Editing - Scene 3

I knew that I would need to cut this scene down because three minutes of footage is an unrealistic running time considering how the characters are walking somewhere that is only about 150m in actual distance. Despite the fact that this sequence is supposed to be slow paced, I still want it to feel progressive, as if the viewer is following the characters, rather than coming to a complete standstill. 

The screenshots above show footage from my first day of filming, and capture Dylan walking behind a tree down the path. I felt that I wouldn't lose anything by cutting out these shots since Dylan hides behind a tree later on in the sequence, and so it would look repetitive to show a similar action twice in the space of a minute. 

Before the characters emerge onto the more open path going down the middle of the park, there is a brief walkway just before this that I filmed them walking down at the start of this scene. The screenshot shows that the running time is already almost 40 seconds into the scene before they have even finished walking down a straight that is no more than 25m. In the unedited version it feels very disjointed and has too many shots, creating the effect that the characters are moving further than they actually are. So I opted to eliminate the shot above because it emphasises the distance between the characters and their lack of progression, which impedes the success of the rest of the shots. Plus, the dynamic movement is very shaky and not as aesthetic as the other shots used here. 

Another shot which I felt wasn't necessary is the 2nd screenshot (directly above). Having used the shot from the first screenshot to precede it, I felt that there wasn't enough difference in the change of shot to use them both. It would make the editing of the sequence look sloppy and jolty, and so getting rid of it makes the sequence seem smoother. The first shot is more integral because it shows Dylan put away the gun, and so cutting out the second shot was the best option. 

Here is an unplanned long shot that I felt exposed the scale and scope of the scene, breaking away from the proximity of the characters. When watching it back it has the effect of a cutaway shot, pulling the audience away from the action just when they should be immersed in it. As much as I like the broadness of the shot and the wide angle that frames the natural scenery, I think that it would be a mistake to use a shot that disengages the viewer from the characterisation taking place in the scene. My short film is not allowed to be longer than 5 minutes, and so I think that character development is needed more than pastoral cutaway shots. 

On rewatching this shot, where Dylan smiles as he observes the Father and Son interacting happily, it looked a little forced and a little premature for the character. I don't think that he would undergo enough of an internal change to be happy for them, and so I deleted this shot in favour of keeping the consistency of the other shots which kept Dylan looking conflicted and slightly jealous. 

The 3 screenshots here identify the most important part of this sequence, both technically and narratively. These characters came close to interacting when Dylan was about to shoot the Father, and again they almost collide as the Father looks back. I edited these shots together in relatively quick succession to speed up the pace and remind the audience that the suspense is still present. It was also important that the Father not look back for too long, because by standing still and not moving the pace becomes stunted, which becomes quite obvious considering the characters are always moving throughout the film. I liked how it cut from the Father's perspective to Dylan's, using the editing to emphasise how they are connected in loss but continue to elude one another. 

I will probably have to cut this scene down a little more, and I think that I could delete the sequence with my nan in the cameo role as a passerby. I wanted it to represent  how the elderly stereotypically dismiss the youth as troublesome and dangerous, shown through how she looks back suspiciously as Dylan walks past her. Nevertheless I shall reevaluate once I have edited the other scenes. 

Editing - Scene 2

This sequence was my favourite to film and also my favourite to edit due to its fast pace. Before my editing, this is what it looks like. 

I had still left multiple takes for some shots in the timeline because I hadn't decided which would be best to use, but I had left in multiple takes of the shot above for a different reason. My initial idea was to edit the varying canted angle shots in a way that appeared disorientating and delusional, with the slight changes in each take intended to replicate the mental instability that Dylan is undergoing. However, I decided that this form of editing would be more applicable to a psychological thriller, and so concluded that I'd rather keep it simple and stick to my original plan to use the camera shot to represent Dylan's mental state rather than the editing. Therefore the dutch angle of the screenshot above reflects his self-destructive character. 

The shot that shows Dylan pulling the gun out of the pocket was too long. Like in my opening scene, I didn't want the camera to just linger on the firearm because I don't think that this accomplishes anything. It takes the camera away from the characters and onto a prop, so I clipped this shot to just include Dylan removing it from his hoodie pocket and seeing the Father caught in the background of the frame. 

