The Editing Process

Editing is a process with in post production in which the programme comes together. An editor’s job is to cut the original footage, from the camera, to create a programme. It’s the editor’s job to hide the cuts and create an illusion of a flowing programme.

“If you don’t notice the editor, he’s done his job correctly.” Neil Garner, 2010. BBC.

When editing my video I first imported it into iMovie, from the camera. I then imported the footage to Final Cut Pro, an advanced editing program. Once my media was imported, I watched through my footage and labelled the clips accordingly. Once my logging process was complete I was able to import my interview clips to my time line and cut them to achieve a rough narrative. I then showed this rough cut to my tutor. She said that the shots were not flowing correctly, and to consider the use of a lot of cutaways to make the interview more interesting. She also said that the audio on the interview was not loud enough.

After taking into account my tutor’s criticisms I did some research and discovered that professional documentaries are usually picked up on a “boom” microphone. These microphones are directional, which means they pick up sound where ever they are pointed. Because I was using the camera’s internal microphone, the interview was quiet and I picked up a lot of atmosphere sound.

I had to boost the audio levels within Final Cut. This was achieved by opening up my audio channel window and adjusting the volume slider. I then began to add more cutaways to my time line. These are short clips laid over my interview that relate to what my interviewee is discussing. These cutaways added depth to my programme and helped the viewer visualise the bookshop. Along with cutaways I also added some shots to break up my interview. These included close ups of books, or any images I thought the viewer would be interested in. These shots cut up my interview, allowing the programme and audience to breathe. And take in any information they may have picked up within the interview.

I wanted to use music within my project. After a Google search for “Royalty free music” I discovered a website named, incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free. The website contained hundreds of free to use music tracks. I found a tracked entitled, Somewhere Sunny. The track consisted of an acoustic guitar, a sound I believe fitted nicely within the overall feel of my documentary. The sound levels on the music were lowered so I could hear the interview and were raised during my “breathing” clips.

I created a title and credit sequence for my documentary. These were created within Final Cut, using the text tool. The titles are purposely very basic as I did not want to draw attention from the sombreness of the programme. My introduction title is part of a quote, taken from a sign within the book shop. I feel the quote tied in nicely with my documentary and was relevant to my subject.

Finally I added fade effects to my shots. However, I didn’t over use this effect. During my research process, I watch many Channel 4 style documentaries, nearly all of which used simple cuts and only used a fade or dissolve to suggest a movement in time. I also discovered I was able to add an audio dissolve to my audio timeline. These were added to fade out my music towards the end of my documentary. The sequence was finally exported to a “Quick time” file. Ready to be viewed by an audience.

I then showed my final cut to my tutor and she said that she was happy with the result. Overall, I enjoyed the editing process. In comparison to last year I think I’ve improved greatly. I believe the use of Final Cut Pro allowed me to create complicated edits that iMoive could not create. I also found some useful online tutorials at www.youtube.com. These tutorials helped me find the buttons and switches I needed to create my effects. To summarise, I am very proud of my final project. It displays my creativity and technical skill. The editing process took me just over 5 days to complete and thoroughly enjoyed the process.




References:

The Use of Microphones,‎ 1974. [Book] Alec Nisbett, Page 70. (google books)

BBC Training, 2010. [Book] Neil Garner’s, Introduction to Editing.