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In November 2022, I attended a BAFTA networking event as part of their film festival weekend. Here, I met Emma Zadow, a screenwriter/actor working on short films. We started discussing feminism and diversity in film, and decided we would collaborate in the near future. Emma sent the script for SPIKED to me in November (which would be later revised). SPIKED is a dark comedy/drama about two women that live very opposing lifestyles, but are brought together due to a needle-spiking incident. Their friendship is tested as they figure out what the next steps are.

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7th February 2023 - Meeting with the Director

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7th February 2023 - Meeting with the Director

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I had a meeting with the Director of SPIKED (Alex Shipman) so that we could be introduced and discuss my role for the short film. I'd previously held a meeting with the producer (Phoebe Lorenz) and writer (Emma Zadow) in December 2022 to understand the story as well as being introduced to the producer.

In today's meeting, Alex told me where the production will be filmed (Phoebe's parents house in the North East of England), when (Early March), as well as discussing the basics of the workflow that we will follow. Once finished filming, they will send me the hard drives, which both of us will back-up. I can then start working on the edit, which will likely be done using mxf files. We will schedule remote meetings to go through my edit and make changes. After the meeting, she sent me the script and her treatment. Using these, I can understand the story much better, and start watching films with similar storylines that will inspire my editing for the film.

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I reviewed all the choices of rushes to download as I will need 2 projects among the 2 projects I've established with clients outside of university. To begin, I downloaded the rushes for Authentic due to the fact it's a diverse story. My career aspirations in the post industry is to be an offline editor on productions focused on under-represented groups, which is why this project is most-suited for my portfolio.

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In reading the script, I gained a large understanding of the story, which led me to making connections with other films that I'd seen, and from there, researching films with similar themes.

Possible References for the Production:
-Boiling Point - Brings the audience into the state of a fast-paced kitchen where anxiety is high, which is useful to crafting the edit for this script
-Uncorked - The main character is under pressure from his dad to take over the restaurant, rather than pursuing what he's actually interested in. Those scenes of discussions between the two of them can inspire the conversation between Nicolás and Abuelita.
-Chef (2014) - A latino-inspired film about a Head Chef in a restaurant, who eventually leaves to sell food from his own food truck. The Mexican themes in this will give me an idea of how to bring together a story surrounding Mexican food, as well as conversations in the Kitchen similar to the script, montages of busy kitchens and making food, etc.
-Tortilla Soup - An American-Mexican Chef - the protagonist - somehow takes on 3 or 4 roles from the script for Authentic Tortilla, I can take notes on the way that those roles are crafted to inspire the way I edit scenes involving those characters
-The Devil Wears Prada - for scenes where the protagonist is sent on missions by her boss - these will help me to craft the tension and anxiety of those scenes in the script

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18th February 2023 - Watching Films and Taking Notes and Time Stamps so that I can Re-visit Scenes

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18th February 2023 - Watching Films and Taking Notes and Time Stamps so that I can Re-visit Scenes

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Themes in the script to take notes from when they're apparent in the films watched:

Kitchen Meetings - Chef organising the food for the night, chef’s trying food

Station Prep

Busy kitchen - making food, orders coming in

Chef talking and walking about kitchen

Chef being humbled

Travelling around New York - montage

Bike being stolen

Typing on phone in alleyway

Young adult talking to grandma/grandpa/older person - making food together - arguing over career

Party gathering in apartment

People talking at party

Tortilla Soup (2001) - comedy/romance:

Opening scene music and montage of food being cooked - slow pace

12 minutes: scene in a restaurant, the chef makes orders, discusses with other chefs and gets one of them to try the food - music choice very good for the suspense, can use similar one for end of film - salsa-like music

1:37:40 orders being given in the kitchen, music to pair with it

Uncorked (2020) - drama:

3:30: knife cutting steak to abrupt music, conversations in kitchen

6:35: tracking shot as he walks into kitchen

7:20: dad talks to protagonist about him not taking things seriously, mostly one shot focusing on dads disappointment

18:30: similar to previous shot, mostly dads disappointment and then back to protagonist for his reaction to disappointment

27:00: similar again, but whilst the protagonist is talking and breaking news, the reaction of the dad is shown at the most important parts of the news breaking - close-up of protagonist at the end of the scene to really enhance the emotion

35:00: protagonist and dad moving around kitchen, dad steps out of static shot and then it switches to the camera in the next room when dad is entering, protagonist follows him in

51:00 slow-motion shots of Paris with Parisian music to show the scenery, cuts to standard pace shot of protagonist walking into building uses L-cut for music

55:00: montage of bike shots with music from POV shot of the wheel on the bike, slow-motion shots of mc riding the bike close-up, long shot as he turns a corner, more slow-motion of scenery, birds-eye-view of him getting closer to destination

