The Title of our Film

This project would only showcase the first two minutes of our film. That isn't a lot of time to showcase everything we wanted and thought an introduction should have. One of the parts of the film we wanted to make sure to include was the title. 

As a group, we decided that the title of our film would be "A Golden Clue" due to the significance that a piece of gold jewelry played in the film. This would be useful in the way I would make the title look. 

For one, as the film was more comedic and over the top, I wanted to make the font very bold. A thinner font might make the film look more sophisticated or seem like it should be taken very seriously which would be the complete opposite of what we wanted. As for the color, nothing else made more sense than to use a golden yellow.

Still displaying the title of our film

What was more challenging with the title was the way it would be incorporated into the film. I thought developing the title itself would be the most challenging part but with a set tone and use of the word "golden" it became very easy. However, introducing the title into the frame and the way it would disappear needed much more thought. 

I knew that we needed the title behind a black background in order to transition from the running away scene to the following interrogation scene. To do I ended the scene with a fade to black and left a black space to place the title. Now I had to think about how I wanted the text to be introduced. With some brainstorming, we thought it would make sense for the words to be typed on the screen in order to match the detective feel like one would do when creating a report.

Finally, to cut away from it, it made most sense to backspace the title away and bring back the black space to fade out into the next scene. The black is used to indicate the passage of time but also acts as the background of the title to make it stick out 

Shot that shows how the title is brought in and transitions into the next shot

Editing the title of our film was very interesting and way different than I thought it was going to be. Initially, I thought it was going to be a challenge to create the title and choose the right aspects like the font, color, and background. Thankfully for me most of these aspects were obvious. The title fit right between the two scenes so a black background would do. It would be a golden color to match the words used and the text would be thick to seem more funny and less sophisticated. Instead, I found out it isn't just about how a title looks but how it is introduced and edited into a film that equally matters. I didn't want to just fade the title in as it wouldn't add to the film and it just seems lazy to do. I wanted it to feel tied to the film and foreshadow the detective aspect of the film. Writing or typing fit this idea best in my opinion and the one that would fit equally as well in leaving the tile would be the typing. The way a title is specifically edited can be as important as the way a title looks and takes important decision-making in order to express the ideas of your film. 

Color Correcting the FIlm

A big aspect of the editing I wanted to focus on for this film was the color correction. It was something I didn't touch on during my first film but I now see that it is helpful in creating a certain mood or making the film look consistent. 

My main focus with the color correction at first was making the film look consistent. There were shots of the film that you could easily tell were taken on different days or with different settings. One of these shots was very bright and had an obvious yellow hue to it when compared to the other shots we had of the same scene. It stuck out like a sore thumb so I needed to go in and try to fix it. To do this I tried to alter all of the shots to have a similar look instead of trying to match the different shots to the rest.

Still of our shot that looked very yellow

Still of the shot right before that looked normal

To do this I asked the cinematographer for help in order to establish a vision of what the film should look like visually. The overall idea for the film was that it took itself so seriously that it came off as humorous. We wanted a slightly darker tone to match that energy. to make it feel more "serious", we darkened the shots we had for the interrogation scene and made sure the colors weren't very vibrant. This would juxtapose the scene right before it.

The running scene was shot in a park and the footage we took of it had its colors very toned down. this slightly matched the look we wanted but it mostly just made the film look boring. The cinematographer had the idea of making the scenery more vibrant by using CapCut so I did. It made the shots look more appealing and were better at keeping someone's attention.

Still from the raw footage of the chase scene

Still from the new edited footage that made the shot look better

This experience overall taught me about the relationship between an editor and cinematographer in achieving the look of a film. When first starting with the color grading I thought I had an idea of what I wanted to do. It wasn't until discussing with the person who shot the scenes that I was able to alter the shots effectively. I was also able to bounce ideas and see what someone else thought without having to edit something fully in multiple ways and see which got the best reception. Most importantly, I was introduced to other editing softwares and ideas that helped me create the first scene of our film.

What to Include in Two Minutes

The most important thing to keep in mind during the editing process was to not go past the two-minute time limit that we had. This was very similar to the previous film I worked on where we had to have the entirety of a plot in just one minute. 

However, this felt trickier as before I needed to fit in a whole story so I was able to section off where the beginning, middle, and end take place. But this time, it would just be a small portion of an entire. There was less stress over fitting everything we had but unfortunately more emphasis on what we wanted to make sure to include. 

