Marketa's Work

My role for this certain project is an editor. It is a role that interrests me, but I don't have many skills in it. That is why I have decided to give it a try and improve my abilities.

Editor is supposed to cut and, well, edit every single shot the cameramen got and decides what shot comes after the other. They also have to make sure the whole film is smoothly edited, making it so that normal eye won't notice the cuts (much). There are also special effects taking place, and colour "repair" as well.


I see this as a challenge. This will be my second short film editing and I am nervous and interested in what it will turn out to be.

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Our Floor plan:

This is our floor plan. Our actor will be sitting on the sofa watching tv, unaware he is late for work. Shot n.1 will pan across the room showing us close up of the actor, the TV and the clock. Shot n.2 will be positioned at the back overlooking the whole room. The 3rd shot will be a close up of the actor finally catching the time and seeing he is late. Number 4 will then show the actor leaving in a hurry.

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Rough version of the story:

Title shows up

Scene opens in a room. A man is sitting on a sofa watching film (Labyrinth), being completely immersed into it. Everything is quiet. Except....Tick..Tock. A clock on the wall is ticking. He either catches the ticking, or the clack starts ringing (alarm). He looks at the time and registers that he is late to work. He quickly gets up, leaving in a hurry. The sound of the clock ticking seazes, we can hear the door shutting. Otherwise everything is quiet. We see him get his headphones out and onto his head. The muffled sound of David Bowie’s music starts playing (Only mashed bits). Alternative is, that the man starts humming and quietly singing the songs. The narration starts here.

He walks down the streets, not interrested in anything. In this sequence the city is shown, the tall buildings, people and traffic never seazing it’s beat.

He gets to work and starts his day. Timelapse.

He is leaving work, again with the headphones on. He goes through the city, when he realizes it has stopped raining. He takes off his hood/hat and looks up. There he sees a big screen showing the news ‚David Bowie is dead‘. What follows is a burst of sound, people talking, laughing, dogs barking, cars honking, clock beating, ambulance horn. The same with vision, we can see snippets of the news, headlines, interviews. After it gets the loudest, everything suddenly stops. Narration ended.

Alternative: He takes the headphones off, and all the normal sound comes in, laughing, talking, etc. And then he notices the news. Everythingslows down, the sound of his surroundings quietens, but the news get highlighted in his mind.

It starts raining again and the man starts slowly walking home. The only sound here is the rain. The man is crying. He gets home, sits down and plays the movie again. The camera will then slowly back away and tilt to the dark sky.

Alternative: The film the man was watching in the morning was on tape and when he returned, the tape was broken.

Alternative 2: The end scene could end with the rain sound and the sound of the wall clock ticking.

End Credits.

All through the film, New York merchandise will be seen, to underline the poems roots in New York and at the same time show the place of death of David Bowie. 

Updated 15.1.2016

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I have made a rough edit shot list. The shots ended a bit different, with different timing and the special effect are not written in here. It is simply a basic version of a edit list.

	SHOT LIST
Shot Name	Shot Description	Time Duration
MVI_0094.MOV+BOWIE	Title showing, background of NY	31:09:00
MVI_8637.MOV	TV playing the Labyrinth	24:04:00
MVI_8633.MOV	Man wathing TV	26:24:00
MVI_8634.MOV	Man wathing TV	14:22
MVI_8640.MOV	Man wathing TV	8:08
MVI_0050.MOV	Man realizing he is late and running out the door	6:03
MVI_0060.MOV	Man running out of house	4:12
MVI_0103.MOV	Man walking down the street, getting earphones into his ears	38:02:00
MVI_0112.MOV	Man walking down the street	17:09
MVI_8649.MOV	Man walking down the street	25:08:00
MVI_8652.MOV	Man getting to work	23:15
MVI_8670.MOV	Sweeping card for the door access	7:00
MVI_8661.MOV	Time goes by, man works	20:21
MVI_8655.MOV	Man gets out of work	23:21
MVI_8657.MOV	Man goes home down the street	40:07:00
MVI_8664.MOV	Man goes home down the street	8:00
MVI_0067.MOV	Man getting to the door of his house	4:06
MVI_0070.MOV	Man opening door	11:21
MVI_0071.MOV	Man hanging his coat	13:09
MVI_0076.MOV	Man sitting on couch, watching news	12:24
MVI_0080.MOV	Man finding out David Bowie died	5:00
MVI_0085.MOV	Shocked man	11:03
MVI_0090.MOV	Outburst	9:07
END CREDITS	THE END

Updated 27.1. 2016

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Marketa's Evaluation

For this specific I was chosen to be the visual editor. I am relatively new to the role, so I wanted to improve. The job went mostly smoothly, we had enough footage to choose from. The hardest part of it was to make it look smooth, especially for the actors movement from and to work. There were parts that we could have done better, but we did our best to make it seem natural.


For me, the worst part was not the editing itself, but the problems we had with technology. All of us knew the possibility of problems ocuring when working first on Mac and then on PC. What we didn't expect though were the problems with different versions of Macs and Premiere Pro. One day we make basic rough edit on Mac and the other we spent well over 3 hours trying to get it to work again. We did, but sadly were not able to properly transport it elsewhere or finish our work there (this one particular Mac had no sound). In the end, we had to start fresh and make the edit all over again. Thankfully we managed to finish our project at the same date (with a bit of tinkering afterwards).