Chef (2014) - comedy/drama:

00:40: protagonist cooking food in kitchen, montage of him doing so with subject in every angle, each time a new ingredient is added the camera angle changes. Music includes singing, then when there’s dialect, it goes into the instrumental part

6:00: chef walks into kitchen (frontal shot), when he stops to talk to everyone it cuts to a shot of him looking over the staff. Giving orders, mostly on him, cuts to other workers for reactions (over-the-shoulder)

9:45: wide shot of all the workers, cut to medium shot of chef walking in and gathering them round, everyone huddles, chef starts giving orders, each cut is a new angle getting closer to the subjects

35:20: montage between the kitchen and the chef cooking food at his own place. Music begins as chef is cooking food with close-ups, cuts to wide shot of kitchen receiving orders, cuts to medium shot following molly to tables. Every 16th beat is a cut. Cuts to wider shot of kitchen rushing to cook. Cuts to Molly being friendly and calm whilst greeting customers, this one disregards the rhythmic beat cut. Cuts to chef cooking calmly on his own. Cuts to busy kitchen with arguments again. Cuts to serving food. A lot of different noises in kitchen paired with music shows the business. Montage finishes abruptly as chef gets angry.

54:00: In a bar, live music playing in the scene like a party, it echoes out into the next scene through an audio bridge.

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As my peer is a motion graphics designer, we arranged a meeting to discuss collaborating on this project. In reviewing the script, I knew that there was a title sequence and motion graphics of text messages needed, therefore we decided that Cara could create both sequences. Further discussion will be made as the project progresses.

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Regarding hard drives and notes for the shoot days to enhance the edit.

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21st February 2023 - Discussions with Producer

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21st February 2023 - Discussions with Producer

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Conversation Continued: Regarding hard drives and notes for the shoot days to enhance the edit.

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21st February 2023 - Discussions with Producer

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21st February 2023 - Discussions with Producer

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Regarding technical information on the camera, etc.

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21st February 2023 - Discussions with Director

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21st February 2023 - Discussions with Director

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Conversation Continued: Regarding technical information on the camera, etc.

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21st February 2023 - Discussions with Director

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21st February 2023 - Discussions with Director

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Conversation Continued: Regarding technical information on the camera, etc.

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Discussions with Director - 21st February 2023

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Discussions with Director - 21st February 2023

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Conversation Continued: Regarding hard drives, notes for the shoot days to enhance the edit, as well as delivery (ingest) dates.

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22nd February 2023 - Discussions with Producer

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22nd February 2023 - Discussions with Producer

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Conversation Continued: Regarding hard drives, notes for the shoot days to enhance the edit, as well as delivery (ingest) dates.

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22nd February 2023 - Discussions with Producer

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22nd February 2023 - Discussions with Producer

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Conversation Continued: Regarding hard drives and motion graphics.

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23rd February - Discussions with Producer

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23rd February - Discussions with Producer

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As I don't feel experienced in motion graphics, I recommended my classmate, Summer, for this.

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To begin editing the project, I imported the footage into Premiere Pro. These were already in folders organised by scenes when I downloaded them, therefore I imported them the same way into bins. This would make it easier to edit each scene as I can work with the specific bins that corresponded with each scene.

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Using the lined script, I copied the description of each take into the bins. I then colour-coded each clip in the bin based on the angle. By doing this, it's quicker to choose the correct clip whilst building the timeline. As well as colour-coding, I watched through the clips that weren't marked 'NG' in the lined script to understand whether they would be good to use in the edit. I marked the best ones as good so that when I'm searching for that shot, I'd know the best ones to choose from first.

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20th February 2023 - Searching for Music

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20th February 2023 - Searching for Music

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Once I'd reviewed the footage, I had a much better understanding of how the scenes would be edited in my head. I believe that music would play an important part in this project as there's a lot of montage scenes. It could also be used as a way to transition between scenes, setting the tone and emotion of each one. I created notes for each section of the script where I could edit in music, this included:
1. the intro scene as Nicolas is washing the dishes until the dialogue begins: happy, calm
2. end of scene 1 with an audio bridge into scene 2 montage of New York and Ricardo's restaurant, which will fade out as Ricardo talks to Nicolas: hip hop, upbeat
3. end of scene 5 with an audio bridge into scene 6 as Nicolas uses the phone and leaves the alleyway, another audio bridge into scene 7 as Nicolas rings the doorbell: chaotic, busy
4. end of scene 8 as Abuelita is judging Nicolas for spending his money on tortilla ingredients with an audio bridge into scene 9 (in the kitchen) and another audio bridge into scene 10 until Nicolas sees that the chef is ringing him on his mobile phone: calm, happy
5. end of scene 13 as Abuelita shuts the door on Nicolas with an audio bridge into scene 14 until the partygoers have gone down the stairs into the party: sad
6. party music begins from the point where the previous music ended and continues as an audio bridge into scene 16 and ends abruptly as scene 17 begins: hip hop, party
7. calmer party music begins at the point that the previous music ends and fades out: hip hop, calm
8. at the end of scene 17 when Nicolas points out that Chuck and Todd are making tortillas, it's a lightbulb moment. This continues using an audio bridge into scene 18 and into the credits: happy, salsa

Watching Chef has encouraged me to search for music of inheritance for the project. In this case, that's Mexican and Spanish music. For that reason, I researched into those pieces of music on Epidemic Sound (providing copyright free music) where I found songs for each section in the script according to the previous list.

