The Editing Process

Timeline, rushes and footage displayed on a Mac

After shooting our thriller, we used Adobe Premier to edit. I was slightly unsure how to use this software at first, however I was quickly shown how to use it and the shortcuts that were included. The first stage was looking at all of the shots we had taken (the rushes), picking our favourite ones that we were likely to use and placing them in the log bin. From this we started putting the log bin footage onto the timeline in order of our storyboard. From watching the footage, we had already encountered a problem, in which the way the footage was recorded onto the SD card did not load properly, and therefore we had pink flicker lines at the bottom and top of the screen. However, this did not stop us from being able to edit. After placing the log bin footage in order, we began to cut certain sections together, for us being the car scene (little did we know that this would fully be removed from our thriller at this point). We used the letter 'c' to get the cutting tool, 'v' to get the mouse, 'a' to move all the clips either left or right down the timeline, the mouse to move clips around and to control the screen. After getting to grips with this, I was able to fully cut parts of the car section together. Following this edit, we began to cut from what we thought would be the beginning of the thriller, by opening with a wide. However, once we had edited about 30 seconds of footage, I soon realised that there was little tension created due to the fact we had revealed everything in the first shot by starting with a wide.  Therefore, after shuffling some clips around, I was able to place the close ups on our first character at the beginning to shot him waking up. This created a lot more tension than before as for a first time viewer, we are unaware of where this character is, who he is and why he is there. Due to the mystery factor created, it generated tension. One thing that was important to look out for during the editing process was continuity, in which we had to make sure, for example, that the character was not holding the phone in his right hand in one shot, and then his left hand in another, which would have distracted the audience and likely break the tension, making our thriller look very amateur. Continuity is an important factor to any film, but especially a thriller as if a large mistake is made, it can break the tension, and not make it an enjoyable watch for the audience. Once we had placed all of the clips we wanted in order, we realised that something wasn't working, and the tension was being broken somewhere. After re watching what we had created a few times, we realised that it was the car scene clips that was breaking the tension and putting the audience at ease. Following a large debate, we soon decided to cut these bits altogether, which miraculously gave a new life to our opening title sequence.

The timeline before sound effects

After the editing of the clips had been done, we started on the sound production to our opening title sequence. I started thinking about what is happening a mile away from this situation, outside the room and inside the room. As we wanted this space to feel claustrophobic, I decided on the setting to be an underground basement, next to a train/underground railway. Therefore, I searched the sound effects bin and found a perfect train sound of a train coming into the station and then pulling away again. Once placing the sound onto the timeline, it brought our thriller to life. However, it sounded like the train was coming from inside the room, so I edited the sound to make it seem as if the sound was coming from outside of the walls and therefore sounding muffled, which created a more naturalistic atmosphere. In the screenshots I have taken, it shows two sound bar clips, one of these is from the microphone on the camera and the other is from the detachable microphone. After listening to these thoroughly, I realised that the detachable microphone sounded the best and the most natural and therefore I deleted the sound which was picked up on the microphone on the camera. Once this was finished, I then started editing the ringing effect on the phone. After I had found a sound effect of both a ring and vibration, I then edited the sound of the ring to be louder in some clips and quieter in others, depending on how close the shot is to the phone. To do this, I extended the clip, zoomed in very far and used found the first shot of the phone ringing. I would then heighten the sound if the shot was on the phone and lower it if the shot was on a character at the other side of the room. This effect really emphasised the naturalism of our thriller. Additionally, after this was finished, I added heart beats that gradually got louder and faster to emphasise the tension and the fight.

Log Bin, Rushes and Editing Cuts

Once the final edit was made, I started editing the titles to our thriller. We used a blank screen at the beginning by putting the institutions first and then fading it in to our first shot of the lights being out. From the intuitions we had the directors name and following that the actors names. The credits were rolling throughout the thriller until the phone ring as we felt if credits were featured during this, they would become a distraction and break the tension for the audience. Additionally, once the thriller had finished we used the cutting feature of fade to black where we revealed our title 'FALTER'. The reason we decided on this title is because of the non-linear opening, and this shows how the characters in this situation had made some sort of mistake to get themselves into this situation, as well as this being the final part to the film, as they have lost all strength and momentum. Overall, the editing process was a massive learning curve for me, as I feel I have improved on my editing, sound and titles as well as keeping an eye out for continuity.