In total, I had around 15 minutes worth of footage to get through. This was slightly concerning but I knew most of it came from unused takes and shots that we no longer planned on using. Once it was cut down more, I had to focus on how it would then fit into the two minutes. 

Image displaying the total amount of time that our footage takes

My plan going in was to just have the film cut off during a piece of dialogue in the interrogation scene. However, that would mean I would have to be careful with the specific dialogue that I chose to include. I wanted to make sure core plot details or hysterical moments wouldn't be ruined and could be seen fully by the viewer in order to get a good understanding of what our film is about.

I started by making sure the events went in the correct order so I could pace the film correctly to include the scenes I really wanted to. These were the scenes where interruptions were made in order to evoke humor in the viewer. However, making these scenes the focus left a lot to be desired.

Image that shows how I managed to cut the footage down to three minutes

I remembered that an introduction was mainly there to outline the general ideas that make up your film. I didn't need to prioritize making the audience laugh immediately but could instead space these moments out and put a bigger focus on the setup of our film. Key moments in the story like the announcement of the robbery should be focused on more to get the viewer intrigued rather than getting the viewer to understand that the movie should make you laugh. that should happen more naturally. 

When trying to condense out film, I learned that it was less about the content of the shots and more about what would make the most sense for trying to introduce the audience to the ideas you want to set up, The introduction to the movie doesn't always give away what the tone of the film is or overwhelm you with the same ideas but instead show what the movie is generally about. For a movie like Baby Driver, it's about a getaway driver and we learn that very early and for this film, I need to show that it's about a detective case and its content within the first two minutes. 

Missing a shooting day

 On the sixth day of shooting, I was unable to make it to the location we were shooting at. This meant I was not exactly sure what was happening on set and would just have to wait for the footage to come in.

Initially, I was really worried about not being able to show up on the set for that day of shooting. I wouldn't be able to see how shots were filmed and couldn't really put in any real-time input on the shots. I was worried that the shots would be more difficult to edit due to this.

The shots that were being filmed were the entirety of the first scene of our film and I wasn't going to be there to see any of it being created. My only knowledge of how the events would play out was from the script and storyboard and not getting to view the way they were shot. I didn't want my only experience on the introduction shots to be raw footage that I wasn't present for the creation. I felt that as the editor it would be important to be there to plan how cuts would happen to go from one shot to the next.

Shot of the first running scene of our film

The scene was also a chase shot which was the main concern for me as I wanted to make the cuts seem more seamless to not destroy the tension of the film and I felt that being there would be better for me. I made note of this to the crew but didn't know if it would be as reinforced as it would be If I was actually present. 

However, once I got the footage back, I realized I was worrying for no reason. The shots followed what we had outlined in our script and the flow of the scenes fit quite well. We also had a different mask planned but to my surprise, something completely different was used which added to the humorous tone of the film.

Shot of the second running scene for our film

Although I think the editor plays a key role in films, it doesn't mean they are always needed on set. this reminded me of what Thelma Schoonmaker discussed in her interviews as when working with Scorsese, he didn't want her on set as that shouldn't affect what goes on in the editing of a film. I was so stressed over the fact I was missing the shooting of the film even though ultimately, my main priority was to just focus on the shots I was given and tie them together to create our story. 

4th and 5th Day of Shooting

On the fourth and fifth days of shooting we had much less time than the rest of the days. These shooting days were very different from the others as we used up time in our class periods instead of shooting after school. 

For day four, three of the members were able to arrive for shooting during their third period. This meant we could get the shots of the detectives done and out of the way. We had a slightly delayed time for shooting as it fell in between the lunch schedules of the members of our group.

This left us 30 minutes to get the shots completed. We had just the right amount of people to get it done however so we went in and got about 2-3 takes of all the shots we needed. We were still able to get our shots done as we had the reaction shots from the previous filming day to be based on.

Shot from the fourth day of shooting  that was focused on only the detectives

For day five, three of our members had to leave their 6th period in order to make it to shooting. However, we weren’t released until later in the period which caused our short shooting window to become even smaller. This meant we could only get the shots of our actor which was the main focus anyway.

We recently found out that they were going to get their hair changed completely which would destroy the continuity of the film. We needed to get to filming quickly which is why we decided to go during our school periods in the first place. This would be the last chance we would get to finish her scenes even if not all of them would be included in the 2-minute time frame. We had to rush through the scenes which was made more difficult as there were people occupying the space we were filming at. 