Once these had been found, I began to arrange them into a bin in my project, labelling them as where they would be placed in the sequence. This can be seen in the image above.

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Timeline of the second half of Scene 1 - Assembly Cut

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21st February 2023 - Editing Scene 1 of the Assembly Cut

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21st February 2023 - Editing Scene 1 of the Assembly Cut

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21st February 2023 - Editing Scene 2 of the Assembly Cut

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21st February 2023 - Editing Scene 2 of the Assembly Cut

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Timeline of Scene 3 and 4 - Assembly Cut

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21st February 2023 - Editing Scene 3 and 4 of the Assembly Cut

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21st February 2023 - Editing Scene 3 and 4 of the Assembly Cut

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22nd February 2023 - Editing Scene 5 of the Assembly Cut

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22nd February 2023 - Editing Scene 5 of the Assembly Cut

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22nd February 2023 - Editing Scene 6 of the Assembly Cut

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22nd February 2023 - Editing Scene 6 of the Assembly Cut

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22nd February 2023 - Editing Scene 7 of the Assembly Cut

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22nd February 2023 - Editing Scene 7 of the Assembly Cut

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22nd February 2023 - Editing Scene 8 of the Assembly Cut

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22nd February 2023 - Editing Scene 8 of the Assembly Cut

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22nd February 2023 - Editing Scene 9 of the Assembly Cut

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22nd February 2023 - Editing Scene 9 of the Assembly Cut

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22nd February 2023 - Editing Scene 10/11 of the Assembly Cut

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22nd February 2023 - Editing Scene 10/11 of the Assembly Cut

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22nd February 2022 - Editing Scene 12 of the Assembly Cut

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22nd February 2022 - Editing Scene 12 of the Assembly Cut

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22nd February 2023 - Editing Scene 13 of the Assembly Cut

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22nd February 2023 - Editing Scene 13 of the Assembly Cut

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22nd February 2023 - Editing Scene 14 of the Assembly Cut

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22nd February 2023 - Editing Scene 14 of the Assembly Cut

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Timeline of first half of Scene 1 - Assembly Cut

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22nd February 2023 - Editing the Beginning of Scene 1 for the Assembly Cut

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22nd February 2023 - Editing the Beginning of Scene 1 for the Assembly Cut

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Example of Adjustments to Second Half of Scene 1

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22nd February 2022 - Adjusting Second Half of Scene 1 for the Assembly Cut

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22nd February 2022 - Adjusting Second Half of Scene 1 for the Assembly Cut

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23rd February 2022 - Editing Scene 15 of the Assembly Cut

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23rd February 2022 - Editing Scene 15 of the Assembly Cut

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23rd February 2023 - Editing Scene 17 of the Assembly Cut

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23rd February 2023 - Editing Scene 17 of the Assembly Cut

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22nd and 23rd February 2023 - Assembly Cut

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22nd and 23rd February 2023 - Assembly Cut

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In the Assembly Cut, I used 8 pieces of music to assist in the telling of the story - the focus is on the tortillas, so using Mexican/Spanish music felt traditional to both the motif and the main character, Nicolas. It was also useful for transitions between the many locations that the story travels between. This is inspired by the film, Chef; the soundtrack to this film used latin jazz, where the film revolved around the chef’s decision to start a food truck selling Cuban sandwiches. Both the music and editing in this film have mainly informed the style of my edit. The music I use in the edits before sound design are what I plan to use for picture-lock, but are used as temporary placement before the sound design so that I can cut to it.

I also used this music to be able to create rhythmic montages, such as scene 3, where I cut between numerous shots of Sunset Park, as well as the food being made in Ricardo’s restaurant. This introduced the audience to both whilst keeping their attention at a medium pace, as each shot would be on scene for 1-2 seconds at a time. I referenced the opening scene of The Devil Wears Prada in creation of this, which is also a montage that introduces the differing characters applying for the same job as the main character. These characters aren’t important, but are included to establish to the audience the types of people that the main character is up against.