For me, the fast pace was enhanced greatly by these shots. I intercut the two shots that follow Dylan's feet and the Father's feet, contrasting their walking speeds. This effectively  creates the impression that Dylan is catching up and the subsequent tension arises from the imminence of their encounter. 

The arrival of the Son is essentially the turning point in the narrative, because it changes the entire outcome of the plot from a revenge thriller to a redemption drama. In order to reflect this on screen, I thought that the Son's introduction needed to be abrupt and completely disrupt the pace of the narrative, so the audience are like Dylan and in a state of bewilderment. To do this, I cut the shot immediately after the Son shouts 'Dad' off screen and appears from the side of the frame. This is because I wanted to cut to Dylan's reaction, where he instinctively holds back in shock. It was quite difficult to master due to how the reaction time needed to be immediate and believable, so the two shots needed to be cut at exactly the right time. 

I had written into my screenplay that the reason Dylan doesn't pull the trigger is due to the innocence of the Son, and how he'd feel guilty for taking a Father figure away from someone so young. To create this thought process using the editing, I wanted to capture Dylan shakily raise the gun and then cut to the shot which pans from the Father to the Son (shown in the 2nd screenshot) to emphasise how Dylan cannot get the Son out of his mind. 

My inability to choose which shot to use for Dylan's decision to lower his gun was a major problem when I first put my footage together. I thought that each shot provided a good angle and different lighting which had varying effects on the mood. I had even considered using all of the shots at short lengths to cut back and forth to Dylan at different angles, depicting him as exposed and confined. Then I decided against this because this point in my narrative acts as the transitioning period from the fast pace to the slower and cathartic pace, so I wanted this shot to linger and seem reflective. What I ended up doing was using two of the shots, the mid shot/dutch angle in the first screenshot is used before I cut to the Father and Son, and then the zoom in the second screenshot is used afterwards, drawing our attention to Dylan's facial expression. 

I very much think that this will be the best sequence of my narrative, and the one that will need only minor alterations to improve it. One thing I know I am going to have to change is the audio, because the Father and Son repeat the same dialogue in two separate shots, and so I will need to replace this speech, perhaps detaching the audio and substituting it with some natural foley sound effects.

Editing - Opening Scene

I have copied the footage from each scene into separate iMovie files so that I can focus on editing each scene individually and then compile them at the end. From a blogging perspective, it is much easier to break down the editing process and analyse one scene at a time because this way I can justify my choices in more depth. Here is the first scene, untouched and unedited. 

My first choice as an editor was to go through the various establishing and cutaway shots that I had filmed at the car park, which amounted to 48 seconds of footage. I knew that with a 5 minute duration I didn't have the time to keep cutting away to the scenery, and so I only wanted shots that would add depth to my narrative. 

The derelict and abandoned school next to the car park could help to establish the eerie and isolated setting, but also from a symbolic perspective it could represent the destruction of youth, and thus allude to the death of Dylan's little brother. Although I like the implication of decay and gloom that this shot denotes, I do not think it develops the location in any way. The majority of my scenes take place in rural and green settings, so the urbanisation and sense of industrial decay in this shot doesn't fit the tone or geographical consistency of my narrative. It would, on the other hand, be a perfect shot for some of my sources of inspiration, such as Hell or High Water or Out of the Furnace.  

This shot was a lucky moment where I managed to capture a seagull on the floodlights of the astroturf pitch behind the car park. Unfortunately I do not think that I can use this shot because I don't show the astro pitch in my film and so this shot would seem very out of place and asynchronous with the rest of the Mise en scene in the car park.

Much like the extreme close up of the road that I filmed here, I felt that this cutaway shot would be good for implying the context of the narrative, especially with the voiceover that I am going to record to accompany the opening shots. The problem is that it is too shaky, which impedes the quality of the shot. I am going to substitute this shot for the extreme close up of the road and use that to open my narrative instead. 

