For my Arts Award, I took charge of the editing for a short film - The Careers Interview - which was made as a collaborative effort by a group of people of a similar age to myself as part of the Rural Media Company's BFI Film Academy. As the editor, I spent the shoot itself taking notes of each shot as it was being filmed, while making a mental rough cut in time with production, so that I could make suggestions to the camera crew if I felt they hadn't got enough. For the edit itself, I worked with the group's sound operator to sync the footage with sound recorded on an external microphone, before preparing a rough cut of the film. Over the course of two days, I edited the film down so that it was short enough to meet the Borderlines restrictions without compromising the story. The final project was premiered at the Borderlines Film Festival on 5th March 2014, and I will provide a link to the video online as soon as it's available.
Despite the fact that I'd previously spent five years editing my own short films in my own time, I found the experience a great learning curve, for a number of reasons. This was the first time I'd edited using Final Cut (with the exception of a short stint during work experience in 2012), and it was also the first time I was editing footage which I hadn't been actively involved in the creation of. In addition, I'd never previously edited a film with separately recorded audio, so the sync-sound was another new experience for me. I enjoyed the collaborative aspect of the film, though. The group I was in worked really well together, and we didn't let our desire for a strong end project get in the way of having fun during production. In fact, I enjoyed working as part of a group so much that I'm looking to do the same in the future, as it allows me to focus more on my strong point without needing to worry so much about other elements, which other people are taking care of. This makes the entire process much less stressful, as I can devote all of my energy to the edit, knowing that the sound, for example, is in hand.
The aspect of the film which I found the most challenging was almost certainly the need to get the timing right in every scene to maximise the effect. The film was a comedy, and most of the gags revolved around the pace of various sequences, so I had to strike a balance between holding a shot for too long and cutting away too quickly. As I'd never really done comedy before, this was new to me, and I got around it by using a trial-and-error method, as well as asking the rest of the team for feedback at various points in the edit. I then took on board the suggestions they gave me, and used them to improve my edit.
The entire group enjoyed the production, and we all felt we worked well together. In terms of my edit, the group said that they felt it was good, and I received generally positive feedback. I'm very pleased with the feedback, as I felt the rest of the group had contributed amazing work in their respective areas, and I was worried that I'd be perceived to have let the side down. It was even better as they gave me the feedback while the edit was ongoing, which meant I was able to take their comments on board before the film was released.
Working as leader of the edit, I've learned that it's useful to have other members of the team around at critical stages of the edit - namely the very beginning and the finishing touches - as they are aware that the editor is in charge of the edit, and although they aren't likely to take over, the group can provide useful contributions and prevent me from getting too bogged down with tiny, insignificant aspects of the film. However, the heart of the edit, when I'm preparing the first rough cut, is much easier alone, as I can concentrate fully on getting the frame of the narrative done, and devote my full attention to the story. This enables me to say for certain that it makes sense.
I also learnt that the planning is vital. As a group we collaborated on the pre-production for an entire day before production, and as a result of our tight planning, we were able to keep everything organised and on schedule. This meant that I had all the footage available to me on the day I was supposed to begin editing, and I could crack on. Having a solid plan also meant that I already knew roughly what the edit was going to look like, and as such I didn't have to spend time thinking it out.
For my chosen art form, I have learnt that collaboration is far more effective than trying to grind away at a film entirely by myself. There are aspects of the film-making process that I find easier than others, and if I work in a group I can focus entirely on these aspects, without needing to take time to work on areas I'm not as strong at, as others will be doing this.
Next time I will make sure I rely less on reaction shots, as after the film's premiere Tony Lawson commented that that force-fed the audience a reaction, and I agree. In addition, I will take more care to observe all of the rules of continuity editing, as there was an instance in The Careers Interview where I cut from a static shot to a moving shot, and then back again, which I felt jarred.
Overall, I'm proud of my work, and I'm incredibly glad to have been a part of the BFI Film Academy and to have had the opportunity to work with a group of like-minded people of a similar age to myself in order to achieve a great end-product.
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