The aim of the Assembly Cut was to not only arrange everything in script order, but to also gather an understanding of the pace. The climax (stealing the bike) as well as the conversation between Nicolas and Abuelita in scene 13 is the turning-point for the pace, as everything leading up to this conversation will include medium to fast pace, generating the stress of the mission that Nicolas is on. Scene 9 represents this, which is located back in the kitchen. The chef is feeling pressure to get orders out, and is taking this out on everyone in the kitchen. I began on the medium shot of the chef ordering his employees to do as he requests, I cut quickly to the OTS wide of the employees rushing to complete orders, and cut back to the medium of the Chef suddenly as he takes on his requests himself. As this builds up, so does the music until the plate crashing behind the camera. I cut to the medium shot panning up to the waiter reacting, and as this camera movement slows, cut back to the Chef reacting with a ‘fed-up’ expression. This dramatic and fast-pace build-up creates a complication, as the Chef is becoming more stressed and the audience knows that Nicolas isn’t aware of this.

Once the conversation with Abuelita happens in scene 13, the pace slows right down, Nicolas doesn’t have any ideas left. Scene 14 demonstrates this as I used 2 shots, and cut between them after 8 seconds of the high angle shot (14-2), into the wide (14-A-3) for 13 seconds, using the maximum allowance of these takes, from ‘action’ to ‘cut’. I used an audio bridge to continue the sad music from scene 13 to this scene, showing that the disappointment has stuck with Nicolas. I then used an audio bridge at the end of this scene to begin the turn of pace back into an even faster pace for the party scene. Doing this allows a smooth transition between the paces. The ending involves a slow pace to show each character's reaction to Nicolas bringing great-quality tortillas back to the restaurant. I also used salsa music as the Chef tasted them to put pressure on the judgement, Tortilla Soup (00:00:12:00) inspired this decision.

I found no technical issues with the Assembly Cut, however, there were issues regarding continuity between shots, which can be found in scene 1. Shot 1-C (a wide of Riley and Brandon), which was a lengthy take of the first half of the scene, should've included Nicolas in the shot. However, he wasn't in it, and so there are no good takes of Riley saying her lines, as it would ruin continuity. Instead, I used her dialogue but not her. She isn't a prominent character but her line helps establish that the Chef puts a lot of pressure on his workers, and therefore foreshadows his character throughout the entire film.

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I spoke with Richard to discuss the edit so far.

He recommended that the music playing in the headphones should be more suitable to Nicolas to add more realism to the story. Using this advice, I have also decided that I could underlay the title sequence using this more-appropriate music. Once that title sequence ends, the music could become digetic - this increases the illusion that it is playing through the headphones.

Richard also proposed that using the Mexican/Spanish themed music for scenes at Abuelita's, which gave me the idea that I could use it when Nicolas has tortillas/makes tortillas/at the end when he gives the tortillas to the Chef. At Abuelita's, it can be used as digetic sound as if the radio is on in her apartment.

Finally, he advised me to improve the timing for scene 1.

Due to the uncertainty of my third project, Dead Ringer For Love, not going ahead, Richard advised that I do a colour grade on this project, as well as the sound design I had already planned.

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I plan to work with a client on a Horror/Comedy production called Dead Ringer for Love. This was scheduled for filming on 8th January, however, they could not carry this out. I was informed that I would be contacted with a rescheduled date soon.

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In my 1-2-1 with Richard, we discussed Dead Ringer for Love and came to the conclusion that there is a possibility of it not going ahead in time. If this is the case, I will do a project from the rushes folder on Avid since my aspiration is to edit Drama's, and Avid is the industry-standard for this.

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27th February 2023 - Emails with Craig (Producer for Dead Ringer for Love)

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27th February 2023 - Emails with Craig (Producer for Dead Ringer for Love)

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Due to the uncertainty of the new shooting date, I decided to email Craig in order to discover whether I'd be able to complete the edit before the deadline for this unit. Unfortunately, as seen in the conversation, the project didn't get accepted by the BBC, therefore it likely wouldn't go ahead. Craig has offered to ask around in order to find me another project to edit, but I will likely plan to work on a project in the rushes folder.

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Due to the project Dead Ringer For Love not being scheduled to finish before the 21st April, I asked Richard what would be the best route for Authentic Tortilla. We came to the solution that doing the sound design on Authentic Tortilla, and doing a colour grade on another project would be best.

In reviewing the first cut of the project, Richard recommended that I analyse the edit further and look for the following:
- Unneeded dialogue on-screen - if there is dialogue that isn't too important to the story, try to cut this by matching the continuity with the previous/next shot (for example, cutting out "and use some of our pickled radishes")
- Unneeded dialogue off-screen - when there's dialogue that's said off-screen (move this to tighten the scene or remove it), or can be cut out using other angles, edit it that way instead
- Check for eyeline match - specifically with the panning shot in scene 1 as Nicolas comes to join the table

We analysed the first shot, and came up with the idea of using a mask as the chef walks in - to do this, I would have the title as its own sequence (I informed Cara on this after the meeting). The chef would then be masked to come on screen, followed by the rest of the scene, which would cut down the first shot a lot.