In the editing process I was still very unsure about this planned establishing shot. It took too long to zoom in to the wing mirror and even when sped up, it exposed the shakiness of the upwards tilt. Therefore I am going to remove this shot completely because I don't feel that it achieves the character introduction that I wanted. From a critical perspective I don't find it visually engaging or professional enough to function as the opening shot. 

Despite not seeing the can thrown from the window, the shot here implies that it belongs to Dylan. I think that it works as a build up to the character instead of the original shot, because the audience will instantly dismiss him as drunk and behaving erratically. Therefore his decision later on to spare the lives of the Father and Son becomes even more significant because it represents him as strong willed and in control. 

Editing becomes most important when you have to move the clips around to make the whole scene more meaningful and continuous. The screenshot above shows how I have pasted a shot of Dylan's eyes in between the shots of the Father coming into view, so that this way the audience can gage Dylan's reaction and understand the importance of this initial response.  It shows Dylan's sudden fixation and allows the audience to interpret the story more accurately. 

Some shots, like the one above, were perfectly framed but too long in duration. The shot  tilts up from the photograph on the dashboard to Dylan's solemn eyes in the mirror, but it took 21 seconds for the camera to complete this motion. Consequently I altered the speed of the clip from 'normal' to 'fast' (shown in the top right) so that I didn't have to cut the shot out to save time, just condense it down. This allows the dynamic movement of the camera to maintain a smoother pace without being too slow. 

I didn't want to linger indiscreetly on the gun in Dylan's lap, and so I clipped this shot so that it cut more or less as soon as the gun becomes fully visible. This way I am not undermining my audience because the implications of a gun are fairly obvious and so I don't think I need to devote an extra few seconds of footage to dwell on the image of the gun.  It also adds a better pace to the scene because it gives both the character and the viewer less time to reflect on the decisions being made. Including this shot was something that I was adamant on because I love how the lighting fades as the camera tilts down from Dylan to the gun. Since the juxtaposition of light is something that I had planned to use for symbolic value, I thought that this shot would be great for introducing this contrast, since it also introduces the gun and the darker side of the story.

I had to split the shot above in the perfect place, where Dylan's eyes were looking roughly in the direction where the Father enters the frame in the next shot. This way the audience don't instantly know what Dylan is looking towards, creating some suspense.  The transition from this shot to the next becomes more progressive because it shows believable continuity. 

I am very happy with my first edited sequence, although I know it still might be too long overall. Nevertheless I feel like there is a successful build up that deceitfully foreshadows the death of the Father. In addition, the background context is strongly hinted through the subtext of the Mise en scene. 

Film Title

With all of my filming completed, I am in a confident position to come up with a title that reflects the tone and content of my story. 

When watching my film back, I feel like I need a title which captures both the simplicity of the story but also the complexity of the emotional depth. Therefore I won't use blunt titles such as 'Revenge' or 'Forgiveness' just because they are too abrupt and forthcoming, even though they would be suitable to the context of my narrative.

I want the title to be slightly ambiguous but clear once the story unfolds, and so I think that something metaphorical and allegorical would be the best way to approach naming my film. An ambiguous title will also make it better tailored to my mature audience through how it involves a deeper level of attention to reflect on and decipher its meaning. Looking at the tone I wanted to capture, which was initially dark and fast paced but manifests into a slower and cathartic release of emotion, I felt that the title needed to recognise both the danger and the kindness evoked over the course of the narrative. Below is the list of titles which I had thought of:

• The Clouds Burst: 'The Clouds Burst' is both literal in how the skies become brighter as the narrative progresses but also metaphorical in how Dylan's whole perspective changes and becomes more forgiving. This title draws more focus to the positive change that takes place in the film. 

• Shades of Reason: Again 'Shades of Reason' works at both a literal and figurative level. The importance of colour in my film is captured through this title; where 'shades' could refer to the varying moral states of the characters and also the possibility that there is no right answer or right way out, just different ways of handling the situation. This links in with my clothing choice that has varying shades of light and dark to reflect the moral status of the characters. 

• Binding of Loss: This title particularly focuses on the unspoken parallels between Dylan and the Father. Whether they know it or not they have been bound by the incident, showing how 'Loss' causes hate and contempt but also gives way to forgiveness and compassion. 

