Editing Production

We began editing our rough footage on Wednesday 21st January. Before editing we needed to understand the software in which we were using, Final Cut Pro. Final Cut Pro is only available on Mac OS X, the software means you can log and capture video onto a hard drive, which can then be edited and processed.


Final Cut Pro has a variety of applications which are vital in creating a realistic and effective film. The software has a variety of standard editing functions (ripple, roll, slip, slide, scrub, razor blade and time remapping), it also has 99 audio tracks, a range of dissolves, basic 3D transitions, colour correction filters, mulit-cam editing and video and audio filters(keying tools, mattes and vocal de-poppers and de-essers).


After understanding the software, we initially began to look through our rough footage. After playing the footage a few times we began to digitalize (log) and select the shots that we wanted to use. This process was quite challenging because as a group we needed to agree unanimously on which shots we thought were more successful. Some shots were clearer than other to discard, for example one of exterior tracking shots wobbled, two of the focus pull shots were out of focus and due to the lighting continuity in the workshop many of our shots were either too bright or too dark. However not all the shots were as easy to discard, as at times our mistakes seemed to create an interesting shot, for example the focus pool we chose was not actually perfect and slightly blurred but in the context of our sequence, the shot looked effective as it created a confusing and un-nerving atmosphere.

Having chosen the shots and putting them into categories (exterior walking, interior workshop and interior bathroom) we began to put our chosen shots onto a timeline. We needed to make sure that between shot A to B there were Graphic (configurations, patterns of light and dark, line shape, volumes and depths, movement and stasis), Rhythmic (adjusting their screen duration and creating a steady rhythm) and Spatial (relating two points in space through similarity, difference, or development) relations between each shot.

Once creating a timeline of shots, we began to put in our credits. We chose an unusual, bold font on a black screen which would capture the audience’s attention and fit in the stereotypical genre of horror films. We then used fade in and dissolve to make the cuts look clean.After completing our credits we wanted to make sure that the footage and credits were polished, effective and created a successful narrative flow. After completing our footage we needed to find music that would heighten the atmosphere and create tension within the sequence which would compliment the genre. Luckily we showed James Tunstill (a music teacher at school) our film and he agreed to compose some music for us, which we then loaded onto Final Cut Pro and put on top of our footage..