THE FILM PRODUCTION CYCLE + PHASES OF EDITING

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THE FILM PRODUCTION CYCLE

 

  • Shot plan:
    A checklist of shots to capture during film production. This list should include what is being shot and how it will be shot to help you prepare for the shoot.
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  • Storyboards:
    Visual boards take it one step further. They tell us what the action/dialog is and how to get from one shot to the next: (Here are storyboards for download if you need them).
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      • The Type of Shot
      • Camera Motion
      • Dialogue/Action
      • Transitions
  • Cinematography (/Cinematographer or “DP”—Director of Photography):
    The discipline of making lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for the cinema. The cinematographic qualities of a film are not only what is filmed but how it is filmed.
  • Qualities of the “shot plan” include:
        1. The photographic aspects of the shot (e.g.: lighting, depth of field, color)
        2. The framing of the shot (for dramatic effect: everything is purposeful)
        3. The duration of the shot (the psychological effects of speed)

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THE PHASES OF EDITING
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  • Pre-Production / Pre-Visualization (above)
  • Logging
  • “Dailies”
  • Radio Edit
  • First Assembly
  • Rough Cut
  • Fine Cut
  • Final Cut / Picture Lock (“Locked Picture”)
  • Color Grading / Color Correction
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  • LOGGING:
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    • The “dailies” or “rushes” are sorted and labelled in ‘bins’. Each take can contain extra notes from the director or the cinematographer. This is the first time the editor sees the film, and since it is shot out of sequence, it is out of context of the story. A good editor views the rushes and looks for fluidity of movement and nuances that will later be incorporated into the film.
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      I like to sort things by “Interviews” and “B-Roll” (and I take notes on what content/footage exists in both). I mark my sequences as well, which I’ll show you in class.
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      You should also make sure to do all SYNCING in this stage, if you have multiple tracks/versions of each sound + video footage. Make sure it’s synced correctly BEFORE you move on from here!
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  • FIRST ASSEMBLY EDIT:
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    • The editor considers all the visual and audio material collected on the shoot for each scene and then re-orders it in the way to tell the story best. No need for any effects or sound design yet.
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      In the scene above, the editor may decide to open with an aerial shot of Central London and then track in to Buckingham Palace. The next shot might be a closeup of the hands followed by a dissolve shot to the hands of the hobo playing the banjo. There are dozens of possible combinations the editor can choose for this one simple sequence, each of which create a different mood and tell a different story.
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      Editing on a large budget feature usually commences as soon as the film starts shooting. An editor will work on the rushes and assemble scenes for the director and producer to view. Often at this point the editor and director will decide that additional footage of key moments is necessary in order to make more editing choices available during the edit.
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      Hint: First assembly is like a sketch of the finished scene. It is a good idea to save these sketches for reference later, should the editor get stuck.
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  • ROUGH CUT:
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    • In the rough cut, the scenes are placed in order and checked for continuity. This all-important step in the editing process allows for revisions and new ideas to be tried and tested.
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      The editor replaces takes as needed, based on the director’s notes. The assembled film is reviewed and scenes/dialogue removed in order to get the film to an appropriate length, based on what works and doesn’t work. Music and story-critical sound effects are also added here.
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      Hint: Make the edit points between the scenes very obvious in order to emphasise the ‘roughness’. Failure to do so may result in the editor committing to an edit before it is ready.
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  • FINE CUT:
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    • [There’s also usually a “FIRST CUT” phase just before this one] The fine cut no longer focuses on the entire film, but on the details of each and every cut.
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      Selection and sequence are basically fixed, although changes can still be made. The later film is visible. Detailed fine cut starts out from its proportions, structures, rhythms and emphasises them.
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      If you need visual effects/titles, begin adding them in. Finalize music (make sure you’re working with music that has been cleared or is possible to clear —  unless it’s in the educational domain…we shall discuss in class). Overall, you eliminate any other extraneous scenes or lines of dialogue and fix anything else that isn’t working.
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  • PICTURE LOCK:
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    • Work to get the film as tight as possible, going over it with a fine-tooth comb. All effects are finalized and incorporated into the cut. Additional sound work is done, as necessary. Finalize all titles, lower 3rds, and credits.
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      Once you’re finished, you export your final film (save time for this), upload it to Vimeo (in your case), and burn a couple of DVDs of it!
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EDITING-SPECIFIC TERMINOLOGY
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  • Rough cut — A quick assembly of raw clips to approximate the desired final program. As a first step in editing, arranging a collection of clips in the desired order as a storyboard of the production.
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  • Storyboard — In video production, a series of cartoonlike panels drawn to describe a movie, shot by shot. In video editing, an interface that allows you to organize the sequential flow of your production by arranging thumbnails of each video clip. See also Timeline.
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  • Scene — A single video sequence, typically shot in one continuous take. For editing purposes, it is useful to capture or trim your video material so that each scene is stored as an individual clip that can then be edited on the Timeline. See also clip.
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  • Clip — A short piece of video and/or audio, often containing an individual scene. When creating a video project, you import clip files into bins in your project, and often trim longer clips into individual scenes. You then edit the clips together on the Timeline to play in sequential order to tell the “story” of your production, with transitions between clips and other added effects.
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  • Channel — The subcomponents of a clip. For images, an alpha channel can contain a matte or mask image to key certain regions of the image to be transparent. For audio, the separate left and right channels of a stereo clip.
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  • Timeline — In video editing, an interface that allows you to assemble a collection of clips into a production with multiple overlapping tracks. A timeline provides a view of multiple sources being combined over time, with separate tracks for video, audio, and superimposed video, as well as transitions and effects. See also storyboard.
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  • Track — A sequence of video or audio clips in the a video editing timeline that are to be combined and superimposed into a final production.
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  • Jog — To move slowly through a program, as with frame advance or frame reverse VCR controls. Use the jog tread to step frame-by-frame through a clip or program to position to a specific frame. See also shuttle.
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  • Shuttle — To move rapidly through a program, as with scan forward or scan reverse VCR controls. Use the shuttle slider control to scan rapidly through a clip or program to move to a general area in the material. See also jog.
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  • Preview — To play a program on the Timeline and view the appearance of the final production, including transitions and effects. See also scrub.
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  • Render — To generate a video production in its final form, including transitions, effects, and superimposed tracks. You can render portions of a Timeline in order to preview your edits at that point, or render the entire production before exporting it in its final form, to a disk file or out to tape.
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  • Export — To save your production to a file or to an external video device. You can export both individual clips and entire productions on the Timeline to a variety of disk and Web media file formats. See also import.