Experimenting with Editing on Premiere Pro

Following our preliminary task video and the feedback we received, we split and did individual edits of the product, trying colour correction in order to set the tone and look at the way visual effects could change the genre. Using Adobe Premiere Pro, I played with the colour adjustments and ended up with two very different products. In the first image, I added a blue tint to the video, making it look very nostalgic, melancholic and  typical for a drama film. In the second image, I changed the look of it more drastically and ended up with a scary looking shot. This would fit perfectly for a horror film, used for a shot of the killer or a creepy looking location. In the third image, I made sure to neutralise any dominant colour in the footage, before I do ant more colour correction. This helped make the footage look more natural, clear, and it cancelled out any grainy areas in it. For the second part of the editing workshop, I tested out effects with Premiere Pro. However, they did not fit the preliminary video and seemed off place, so I made a separate video trying the glitch text effect, using a black layer, downloaded glitch effect template and a simple text. This workshop helped me learn tactics on colour grading, the colours dominating in each genre and the way colour affects the footage. I also learned how to do the glitch effect, which has been a personal favorite. 

Treatment Feedback

When me and Erika planned the presenting of the Treatment of our opening sequence, we made a short version of the treatment to show the class, that can be found here.

Unfortunately, I was sick during the presentation, so Erika saved all the feedback and questions, which we answered in a video form (this can be found in our group evaluation later on). The class gave us feedback in the form of sticky notes with positives, negatives, and questions, which I will comment on in this post:

Some of the positives were:

"I love the contrast between the two scenes"
Since we went for a gritty, typical british drama, we had to reach a breathtaking contrast, using binary oppositions between the two worlds we are shown in the opening sequence, but also between all the themes presented in pairs - gang and being able to stand up for yourself alone, friendship and secrecy, danger and safe heaven through dancing, etc.

"Theories have been applied and it's well thought through"
To make sure we keep it conventional, we used Prop's theory as a guide to creating out main characters, and Todorov's Narrative theory to make up the story for the whole film

"Original Ideas"

This statement is fairy arguable, since it could be compared to Step Up, which eventually became our inspiration for finishing off the idea. However, the idea 'struck us' while drafting boring ideas of drama opening sequences. Funnily enough, since I'm a dancer, Erika decided to base a story around a main character who dances, which turned out to be a "gangster interpretation of a Hannah Montana episode", in which I don't even dance.

Some of the critisisms and questions:
" I don't think the title Breaking Point fits"
The title is the hardest part of planning for us, as we struggle to find a punchy, fitting title that can accurately summarise the film. However, we hope to change it soon, if we get a better idea during production. It is definitely a priority for us.

"How would you film the alleyway scene in the dark?"
We are planning to use the reflectors, reflecting the main light coming from the street lamp right in the alleyway. However, if this doesn't work out, we would use the flashlights on our phones to light the scene, which hopefully with some clever filming would be masked.

"What is your secondary audience?"
For our secondary audience, we aim to attract middle aged people, who relate to the story by either remembering and looking back to the times they were going through something similar, or who are parents to teenagers in similar situations. Target audience isn't that much of a concern in drama movies, since it is a broad genre with often very relatable themes.

"How are you going to control the people on set?"
We would make sure everyone knows their script and what they are doing at all times. Also, seen as two fo the main characters are played by us, it would be easier to control the situation within. The only concern I have is the dance scenes, as it could be hard to get everyone to do it without making any mistakes and in sync. This could be achieved through practice.

"What outfits would the gang members wear?"
Even though the gang members aren't really seen, since they are meant to represent a shadow (funny, since all they do is shadow their two leaders), we see them wear casual, but fashionable clothes. This means they can wear any branded clothing in cold colours, hats and any big accessories they want since they are meant to look intimidating. 

"How are you going to get a dance studio for the dance scenes?"
I dance, so the studio access would be pretty easy, getting the studio schedule from my dance teacher and fitting the filming schedule around that and the main characters' schedules.

