My Film - Mimitís (Version 1/Rough Cut 2)

This is the first completed edit of my AS film "Mimitís". I've posted it on Youtube, and have begun to receive audience feedback. 

Final Cut Pro

All the footage (with the exception of my company ident (see process here,)) was compiled and edited using Final Cut Pro. One way in which I manipulated the footage was by placing the "film noir" effect over the 'monster p.o.v' shots, so as to make the lighting seem more vibrant and surreal, and to help make it denote to the audience that they were watching from the 'monster's' point of view (I also added a sound effect to help emphasize this, but more on that later.) 

For the most part I simply had to sift through the mountain of footage, looking for clear shots and good takes, a lot of the time cutting bits and pieces out (using the 'blade' tool) from various different takes and sticking them together until everything looked smooth. 

The editing technique I enjoyed using the most was the green screen effect. I had to use green screening to display a text message on the phone (something that was vital to the storyline making sense.) Of course, I could've simply turned the phone screen on with a text message already in place, but the difficulty was angling the camera in such a way that my overhead bedroom lights didn't burn everything out, and even then there wasn't much guarantee of what the natural outside lighting was gonna be like, (there was no specific lighting set-up used, given that my film had the enormous budget of £0.00 - impressive, right?) Therefore, the conclusion was to use green screening, something I was assured would be "super easy" to do using Final Cut Pro. But if you've followed my other posts, you should know that nothing is ever "super easy" with my luck...

Using a youtube tutorial, I taught myself the basics of using a green screen process on Final Cut Pro.  First you select 'Effects', then click on the sub-heading 'Keying', from which two options will appear. Quite simply, I selected the option 'Keyer', dragged it onto the green screen clips (which was simply a green colour picture opened on my phone screen,) and watched as it magically turned black, ready to be edited. The next step was to insert the footage that would be shown on the green screen. 

I recorded this footage by plugging my phone into my computer, opening QuickTime Player, and then selected 'File', 'New Movie Recording'. From here I was able to switch the option settings to record what was on the screen of my phone. Having successfully acquired the footage, I imported it to Final Cut Pro, dragged it down to its appropriate place and began to make the necessary adjustments so that it appeared realistic on the phone screen. 

The problem? Nobody warned me that for the footage on the green screen to look good (and by 'look good' I mean actually staying on the green screen) it would be vital to keep the green screen (in this case the phone) and camera perfectly still. Due to the very nature of my shot types (the close-up over the shoulder especially) I hadn't used a tripod - and while I'm pretty steady-handed, there was inevitably some slight movement. Long story short, while this by no means meant my plan was ruined, it did result in a very careful and time-consuming struggle to position the footage just so that it stayed (more-or-less) in place without any noticeable movements. While I still notice the slightly moving phone screen, it does appear I was successful, as so far none of my audience have commented. 

Logic Pro

Moving on to sound! Every sound heard within my film opening (excluding my company ident) was added in post-production. To the trained ear this may be obvious, but I'm hoping that most people won't notice (and so far my audience hasn't.) All the sound heard is meant to be diegetic, with the exception of the low drone noise used in the scene by the church as this was meant to be more of a subconscious noise and added to build tension/atmosphere. 

Using the sound production program 'Logic', I was able to find (almost) every sound I could ever want, allowing me to place them in order as a soundtrack of sorts to fit the film, and to play with their volume levels and 'positioning' (where you would hear them in the film world.) Due to my unfamiliarity with Logic I struggled with trying to edit the sound as precisely as I might have liked, but overall I am happy with the result. I may still adjust the sound in the chase scene, but I am satisfied with it at present because the sheer quietness of it creates a very eerie and unsettling effect (almost contradictory to the tense music you'd hear in other films within this genre,) seeming almost as if it's some terrible nightmare, and helping to raise the fear factor of my film.

To be as diegetically realistic as possible, I used separate background noise types for indoors and outdoors, and found sound bites that would fit with things like the jacket being zipped, the door locking, the running etc. A lot of the time the easiest way to make them seem realistic was to simply adjust the volume levels, but sometimes I also adjusted their positioning (e.g. to sound as if the door was being locked on the left etc.)  

My favourite use of sound within this was the heartbeat sound effect. While I initially tried to edit it to gradually speed up, as if it was the girl's racing heartbeat we could hear, I realized that it was a lot more ominous when it stayed at the same pace, because it was coupled with a drone sound effect to help things seem distorted, and this connotes that it was the 'monster's' steady heartbeat we were listening too. Overall, it threw my audience off, making them uncomfortable and helping to build tension. 

The only sound I needed to record myself was the dialogue, and I did this using the iPhone app 'Music Memos'. To make sure the timing was right we watched the scene over again, but the process was simple and worked well.  

Overall I am very happy with this version of my film - it's been such an incredible and fun process, and I feel like I've been quite successful thus far. I know I'll probably have to make a few more adjustments, but the bulk of the work is done.