That made me realize one thing. No matter how many times you save, render and export, make sure you do it on the same Mac/PC, or at least in the same room. Because it may not like different versions.

Otherwise I enjoyed working on this project and am curious what will come next.



Updated 28.1.2016

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Here are several things I thought to be inspiring to use in shooting. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nsec4hWZz2M – a video from a car showing New York at night

Bays in New York – showing the possibility for us to use water shots.

A shot from above showing the whole city – while doing the same in Cardiff would not have the same effect as in NY, it could still create good atmosphere.

A foggy night at NY – a good idea to use. If Cardiff gets any fog it could be usable. Otherwise, we could improvise and use a steam from a cup to create a fog for the shot.

Cardiff Clock Tower – a good clock we could film and then catch sound from.

A man/woman overlooking the city. The idea is that the person IS the city, looking at the people.

New York at night:

Ideas:

·         Darker, showing the worst parts of city, yet with a sense of belonging (this city is the worst, but it is my city)

·         Actor could be only one, with no words, discovering the corners of Cardiff and being lethargic, sad, and deep in thought.

·         Nature leaves the city, rejects man

·         A siluette of a man/woman is the city showing us it’s heart (city centre)

Shots:

·         Camera shots of driving

·         Center of Cardiff – spinning motion?

·         Ideal would be in black and white, with the actor/thing in focus in colour (not sure how to do that in a video)

·         Shots on Cardiff Clock tower – showing the time still moving forward

Sound:

·         Sirens of Ambulance

·         Clock ticking/whole hour

·         Heart beating [?]

·         A sharp sound of a piano key at the end (nature rejects man), showing the city, dramatical effect

Verse	Ideas
A near horizon whose sharp jags Cut brutally into a sky	Sunrise, reflection of a skyscraper (or a really tall building) in a puddle of water, Opening shot overlooking Cardiff, instead of birds chirping the sound of planes
Of leaden heaviness, and crags Of houses lift their masonry	Smoke, chimneys, A factory, a pile of bricks, abandoned houses/depressive houses that are the same, pressed into each other,
Ugly and foul, and chimneys lie And snort, outlined against the gray	Fogs, steams, bad climate/air, chimneys again (?), trash, shot up into the greyness of the sky in contrast to the tall city buildings
Of lowhung cloud. I hear the sigh The goaded city gives, not day	The steam going up, into the sky. Tilting camera to underline the point. Slowly going into night. Actor could appear.
Nor night can ease her heart, her anguished labours stay.	She is in the city. Show of breathing. Shots from car, showing the traffic, train (?), Actor can appear.

Verse	Ideas
Below, straight streets, monotonous, From north and south, from east and west,	Crossroad, showing all possible directions (N,S,W,E), shots in neigh borough area,  showing the same streets in different directions
Stretch glittering; and luminous Above, one tower tops the rest	Definitely dark now. Showing the light of the city. Could be not focused. Could show it focusing. Actor’s siluette overlooking the lights.
And holds aloft man's constant quest: Time! Joyless emblem of the greed	The siluette of the man in front of the clock tower. Between this and the previous verse could be a pause in narrating. Showing the siluette to be walking. In front of the clock camera tilting upwards. The sound of full hour (?)
And holds aloft man's constant quest: Time! Joyless emblem of the greed	The sound of full hour (?), Showing the building of museum, city hall (showing greed)
Of millions, robber of the best Which earth can give, the vulgar creed	No idea. Maybe showing shops and shoppers? The siluette still there.  Probably will need something more climactic
Has seared upon the night its flaming ruthless screed.	Unfocused street lamp(?), electronical advert

Verse	Ideas
O Night! Whose soothing presence brings The quiet shining of the stars.	Tilting camera upwards, to see the stars (if possible) with some tall building in the shot, no sound
O Night! Whose cloak of darkness clings So intimately close that scars	Cardiff bay, showing dark with lights in the background, siluette still here, hugging itself, piano sound (?)
Are hid from our own eyes. Beggars By day, our wealth is having night	Birds, fish, any animal, barks/pleas in the background, (some shot of blindfolded eyes?), close up of a hand touching the ground/pillar (?)
To burn our souls before altars Dim and tree-shadowed, where the light	Shot of Church, best if it’s illuminated. Shadows of trees before the church. Sound ob bells ringing (?)
Is shed from a young moon, mysteriously bright.	Clock shot, Moon shot, Something round that shines, blackness around

Verse	Ideas
Where art thou hiding, where thy peace? This is the hour, but thou art not.	Looking at crowds from a distance, if sound then muted, bells ringing
Will waking tumult never cease? Hast thou thy votary forgot?	Still looking at crowds, maybe rotation of camera to make a point
Nature forsakes this man-begot And festering wilderness, and now	Some dead trees, plants, indicates nature leaving, show the factory instead
The long still hours are here, no jot Of dear communing do I know;	Last shots overlooking the city, still with the silluette overlooking it.
Instead the glaring, man-filled city groans below!	Break of vision (like shards of mirrors breaking apart), the sound of the piano key screeching

Update 14.1.2016