As the editor, I will firstly review the technical issues of our group interview, then compare it with another group’s film to discuss some common problems.

The editing didn’t take a lot of time because its structure is very clear. I put the environmental shot at the beginning to imply the following content and the overall atmosphere. As we spent more effort on finding a proper location, we always considered to show the cafe in the background. After finishing the questions, Jackson suggested the idea to film an establishing shot of Aria choosing the food. We all agreed that it would look good to make connections with the interview questions and make the whole video more completed. When I watched the interview in the class, I found the shot of Aria’s feet was a bit sudden. During shooting, Matt came up with the close-up shot of interviewer’s gestures which often appears in interview films. At that time, I thought it was cute and just used it as the transition between two questions, however, I found it might not be suitable for our interview. The detailed gesture shot should appear for certain reasons. Usually, it may express the feeling of the interviewer. For example, if I watch a shot of interviewer clasping his/her hands, I will guess he/she is a bit nervous. Compared to the example, our close-up of feet is relatively meaningless after Aria describing her favourite food. The emotion of this interview is relaxed and peaceful and may become happier when talking about delicious food, so the transition shot should help to emphasise the feeling. It might be better to film Aria’s smiling face or excited gestures. Also, the feet close-up is not connected with other shots in the visual aspect. I felt it attracted a lot of attention but was actually not that necessary.

In the class, the choices of shot size were further discussed for our interview and Nicole’s interview. Their group used the close-up shot from the low angle which showed Nicole’s face and half of her shoulders. Personally, I think it is comparatively too close that may create the feeling of ‘judgment’. The similar situation appears in our film when the shot size changes from medium shot to close-up shot and Aria starts to look at the camera. The close-up shot of someone’s face is generally aim to focus on the expressions. It reminds me of those documentary films I watched for last semester’s film class, such as Forbidden Lies and The Act of Killing. The interview in documentaries is not only getting information that we don’t know but also exploring the interviewer. The camera is the representative of audiences’ eyes, watching and analysing the expression of the  interviewer. Moreover, from the interviewer’s aspects, Nicole and Aria are not professional, so they will be aware of the camera and act more intentionally than they usually do. The close-up shot could magnify the awkwardness.