It was difficult for our actor to focus on her lines due to the amount of people in the room. There were also some shots that had people in the background that I knew I wouldn’t be able to use as it would not fit the timeline of the film. No amount of editing would keep the shots looking good while fitting the rest of our shots. However, we were able to get them settled and got the shots done.

Shot from the fifth day of shooting where someone's arm can be seen in the background

Overall these filming days were efficient but also equally as messy to get through. There were a lot of setbacks and more strict time constraints we had to deal with but we made sure to manage that time wisely to get all of our shots done.

I learned about dealing with unexpected circumstances in more ways than one. For starters, I had to find a way to fit the final filming day for the interrogation into my schedule which ultimately led to me losing out on class time but made it possible to finish the film. On top of that I had to deal with the fact that people were occupying are film area so we had to move them around to not mess up the shot. Then there was the fact that both days had very limited time to shoot everything we needed. However, if you just manage to stay organized you can still manage to achieve what you want for the day. We managed our time and got everyone to settle down for the duration of filming.

3rd Day of Filming

On the third day of filming we mostly focused on the shots that included one of our actors and ones that included the detectives beginning the interrogation. We once again had everyone on set to make things run smoothly. Fortunately, we also had more time to film this day than before.

This was the most effective day of filming by far as we got a lot of the shots of the detectives down and the entire lead-up section to the dialogue of the interrogation.

We also managed to get some of the dialogue of one of our actors done as the camera stayed on them and we ran through their lines. It was my job to keep in mind which of these takes would be used in our Final Cut and which I could easily discard.

Shot we had of our actor speaking her lines

There was also a big portion of these shots that had to be edited as there is an active back-and-fourth conversation that is going on between one of the detectives and the person that is brought in. I had to focus on how I wanted the dialogue to play out in the scene as well as when it would cut to a new person talking. To do this we had the Director, who is also a detective in the film, speak her lines with the camera focused on the other actor. This way I could line up where the scenes go and the timing of the scenes so they fit together seamlessly.

On this day it hit me that all the struggles we faced in the shooting sessions before just managed to disappear. The camera was up and running in no time. Everyone quickly changed into their outfits out of instinct, even if they weren't getting filmed that day. The entire shooting session felt like a well-oiled machine the way things ran with no issues. For some unknown reason, we were not having nearly as many difficulties as we encountered before.

Photo of us having fun from the third day of shooting

After some further reflecting on this, I realized the main cause for this was the fact that we had done this so many times before already. The more we practiced this routine of setting everything up and shooting our shots, the better we got at it. The shooting days were getting progressively more effective as we worked on the kinks in everything earlier on so that it wouldn't be an issue down the line. Filming is an adaptive experience that becomes more enjoyable and becomes more like a regular process the more you work on it.

2nd Day of Filming

Today was our second day of filming and it went smoother than last time. This shooting session went well overall but still had some mishaps on the way.

For one, we still didn't have that much time to shoot. The plan was to leave school at 6:00 which seems like we are left with a lot of time to get our film done since school ends at 2:40. However, a major portion of this time was taken up by a chorus rehearsal that one of our group members needed to attend. They were the key into the shooting room so without them we couldn't get started.

On top of this, we were unable to get the equipment we needed as our cinematographer was not able to obtain the equipment on that day so we had to resort to using the director's equipment from home. 

We didn't get on to the set until 5 and we also had new equipment that our cinematographer hadn't got to test before. It took some of our time for the camera to get set up properly but from the moment it did we were set to go.

Shot we took that had better lighting than last time

We had our actors, outside of the main crew, also join us on this day to start recording the scenes they were needed in. It was the first time that we had everyone who was a part of the film actually on set. This made it so things ran quicker and with less trouble than the previous day we filmed. 

We were able to once again get a better feel for how things would play out next time while also getting a good portion of the movie filmed. 

Shot we retook that turned out better than the last time

This day taught me how important the teamwork of the crew behind truly is. I know it seems obvious to say that working together produces good results or that "teamwork makes the dream work" but this day of shooting actually made me feel that way. On the first day of shooting, we only had three people available to show up which made things run very slow and with some hiccups along the way. Not only that but the atmosphere of the shooting day felt drained, it seemed like a chore we had to get done instead of the exciting activity that it was. With everyone available this time, the experience felt fun and also efficient at the same time as we had more people to focus on specific aspects of the film. When you have people designated to the several parts of the shoot then it makes the entire process easier to get through.