Edit Series Synopses:

‘Organise, Don’t Agonise!’ is a Commercial Edit for the small business, Delicate Days. It is intended to showcase and promote their services for hire.

‘Teenhood 2023’ is a Documentary style edit that, through the medium of an interview, focuses on the growing pains faced by a 13-year-old boy who has begun year 7 in 2023. 

 

Reflection:

At the beginning of this semester, I wanted to improve my technical editing skills and this was my main aim in undertaking this studio. Instead, what I ended up gaining from this studio was a deeper understanding of the theoretical aspects of approaching my editing practice. These were the steps I had not put a lot of stock in when approaching the practical and technical elements of my editing, which I have now learned are crucial to establishing a strong editing practice. It is clear to me now that editing is not all done in premiere-pro software after the footage is already shot, but it begins from the very first time you encounter the script. It is critical to plan the way your shots will work together in the post-production so that it is easier to be creative with your editing, rather than just trying to get the footage to work in such a way that you can construct a scene at the bare minimum. I am still not good at this, in fact, the works I have produced are in many ways worse than my previous works, but this is what can happen when you make changes to an established way of working.  My works may not be what I had hoped they would be, but his studio has pointed me in the right direction so that I can improve my planning before shooting and shown me the kind of approaches to editing that I want to aim for in the future as I ultimately improve my processes and therefore, editing practice.

 

The Commercial Edit

I hope my final work engages the viewer in such a way that they realise they are watching a piece that is edited in a commercial style. My aim was to leave the viewer with a clear understanding of what the business is and what services it provides. My overall intention for this commercial was for it to give a sense of professionalism. I wanted this advertisement to be perceived as a professional piece of content that would therefore reflect the professionalism of the business as a trustworthy service to engage with.

If I were to keep working on developing this piece further, I would want to reshoot the introduction sequence with the business owner so that it felt more authentic. Adjusting the framing, focus, and lighting so that it created a more intimate and professional feel. I would also re-record the audio voiceover, as my separate audio recording of the script on the shoot day did not record properly due to my own error. Re-recording this aspect would present a much better quality in the commercial and also would have made my edit a lot easier as I would have been able to play more with the timing.  Lastly, I would want to spend more time on the b-roll footage, collecting better quality footage and footage that was more relevant to the services explored in the script. I was too focused on the ‘after’ shots and should have expanded more on the ‘before’ shots, as that would have more accurately shown the volume of work that the packing and decluttering services do. This would work better to attract clients that see their needs represented in the ‘before’ shots to engage with these services.

 

The Documentary Edit

I hope the story I have chosen to portray through the inclusion of the subject’s candid and raw insights, provides an understanding as to what life is like for a 13-year-old in 2023, engaging the viewer and leaving them with a feeling of empathy for children growing up in modern society.

If I were to develop this piece of media further, I would ask the participant to record some of their insights as a separate voice-over to improve the quality of the audio and give a more intimate tone to the piece. I would likely make the piece longer to allow for more pauses within the story after certain pieces of dialogue to elicit a more dramatic effect and somber tone. Upon reflection, the story within this piece is less clear than I would have liked, perhaps trying to include too many pieces of information in two minutes. If exhibiting this piece at a film festival, for example, I would also choose a more central storyline to focus on. Such as being in trouble at school and at home, expanding on the school suspension incident and being caught vaping, dropping the storyline points on school work pressures, and putting more emphasis on the social pressures faced.