Group Project - Editing the Documentary/ Interviews

Editing for our group project was going to be very important when keeping in touch with its serious mood and tone. The editing process had to be handled carefully since we couldn't effect its emotional quality, same as with many other parts of our project. We had to make sure we edited it so to respect the people we filmed and work the interviews well enough so it looked professional. Because of this we've deliberated with each other about how to edit various sections and how to structure the whole thing.

Thank Goodness we didn't have to edit like this....

When editing some of the interviews we noticed how we'd need to revise the sound for some of the interviewees. A few of the veterans we talked to spoke very quietly and proved tricky to be picked up by the boom mic. When interviewing them we noticed this and had asked for a couple of them to possibly speak louder although understandably this was a little tricky for them in their old age. One prime example of this came from a man we interviewed at the RAF house who had a little trouble speaking and slurred his words. At the time of filming we couldn't quite understand what he was saying, however when we watched it back during the editing process we realised his answers were actually really good. Whereas a few of us debated whether or not to include him, Dean quite rightly pointed out that if his answers are good we should use him and perhaps work a way around it by including subtitles for him.

An Example of Subtitles!

Cutaway shots were particularly useful during the editing as quite a few of the veterans answers were interesting but rather long and drawn out. Cutaways would allow us to break away from these longer answers and stop our audience from getting bored or losing interest. As interesting as the answers might have been, audiences would find it tedious watching a continuous shot of someone talking to camera and we needed to make sure they had something to look at to keep them hooked whilst they listened.

This was also an incentive whilst filming the veterans, to take different kinds of shot when they were answering our questions. With each interviewee we filmed basic long shots of them sat answering questions but also changed to mid shots and close ups so it didn't remain to motionless. The close ups were particularly effective when it came to some of the more emotional answers and would also give us separate cutaways to use during the edit. However since we only had the one camera to film with, the cameramen had to try and anticipate when to zoom and change shots. This wasn't too much trouble but did cause a few camera hiccups which we would need to edit around in Final Cut.

Whoever was on Camera would have to have a Steady Hand and have Quick Reflexes

Finally to give the film a bit more structure, we needed to add a voice over that could also be used for various cue's within the edit. The group decided that I would do the voice over since we couldn't hire a professional and apparently I have a rather well spoken voice when I try. This wasn't too complicated to do as we kept it rather short, with Dean having written a script and structure for the show already. Because of this it was rather simple to record into Soundtrack Pro and even simpler to place within the edit on Final Cut.

We would Record Audio into Soundtrack Pro and then Transfer it into Final Cut with our edit!!

With all of this done, we'd finally be ready to finish our documentary and have it submitted. Hooray!!