BlogPost#10: Editing
- Iris Li
- Jun 9, 2023
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 27, 2024
Film Opening Links:
Rough Cut Video I edited with my partner Dina:
The demo I made for my partner for reference:
I enjoyed the editing process, it’s like an experiment, and different editing skills could produce different effects. This is my first time doing editing, and it’s interesting.
It was difficult at the beginning because I don’t sure where I could find the special effects and the soundtracks. But throughout practice, I think I found the pathway to editing a perfect film opening. I only know how to Photoshop and adjust pictures before but not editing short clips, so color grading and some basic stuff helps me to get through the learning of editing.
What programme/s are you using?
I used several programs to do the editing. Initially, I was using DaVinci Resolve to edit, but then I changed to a Chinese application called 'Jian Ying' because it was simpler and easier for me to use as a beginner. After the switch in the application, my editing process becomes more efficient than before. I also used Final Cut Pro to do the color grading for some of the shots. Since the original footage was so bright which formed a huge contrast between the office scene and the bathroom scene, I color-graded the office scene to make it warmer and darker that could match with later scenes.
What research have you done to develop your skills?
I search for tutorials and video essays on Youtube, Douyin(Chinese Tik Tok), and RED(a Chinese social media platform where everyone could post different things in different formats), as well as asking teachers and classmates how to use the editing program, as I was confused at the first time. Because Jian Ying co-operated with Douyin, so there’s a wider range of tutorials on Jian Ying available on Douyin that allows me to explore. Youtube is the main source of getting ideas and inspiration for editing techniques, transitions, and special effects. The three creator accounts I like are 'Studio Binder', 'In Depth Cine', and 'The Beauty Of'. 'Studio Binder' has always been enthusiastic about explaining and sharing details and techniques behind cinematography and camera techniques. I learned different lighting techniques through 'In Depth Cine''s video and it was really helpful for me because I was keen on using lighting in my film opening. I have created a pinned folder on Pinterest that includes film inspiration and cinematography, and a playlist on Youtube that contains video essays and tutorial that supports me with my film opening production.
Color and Lighting:
Editing techniques:
We had a specific and in-detailed storyboard created by my partner and I also created a shot list that we could use for checking when we are filming. However, when we started our filming process, we realized that some of the shots we imagined will be perfect were not good, those unplanned shots and transitions made our film opening have better effects. We also shoot multiple shots for one movement so we have backups that we could use that could help us to avoid any unexpected loss of footage.
Have you applied any special effects?
We applied special effects. In the bathroom scene, we used overlaps of one picture among the video clips. Because the picture of the flower Lily represents her public personality: Pure, Innocent, but when she’s alone, her darker side appears, leaving an evil personality. So the picture and the clip could create a juxtaposition between good and evil, a binary opposition. It’s hard to achieve because I need to mix the two sources and make sure Lily’s face is clear and the flower is visible at the same time. I adjusted the transparency rate of the picture and selected the mixture mode to filter color, on top of that, I also added a special effect called Negative stroboscopic, to create a suspense and unease feeling.
I still need to color grade some of the footage with red lights, because the red light was initially not red enough when we are filming, so I adjust the color darker using Jian Ying to have better effects. Moreover, the picture of the flower also required color grading, because I was using my phone to take the picture with a limited amount of red light, I used Xing tu(a Chinese Photoshop application) to adjust the brightness and contrast.
And in the detective office scene, I also color graded the color to more redder and darker, that could match our theme and create a sense of serious and intense. We filmed the shots in the morning 10:30 AM, so the sunlights was really strong although we used certain. Our teacher gave us the feedback is that the red is too intense and the blue background made the scene becomes a bit surreal.
I did not change the red lighting the bathroom scene because I want to make it remain red, as the scene when Lily looking at the mirror, the red light added to express Lily's emotion. With the special effects of Ripple color difference to create a feeling of Lily is drunk and unconscious.
Because we are targeting an audience who is interested in the thriller/ detective genre and film noir and to all classes, all gender, and all ethnicities. The age group will mainly focus on teenagers and younger adults but under 13. Because there’s a dead body in our film opening. The editing style is appropriate for our genre and audience. We used repetitions of tropes and conventions that are common in thriller films: The eerie background music and the use of red lights.
Overall, the editing is a successful production. From my perspective, I think the color grading and transitions have worked well, as I asked a few classmates’ opinions on whether the color looks good on their screens and we also did a rough cut screening, most of our peers rated the film opening a high mark on color.
The challenge for me is how to start, as I was unaware of any editing processes, but when I started doing it, I felt everything is going to be fine and I overcome the difficulties of don’t understand how to handle the application, but through practices, I’m now kind of expertise in using Jian Ying.
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