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As Craig confirmed that Dead Ringer for Love would not have a rescheduled date before 21st April, I spoke with Richard about the replacement. Richard has recommended that I look through the 'Home Alone' script and rushes, since this would be suited for the route I am going down. He advised that I could do a colour grade on this too, instead of Authentic Tortilla.

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10th March 2023 - Editing Scene 1 of the Second Cut

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10th March 2023 - Editing Scene 1 of the Second Cut

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10th March 2023 - Editing Scene 3 of the Second Cut

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10th March 2023 - Editing Scene 3 of the Second Cut

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10th March 2023 - Editing Scene 4 of the Second Cut

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10th March 2023 - Editing Scene 4 of the Second Cut

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14th March 2023 - Editing Scene 5 of the Second Cut

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14th March 2023 - Editing Scene 5 of the Second Cut

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14th March 2023 - Editing Scene 6 of the Second Cut

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14th March 2023 - Editing Scene 6 of the Second Cut

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14th March 2023 - Editing Scene 7 of the Second Cut

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14th March 2023 - Editing Scene 7 of the Second Cut

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14th March 2023 - Editing Scene 8 of the Second Cut

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14th March 2023 - Editing Scene 8 of the Second Cut

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14th March 2023 - Editing Scene 9 of the Second Cut

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14th March 2023 - Editing Scene 9 of the Second Cut

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Timeline of Scene 10/11 of the Second Cut

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14th March 2023 - Editing Scene 10/11 of the Second Cut

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14th March 2023 - Editing Scene 10/11 of the Second Cut

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14th March 2023 - Editing Scene 12 of the Second Cut

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14th March 2023 - Editing Scene 12 of the Second Cut

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14th March 2023 - Editing Scene 13 of the Second Cut

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14th March 2023 - Editing Scene 13 of the Second Cut

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14th March 2023 - Editing Scene 15 of the Second Cut

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14th March 2023 - Editing Scene 15 of the Second Cut

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14th March 2023 - Editing Scene 17 of the Second Cut

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14th March 2023 - Editing Scene 17 of the Second Cut

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14th March 2023 - Editing Scene 18 of the Second Cut

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14th March 2023 - Editing Scene 18 of the Second Cut

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Asking for references to guide my edit as well as confirming the use of the project as part of this unit

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1st March 2023 - Discussions with Producer 

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1st March 2023 - Discussions with Producer 

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Asking for references to guide my edit as well as confirming the use of the project as part of this unit

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6th March 2023 - Discussions with Producer

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6th March 2023 - Discussions with Producer

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8th March 2023 - Discussions with Producer

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8th March 2023 - Discussions with Producer

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I had the rushes delivered to me today, which allowed me to begin the editing process.

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15th March 2023 - SPIKED Edit Notes from the Director

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15th March 2023 - SPIKED Edit Notes from the Director

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15th March 2023 - Discussions with Producer

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15th March 2023 - Discussions with Producer

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15th March 2023 - Discussions with Director

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15th March 2023 - Discussions with Director

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Arranging the Meeting to Discuss the First Cut

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15/16th March 2023 - Discussions with Producer

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15/16th March 2023 - Discussions with Producer

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After receiving the hard drive footage, I copied it onto my own hard drive of the same make. I could then organise the footage in any way needed without the hard drive and the footage on it that I was sent, being affected. I was also told by the Director that both her and the Producer had a copy of their own.

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Due to shooting in UHD on a Sony FX9 (6K sensor), the files produced are large, and average 2-3GB per take. In order to edit the footage, I had to create H.264 (mp4) proxies. I used Adobe Media Encoder to do this, and created new folders for them based on the card that they were on in the original folders.

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10th-14th March 2023 - Creating the Second Cut

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10th-14th March 2023 - Creating the Second Cut

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As discussed in the meetings with Richard, a re-working of the first scene was required. Taking reference from Chef (at 00:00:06:00) when the Head Chef is giving orders to his staff, I tightened up the cuts to increase the pace of the scene. In doing this, I had to focus on keeping continuity. This involved using J-cuts such as the cut between the medium shot (1A-8) of Nicolas preparing to join the meeting, and the medium of the Chef giving orders (1-3). By doing this, I could speed the pace of conversation (by bringing it forward), but still match the visuals when they could be.

Some dialogue in this scene (and others) wasn’t needed, therefore I cut them out. I came up against continuity issues in doing this, as well as dialogue being too close together to be able to make a smooth cut. One example was trying to remove the second half of line 11. To solve this, I used the audio from 1C-1 as the Chef leaves enough pause in his sentence to be able to make the cut. As his mouth movement wasn’t clear enough in the visual shot I was using, this was possible.