"What Camera and Editing Software would you use?"
We were fortunate enough to be able to use the Canon XF100, the best cameras in our school, along with a road mic attached to it, a steadicam and a tripod that is specifically for this type of camera. However, for some difficult shots, we will probably switch to DSLRs to use the steadicam, since it gets pretty heavy if the Canon XF100 is used. We will also record backup sound with our phones, and see if we could attach an input cable to the camera, in order to use my laptop as a second screen and look at the footage straight away since we have a limited amount of time. For editing, we will use Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects, where animation is needed.

Lighting Workshop

In this workshop, we learnt how to operate:
- High-key lighting, using a fill light, key light and a back light. When working with them, we had to be careful during the positioning, so we avoid shadows on the curtains and any unnecessary reflections and shadows.
- Low-Key lighting, using one main light which is positioned well enough just to shine light on the right places without making the scene look too dark or unprofessional.
- A green Screen, where we has a group of people dancing to a song of their choice, only to put the original music video clip as a background. This was the hardest task out of all, since there were creases on the green screen, sometimes there were too many people in shot, and the camera isn't supposed to be moved when working with green screen.
The one I found the easiest was the Low-Key lighting, as there wasn't much equipment to operate and it was quite straight forward. However, the one I found the hardest to edit was the green screen footage, since selecting the videos I want to work with and matching the gif sequence behind without looking unprofessional or out of place was hard to do

Opening Sequence Treatment

Treatment Outline:

The film I have chosen to do an opening sequence for will be a teenage drama film, called “Breaking Point”. The audience I’m aiming to entertain would be late teens (ages between 15 and 22), coming from working, middle and upper middle class, seeking for Status and Escape, putting them in the group E in the young and rubicam’s psychographic profiling. My secondary audience would be middle aged people who know what being a struggling, late teenager is like, or are parents of ones. Main themes would be dance, coming of age, conflict, friendship and struggles. The main binary oppositions the film will accent on are hard life vs freedom and happiness, crime and danger vs creativity, calm setting vs scary urban, intense mood vs upbeat and flowy (shown through the music). Music is a key convention to the opening sequence, as it opens up to introduce the character, with a rough, intense instrumental, and then develops into an upbeat inspirational song, representing the movie clearly in the opening. It would fit perfectly, as it is a dramatic, heavy song that has its high and low points. We will gain rights to use the song for our opening sequence, by emailing the record label that released it and asking for permission.

Todorov's Narrative Theory:

The storyline will follow a struggling girl with being kicked out of her house due to family problems, being forced to get involved with a gang in order to maintain her normal life and fund her dancing. When the narrative is broken down by the Todorov’s narrative theory, we end up with:
 ↣ Equilibrium:
Eleanor, main character gets kicked out of her house, owes money to gangs, and struggles with debts that stop her from paying for her dance school and general needs in order to keep her life up. (negative equilibrium – she has a bad life full of struggles)
↣ Disruption:
The gang she owes money to is looking for her, wanting their money asap – her life is endangered.
↣ Recognition:
Just when everything is going downhill for the main protagonist, she gets accepted into a dance competition, with the chance of winning a huge amount of money, which would help her pay her debts and finally start clean.
↣ Repair:
She finally takes her life in her own hands, getting a part time job to save up money, and keeps practising for the competition. However, she doesn’t win, the gang finds out and confronts her again, this time hurting her to prove a point (a period of violent scenes, fighting and drama takes over this part of the movie … seems like nothing can get any worse for her, everything is over).
↣ New Equilibrium:
She finds out she got scouted at the competition, which lands her a well-paid part-time job so she can finally stabilise. Stays to live with Tory until she finds her own place. The gang doesn’t bother her anymore and her life is finally stress-free. She is happy.
Overall, the idea of the film is to follow a linear narrative, and the opening sequence reflects on that.
Main themes would be dance, coming of age, conflict, friendship and struggles. The main binary oppositions the film will accent on are hard life vs freedom and happiness, crime and danger vs creativity, calm setting vs scary urban, intense mood vs upbeat and flowy (shown through the music). Music is a key convention to the opening sequence, as it opens up to introduce the character, with a rough, intense instrumental, and then develops into an upbeat inspirational song, representing the movie clearly in the opening. It would fit perfectly, as it is a dramatic, heavy song that has its high and low points. We will gain rights to use the song for our opening sequence, by emailing the record label that released it and asking for permission.

