Editing the Death Scene and Flashbacks



Now that we had all of the footage for the death scene, I could finally start editing the footage, incorporating the flashbacks that we have already edited into the scene. Below shows the first stages of editing the death scene and flashbacks:

Firstly, I muted the volume on every clip so that the non-diegetic music and diegetic sounds that will be layered over the top will not be interfered with by the audio recorded when filming each clip.

I then went through the footage, cutting each clip down using the trimming tool and the blade. For the longer clip of the killer writing in the diary, I used the blade tool, cutting it up and deleting unnecessary seconds- trying to reduce the clip down to around one minuet, of which the death scene will need to last to meet the two minuet limit on the entire film opening.

Going through all of the footage again, I decided to use the re-timing tool to speed up different sections, again reducing the time of the death scene and making the footage more visually stimulating to the viewer- not getting boring.

At this point, I decided to apply the flash backs, that I had already edited, into the footage of the death scene in the appropriate places.

Taking each one, I placed them between each shot within the death scene, starting with a slow pace editing changing in shot. Through the extract, I started increasing the pace in the editing, reducing the length of each of the shots, building up a collection of flash backs that get more and more frantic until the climax at the end of the sequence where a singular shot of the killers forehead is shown in a much longer shot. This process of editing, I have done, to increase the tension within the scene and make it more intense for the viewer through the use of editing, the visuals within the shots- gore- and then later on the sound will also play a part in this effect.

As the extract wasn't nearly one minuet yet, again, I went back through the sequence, cutting the clips again to rid any un-needed seconds, and changing speeds of specific shots, all to reduce the overall time and make sure that the footage would keep the viewers attention and not get tedious.

The overall editing process being a time consuming task, I did have to repeat myself by going through the clips, cutting them to smaller time frames, and then fixing the pace of the edits, making sure the increase in  intensity was kept present and didn't get lost in the process of cutting down each clip.

This being my fist session of editing the death scene, I am pleased with the way it has gone, having a clear idea of what my group and I want the footage that we have recorded to look like as a final product. I just need to keep this process up, sorting out the audio etc for it to be, finally, complete.