Sound editing

In these images, we were editing the length and the levels of volume of the sound to make sure that they fit with the shots and atmosphere of the sequence on the whole.

Here, we were adding effects to the audio to distort them during the scene where the character was waking up in the forest. We did this to convey the disorientation of the character.

In this video, we were discussing the best way to create the whispering effect we wanted. We decided to record it in an empty room next door and layer it over each other in Final Cut Pro.

In this next video, we were discussing the effects we should add to the audio to distort it.

Here we were discussing when we should add sound effects to the sequence to create the eerie atmosphere that we wanted. We started off by talking about the flashbacks as she's waking up, making sure that the high pitched noise matched with the image. Then we moved on to discuss whether we should do something similar for the flashbacks for when she's running. In the end we decided against it because it was overwhelming with the soundtrack as well. 

Titling

The original design for the production company logo. We used the first letters of each of our names and kept it on a simple black background.

The original design for the title of our "A Casual Affair". We used the name because it was ironic to the plot of the film where the woman cheats on her husband several times and neither of them cope with the situation very well. We wanted to create the essence of a wedding invitation with the curly font to further the irony and decided, with a bit of feedback, that it would be better with a border around it. 

 The photos above show Chayana and Natasha discussing the best way to create the border to create the effect we wanted. We had to be careful to make sure that the border didn't overpower the font. We kept it on a simple black background to show the evil within both characters whilst they both try to remain the facade of innocence in front of each other.

Audience Feedback: Melissa's 20 year old brother, Joshua.

Melissa asked him is it was clear what we were trying to achieve which replied to saying that it was.

Image Editing

In the images above, Tash is logging and transferring our footage whilst Chayana and Melissa helped come up with title names for each shot to make sure that they were easy to find when we came to edit them together.

In this image, Chayana is comparing the shot length to the storyboard to see how long we intended the shot to last.

Here we have Chayana cutting down the length of the shots, listening to the calls of "rolling, speed, action" to mark the start points and the "cut" to mark the end points. 

In these photographs, we are watching the film opening so far and discussing the changes we wished to make to it.

In this video, we were discussing the effects that we should be using to edit the flashbacks sequence, making sure they would be clear to the viewer.

In this video, Melissa and Chayana are deciding which shot to choose, saying that the second one was closer and clearer. Chayana starts to mark the in and out points to make it to the length written on the storyboard.

Audience Feedback: We got Amy to watch some of the flashback sequences to get her opinion on the clarity of it withing the opening. She helped suggest some of the colouring too, to make sure it was still interesting for the viewer and creating the appropriate mood.

Audience feeback on our thriller opening

 Emily's feedback of our thriller opening:

She suggested that we play the background music throughout the sequence up to the dialogue and that we quieten it down gradually.

She also said that in one part of the opening when it fades to black that we shouldn't have it as black for so long to keep it short and dramatic.

Joshua's Feedback

An interview between Melissa and her 20 year old brother, Joshua:

M: So now that you've watched the final piece, was it clear that the flashbacks as the main character was running were flashbacks?

J: Yes, it was clear. The effects you used really separated it from the running scene.

M: And the music we used while she was running, was it too dramatic?

J: No, I don't think so. In films like this, you need it to be dramatic to get the audience feeling tense too.

M: At the end of the film, we wanted to use soft piano music and the titles as a sort of wedding invitation as ironic, did that come across okay?

J: Yeah, it was fine. 

M: And after he lifted up the knife, there was a fade to black and you could hear her fall to the floor. When we started this, we found it rather comical, did you think so?

J: No, I didn't think so.

M: Is there anything you would improve on?

J: The last shot when it tracks up her arm, I wouldn't have moved the camera with the zoom. I would have started with the wound, then revealed her face to create a shock on the audience. I would have also had her entire hand out flat on the floor, even though it's not a very realistic position for a dead body to be in, just to make it really clear to the audience that it was a wedding ring. Films usually tend to give the audience the information straight away instead of having to give them a moment to figure it out for themselves.

Also, at the beginning, instead of having her keep looking back and forth from the knife, I'd have done it once then had shots from the knife and the dead body.

M: So a bit more match on action and a bigger shock at the end, then? Thank you, I think we'll take that on board for next time. Is there anything else you would like to add?