Overview and Concept:
The visuals in this opening sequence act as a big role, as drama openings are usually very dull and boring, so we need something that would grab the audience’s attention on the story. The editing would be fast paced and original – we would have transition fades from objects in order to make associations with certain memories and emphasise on the important bits from the first 3 minutes of the movie. The titles would be displayed originally, as moving titles around the dancers, using the movement as credit opening. The sound would be a mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic to confuse the audience, cause shock and keep them on their toes. The music would start with an instrumental of a song to represent loneliness, fighting on your own and having to be a strong person no matter what. However, later on, after Eleanor gets approached by her best friend and gets dragged into the dance group, the lyrics start building up to show power and confidence – something unachievable when one is on their own. In terms of Camera movement, there would be a range of camera angles in order to show different sides to the story. There would be POV shots, where the audience gets involved in with the story and sees things from Eleanor’s perspective, wide shots will introduce different settings to the audience and give them an overview of the situation through stereotypes, medium shots and close-ups would accent on specific characters, objects, emotions or action. They would point the watcher’s attention to the key elements, not giving them a chance to lose interest. Change in angles will affect the way the audience views characters and their behaviour. Colour is another aspect of the film that accents on the binary oppositions. Warm, bright colours would be used in the dance scenes and when she is with friends and works on getting her life better, while darker, cold and uninviting colours will overtake the flashbacks, the violent, gang related scenes and everything to do with her dark past.

Propp's Character Theory:
According to Propp’s character theory, there are 7 types of characters in every well-developed story. In our film we have categorised some of our characters and broken them down into:
↣ Heroine – Eleanor
She is the main protagonist, in her late teens, struggling with life, a dancer, gets involved with the wrong people which leads her to debt and puts her life in danger.
↣ The Helper – Tory
Eleanor’s best friend, distracts her from her hard life, tries her best to cheer her up and help with her struggles – offers her a place to stay towards the end of the movie when she finds out how bad her situation is. Stereotypical teenage girl, very girly and carefree, rather innocent and childish.
↣ The Villain (antagonist) – Jack and Camilla
Gang leaders, hate Eleanor with passion because of reason we find later on in the film. Very aggressive, cold and intimidating people. Guarded and mysterious, which scares the audience and warns they aren’t ones to be messed with.

Locations:

The opening sequence will occur in only two locations – a dance studio and a dark alleyway. The dance studio will be a soft, inviting environment, showing us what her ‘heaven’ looks like. We are going to use one of the dance studios in Kingston College – a roomy, all white and grey dance studio with intense lighting, a mirror wall and wooden doors. Contrast with the edgy, intense alleyway setting, which is dirty, dark, rough and claustrophobic.

Visual Effects:

Since drama movies don’t rely much on visual effects, we are only focusing on colour and lighting to add onto the illusion the storyline puts the audience in. The colour reflects on the mood of the scene through contrast – warm, friendly and peaceful colours (dance) vs cold, harsh and monotone colours (outside). In terms of lighting, we would use the bright, soft lighting in the dance studio to compliment the dancers and their movement, and contrast it with one, dim street light for the alleyway to create harsh shadows and accent on the ‘roughness’ of the situation.

Costumes:

Costumes would be used to represent characters through stereotypes:
↣ Hero – wears all black and baggy clothes, doesn’t put much effort in her appearance.
↣ Helper – exactly the opposite, wears a lot of pink, crop tops, very bright coloured clothing, well done makeup and hair – very girly, cheerleader stereotype.
↣ Villains – Dark colours, tight clothing for the girl, baggy for the boy, branded and well taken care of.
↣ Dancers – different outfits show off their personalities. Range of colours, variations of street dance, comfortable wear.

