Planning Editing

Planning Editing 

Editing refers to the process of each camera shot being joined together in a specific way. For our group, editing evolves around the use of final cut pro x. The way in which each shot is connected, where it be fading into each other, or dissolving over the top of of each other, provides a specific meaning and relevance to the film. Planning editing is crucial as it is a very time consuming part of producing a film, and creating a basic plan would allow us to refer back to it during the editing process.

 Timing Of Shots (slow editing)

Slow editing is highly conventional of a thriller film as it is used to provide a longer period of time for the audience to analyse the scene and therefore create a vast amount of suspense and tension. The first inclusion of this technique within our thriller film was when one of the female protagonists approaches the antagonist's body, laying in the road. The slow pace of the shot drags out the time before the girl finally reaches the body, making it seem as though she is purposely walking slowly as she is highly apprehensive of the body. In turn this supposed apprehension from the protagonist, makes the audience tense as they wait to discover the reason for the protagonists troubling hesitance. Therefore the audience's feelings of tension, mirror those of the protagonist's, creating a stronger relationship between the character and viewer. 

Reaction Shot

The first reaction shot in my thriller film is when one of the protagonists screams (off screen) and her best friend drops her phone, shocked by the sudden scream she turns and finds the dead body of her friend. Her face will show the pure horror she is suddenly experiencing. This shot will be fairly long to mirror the paralyzing feeling she is subject to, when finding her best friends dead body. As well as this the shot will mirror that of many audience members, as they are also extremely shocked by the sudden murder. This creates a stronger bond between the audience and the protagonist as they relate to her extreme shock. A reaction shot like this is highly conventional of a thriller film because it helps the audience view the characters reaction, clear and defined, understanding what the characters are feeling and relating it to themselves . The detail the shot provides also means the viewer can create a clear representation of each individual character. For example, the antagonist is never presented screaming (like the protagonist), this would present a sign of weakness and his character is intended to be powerful person throughout. 

Filter

As a group we decided that it would prove effective if we paired the flash back, during the very beginning of the film, with a filter. This is for a few reasons, firstly, we wanted to convey the action portrayed was not 'present day', but that of years prior. The filter creates a clear divide between flash back and 'present day' making it immediately obvious for the viewer. A black and white filter helps to enhance the dated image. As well as this the black and white presents connotations of two parallel personalities i.e. good and evil. In turn this provides a sense of foreboding of evil to come. In addition, the juxtaposition of the innocent happiness represented by the swing set, and the dull emotionless black and white filter, shows to the audience how the little boy's childhood was far from normal. The use of a filter is conventional of a thriller film as it provides an immediate foreboding or enigma, having the viewer tense throughout, as the attempt to explain what happened in the past.

Fade

Finally, another editing technique my group agreed upon was fade; used predominantly to open or close a scene. We decided to appeal to the conventional style of thriller film and fade the scene to black to conclude our film. This style of ending helps to heighten the vast sense of enigma we wanted to create. The audience are left questioning the well being of the female protagonist and the long shot view of the antagonist. The fade accentuates the time of the final shot, building tension as the power of the antagonist is increased, through his greater screen time. In addition the fade to conclude the scene represents slowly closing eyes, as the image becomes increasingly distorted . Subsequently, prevalent theme of enigma is reinforced, as well as presenting connotations of death/ someone slowly clothing their eyes as they are drained of life. This could in turn represent to the audience a foreboding and how the protagonists life may be in the balance. The audience are provoked by this foreboding of the protagonists death to feel sympathetic, as they have bonded and created a relationship with the character, throughout the film. The reason this editing technique is so conventional is due to its abilities to present an extended amount of time, thus creating a building of the three key elements to any thriller, suspense, shock and surprise.

In conclusion, planning for editing was extremely helpful as it allowed me and my group to discuss the techniques, we were planning to use, in detail. Due to our amateur knowledge of editing, this allowed us to develop new ideas from each other. For me personally I've learnt more about the use of a filter, as I did not have a great understanding of this before planning. Through planning editing, not only has it expanded my knowledge, it has also reduced the time we would of spent during editing, providing us with more time to review and perfect our editing.