J: I think that maybe you tried to fit a lot of action into 2 minutes. I think if you were to do this again, I would keep it to its most basic elements to give you more chance of fitting in more shots (like establishing shots) instead of having to worry about making sure that you fit in each thing a character does. 

M: Perfect! Thank you so much for your help.

Sound Editing

Sound Editing

Diegetic Sound

After we had finished all of our editing, we were ready to synch all of the dialogue that we had recorded up with the footage. Unfortunately for us, we couldn't find it anywhere on the file. This meant that we had lip synch and record the dialogue to the video and put it in after. This wasn't too much of a problem, as there were only a couple of lines of dialogue. However, it did mean that there is extra work, and not everything was going be perfect. We did it in the end, and we think that you can't really notice, but we promise that we won't make that mistake again.

Once we had the diegetic dialogue, we imported it into the Final Cut pro project, and took a couple of minutes to match the lines to the mouth movement. as we did multiple takes, and we had a break between the dialogue, we took the best parts and put them in the sequence.

Non-Diegetic Sound

Now that the diegetic sound was included in the sequence, it was time to include the non-diegetic sound. We before this point, we hadn't really thought about what type of music that we wanted, but we did know that we wanted it to be dramatic so that it would fit the actions happening while the music was playing. In the end, we chose a piece of music that was an instrumental of 'Cry Me a River' by Micheal Bublé. It fitted perfectly, as the music calms as the dialogue begins, and picks up right after Mel had died.

After we had downloaded the music, we inserted it into Final Cut Pro, and cut it so that it would fit in the sequence. However, the non-diegetic music had drowned out the diegetic dialogue. Luckily this was easily fixed, as we were able to change the level of the music to be quieter while the dialogue was taking place, and we turned the level of the dialogue right up.

After this was done, we had decided that we were able to label the project 'done', as we were very happy with it. Unfortunately, we did not experiment with Foley, as we felt as if the project was good without it, and we were becoming scarce on time. However, Foley is something that as a group we will try in the future.

The Editing Process

The Editing Process

When we started our editing process, we started by uploading all of our Footage onto Final Cut Pro. However, we weren't quite observant enough to see that we could name each shot before they were on the system. Luckily, we were able to add in titles after they had been uploaded, which made life easier (In the future this is not a mistake we will make, as we have learnt our lesson). There was a silver lining though, as this gave us another opportunity to look through all of our shot, and made it easier to see what shots were better than others, and what order they would go in.


The first thing we did was refer to our storyboard, so that we were certain of what shots were in each
order, and how long each shot would last. Our first shot was a shot of Mel stirring the tea with a spoon. The first thing we did was play the video and collectively agreed on where the shot should start and where it should end, and we set those points as the the in and out point. After this was done, we dragged it into the live bar. We repeated this process with all of the clips.

As some of the shots that we did were intended to be 'Match on Action' and 'Shot/ Reverse Shot' some more refines editing was needed, as we had to cut a shot at a particular point so that it would connect with the next shot seamlessly. This was shown in one of the shots of Melissa reaching for the bottle and picking it up. In the first shot, we have a MLS of her arm extending across the table. Then in the next shot there is a CU of the bottle that se is picking up. In the shot before, we had to cut the shot before she actually picked it up.

One thing we found when we had found when we had edited all of the shots together, was that the overall time was a little over a minute. This was likely due to the fact that when we were filming, some extra shots between what we had planned would look better. Similarly, we found that some shots weren't needed. To fix this, we decided to slim down on some shots with seconds that weren't needed. An example of this was the first shot of the tea being stirred, and another was the shot of Melissa walking across the room with the tea. In the end we didn't think that it made a difference, and it made the product a more sensible time.


Once all of the clips were together, we started thinking about transitions, and which ones would look effective in the movie. In the end we decided that in the duration of the film, that cuts would look better as it would not distract the viewer from the story. However, we decided that a fade into the sequence, and a fade to end it would look effective, and so we added them into the beginning and end of the film.


The last thing that we did was delete all of the audio that had been uploaded with the video footage, as we did not need it anymore to hear the markers, and we had recorded the dialogue separately. This meant that there was a clean slate for the sound editing to take place.