The Edit

The Progression Of Our Edit

By the time we had finished completing the drama, we had four edits. Each edit seemed to add a little more to both plot and the 90s aesthetic we were aiming for, but it wasn't until the third edit that any semblance of a plot properly emerged. I will break down the progression of our edits through a brief description of each one, as well as the emergence of a moderately coherent plot.

Edit 1

Our first edit was created with the intention of simply revealing it as a proof of concept, as opposed to anything presentable. This allowed us to receive any form of feedback from our teacher, which we could then apply later on. Each sequence had been edited to form complete scenes, and I had made minor changes to the colour correction in order to display our intentions in regards to creating a 90s aesthetic. Each scene was linked by a piece of text informing the viewer of what the following scene was going to be. It was at this point I realised that there was a lack of plot in our piece due to a heavy lack of footage. I began experimenting with different forms of narrative with the ambition of forming something coherent.
Link: https://vimeo.com/210191418

Edit 2

Our second edit was created as soon as we had received feedback on the first. I was not interested at this stage in completing the plot, but improving each scene individually. Because of this each scene was still accompanied by text, and the plot was nonsensical. However, it was in this edit that I began experimenting more with colour correction in order to achieve a retro, 90s aesthetic, adding a far darker and more vibrant purple glow to the piece. While the colours were too saturated, something I later changed, it was a vast improvement in our visuals, and brought us closer to what we had envisioned for our final piece.
Link: https://vimeo.com/211199769

Edit 3

Our third edit was a huge effort to both repair the broken and nonsensical plot, and improve on the effects and visuals. I tweaked the colour correction to lower the saturation, and added in lighting effects where they were needed. I learnt how to do transitions, and added in a simple one using key frames, channel blur and levels, thus replacing the text and creating more of a cinematic style. Someone in our group had suggested that we use a flashback narrative in order to fix our issue with plot. I went home and worked on this, using colour correction to help the viewer identity different time periods in the character's life, adding transitions to help alternate between past and present, and altering the sequence of scenes to show a progression in our main character. This added more of a plot than we previously had, and it became clear we were close to our final product.
Link: https://vimeo.com/211404771

Edit 4

Our final edit was created to incorporate the final footage Amy had shot. It added in a scene at the beginning to establish routine and the setting, which helped the plot flow smoothly. I replaced various shots I believed to be better, with their counterparts, and edited those to improve them, improving on the visuals. This applied most to a shot of a falling bed sheet, where the framing of the original covered up the lower half of the subjects body, meaning the sheet he had picked up was not visible. I replaced it with the other shot of the sheet falling, however this had hands holding the sheet up visible in the shot. I learnt how to cut these out, then proceeded to do so, thus improving the sequence. I also added in the shot of the music video playing on the TV to further emphasise the 90s theme. The colour grading was altered further until all of our crew were satisfied, and credits were added. The sound design was added in and we finally had our finished product.
Link: https://vimeo.com/211667729