on purpose and to make the audience laugh instead of just being there as a cheat sheet.

• What have I learned from the process?
  
  

The lesson I take from this experience is that with practice, willingness and time, everything can be achieved in Media. However, if one of those magical ingredients is absent, the project is bound to be a failure. At least, the technical side worked out really well and there was not any any single image out of focus. We represented a story which can be appreciated and interpreted in different ways but has a specific tone and dialogue which, from my perspective, are understood perfectly. I can't say much about the editing process; just that, if you don't have good material, the edition is not going to work wonders —at least not in the stage we are, maybe a very experienced professional can make a masterpiece out of a sequence like ours—. I am excited to keep working and improving, this can be taken for granted, but crossed fingers for a better group next time.

The result can be watched below:

First Editing Lesson

On Friday, we were introduced to a programme used by all kinds of media artists, from amateur YouTubers to professional film makers: Adobe Premiere Pro. Personally, I had already worked with it a couple of times before, but this lesson helped me review the basic principles and I also took the opportunity to show friends in need how it worked. 

What we first did was learn the basic vocabulary essential for the utilisation of the programme. In the bottom left corner, we can find the folders, which are called "bins" in this case. The name is used since the birth of cinema, when the frames were so little that the crew had to hang them in the ceiling to be able to see them. They grouped each one of them according to the scenes they belonged to, placing a bin under each separate one. Moving on to the next word, "rushes" is used as a substitute of footage. The background story here is less original: the footage would be rushed off to be edited at night so next day the director could watch it. The equivalent in America is "dailies", if you are curious.

After getting to grips with these few terms, we started to figure out how Premiere worked by ourselves, carefully following Mark's instructions as to click twice in the squares which represented each short sequence. We were shown too the underlying controls to change from the regular clicking arrow (press B) to the razor blade to cut frames into segments (press C).

Having observed the mentioned details, we were ready to start editing our clips more or less properly —as effectively as we could do so—. Franek and I started dragging the frames to the grey espace where it is possible to set their In and Out (marking), cut them and mix them by moving their edges back and forth. We likewise changed the sound settings. The best time to jump from one frame to the next one is when the characters are in movement, as it makes the change less drastic. It is also relevant to know that the clip which is going to play once the editing is done is always the bit higher in the scale. 

I contemplated the entire lesson as extremely significant for the future tasks we will perform in order to carry out our thrillers. By all means, we will be able from now on, as a class, to work in the basics when we want to shoot our stories, with no technical restrictions and the opportunity to give free rain to our ambition —to a certain extent, of course—. In present day, we feel confident and able to make the most of the resources we have. And, more importantly, the issues we are learning about can prove useful beyond the classroom, when we are developing personal projects.

Letting my mind wonder about the Preliminary Task and the Thriller sequence that I start to foresee, I feel ready for both challenges after Matt's lessons' impact: he has made sure, within a few hours, that we can perfectly utilise a camera and a tripod, shoot a brief scene with creativity and dynamism and then edit it, three of the golden rules for a proficient media product. Undoubtedly, it is an impressive achievement what he has done during the last weeks, and I am glad that every student has collaborated sensibly throughout most of the process. I am really looking forward to getting started with the practical side of Media. I have started brainstorming already!

under these lines, the result of our edition can be viewed. Not very professional, but we did our best. I'm sure we will improve awfully through time.