Today we present our rough cut of "Greater Heights" to the FST 497 class. We nearly screened last week, but ran out of time. I have enjoyed the other rough cuts thus far and think everyone is doing a great job. I am excited to receive feedback, responses, and suggestions from everyone. I believe it will go smoothly and am looking forward to watching our cut on a screen instead of on a monitor. I think this puts you more in the perspective of the audience rather than the editor, which is a good thing sometimes.
In the last week, I have been trying to cut down what I can on the vox pop. As I have stated in previous posts, the vox pop feels a little too elongated and forced. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it leading the film; however, it is difficult to find another place to place it. Also, I have been trying to smooth the intro. After the vox pop, the film immediately jumps in to a short montage which includes our title, "Greater Heights." In my opinion, this intro montage is a little abrupt as well. It ensues without any preparation from the clips preceding. The end of the opening montage, however, is, I believe, effective. It fades out after the words "Greater Heights" and then fades in to some B-roll of Tori teaching a children's class. This is a very smooth transition into our first topic: Tori intro/benefits of parkour for children. The outro needs a little work too, in my opinion. It feels similarly abrupt. Immediately following Tori's last line, an outro montage ensues with music. This fades out and ends the film. I have been working on smoothing this as well. Whatever I do, I feel that both the outro and intro need to be consistent. They are already very similar as is, however, any changes I make to one I think I should make to the other. This is because they are serving similar purposes with similar techniques: one leads us into our story and the other leads us out.
I have decided not to readjust the topics until I have received feedback on our rough cut. I assembled them after completing all the topics and found that they actually flowed together quite nicely as they stood, with a few minor tweaks of course. In my opinion, the technique that Professor Silva suggested for us was quite effective. If you are editing a documentary and are struggling to find a story in the editing room, you should first watch all the interviews, break them into unifying topics, and then edit those topics individually without any concerns for repetitive B-roll. Then, after completing those topics, assemble them together and reevaluate your film. At that point, you may find an order and direction that you did not know was there.
Monday, March 31, 2014
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Rough Cut Assembled
Finally, I have finished all my topics and combined my sequences with my partner's. In all, I was able to edit five individual topics that combined for a total of about 12 minutes. My topics are: vox pop, Tori Nelson personal, Anthony Gomez personal, the benefits of parkour for children, and the stereotypes and possibilities of injury associated with parkour.
The Tori Nelson personal and Anthony Gomez personal sections are fairly recent. I had not originally intended on diving into these topics when I began editing. However, their interviews provided the opportunity to explore their characters a little more in depth. Also, they are both very important figures to the topic being discussed. Based on this, I believe they need to be explored with greater detail. In these personal sections we learn how Tori got into parkour and how it even saved his life. Additionally, we learn that Anthony Gomez was at one point on the hit television show, American Ninja Warrior (which is a competitive show about parkour). Investigating the two instructors in this way gives a little more credibility to their words. It shows the audience that they actually know what they are talking about because they have experienced it.
When I finally put together all the pieces, my guess proved correct: there are a few B-roll shots that are repeated over the course of the rough cut. Pre-assembly, I was not thinking about which B-roll shots I had already used. Rather, according to the advice of Professor Silva, I was placing B-roll in every spot that I felt it belonged, which meant that sometimes B-roll was repeated. The next step is to figure out where certain shots fit best. Obviously, the final product cannot have repeated B-roll; otherwise, it may seem like a mistake. Upon assembly, however, there were some shots that I instantly knew fit best in only one spot. These instances I corrected immediately. What's left of repeating B-roll shots indicates that I am still trying to figure out where those shots fit best. I am hoping that the rough cut presentation on Monday will provide valuable feedback on this dilemma.
I also managed to edit together a small intro with music. This actually follows the vox pop. It seems slightly rushed and a little forced in my opinion, but hopefully the class will have some opinions on it on Monday.
On another note, I intend on tackling the color correcting assignment more aggressively this week. The previous weeks have been dominated by separating the edit into topics and then assembling all the topics together and arranging so that they fit and flow. Doing all that, however, has left me little time to experiment with and better learn the color grading applications. I intend on spending as much time as I can exploring these tools this week.