In scene 4, there was an issue with the quality of audio on MCU shots of Nicolas, which meant that I couldn’t use those. Instead I re-edited the scene to cut between the wides and MCU of Ricardo. I also managed to find another visual shot (4B-3), which synced up with the audio of 4A-2 (MCU on Ricardo) for the first half of line 4. It is definitely something that I can get away with, as I played the sequence for 2 of my classmates and they couldn’t notice it was edited.

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20th March 2023 - Notes for Ambience Required

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20th March 2023 - Notes for Ambience Required

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Once I'd imported the footage into Premiere Pro, I used the 'Merge' tool to sync the audio and video files together and imported them into the 'Synced' folders.

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18th March 2023 - Organising and Logging Footage

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18th March 2023 - Organising and Logging Footage

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As seen above, I sorted the clips into folders by scene, and logged the information from the clapperboard.

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19th March 2023 - Inspirations to the Edit

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19th March 2023 - Inspirations to the Edit

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A Simple Favour (2018) - mystery/thriller:

Begins with title card and cuts into picture in picture of Stephanie on a blog talking about Emily missing - lengthy shot L cut into montage of Stephanie at school

22:00: Close-ups during high tension and wider angles as tension reached climax, back to close-ups in the denouement

27:30: Sean and Stephanie have a tense conversation, sean tells stephanie about emily full of mcu’s and going on a wide occasionally

1:03:30: on phone, 3 different angles, holds onto them for tension and edited together rhythmically

Zola (2020) - drama/crime:

25:00: When tension breaks with a question, it cuts between MCU’s on each of them to show their reactions to each of their dialogue, and then cuts to a wide

30:00: Zola showing her anger towards Stefani for getting her into this situation, focuses on Zola and her emotions but camera angle keeps both subjects on-screen - cuts to wide to disrupt anger, there is a turning point, the man is still outside the room - cuts to MCU as Stefani tries to gain Zola’s understanding and sympathy - shot reverse shot

32:00: Wide on both as Stefani is in bathroom and Zola is outside - one shot for this entire conversation

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Charlie’s Breakdown - link above) (2012) - romance/drama:

Taking references from this as it composes a montage of Charlie confronting his traumatic memories from childhood

MCU of Charlie walking (he’s going through some sort of anxiety/panic attack), cutaways to a close-up of Sam touching his leg, cuts to the same angle except his aunt is doing it now, cuts back to the MCU of Charlie as he reacts to this, cuts to extreme long shot of him continuing to walk. This is intercut with flashbacks of his aunt and his childhood, when she died. Jumpcuts of Charlie walking around the house having a breakdown, sound montage plays, bursts of sound from different flashbacks, ends with jump cuts zooming into Charlies head.

Liar (2017) - drama:

12:20: MCU of shoes as Laura walks to sisters house for 1 second, cuts to MCU of her head to mid-torso for 1 second, cuts to her walking past camera to front door for 3-4 seconds

13:20: Laura tells Katy what she can remember and Katy asks interrogative questions, Laura doesn’t get defensive, she’s only worrying and trying to convince Katy that she is a victim. This cuts between MCU’s and allows pauses for Laura when she is trying to remember things, and then quicker cuts as the pace of their dialogue quickens.

22:07: Laura and Katy (sister) in car, cuts between MCU’s of each of them as they have small talk and Katy tries to comfort Laura, focuses more on Laura’s reaction to Katy, ends with wide through wing mirror of the two of them walking back into the house

I May Destroy You (2020) - dark comedy/drama:

25:30: Montage with a range of MCU’s and CU’s between 2-4 seconds per shot with tinnitus going in and out with the rhythm of cut. Creates the sense of confusion and panic for Arabella. Cuts to woman talking (POV of Arabella), CU of hands and face of woman inserts.

27:00: Flashback, cuts back to CU of Arabella, holds onto this as she reacts to the flashback to allow the audience to feel her reaction

19:30: Arabella calls Terry, one angle of her (MCU) in a taxi used for the entire scene, cut with an MCU of Terry the other side of the phone call

19:20: Jump cut of Arabella on toilet doing a test

21:30: Interrogation: Interrogator asks Arabella questions, and every time she gets defensive, the cuts become quicker between the MCU’s of both of those characters to work with the rhythm of the dialogue and show the reactions. As Arabella starts to open up to understand the question and answer truthfully, the cuts become slower.

