Entry 8:

Noah and I finalize the editing on the last production day in class. It was a lot of work, but in the end we finished much faster than our last film, which was nice.

I think our peers will like how thought-provoking our film is. I wrote our script to be ambiguous, and we certainly kept it that way. I think they'll find it funny (even though it's not exactly supposed to be a comedy) but I think the shifts in tone are good. Additionally, we did spend a lot of time on the sound design/editing (even though it may not be too obvious). Plus, our cinematography during the final scene of the movie is pretty nice, with our medium shots at the lake being really beautiful and aesthetically pleasing. Lastly, there's one transition that took me about an hour to edit. I think they'll find it pretty cool. This movie has the potential to be very entertaining, even though it's not a filmmaking masterpiece.

Could you understand the plot? How do you think the movie ended?

Did the editing add or detract from the final product, and why?

This transition took almost a full hour to figure out how to edit, but I think it turned out okay.

Entry 7: Rant/Ramble

The number of audio tracks in our film wasn't enough to truly create a scary horror movie scene in my opinion. Here, Noah reviews the horror movie scene after I finished editing.

Our film was honestly not what I had envisioned it to be when we began. A lot of these problems can be attributed to our lack of planning. We did so little planning that we pretty much did nothing the first week of worktime. Many of our scenes were filmed later than we intended (even up until the last day) and quickly, as we were running out of time. However, the editing went much smoother than last time, which was nice for me. Anyways, a lot of scenes needed re-shoots that we didn't have time for, so we had to cut important shots. Additionally, there were parts that we didn't realize were unusable until it was too late. While our group worked very well together, we worked a little too well together in that we couldn't focus very well. It was fun as a result of this, though. I kinda wish we had more time and more focus, along with less busy work in all of our other classes going on at the same time (e.g. essays&written tasks). However, realistically, one thing I'd really like to have would be an editing software that could handle more audio tracks at the same time, and included better animations. I think those would truly make our horror movie scenes better.

The check we used for our talk show scene. Originally, I didn't write this into the script, but it's a nice touch.

Entry 6: Baby Driver and Editing

Paul Machliss in his mobile editing center.

Baby Driver has very special editing in that much of the editing was done on set. Editor Paul Machliss had a mobile setup built so he could edit during filming. This was done to ensure "that six months down the line we weren't gonna go, 'Ugh, we missed a trick here.' 'This didn't work." Machliss says that because he also worked with Wright on Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and At World's End, they had begun to come up with a cohesive system to edit the film on-set as it was shot. They had to get incredibly inventive for many of the scenes with large-scale car chases and such. Says Machliss, "Edgar said, 'We're filming on the road, I'd like you to be with me editing as we're filming'... So basically, we lashed up to an apple crate... and on this particular day, this is how it worked."

Machliss on his ExtraMobile editing studio.

Although our production is different as we cannot edit on set, we have taken many measures to ensure editing this picture is much smoother than our last film, like blocking out our actions and filming entire scenes from different angles as continuous shots, instead of stopping and starting the camera every time the scene cuts. Additionally, Brandon has been recording Foley sounds on set for many of our scenes, so we don't have to go out into the hallway at school and record the closest thing we can find with our phones after editing has begun. This way, we can edit the whole movie uninterrupted. I think this will truly help us not have to stay very late every day to complete our editing on time.

Sources:
https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/editing-and-sound-baby-driver/
http://www.indiewire.com/2018/02/oscars-2018-baby-driver-editing-edgar-wright-1201930279/

Entry 5: Your Role (3/23)

I finish the editing for the horror segment of our film

I thought my discussion with the other editors was good to shine light on the common problems we were all facing and how we handled it. This was helpful as it also resolved a few minor issues we were all facing, like how to fix sound design in post. I'm feeling pretty good about the editing, as I enjoy editing movies, however, it is a lot of work. I'm most likely going to have to stay late every day next week in order to finish on time. Additionally, it's hard to fix problems with shots that we missed earlier in the week, so I'll need to find some creative workarounds for that. All in all, I'm feeling good about the editing we're undertaking.

The editing in Baby Driver, undertaken on set

Entry 4: How's it going? (3/18)

I feel like things are going pretty well. When our group sits down to work, we can actually get stuff done relatively quickly. As for me, the screenplay is completely done, and the editing won't begin until we're done filming. The prospect of editing this film is mildly daunting, as it is more intricate than many of our prior films. However, it should be very fun. I'm hoping to use techniques that I haven't used before, like changing the aspect ratio, grayscaling, etc.

Editing this may be scary, but not as scary as this Freddy Kruger statue that we put under a sheet for our film.

Writing this screenplay was really fun for me, because I decided to just think of the most crazy things I could come up with to fit in a single movie.

Entry 3: Editing and Storytelling (3/14)

1. A shot is made good by its attention to detail. When thought it put into how a shot should be filmed for the best effect, it shows. For example, take this shot from 2001: a Space Odyssey.

This shot is famous for its intricacies. The way that you can see the pods on the sides, the symmetric framing, and the space-agey lighting all work together to make an incredible visual creation. The meticulous planning has made something beautiful.

2. Editing is the most important part of a film. Without editing, there would be little meaning, it would simply be a series of shots. Take the montage, for example. By placing shots in a sequence, with certain shots after each other, it adds meaning to what would be meaningless film. For example, Battleship Potemkin, pioneer of the montage. Shots such as a woman getting shot, people falling over, children crying, help to show the destruction being wrought on the city. However, any of these shots on their own (save for the woman being shot) would not indicate anything beyond the obvious if they were not put together.

I begin to translate my screenplay to the storyboard. This was the day that I finished writing our script that was previously partially unfinished.

(3/5)