The Tori Nelson personal and Anthony Gomez personal sections are fairly recent. I had not originally intended on diving into these topics when I began editing. However, their interviews provided the opportunity to explore their characters a little more in depth. Also, they are both very important figures to the topic being discussed. Based on this, I believe they need to be explored with greater detail. In these personal sections we learn how Tori got into parkour and how it even saved his life. Additionally, we learn that Anthony Gomez was at one point on the hit television show, American Ninja Warrior (which is a competitive show about parkour). Investigating the two instructors in this way gives a little more credibility to their words. It shows the audience that they actually know what they are talking about because they have experienced it.
When I finally put together all the pieces, my guess proved correct: there are a few B-roll shots that are repeated over the course of the rough cut. Pre-assembly, I was not thinking about which B-roll shots I had already used. Rather, according to the advice of Professor Silva, I was placing B-roll in every spot that I felt it belonged, which meant that sometimes B-roll was repeated. The next step is to figure out where certain shots fit best. Obviously, the final product cannot have repeated B-roll; otherwise, it may seem like a mistake. Upon assembly, however, there were some shots that I instantly knew fit best in only one spot. These instances I corrected immediately. What's left of repeating B-roll shots indicates that I am still trying to figure out where those shots fit best. I am hoping that the rough cut presentation on Monday will provide valuable feedback on this dilemma.
I also managed to edit together a small intro with music. This actually follows the vox pop. It seems slightly rushed and a little forced in my opinion, but hopefully the class will have some opinions on it on Monday.
On another note, I intend on tackling the color correcting assignment more aggressively this week. The previous weeks have been dominated by separating the edit into topics and then assembling all the topics together and arranging so that they fit and flow. Doing all that, however, has left me little time to experiment with and better learn the color grading applications. I intend on spending as much time as I can exploring these tools this week.
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Chipping Away
I am still chipping away at editing topics for Greater Heights. So far I have completed topic sections on the benefits of parkour as it pertain to children, as well as the stereotype surrounding parkour. Professor Silva has advised me to continue this process of editing topics, with hopes that, when done, I can piece together the rough cut like a puzzle.
The first section, benefits of parkour as it pertains to children, is quite lengthy at the moment. It is over five minutes on its own. This is because I sifted through all the interviews and extracted any and all pieces that fit into the topic. In doing so, however, there is much repetition in what people say. Many interviewed individuals discuss how parkour instills confidence in children and allows them to overcome their fears. While this is a great point to include in the edit, repeating it over and over may cause it to lose its value. Professor Silva suggested I choose the clip of the individual who discussed confidence best, and delete the others. That would help save time and strengthen the claim.
The second topic section, stereotypes of parkour, is a bit more challenging. Not too many individuals touch on this topic in their interviews. Due to this fact, I have broadened the topic section to include subjects that seem closely related to it. These subjects include: injuries during parkour, the legality of parkour, and the dangers of parkour. It seems to me that all of these subjects could fit under the umbrella of parkour stereotypes. However, it is also a bit more difficult to find B-roll that fits this topic.
Throughout this process, my partner, Emilie, has also been working in this fashion. She has been addressing topics such as the structure of parkour classes, and defining parkour. There is, undoubtedly, much information in the former. During shooting, she obtained many great interviews with teachers on the structure and technicalities of parkour classes.
One thing that worried me in working in this manner, was the possibility that I would inadvertently repeat clips across topics. For example, I may accidentally use certain B-roll multiple times. Professor Silva suggested I not worry about that, however, because it is nearly impossible to avoid. Besides, if I use clips more than once, I may find that they work better in a different place than I originally intended.
Another fear of mine is finding a place to fit the vox-pop. Finding a place for this type of interview has always been a struggle of mine. In most of my attempts, it seems forced or rushed. In my opinion, vox-pops need to motivated. Thus, my next task will be finding this motivation, searching our story for a place to put these pedestrian interviews, if it needs it at all.
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