Test Editing: Messing with the unused footage

After the first day of shooting, we had some footage that we weren't going to actually use whether we were going to reshoot it later or it was a failed take. To help my editing skills I thought it would be best to use this footage as we don't have enough footage to construct a good timeline. 

The footage itself also wasn’t the best quality and didn’t quite match what we wanted the shots to look like. Instead of waiting to shoot again to start editing, I decided to just mess with the footage we had to test out some of the things I wanted to touch up on. 

One of these things was the way text would appear on screen.

Unusable shot that I edited text over to introduce the location

I wanted to make it look more subtle so that it wasn’t distracting when it came onto the screen. I also wanted the text to look more professional to fit the detective aspect of the film so it stays somewhat serious even if that's not the overall vibe of the film. 

The next aspect I wanted to focus on was the color grading of the films but more so the resets that are available on rush. I wanted to compare overall visual styles that are film could use and see which one made the most sense with the direction we wanted to go in. 

Still that we had that I applied color filters over to see which fit the film the best

After looking at all the options, I saw that I liked a less lit style more as the scene is an interrogation and it would fit that serious and intrusive feeling one might get the most. But I also wanted to keep the film a bit warmer as when I used the cooler effects, it made the film come off as too serious and created a somber tone that I didn't want the film to have.

After the first day of shooting, I felt as though we didn't make any real progress. What that actually meant though was that it was up to me to make the progress that I wanted. I learned to take initiative and not let time go to waste. I had to make the most of what was given to me which is ultimately, in a simplified way, what the main job of an editor is. I knew these shots were never going to get used in the final cut but that didn't stop me from experimenting with it and finding out things I did and didn't like. It prepared me for the journey ahead and planted the seeds for ideas I could expand on with actual footage we wanted to use