Editing Diary

I was told before we even started by, a Year 13, Samuel Pate who claimed that the editor has more power over what the story will be like than the director. It was after this experience that we learnt what this meant. Throughout this i wish to convey how much of our vision altered through out the editing process, and how the software opened new opportunities whilst creating many obstacles. We edited over 4 days (twice the amount of time it took to film). With Peter taking two of those days. We tended to edit when ever we could.

Interestingly our editing technique varied to others. Where as all over groups edited chronologically. We edited small sections (the car pulling in to the house being the first) we felt this kept the experience fresh, if we got stuck with what to do on one section, we moved unto another then would come back to it. This meant we strayed form the original narrative we storyboarded but to great effect. The cutaways to the floorboards and the inkblots really make the viewer focus on both simultaneous plot strands.

The first thing we did was altering raw footage, this included grading. Something which is vital in creating an atmospheric tone. This included grading pictures, as we had no control of lighting (the office scenes were done under normal lighting. The House scenes were done in the day.) We found by decreasing the darkness it prolongs shadows, creating much more menace. Extreme colours are much more gripping, so contrasts were used, this proved great with the masks as sometimes the insides of the mask went black when contrasted, mystifying the characters. Another element to the picture we graded was the white balance, we found it creates this odd effect of making the lights of different colours stand out (for an example on the finished piece, where the assailant opens the bonnet, the car appears pure black, and the reflection fo the sky is shining white). Whilst we were concerned it ruined the reality, we found we preferred this, it glamorises the setting of the masked assailants. it also adds to this "Agent" (the antagonists of 'The Matrix') image, of them not fitting in with the our (the viewer's) world.

We weaved in six different soundtracks Peter found on freeplay.com. By using numerous soundtrack, all of them crossing each other fading in and out. It creates a complex, epic grandeur. All the track, especially when edited to together it was reminiscent of that of 'The Dark Knight' specifically the Joker's Theme.

There are several references that we created purely through editing. The first is to the recent Bond film ‘Quantum of Solace’. The moment where the two protagonists are walking along the desert dunes, the same shot dissolved to speed up the process of the characters walking. We wanted this for the section where the antagonists walk out of the house, especially as it is a long take. There was a draw back with ‘Vegas’ in that there is a limit to how much you can dissolve, I found this frustrating a sit hardly creates the subtlety that I wanted. But it does quicken the pace so it stayed in the final edit.

A massive section of filming remained on 'the editing room floor'. We filmed an entire section where the assailant reach ‘Regent House’ (which was to be revealed as the house stated in the title.) But we abandoned this section for three main reasons.

Our project was already overrunning and to keep to the suggested length we’d either have to seriously cut down on what we had, or take that section out
There was some flaws with how it filmed, whilst we took precautions, it was simply impossible, on a big screen, to film the porche close up without a reflection of the camera
It became too pushing of the viewer, the dialogue with the psychiatrist would be pushed out to thin, to the point the audience couldn’t recognise it as a conversation
We therefore made the decision in the editing room to remove it.
Finally something we caught unto very quickly was that another means of making our media product look as professionally, is to crosscut between a lot of frames, at a level that gives as much stimulating information as possible, without confusing the viewer. We did this by either placing cutaways in the middle of the same shot.

For example, when the camera tilts down one of the assailants, we cross cut to the patient, we calculated where one shot ended and the other started. This Match on Action works well.

Another example is match on action but with a jump, as we cut between a close up of an assailant looking at a hammer, to the patient, then to the assailant hitting the wall. This jump is my favourite cut in the whole piece, because it takes the viewer by surprise.

Through editing we found that not only could we add to the story we started constructing, but that is when the story is made. Filming is merely acquiring materials, editing is turning them into an effective story telling. Most of the elements that are linked to a thriller can be done through editing.

Tim McNiven & Peter McLaughlin