• Blinded: 'Blinded' enforces the idea that Dylan doesn't see what is right in front of him, the loving and guilty heart of a father. It asserts that he is hellbent, too blinded by grief and loss to comprehend anything other than revenge. 

• Consequences: I think that 'Consequences' can be interpreted in both a positive and negative way. The positive deduction is that it references the unexpected consequence of his brother's death, teaching Dylan to feel compassion and understand other people. On a darker note, it could refer to Dylan's psychological trauma as he struggles to cope with his brother's demise. Better yet, 'Consequences' is still ambiguous because it could apply to any of the characters here, who will all experience some form of consequences no matter what Dylan chooses. 

The two one word titles, 'Blinded' or 'Consequences', both seem too abrupt and harsh to me. One word titles tend to be given to films which are intense or filled with action. Even though ambiguity is successfully established in both, I feel that these are too elusive and misleading in terms of the tone. 

The more metaphorical titles, 'The Clouds Burst', 'Shades of Reason', and 'Binding of Loss' add a sense of thoughtfulness and depth to the story. Whilst 'The Clouds Burst' is particularly applicable due to how I wanted the weather to reflect the emotional changes of my narrative, I think that the title is a little too light-hearted. It denotes ideas of hope and happiness, whereas I think that my story is about redemption and self-acceptance, which has much stronger connotations about the transition from darkness to light. 

The two I am left with are very much the most ambiguous but also the best tease of what to expect. I feel that the 'Binding of Loss' is a reference to the parallels between Dylan and the Father, with the 'Binding' emphasising how their guilt and grief are what entwines their characters. 
Similarly I think that 'Shades of Reason' also alludes to the way that the characters handle their situations differently. 'Shades' suggests variations of the same colour, and this is important in highlighting that there are similarities of good and bad in both characters. I also think it is clever because I wanted it to refer to how all of the characters are wearing clothes with varying shades of light and dark, thus representing their personal takes on the events.

I am going to call my short film 'Shades of Reason'. It was difficult singling this down, but as with my music magazine last year, I had to choose the title which best reflected what I wanted to achieve.  Although the bond between the Father and Dylan is vital to my narrative, I don't feel that it encompasses all of the themes, and so 'Binding of Loss' isn't as complex as 'Shades of Reason', which embodies the film's central message. 

Raw Footage

I have almost 15 minutes of unedited footage. The video below is comprised of every good shot I have filmed over the 4 days of filming (pick up shots included) so at the moment it is very disjointed and sometimes repetitive. 

I decided to post it on here so that its easier to notice how much it is going to change over the course of this week, when I start to edit a cohesive and engaging narrative together. So this will be where I start from next time. 

Pick Up Shots

I have had to go out and film today because I had an idea that I thought would benefit my narrative greatly. Despite having a completed film, I decided that I would shoot a few pick up shots (filming that adds more to scenes already shot) to bring more clarity and closure to the epilogue scene. When reflecting on my footage, I thought that I could do more with the photograph we see Dylan holding in his car at the beginning of the film. 

In order to make it more obvious in the epilogue that the yellow flowers have been laid by Dylan, I thought that I could go and pin the photograph to the post above so that the audience can associate this memorial with him remembering his brother. The photo would also be more emotive from the perspective of the Father, seeing the brothers in their youth and deepening the regret he already feels. As a result me and my dad drove out to the roadside to re-shoot certain shots which show the wooden post in the frame, this time adding the photograph to the mise en scene. 

I shot almost 3 minutes of extra footage, the majority of which was spent on trying to perfect my final shot to include the photograph as well as the flowers in unison. 

The first and arguably most important shot to redo was the zoom out from the flowers to the Father's legs. My mum had kept the flowers for the house rather than throw them away so we were lucky enough to be able to use them again. The vibrancy of both the photograph and the flowers is striking even out of focus. Due to how colourful and recognisable this prop is I thought that it would be better left in the background of the shots rather than drawing specific focus to it, maintaining subtlety. 