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The Perks of Being a Wallflower (10/11) Movie CLIP - Charlie's Breakdown (2012) HD

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20th March 2023 - Editing Scene 5 of the Assembly Cut

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20th March 2023 - Editing Scene 5 of the Assembly Cut

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20th March 2023 - Editing Scene 6 of the Assembly Cut

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20th March 2023 - Editing Scene 6 of the Assembly Cut

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20th March 2023 - Editing Scene 7/8 of the Assembly Cut

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20th March 2023 - Editing Scene 7/8 of the Assembly Cut

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21st March 2023 - Editing Scene 9 of the Assembly Cut

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21st March 2023 - Editing Scene 9 of the Assembly Cut

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21st March 2023 - Editing Scene 10 of the Assembly Cut

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21st March 2023 - Editing Scene 10 of the Assembly Cut

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21st March 2023 - Editing Scene 11 of the Assembly Cut

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21st March 2023 - Editing Scene 11 of the Assembly Cut

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21st March 2023 - Editing Scene 12 of the Assembly Cut

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21st March 2023 - Editing Scene 12 of the Assembly Cut

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21st March 2023 - Editing Scene 2 of the Assembly Cut

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21st March 2023 - Editing Scene 2 of the Assembly Cut

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20th March 2023 - Notes for Sound Effects Required

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20th March 2023 - Notes for Sound Effects Required

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For the Assembly Cut, my pace was mainly determined by the edit notes given to me by Alex (Director), as well as the general advisements given to me when I was given the hard drive. This was to begin with a fast pace and slow this down as it progresses through the sequence. For example, in scene 2, Alex asked me to intercut the shots of Andrea with the shots of Becky. I used the TV show Liar to reference my edit style for the scene, as these were similar shot types to the ones I'd been provided, as well as the main character of Liar going through the same situation as Becky is during this point. The difficulty was that the shots of Andrea were short in length, and the ones of Becky were lengthy takes. The director requested me to intercut between the two, so I decided to cut shots of Andrea to be as lengthy as possible without continuity.

Contradicting with scene 2, scene 7/8 is a much slower pace. This was due to it being the turning point for the pace of the edit. Becky's flashback dictates this, which references The Perks of Being a Wallflower; this is constructed beginning with an MCU of Charlie (main character) walking, and cutaway flashes of his triggers intercut within the MCU. Becky's triggers are right in front of her: the test. Therefore, I used the close-ups of Becky (slate 18) being triggered, with cutaways to the test. I found difficulty in determining the correct pace of these cutaways to show how her mind was all over the place, without editing these into flashes. But instead of cutting away from these fast, I allowed it to breathe so that the audience could see how she was fidgeting with the test, opening it and finally closing it (with Andrea's voiceover asking questions about the night before). The flashback is in the style of a metaphor: Becky is worrying about the test, hearing the questions from Andrea, but once she's asked if anyone 'forced themselves' on her, she closes the test, denoting that she just wants everything to be over.

From that point onwards, the pace slows further through each scene. In scene 7/8, the shots of Becky are edited to be more lengthy than Andrea to examine the type of emotions they were feeling. Becky was unsure of everything with only the test in her mind, but Andrea wanted to know how to go from here, she wanted the situation to be decided on as that's how she does things, there is always an answer. In allowing more screen time for Becky, the audience gains more empathy with her, and Andrea follows this lead. I May Destroy You was my reference here, as the interrogation scene involves quick cuts when either character gets defensive, which is why I created quick cuts when Andrea spoke defensively. The issue I had with this section of the edit was that Andrea's dialogue 'but let's start with you' didn't suit the rhythm of the edit. Therefore, I found another take including this dialogue where there was a pause between the 'but' and 'let's start with you'.

There was one issue with continuity through this edit that I couldn't fix easily, this was the bathroom door. As it closes in scene 6, there's a towel on the door, which is visible and stops the door from closing. In scene 7, there's no towel on the door and it closes. I've managed to edit this cut as if it's a jump cut, so it's not too noticeable.

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22nd March 2023 - Preparing for the Meeting

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22nd March 2023 - Preparing for the Meeting

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I also created a draft with added sound effects based on the script and edit notes, which will also be used to give the production team an idea of how the edit would be after sound design.

I exported both drafts of the first cut to send to the team before the meeting, allowing them time to review the edit and produce notes to suggest in the meeting.

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The meeting took place on zoom with the director, producer, writer and another member in attendance. I received positive comments from the team, as well as the following notes on the document above.

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24th March 2023 - Discussions with Producer

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24th March 2023 - Discussions with Producer

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24th March 2023 - Discussions with the Producer

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24th March 2023 - Discussions with the Producer

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I had forgotten to add a BITC to the exports for the team. To correct this, I exported a version of each draft with the BITC for the team and sent these to them once the meeting had finished.

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24th March 2023 - Discussions with the Director

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24th March 2023 - Discussions with the Director

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20th March 2023 - Notes for Sound Effects Required

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20th March 2023 - Notes for Sound Effects Required

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28th March 2023 - Creating the Third Cut

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28th March 2023 - Creating the Third Cut

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I created a new draft and moved each scene sequence out of its corresponding nested sequence into a complete timeline, as seen in the image above.

