Interview edit 1:
In this edit, I wanted to show how Leanne felt about spirituality and how important it is to her. In this interview, Leanne describes how spiritually has affected her in a positive way and how it can help others.
I wanted to depict Leanne in a positive, heartwarming way as there was an emotional aspect to what she was saying. To do this, I used a lot of natural light in the interview, positioning Leanne next to a window. This, in turn, reflects her naturalistic persona and kind nature. The visual setting is bright and positive. The only downfall with filming next to a window was that the lighting would constantly change. It was a cloudy day so whenever a cloud went over the sun the footage would become dull, underexposed and grainy. Because I was looking at Leanne the whole time and trying to ensure her eye line was in the right position, I did not notice the light and exposure changing on the camera. I had to cut out and re-film a lot of good footage because it was too grainy and the exposure was off.
I also decided to use B-roll footage taken outside in Leanne’s fairy garden. I tried to show what her day to day life looked like, emphasizing her down to earth and relaxed nature. The footage was shot in Leanne’s own garden, where she created her own fairly garden. I did this on purpose to make things more personal. Showing personal footage of Leanne helps the viewer to connect and emphasize with her on a deeper level.
If I could do this again, I would have a lot more personal footage of Leanne doing different things. I think that the b-roll lacked range and depth. There are cut-aways showing Leanne’s meditating practice to match what she is saying about the importance of meditation. All these choices were made to support my participant. This is a very basic edit and allows the audience to see Leanne as she is, without any manipulation from editing and camera techniques.
This is my favourite edit as it encapsulates Leanne’s passion and shows her emotional side. I think it is very imported to show the subject of the interviews emotional side when filming a documentary as it engages the audience and helps them to understand why the subject if moved to do what they do.
Interview edit 2:
In this edit, Leanne explains her profession in detail. I think this is important as it helps the audience engage with the interview and understand what is going on. I made sure Leanne explains Angel card reading and Reiki healing as if the viewer has never heard of it before. In this edit, I included a section where Leanne gives an anecdote of how chakras work. I think this is important as it adds a deeper level of understanding from the viewer.
This interview gives a lot of background detail on what reiki healing and angel card reading are all about. For this edit, I decided to use B-roll footage of Leanne demonstrating Reiki healing and practicing angel card readings. This gives the audience some background information, visual showing how Leanne does angel card reader and reiki healing, while she explains it verbally.
Leanne is very emotive when she talks and has very engaging body language and facial expressions. I decided to film the interview as a mid-close up as Leanne talks with her hands a lot and while I wanted to be close enough to accentuate her passionate facial expressions I also did not want to cut her hands out completely.
I feel that the edit ends on a nice note where Leanne says that Reiki “empowers you and lets you know who you are, who you’re meant to be. To know your inner self and helps you to love yourself. To end the edit, I used B-roll footage of Leanne using Reiki to empower herself.
Interview edit 3:
For my final edit, Leanne explains her profession again. Instead of using an anecdote like in the last footage, Leanne focus’ on her clients. I wanted to give a closer look into Leanne’s profession by focusing on the experiences she has with her clients. Leanne explains how her clients are positively affected by her healing and readings and how they grow in each session.
Once again, I used B-roll footage of Leanne doing an Angel Card reading and demonstrating Reiki healing to help the audience understand what Leanne does for a living. If I were to do this again I would try to include more B-roll footage and show Leanne performing Reiki on one of her clients.
As I used a window as my main source of light I had a lot of difficulties with the exposure changing. Once again clouds kept moving and covering the sun which changing the lighting and therefore the exposure. I only noticed this when I looked back at the footage and for this section, it was too late to savor it. I tried to cover up the changing exposure but it is still noticeable. Next time I will know not to set up next to a window on a cloudy day and I will try to use a controlled light source. I will also keep an eye on the quality of my footage while filming and ensure a look at it after each take.
I enjoyed this edit as Leanne shows how her passion affects other people and how everyone can benefit from what she does.
