LO5 - to be able to edit cinematic quality footage

Throughout the first edit we have utilised a lot of different editing techniques in order to create some great scenes, for example I filmed the first scene twice and had the actor essentially have a conversation with himself, this was done in order to connote the video of him having an inner argument with himself taking inspiration from soliloquies seen in Shakespearean plays, I believe that using a visual representation of this rather than just an auditory one was more appropriate to ensuring the audience clearly understands the narrative.

In the cuts I use a VR lens flare filter to give an indicator to the audience that this is a flashback and to match the tone of the characters voice, that being quite fast and upbeat, I decided to use quick cuts as an alternative to long takes however I also wanted to give balance and ensure there isn't too much editing so that the film is at a high quality and doesn't move away from the genre of love and romance.

After this I added the title card, it has a sharp noise to add dramatic effect, it is done to lure in the audience and keep them hooked onto the plot and story, it also gives some form of hint as to the idea of this short film not being the same as generic romance stories. It is done in black and white giving contrast to the colours used in the rest of the films dream sequences, it presents the key theme of reality vs fantasy.

In this it is clear that non-continuity editing is utilised in this scene to cut to footage from the Ballers setting, this was done intentionally to show thoughts however I couldn't simply cut to another scene without giving indication to it being a thought, so I added colour. Since the colours red and pink connote the themes of love and are closely tied into the genre of romance, I believed it would suit best and make the plot point that the boy is in love with this girl more obvious.  Moreover, as thoughts usually are clouded so I had to portray that within this scene by lowering the sharpness and contrast to make the colour a lot more emphasised. I also had to deal with the issue of recording in a large room as this could potentially cause issues with background noise and possibly echoing so I decided to match the themes and ideas of dream sequences I would instead replace the audio with a soft melody. In doing this I helped set a tone and further show emphasis on the presented divide between the dreams and the harsh reality of what's happening.

After we cut to a long take of the two on a bench talking to each other, this scene has been sped up but it is meant to connote a dream sequence, I also added a slowed down melody in the background to give this scene a nice feel and to emphasise the happiness in the scene and used a black and white filter to make this seem like past or a memory as these are self made memories.

From this we cut to the reality of our character sat alone, some editing had to be made to remove background noise as there was a water fountain nearby which was very loud and could potentially become dominant over the dialogue being said.  I added a little blue to the scene to create coldness within the scene, this is done to make the character seem alone and sad, however ironically it is used to make more of a comedic scene although generically it also could make the audience sympathise or empathise with the character which could make them more involved with the plot and possibly make them enjoy it more.

Then I slowed down previous dream sequences from the plot revealing its twist, this is done by making the scenes slower and blurry, this is done to reflect the character's thoughts as he will be very emotional and his head will be clouded. I also used more blue in the scene as I wanted to remove as much warmth in the shot as possible, I wanted the character to see isolated and broken, I also chose this colour as I wanted a contrast with the beginning, this links to Todorov's theory on narrative where each narrative is created by having an equilibrium, disruption and then a new equilibrium, in this case the disruption is near the end and the new equilibrium is when the character walks off, however it is clearly shown through colour as until the disruption, vivid pinks and purples were prominent in the dream sequences whereas it then turns to a blue monochromatic colourcheme.