In doing this, it prepares for sound design, as well as finding any changes to make prior.

I decided to redo the section in scene 12 when the thief steals the bike. I had added a 'fade to black' in the last cut, but it wasn't working. Instead, I cut to 12B-1 (MCU) when the thief steals the bike but before the pan, and then cut to 12C-1 (wide low angle through the gates) to show the thief passing on-screen, cutting back to 12D-3 as Nicolas picks up the bag to throw. The camera movement flows nicely using these shots, and no awkwardness is created from the performance, which isn't good in this scene.

I also revisited scene 15 to quicken the pace of the party sequence before the slow-motion. It shows a passage in time, whilst revealing the party to the beat of the music, enhancing its liveliness as this doesn't come across well in the shots, especially since it's a small party. I did this by cutting down the music, which allowed me to tighten the shots in the sequence.

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In response to the edit notes (attached above), I made the changes that they had asked for, which were quite simple. I came up against a couple of issues, which are written in the edit decision list that I will return to them. These are:

-       00:07:15: Emma MCU – Only shot of Emma’s face in this scene. As she enters the screen, she already looks down to put the test in her pocket. Options are cutting to her as soon as she enters screen (what I’ve done here) or cutting to the CU of the test and then Emma (this may be confusing since it cuts from the shot of Phoebe (maybe switching them would be better?)

-       05:28:06: Phoebe MCU on toilet – used first half of take 2 (slate 16) as she pauses between taking the lid off and taking the test. Allowed me to cut to the insert sooner so that the audience knows what she’s looking at, but keeps a similar reaction

As well as making these changes, I included both versions of the title card that the motion graphics designer, Summer, had done. She transferred these to me and I created an export for each version of the title card.

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In this meeting, we discussed the plan for the next week. This was to edit 'Home Alone' on Avid and return to the meeting on the following week with as much of the edit done as possible. Richard suggested Avid as it's the industry-standard editing software for drama in offline editing, and so it would be useful to have a drama edited in Avid for my portfolio when applying for future jobs.

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I downloaded the rushes for Home Alone whilst reading the script. In doing this, I found the story to be a challenging one as there isn't a lot of dialogue, so a lot of the story will be based on actions and reactions.

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29th March 2023 - Reviewing and Organising the Footage

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29th March 2023 - Reviewing and Organising the Footage

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In reviewing the footage, I knew this would be a complicated edit. Firstly, the performance isn't the best as the actors are children, however, the production team didn't film extra takes when there wasn't a complete take of the script. My plan is to edit around that, but there aren't various angles of each scene (usually 1-4). On scenes with 4 angles, I can edit around the issues, but on scenes with 1-2 angles, this is going to be difficult. As well as this, the scenes with 2 angles usually only include a portion of the scene on-screen. This can be seen in scene 1, where there is an MCU of Mikey in the car, and a long shot of him walking out of the car towards the house. In the long shot, you can't see anything going on in the car, so I can't use that for the first half of the scene.

A lot of the scenes have been missed out as well, making the story a lot more complicated to understand than what it was.

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Due to scenes being missed out and the general production issues previously spoken about, my aim was to create a very basic rough cut. I needed to do this to be able to understand what my options are, as well as generate ideas to edit it together. At that point, I will be able to research references to inspire the style and pace. The following screenshots show my timelines for this.

When editing it together, I believed scene 3, 7, 11, 16 & 17 to require a jump cut/montage style. This is the case for scene 3 as Mikey is getting all the ingredients needed to make a bowl of cereal, but it's him going on and off screen to grab a new ingredient each time. It would be boring to sit through this, so I use jump cuts to show the passage of time, and allow the audience to work out what he's doing without boring them. The rushes for scene 3 didn't provide many angles, therefore I used the same angle when creating jump cuts, as the camera would usually have minimal movement. If it did involve movement, then I would cut when he was in the same point on-screen horizontally so he stays in the audience's eyeline. I took reference from Stranger Things here (seen in the video above). In season 1, Elle is hiding in Mike's house, and when she's home alone, she decides to explore it. Jump cuts are used to show different things she does around the house, but playing this entire sequence would be boring, so they use the jump cuts to make it interesting. They use a change of angle to create these jump cuts, which I did when he's at the table, as I had another angle available to me for editing it.

I haven't found the correct pace for the edit at this point in time as I'm using match-on-action cuts to determine the best way to edit this. From editing this rough cut, my plan is to keep the montages and use quick cuts to make these the moments where Mikey is either stressed (lost and confused - scene 11) or happy (passage of time where he's entertaining himself - scene 7).

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eleven explores the wheeler house | stranger things 1