How I Edited My Short Film

Trying Out Black Bars

Films usually have a black bar known as a 'letterbox'. They do this so they make it standard width video format while preserving the film's original aspect ratio. Filnal Cut Pro has an effects tab when you simply search letterbox and drag it on the video and then on the right hand side you can change the width of the letterbox. I was going to use black bars as it makes the film have a more professional approach. However as shown in the image above, it cuts out footage for the news clips. It looks strange having the top and bottom taken off and therefore I could not use this effect in my short film.

Webcam Effects

To make it look like he was recording on a webcam, I recorded it on two devices and paired them later on. I filmed on my actual Mac on a software called 'Photo Booth' shown in the first image, and then my normal camera filming him looking at his mac in the second image above. I simply clapped so I could pair them both together later in the editing software and then I used the two different clips to make one scene when I needed them.

To get the webcam effect, I used many techniques. As the Photo Booth quality was too good, you would not be able to tell the difference between my camera I recorded for the whole short film and the Photo Booth video. Therefore I had to make it look more camera like. Shown in the first image, I added a slight blur, within the effects tab, called 'Gaussian blur' to lower the quality of the footage. I then added an effect called '50's TV' which makes it have an old fashioned feel towards the footage. Then I added a effect called 'Bad TV' which really makes the footage look old by having lines wave across the footage and makes it look static like you see on old webcam devices. Lastly, I made the text you see on old cameras and recording devices saying the date and time in Photoshop. I made the text look curved so it seemed real. I added it above the video footage in Final Cut and shrunk it to the correct size, in the bottom left hand corner. Then I was complete and I was very happy with the webcam effect as I feel it turned out very realistic.

Slow Motion

I added some slow motion scenes to firstly make the scene look more steady and also to add in the effect that time feels slow, it emphazises that he has been alone for so long and nothing is changing soon. I did tis by using the 'Slow effect' and changing it to 25% then I used a great effect called 'Optical Flow', in the video quality tab. This blends all the frames together, making the slow motion a lot more smoother. I was extremely happy with the outcome of the slow motion shots. They really make it more intense to watch.

Title

I wanted the title to be different compared to other short films, however simple at the same time. As the previous scene was him on a computer, I decided to include the Typewriter Effect'. This makes it look ike the text is being typed. I added a sound effect to make it seem realistic also. I feel like this is a lot more better than just a text that is still, or enlarging or decreasing - which is overused. I chsoe a simple text that is easy to comprehend and a simple white background so the text stands out on top.

Sound effects and Music

I got my sound effects from a  website called 'Freesound.org' where it allows you to use the sounds for your films for anything. This website ha all my sounds in my short film which made it seem more realistic. The website was a great help. I used the typewriting sound effect for the title, sirens to make it more intense and suspensful along with a warp sound increasng in volume before he wakes up from a nightmare. Then I used alarm clock sounds as it would be too hard to have actual alarm clock sounds in the shot at the time. Freesound.org was a huge help to my short film. Also MobyGratis was a large help as it is a website where Moby creates his own music himself for films. I got permission to use his songs, and I only used his songs. They made the scenes more intense and others dramatic and also in some scenes more isolated. The music was great and I am happy with my choice of music.

Dissolve

I used many dissolves to bring two scenes from scenes with different time and place. It worked great and made it even more suspenseful. I did some scenes where I faded to black and some where I faded to white. The last scene however did not have a fade, it was cut straight to black to leave it on a cliff hanger. To make the audience want to watch more. Final Cut Pro simply had a 'Fade To Colour' effect which you place on the end or begging to a scene. You can then change the duration, colour and opacity on it.