Film Standard Level

Production Portfolio Editor Personal code: gcp629 Session: May 2018 Rationale word count: 98 Word count: 1174

Rationale

My film Reflection is about a severely depressed 16-year old girl who wants her life to be the same as before her parents died, but her own insecurities and sadness are keeping her from developing a better life in a new place. The theme is moving on to the future and not dwelling on the past. This film draws inspiration from the long take from Rear Window in the opening shot as well as the Kuleshov Effect (Rear Window), and the use of a specific color each sequence from Hero. The production role I have assumed is editor.

Word Count: 98 words

Pre-production Research Before I have been doing research on techniques that are able to communicate drama and suspense to the audience over the summer. I learned more about the Kuleshov effect (No Film School) and how the length of shots can indicate a change in emotions that can lead to character development (No Film School). Planning out, visualization While in the process of scriptwriting, storyboarding, and coming up with other important artistic choices, I kept in mind my research on editing choices utilized in films that helped convey emotions to the viewer. One example of this is how in Hero directed by Zhang Yimou, the different stories were distinguished by its own unique color to represent it. I wanted to do the same with our film and edit the brightness, contrast, saturation, and colors to fit the emotion that each act portrays.

There was a pre-production choice while writing the script to establish the backstory of the main character by using a shot similar to the one in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window. Instead of editing a flashback sequence that covers her backstory, this (lack of) editing choice is made instead to subtly hint at the reason why the character acts the way she does. This editing choice was made to cut down the amount of footage I had to edit, thus making room for the more important content.

Another inspiration of mine was the editing technique of the Kuleshov effect. I knew I wanted to utilize this effect because of how this technique is able to convey a wide range of emotions to the audience. Particularly I looked to Rear Window’s use of the Kuleshov effect. The main character is mainly framed as a medium shot or close-up, followed by what is going on outside his window, then his reaction. This sequence highlights the importance of what is being viewed outside of Jimmy Stewart’s window.

Production The role of the editor does not deal with the production aspect of a film and more with the post-production aspect. However, the editor is able to make sure that some aspects of production and filming facilitate the editing process. Slating For example: slating before a take. It may be a simple task for one to do, however, it helps tremendously when the editor is identifying which shots are which while naming the b-roll. I made sure to write down the shot, take, and scene so I knew during the post-production process how to categorize that piece of b-roll. The only trouble I ran into was that I did not have a whiteboard so I had to use notebook paper for my slating, and one time I made the mistake of writing down the wrong shot number.

Continuity checks Another important aspect that facilitated the editing process was making sure that there was continuity in every shot.

One continuity error that was common for our film was an item of clothing or the character’s hair was different from the shots prior from the scene preceding it, which I would then bring that to the director’s attention.

. This problem was solved by adding in an extra shot where the actress takes her hair down. Although we had a shot list with us at all times during filming, sometimes we would mix up the locations and film in a location for the “new school” rather than the “old school” (we filmed both schools in our school but just used different locations). I noticed this error while reviewing the footage after that day of filming.

Protagonist’s old school

Left: new school (correct location) Right: old school (wrong location)

Post-Production Organization In premiere Pro (CS6) I organized my files based on b-roll, audio, stills/titles, and sequences. In the b-roll folder where there were many items, I created 5 sub-folders (one for each scene) in order to make it easier to find b-roll I needed.

Tints As mentioned in the pre-production section, I had planned to utilize tints in this film to symbolize Caroline’s (the main character) emotional states. For the first part, where Caroline is depressed due to her parents’ deaths and is unable to interact with others around her I used a light gray tint at 60% percent. This is in order to create a dull, depressed, and isolated atmosphere.

The middle section of this film showcases an ideal world where Caroline’s parents never died. I wanted to create an overly-cheerful atmosphere so I decided to pick a bright color (at around 15 or 20% depending on the lighting).

The final section of this film has no tint on it. Originally, a green tint was suggested to symbolize rebirth, but in the end it was decided to have no tint on it to symbolize Caroline’s return to society and her attempt to move on.

An interesting transition was used for this tint: where Caroline opens eyes and as they are widening, the pink tint fades. To represent Caroline snapping out of her fantasy world. This was made by utilizing keyframes in the editing system.

Issues

In the first shot of the film (point of view shot that showcases items around the room that showcase Caroline’s personality) there was one point where the camera lingered on the funeral program in Caroline’s room for too long. This issue was solved by selecting that section using the razor tool then speeding up that section.

Another issue I encountered was that during the letter scene, the camera was not as zoomed into the letters as I would have liked, and was shaking a little bit. In order to solve this issue, I just took still images of the letter and zoomed them in. If there was a sentence that was very significant, I used keyframes to create a panning effect.

Finally, lighting was a constant issue that was dealt with during the post production process and was solved by using various lighting effects in premiere.

Self Reflection Deciding on creative choices on the film beforehand and the research that went into finding new editing techniques was one of my strengths. Another aspect of the process that I was satisfied with was my organization of the video and audio files both inside and outside the editing program. Again, this facilitated the process of editing because all of my files were in order and named accordingly. However, when some scenes needed to be reshot due to continuity or technical errors, my organization of the footage was not as strong as it initially was. Another area that I tended to struggle in was the management of time in the post-production process. I actually started out editing as we shot the footage, which is a good thing, but later on in the process (again) I was editing less often, but in longer sittings, which increased the likelihood of small but noticeable errors in my editing. Overall, I was satisfied with the mise-en-scene elements that I have implemented in Reflection through editing, and how I was able to work through the minor setbacks that this production occasionally brought me. Word count: 1174

Equipment Used HP Probook 4530s Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 Bibliography Films Hitchcock, Alfred, director. Rear Window. Paramount Pictures, 1954 Zhang, Yimou, director. Hero. Miramax Films, 2004. Websites Morrow, Justin. “How Hitchcock Used Editing to Turn 'Rear Window' into a Masterpiece of Visual Storytelling.” No Film School, 28 Oct. 2014, nofilmschool.com/2014/07/alfred-hitchcock-editing-rear-window-kuleshov-effect. Renée, V. “Watch: 3 Editing Techniques That 'Star Wars' Uses to Communicate Emotions.” No Film School, 8 Apr. 2017, nofilmschool.com/2017/04/watch-3-editing-techniques-star-wars-uses-communicate-emotions.