Bringing it all together

Editing


We had not been shy of revising our scripts and developing our idea during the pre production phases and this meant that we had a great idea of our direction and how to use the footage we had collected effectively.

As we started the edit we realised that once again our scripts would have to be tailored. This is the first time that we had transferred ideas from paper to film and it quickly became apparent what worked, what we had overlooked and what we had mistakenly thought would be effective. Chris and I sat down and redeveloped the script. It was brilliant to finally see all these weeks of planning come together.

I think that the introduction is one of the most important parts of a documentary. The viewer needs to be drawn in, captured and convinced that watching a repeat of friends instead on E4 would leave them empty in comparison. I wanted the footage, music and words to build a sense of suspence. Where will this documentary go?

I think it is especially important with documentaries like ours. It is not a large governmental issue, something that effects everyone or a desease you can contract. The excitement has to be created by luring them in with promise of facts, stories and revalations. This is why we decided that the introduction should act as a title sequence. Building the viewer up to the title which nestled 15 seconds into the piece.

It was only in the editing stages that we realied that our collected footage did not suffice. It was great for the interviews and a few cutaways but for the narrative of the piece, the voice overs we need several more shots. We had not really prepared for achive footage, luckily we were able to sourse royalty free footage which work very effectively. I think it was important for my learning to see the stress lack of footage can cause. As always Holly was right (thats not just an attempt to secure a good grade....promise). ALWAYS COLLECT MORE FOOTAGE.

In truth I am also glad that we had to turn to some archive as there are some shots there which we would have not been able to collect, or would have found it hard to film. Such as the laser procedure and office scenes.

Chris was brilliant and worked hard to make the edit flow as seemlessly as possible. He had full commitment to the project and it was great to be able to trust the project to him. We met nightly to discus the progress and feedback. I think this was a really good way to approach it as it allowed Chris to develop the edit whilst maintainig a constant standard.

One of the best things about an edit is seeing the work come together. The transformation Lauras voice over made was amazing, like tying it up with string. We were pleased that the direction we had planned in the script really did work with the piece. I am almost obsessive when it comes to music on film. I think that it can be often more effective than the visual by instilling a feeling in the audience, it governs how they view the footage. So as the voiceover pulled it together like string the music acted like fancy wrapping paper, giving it a finish.

After Chris had put the piece together I took it for an evening to master it. Just to make sure all the edits flowed and that the piece worked as a whole. It was in this stage that I unfortunatly tampered with the levels and then forgot to check they maintained a constand 3dB level. For this Chris I am eternally sorry! After several hours of fine combing the piece was finished and I know that for all the ups and downs we are all very proud of what we have managed to make out of nothing. Upwards and onwards Nuffin but a Muffin!