Props:

The Props we need would be:
↣ Fake Blood
↣ Weapons (knife)
↣ Masks
↣ Speakers
↣ Expensive things
↣ Fake drugs
↣ Money (fake, printed off)
↣ Dancing bag

Equipment:

The equipment we need when shooting is:
↣ 2 or 3 DSLR Cameras (Nikon and 2 Canon)
↣ 2 or 3 tripods
↣ A microphone
↣ Lighting and reflector
↣ Chargers for everything
↣ SD cards in case we run out of space
↣ Lenses for the cameras

Editing Software:

The programs we will use for editing are:
↣ Adobe Premiere Pro
↣ After Effects
↣ Audacity

Struggles:

When shooting, our main struggles would include:
↣ Mirrors, as there is danger of getting the equipment in the shot – we can solve this by practicing and checking the footage during filming.
↣ Cameras running out of battery – bringing Chargers on set
↣ Bad weather conditions – plan ahead, check the weather forecast and look for solutions in case something bad occurs.
↣ Location Availability – Book a specific time and practice loads beforehand
↣ Health and Safety while shooting – give everyone instructions and inform them of possible hazards

When editing, the struggles could be:
↣ Continuity – always double check the footage
↣ Bad quality and colour correction – edit carefully and use colour correctors.
↣ Sticking to the time frame of 2 minutes – fast shots, quick transitions, getting to the point quickly and efficiently. Being selective with shots
↣ Not enough footage – improvising, reshoots.

Preliminary Task and Evaluation

Evaluation:

In the preliminary task, we were asked to make a short film based on a conversation between two characters. After discussing ideas, the final product ended up being a conversation between a business woman in her office and a mysterious, unwanted messenger with shocking news. As a first time working together, we organised pretty well with the job roles, identified the genre, came up with a script, made storyboard and got actors. The longest process was the editing. Looking back on the product, I notice a few mistakes, things that went better than expected and things I would have done differently.

- What Went Well
The enigma code was a significant theme to the preliminary task, as it built a lot of tension throughout, kept the audience's interest and ended on a 'cliff hanger'. This helped the product really stand out as a thriller as it kept all the genre conventions, such as low lighting, dark colours, intense background music and an abrupt beginning. The sound in the video was something we were initially worried about, as the video was shot on DSLRs and no external mics, but it turned out better than expected. In post-production, music and sound effects were added to help intensify the mood and give the video a more professional appeal. All the transitions in this were straight cuts, serving their purpose of intensifying the mood and helped to accent on the variety of shots used.

- What did you learn?
This was an interesting experience, as it was our first time working on a thriller piece. We learned the genre codes and conventions for thriller, the difficulty in scheduling and recasting, the problems you have to keep in mind when organising locations (such as availability and lighting), and the settings you need to film on when shooting on DSLRs. However, the most important thing we learned about filming was to always bring chargers for the camera in case we need to film for longer than intended.

- What would you do differently next time?
In future, we would keep in mind the lighting required to film at certain locations, the importance of filming on cameras on the same setting and would remember to white balance before filming. Another thing we need to keep an eye on is the focus - as seen in our product, the focus shifted a few times while the characters were talking, confusing the audience on the focus of the scene. We would also add titles in the beginning to introduce the company and the name of the short film, and consider different ways of recording audio (such as external mics) to intensify the characters' speech even more. The most important thing to keep in mind, however, would be the steadiness of the camera in longer shots, as there was shaking and shifting of the camera that distracts the audience from the scene.

- Were there any problems?
The biggest problem during filming was the fact the e changed cameras and the settings we shot on. This didn't give us enough flexibility during post-production and made the footage look grainy and unprofessional. When we tried to fix it, it brought the quality down and any colour correction made it look unrealistic and unprofessional. Another problem we faced during filming was the availability of the actors and locations, which made us reschedule a couple of times and wasted a lot of time. Also, the camera we initially filmed on ran out of battery while filming, causing us discomfort.

- How did you overcome them?
Somehow, we managed to make the footage look slightly better with some colour correction and making the low quality shots shorter. In order to overcome the availability problem, we had to change the location we were shooting at and re-shoot everything, as well as replacing one of the actors with someone with more flexible timetable that matched ours and the times the location was available at.

Institutional Research