LO4: Evidence of Editing

Evidence of Editing

Video

1. This part of the video shows me importing footage of the sky into Adobe Premiere Pro. A meteor effect will later be added to this using After Effects.

2. Here, I add the useable piece of footage from the three takes onto the timeline, ready for editing.

3. In this section, I use the Razor Tool to cut off some of the start of the clip. This is because the camera hadn't started moving yet, so it wasn't useful or meaningful footage. It would have slowed down the film trailer greatly if it had been left in, so by doing this I was able to speed up the pace of the the trailer. A fast pace is a convention of thriller films and their trailers, as it creates a panicky and exciting atmosphere. The film trailers The Blair Witch Project and Area 51, which I analysed in LO1, both have a very fast pace. In addition, a quick pace is good for the target audience of young people, aged around 16-25, because they want thrills and excitement.

4. Finally, I shorten the length of a "dip to black" effect that I added to the clip using Effect Controls. This is to keep the trailer fast-paced and to-the-point, which is a classic element of the thriller genre. It is seen in almost all of the trailers I analysed in LO1. Also, a transition like this, instead of just a plain cut, keeps the trailer interesting and makes it flow. It deepens the meaning of tension and mystery as the audience is gripped by ever-changing shots.

This screenshot shows the useable meteor-sky footage in the timeline, ready to be edited.

Monochrome

The above screenshots show how I added a monochrome effect to a section of the film trailer. In the effects menu, I selected the channel mixer, before dragging it onto the section of the trailer that I wanted on the timeline. I then went into effect controls and ticked the "monochrome" box under the new "channel mixer" heading, which turned the clip black and white. Using the monochrome feature gave this section of the trailer the effect of a flashback, while also adding a new dimension of interest. It keeps the audience mystified and confused about what is going on, hopefully enticing them to watch the film.

Zooming in on the Warp Films title

Here, I am about to add keyframes in order to zoom in on the "Warp Films" title seen in the bottom screenshot. It is the very first thing seen in the trailer, and the zoom, done using the "scale" option, goes well with the eerie music playing at the beginning. A zoom in on the creator's name at the beginning is a convention of all film trailers, not just horror thrillers. Also, the slow speed of the zoom builds up atmosphere and tension for the rest of the trailer. This is something which is done in the Campfire Tales and Hush trailers which I analysed in LO1.

Before and After - After Effects Filters

This screenshot shows a comparison between some original footage (left) and the same footage with an evening filter on (right). Matthew Milan, who I worked with on this project, added the filter in Adobe After Effects. When he rendered out the shot with the filter on, I made sure it was in time with the rest of the footage in Adobe Premiere Pro, before deleting the original shot without the filter. The effect of this filter is a sense of upcoming disequilibrium as we can see it is evening, approaching night-time. A convention of horror thrillers is many night-time scenes, because they make viewers frightened and nervous, which is how young people aged around 16-25 want to feel when going to see a film like this.

This is another screenshot showing a comparison between some original footage (left) and the same footage with a night-time filter on (right). Again, Matthew Milan added the filter in After Effects before I replaced the original footage with it in Premiere Pro. The night-time filter he added here is very dark and makes the trailer much more atmospheric, because the darker shot is more frightening and has a sense of the unknown - in the clearly lit shot, everything can be seen clearly and there is no mystery. As I said above, night-time is a convention of films of the horror genre, and night-time shots can be seen in every single one of the five trailers I analysed in LO1.