This was the second shot I needed to re-shoot, again keeping the photo in the background as a haunting reminder. The blue from the photograph adds to the red and yellow of the flowers, creating a bright and positive image even though the subtext is relatively depressing. This contrast perfectly summarises my short film, in how there can be light found amid the darkness. 

The final shot was very difficult to master due to where the photograph was pinned up. Looking back on this footage I may stick to my original shot with just the flowers in the frame because the takes I have here are quite shaky and distracting. Nonetheless I am now content that I have everything I need to start editing later on this week. 

Filming Day 3 - Roadside

By the end of this long day, my crew only consisted of me and my dad. Since my character does not appear in the epilogue scene, I could do the cinematography and so I no longer needed my mum and brother for the shoot. We had about a 10 minute drive down to the roadside I had planned to use, and by then the weather had started becoming greyer, which wasn't really ideal for the tone but luckily the colours of the flowers should counteract this and establish the positive closure I want to evoke. 

Since this is supposed to be the final scene, I wanted it to feel conclusive and reflective rather than rushed, which is why I only have about two minutes of footage because I didn't need many shots. But the shots I do have are prolonged and lingering, slowing down the pace. 

This opening shot creates ambiguity for two reasons. Firstly, the audience are suspicious of who has laid the first bouquet of flowers (hopefully it becomes obvious that it can only be Dylan) and secondly, the identity of the person standing over the memorial is a mystery to begin with. Zooming out from the flowers successfully starts with the focus on the flowers and then shifts the attention to the character in the shot. 

Despite never using dialogue to explain that this is the road where Dylan's brother died, the flowers heavily imply it, and so does this shot. Before the Father leaves I wanted him to look back on the road solemnly, which is the reason I framed this as a long shot so that I could capture the wider angle to include the road. 

In any film, the final shot needs to be memorable and affirmative of the ending. Unlike in a television show, where many of the final shots are deliberately misleading to create cliffhangers, films need to establish a suitable point at which to conclude. In my storyboards I was torn between two endings, one which was sombre and the other which was more reassuring. The darker shot was of the road, ending with a dramatic and downbeat undertone, but I decided against this when I thought about the tonal shift from suspenseful to enlightening as the narrative had progressed. To end with a depressing reminder would undo how effective the narrative arc has been, more of a regression back to the guilt and hatred at the start rather than the acceptance and forgiveness at the end. Therefore I opted to wrap my timeline with the original ending I had in mind. The  flowers representing Dylan and the Father is a statement which is open to interpretation, creating the thought-provoking conclusion I wanted.  To me, these flowers are symbolic of how the characters respect what each other is experiencing, and have a mutual understanding of their pain at the end. 

So, this is a wrap. At the moment I have a short film which is almost three times the length of the criteria (mine is currently 14 minutes long) and after Christmas I am going to focus on reducing this to a concise but impactful narrative. 

Filming Day 3 - Luccombe

From the Big Mead we drove up to Luccombe, and you can see in some of the shots that the sun is starting to set, but this left an idyllic glow over the setting of the clifftops which benefited the tone of the scene well. The first problem that I encountered once I got there was choosing where to park the car for the Father and Son to walk to, and from there also choosing where to have them emerge, since on screen this needs to look as though they have just left the Big Mead. 

I have added about 3 extra minutes to my timeline, which isn't as much footage as some of the other scenes because I wanted it to be a climatic summation of the scenes at the Big Mead, and so this was an attempt to conclude the journey in a concise but thought-provoking finale, before the epilogue at the roadside. 

The screenshots above highlight some of the continuity problems that I encountered with this scene. During filming the van in the first shot left the area, and so when edited together this would look inconsistent if the van was in one shot but absent in the next. Consequently I filmed this again with just our car so that I could maintain the seamless flow I had tried to keep throughout. 

The arc shot which circles my character beautifully captured the coast in the backdrop. The fading light complements the sequence because this is the scene that brings this part of the story to a close, and is fitting because the day is coming to a close as well. 

