Chess Film Post-Production: Condensing to One Minute

Getting the Film to One Minute

A key aspect to this film was that it had to be one minute with a beginning, middle, and ending. As the editor, I had to make sure a clear story was told using the shots we took that lasted only a minute. I initially believed this was going to be a simple process as we had a clear story set up that I believed wouldn't take that long.

This proved untrue once I got done editing the first rough edit of our film with footage form only the first two shooting days and it ended up being around 5 whole minutes long. I was initially concerned but knew there was still much to be done so I didn't worry too much about it being too long. I still had to trim down some shots and finish deciding some of the takes still.

Edit from when the film ran for four minutes long

 I then added the footage we got on the third day of shooting which thankfully wasn't as much as the previous days. Once I was finally able to cut it all down with including all our shots, it was still four whole minutes long. I met with my group and got feedback and want I could still trim out. I was able to, but it still was about 3 minutes in length. 

I decided I would just have to get rid of some of the shots we took for the film so that I could get it to only a minute. I felt unsure about it as I was essentially taking away work that we had done but my group understood that it had to be done and were okay with it. I saw that some shots felt too repetitive and were unnecessary in getting across the intended feeling. We had chess shots of the same move being done that also just added time without adding substance. Doing this, as well as using some effect, helped me get the film down to the proper time limit.

Final edit where the film was under a minute

This experience taught me what is important to include in a film. Just because you filmed something doesn't mean you have to include it. It can just make your final product ultimately worse even if you feel as though your "wasting" the shot. What's important is that you include the shots that overall add to your final product in a meaningful way that can't be found in some other shot. For example, we had a close up shot of a chess piece slamming into another and an aerial shot of the same thing. However, the aerial shot just wasn't as impactful and hard-hitting as the close up and so it wasn't needed and just added unnecessary perspective. However, setting up the shot took more effort than others and it would feel like a shame to let it go to waste. But if it hinders the film then it's something that should be edited out.  Some of your hard work is going to get cut out in order to meet specific demands and that's okay.