Editing our Thriller

When editing our thriller we used Adobe Premiere Pro.

Playback and review

We reviewed all our footage and added all of them to the ‘rushes’. We then reviewed all the rushes so we could see which ones were unusable, partly usable and ones which we were definitely going to use. We didn’t add the shots which were useless to the ‘bin’ but the ones which were only partly useful, we cut them into section which we thought we could possibly use later on in case we couldn’t find a suitable shot to match certain action etc. We made We selected the ruses from the raw footage and put them into a ‘bin’ so we could easily select the clips and pout them onto the timeline. After we had placed the clips onto the timeline, we sorted them into section of similar camera angles, or a specific action that we would only use at one part of the sequence. It was important to rename the clips so when  it came to finding the certain angle or movement we wanted after a sequence, it was easier to select from just a few rather than looking through all the footage and trying to find the specific one we wanted. 

Editing the Clips

We cropped the shots from when we called action or cut and also some where we talking to the actress, or where she generally fell out of character. There were a few clips where there were some technical issues so we cropped them out before putting them on the timeline. By using the timeline it helped us with rearranging different compositions of which shots in which sequence worked best and we could asses then make decisions. Once we had tidied the shots and its composition we cut the clips to make them a lot shorter in the fast pace section and used a wider variety of different shots to adhere to the conventions of the thriller of there being tension; which we showed with the longer shots in contrast to the pace of the ones that were shorter.

Sequence and order of the shots

We used the timeline to help us to help us with the sequence and order of the editing. By putting the clips on different layers, we could closely edit the continuity so that the actions matched in the different shots when switching shot.  We could zoom in so that we could measure the exact moment when we needed to switch. We had some issues with providing continuity when matching action on some of the shots as in the shots where we wanted to piece them together, the action was different in the other clip, so we had to figure out what footage we could use , we used the footage which we didn’t think that majorly useful and put that in to split the two shots up. 

Transitions and titles

We added titles at the beginning of the sequence, where there is no picture. We originally had them all layered over the picture but we found that the whole sequence was too short. We wanted the titles to come up while the shots were at a slow pace then as the pace began to increase, we would stop with the titles. However, we couldn’t do this as there were too many, so by having the black at the begging , it helped to break up that time before the fast pace section began. By having this, it actually benefitted our sequence, we could layer a soundtrack over the beginning where it is black along with our sound effects which we create of the dirt being shovelled on top of the coffin she was buried in. originally we did not want to have  soundtrack to enhance the fact that she is isolated and only has the comfort of her own voice, but by having the sound at the beginning it set the scene and tone of the sequence, so by having this complication it actually benefitted the whole sequence. We stuck to the fact that we didn’t want any sound over the action in the picture so we faded the sound out as the picture came onto the screen. At the end of the sequence, we had the picture out and immediately it came up with the title of the film ‘beneath’, which the sound that was at the start of the sequence fade back in when the camera was zooming out. I think this was effective as it created the mood which would be set for the rest of the film. We had a cross dissolve for he titles appearing on the picture as it slowed down and increased the slow pace of the beginning of the sequence.