The out of focus blur on this shot was entirely unintentional and was in fact supposed to be a push focus to me in the distance. However when I watched this back I felt that it added something deeper to the film, about how Dylan had become redundant when looking at the bond between the Father and Son. The blur contributes to how Dylan's presence has become irrelevant and undermined by the familial relationship he sees before him. So I have decided to leave this shot in my timeline. It reminds me of the 2014 Christmas Special of Black Mirror, White Christmas, featuring Jon Hamm and Rafe Spall. The concept of that episode was about how you have the capacity, using technology, to 'block' other humans, which results in you seeing only a silhouette of their figure and being unable to communicate with them. I felt that the blurred effect here seemed to recreate that visual metaphor of physical detachment, where Dylan's importance was fading. 

The most integral part of this scene is where Dylan and the Father finally lock eyes, albeit at a distance, but this culminates their characters' relationship in a way that doesn't involve any dialogue or even being in close proximity. Inspired by the ending to Sicario, which also doesn't use dialogue but uses the lingering stare between two characters to elicit suspense, this scene is designed to show the forgiveness and acceptance of both Dylan and the Father. It was important to film from both character's perspectives in order to demonstrate how the moment was significant for the both of them. I have filmed close ups of both characters but I like how the screenshots above frame the characters at a distance where they can't work out what the other is thinking. 

I only reduced this sequence by 1 minute, which shows how by this point I had become quite efficient at capturing the shots in a single take. 

Filming Day 3 - Big Mead Part 1

Once I had completed filming in the second Big Mead setting, it wasn't that far to walk to get to the first location which would be the setting for the scene preceding it. 

The screenshot above displays the timeline where my new shots will be positioned, after the car park scene and before the second Big Mead scene. Adding the shots into the correct place narratively will help with the continuity of the story and make it an easier process when I continue editing it. 

For a sequence which will probably be relatively short once edited, I managed to film 57 takes and as a result my total running time has now reached 16 minutes. 

I'd immediately managed to reduce this time by 4 minutes by cutting out unnecessary footage and badly recorded shots. 

This is the angle that I had noticed when on my location scouting. The height provides a good high angle shot that offers an engaging deviation from the grounded shots in my short film. Because I lack equipment like a jib or a crane, I can only film high angle shots when the location gives me the opportunity to, so I made sure that I used this vantage point to capture the Father entering this scene. I also love the lighting contrast where he exits the light and enters the darkness, because this perfectly alludes to the increasing threat and pace that this sequence will build. Without the height I don't think that the lighting contrast would have been as defined on the ground. 

Shots 26 and 29 of my storyboard are dutch angle shots, framed to disorientate the viewer and slightly distort the image. In my planning stage I thought that the canted angle could reflect Dylan's mental state, slightly twisted and not thinking clearly. I think that this perfectly transitioned on screen, with the shots adding a new dynamic to the narrative as the pace starts to change. 

The reason I am comparing these two shots is because I think that this is an adequate point to make when considering my poster later on. The second pose is too heroic and idolised, making the protagonist appear strong and commanding, whilst the first pose gives Dylan a sense of uncertainty and insecurity. When I start to take photos for my poster, I don't want to capture Dylan in a way that connotes authority and heroism, and this is why I am not going to use the second shot here in my narrative. Dylan needs to look confused and conflicted rather than fearless. 

I couldn't decide which angle would be best to capture Dylan's emotional instability, and so I am thinking that I could edit a few of the shots together to emphasise his struggle. I filmed from a range of heights and positions to make sure that I had enough material to sort through, since this is a very important moment in my narrative where Dylan cannot bring himself to kill the Father. 

Once I had finished shooting at the Big Mead and edited these shots into my narrative, the running time was 10 minutes and 35 seconds long. As expected there were very few civilians out walking, and when we did come across other people I made sure that the camera equipment was moved aside and not facing them, so that they weren't suspicious of being on camera. Thankfully everyone who passed us was either welcoming or intrigued by what we were doing, making the whole process a much safer and enjoyable experience. After shooting all day, I can safely say that this scene was the one I am most proud of, because I think that it best corresponds with my storyboard but also the lighting breaking through the trees is evocative and immersive, providing a poetic change in tone from suspenseful to dramatic.