Editing Day 1 - Shots

Hey there Cambridge!

I am finally beginning to edit my film opening! This post will focus on me editing the shots on Adobe Express, while the next editing post will be about editing with sound. First, I had to pull out my storyboard so I can remember the order of the shots and the videos I need to find.

Adding my shots:

A few minutes in, I have already added the first three shots into my film opening. Here is the timeline a few minutes in...

The first challenge I came across was when I went to upload the video for my fourth shot, but there were three videos it could have been. I had to go back to my iPad and find the correct video. As you can see, I selected the second version, but after looking at the videos, it was actually the third one. That makes sense since the most recent is definitely the shot I like the best.

After adding all the shots, hear is the full timeline. When I put in the music, I will need to adjust the time each shot shows to match the beats in the music. For now, though, it is around 2 minutes 4 seconds. I tried to adjust the shots towards the end to what I think it should be (~1 sec), which I think should be fine for now until I add the music.

Since I am literally at the edge of my time limit for the film opening, I am not sure if I will get to include any scene from Filming Day 1 (scene at janitor's house). We will see how it goes, but I would love to be able to so then my film opening does not stop at the title.

Darkening some shots:

I did not like how bright the shots in the garage were, it should be darkened to fit the not so bright nor cheery tone. The video below is a screen recording of my screen as I darkened some shots to an intensity of 15. Any higher made it look like a dark film was covering the screen… it didn’t look good. I darkened any shot that was not an extreme close up of the magazine, although I ended the video below a bit early, so it is not too long.

Title and Credits:

I have always imagined the font to be white, sans-serif, and bold. I found a very generic font called "Source Sans Pro". There were some textures I could add to my letters too, so I opted for this rough one. The white text on a white background did not make the title stand out though. Even when I added a hazy black effect to the letters, it still blended in. I realized having the shot fade to black would work well here and would even make the title stand out. Although for some reason, every time the shot faded to black, the text was dull and kind of grey. I was not sure why and I could not fix it, so I added the title again as another text to fade in while the shot fades out. That's when I realized I can fix the issue by adding a black page after this final shot, so it fades into black.

I added an animation for each letter to fade in at random moments. This animation was perfect to add mystery and confusion as to what order the title is appearing on screen.

The font though is super generic... So, I went to find a new one. Here are the ones I tried out. I went with the Inknut Antiqua font (last image) and made "Past" bigger so the audience can also focus on "past" 😉. I know I said I wanted to do sans-serif and something bold, but this font just fit perfectly with my film.

Finally, the credits, to be presented in the following order:

1. Senior Tiger Films
2. Starring...
3. Music by...
4. Edited by...
5. Production Design by...
6. Cinematography by...
7. Produced by...
8. Written by...
9. Directed by...

The credits will fade in and out and appear slowly as the beginning of my film opening is the slowest part. I basically just put the credits anywhere it would not be in the way and left them white because I want the audience to focus on the janitor. In fact, I did not put any credits in the first 16 seconds since that is when the audience is first seeing the janitor and figuring out who this character is. I also presented my production company and logo as a separate shot before the film opening begins; I thought it would look more professional that way.

Two examples of my credits:

Reflection:

So, I was pretty desperate to watch this with the background music, so I played it over the result of Editing Day 1 and OH MY GOSH it was so good!!!! I cannot wait for Editing Day 2 so I can see the finished product!! Actually, what reminded me to darken some shots was when I played over the music and I noticed how the dark melody was not fitting with the bright shots. I feel as though Editing Day 1 went well for me. I realized I forgot to film an extreme close up on the word "preservation" in the magazine, but that was quick and simple to re-record. Luckily, I did not need to call my actor to jump into a janitor suit to film again. The worst part of editing was adding the credits and title. It took me so long to find the perfect font.

I'll see you next time when I create my foley sounds!

Yours Truly, 

Macie 💗