Over the course of this project, I have had several edit reviews from both my tutor, fellow classmates and also a producer who came in a few times to give us some more professional feedback. From these sessions, I learnt what I needed to change and keep in my edits in order to be able to tell the story that I want n a better way.
The first of these edit review sessions was on the 5th March, and as I had only done two shoot days, being an interview and a day at the club, I had only edited the interview together. My tutor said that the interview looks good, and told me that I need to play around with the sound a bit, at some of the clips were at slightly different volumes. Looking back, however, I should have at least made a start on editing together the footage from the Lunch club, as that is the main part of my film, so should have got my tutor to look at it together as soon as possible.
The next edit review was the following week, and I had edited together another interview that I had filmed. Again, I should have focused on putting together the footage from the Lunch club, but I thought that I could get the interviews done first as I knew that I needed to go to the Lunch club again to get more footage, so felt like there was less of a need to focus on that edit as there would be quite a few holes in the edit where I didn't have the right shot.
For the edit review after that, I made sure that I had edited together the shots of the Lunch club, with the two interviews that I had already done, and was able to get a lot more feedback from my tutor, as now there was actually more that he could talk about. He said that I needed to get a lot more shots of people arriving at the club, as I only had them setting up. I also had to link some shots of certain people with their interviews, and with some other interviews I needed to make sure that there were no repetitions of information, as I had two people talk about the same thing for about a minute, so was wasted time. For future interviews being inserted into the edit, I needed to ask myself "Does this interview bring in new information, and carry on the story of the Club?", and I found this thinking very helpful in choosing what part of interviews I included, and the types of questions that I was going to be asking when I went to the Club next, such as why they come and how it affects them
One edit review that I found really helpful was the first one with Beth Turrell, as she has been a producer for several years, so has a better idea of what to look out for, and how to improve my project. She suggested that I cut down on the interviews shown by having some cutaways during them, so that the audience doesn't get bored at watching someone talk. She also suggested that I try to get people actually doing something at the club instead of just talking, so the next day when I went to the club, I took a pack of playing cards with me and asked a few people on a table if they could have a game of cards. I also gave my phone to a couple of people so that it looked like one of them was showing her friend photos from her holiday.
The next edit review that I had was with my tutor again, and this time I had a much more complete edit as In had been to the Lunch club the week before to get some more footage. This time, my tutor said that I shouldn't worry about trying to include some voiceover, as my documentary works without it. Also, he suggested that I get rid of a couple of people talking about the fact that the Church where the club is usually held is being renovated, so they had to move to a hall next door. I also needed to change the order of some shots, like having some exterior shots of the Church at the beginning, then go into shots of people setting up the club inside the Church, then the title is shown. When I applied these changes, among a few others, I felt that they were a big improvement to the overall feel of my documentary.
Between the next few edit review sessions with Beth and my tutor, I found several things that I need to fix and change, such as making sure the sound is more constant, and people aren't talking over background chatter that is to loud so you can't hear the interview. I also cut out several interviews completely, as they added little to no new information due to the answers given in them being too similar to answers by other people. I also finally added in some background music. I tried to have it all throughout the film, but after one edit review, my tutor said that I should just have it at the beginning and end, as it can become annoying and distracting when it is all the way through.
Overall, I found all of these edit review sessions incredibly helpful, and have definitely seen the quality of my film improve from edit to edit.
The first of these edit review sessions was on the 5th March, and as I had only done two shoot days, being an interview and a day at the club, I had only edited the interview together. My tutor said that the interview looks good, and told me that I need to play around with the sound a bit, at some of the clips were at slightly different volumes. Looking back, however, I should have at least made a start on editing together the footage from the Lunch club, as that is the main part of my film, so should have got my tutor to look at it together as soon as possible.
The next edit review was the following week, and I had edited together another interview that I had filmed. Again, I should have focused on putting together the footage from the Lunch club, but I thought that I could get the interviews done first as I knew that I needed to go to the Lunch club again to get more footage, so felt like there was less of a need to focus on that edit as there would be quite a few holes in the edit where I didn't have the right shot.
For the edit review after that, I made sure that I had edited together the shots of the Lunch club, with the two interviews that I had already done, and was able to get a lot more feedback from my tutor, as now there was actually more that he could talk about. He said that I needed to get a lot more shots of people arriving at the club, as I only had them setting up. I also had to link some shots of certain people with their interviews, and with some other interviews I needed to make sure that there were no repetitions of information, as I had two people talk about the same thing for about a minute, so was wasted time. For future interviews being inserted into the edit, I needed to ask myself "Does this interview bring in new information, and carry on the story of the Club?", and I found this thinking very helpful in choosing what part of interviews I included, and the types of questions that I was going to be asking when I went to the Club next, such as why they come and how it affects them
One edit review that I found really helpful was the first one with Beth Turrell, as she has been a producer for several years, so has a better idea of what to look out for, and how to improve my project. She suggested that I cut down on the interviews shown by having some cutaways during them, so that the audience doesn't get bored at watching someone talk. She also suggested that I try to get people actually doing something at the club instead of just talking, so the next day when I went to the club, I took a pack of playing cards with me and asked a few people on a table if they could have a game of cards. I also gave my phone to a couple of people so that it looked like one of them was showing her friend photos from her holiday.
The next edit review that I had was with my tutor again, and this time I had a much more complete edit as In had been to the Lunch club the week before to get some more footage. This time, my tutor said that I shouldn't worry about trying to include some voiceover, as my documentary works without it. Also, he suggested that I get rid of a couple of people talking about the fact that the Church where the club is usually held is being renovated, so they had to move to a hall next door. I also needed to change the order of some shots, like having some exterior shots of the Church at the beginning, then go into shots of people setting up the club inside the Church, then the title is shown. When I applied these changes, among a few others, I felt that they were a big improvement to the overall feel of my documentary.
Between the next few edit review sessions with Beth and my tutor, I found several things that I need to fix and change, such as making sure the sound is more constant, and people aren't talking over background chatter that is to loud so you can't hear the interview. I also cut out several interviews completely, as they added little to no new information due to the answers given in them being too similar to answers by other people. I also finally added in some background music. I tried to have it all throughout the film, but after one edit review, my tutor said that I should just have it at the beginning and end, as it can become annoying and distracting when it is all the way through.
Overall, I found all of these edit review sessions incredibly helpful, and have definitely seen the quality of my film improve from edit to edit.
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