Major Project - Editing Responsibilities - Cutting Down The Racing License Sequence For Time
Editing Responsibilities Going Forward & Cutting The Racing License Sequence Down
Following a meeting with Simon, George has informed me that he does not believe at this stage that he'll be capable of editing everything in the documentary himself. This was initially frustrating to me due to the fact that he had previously criticised me in relation to adhering to my responsibilities and role on the project, yet it was made clear that there really wasn't much choice here in regards to whether I'd be editing this project or not. Therefore I agreed to take on board 40-50% of the editing workload for 'DreamChaser' focusing specifically on most of the key montage/fast-paced sequences within the documentary. This includes sequences such as the 'What I've Done' sequence, a compilation of the three miscellaneous track days that Alex is taking part in during the course of filming. The Donington Track Day scene with Sam McKee, a sequence in which Alex meets his racing partner and gets his first experience on circuit with the car he'll be racing in, and the final race day sequence itself.
I will also be taking responsibility for the VFX used on the project going forward, for example clock composites from After Effects will be rendered to simulate a countdown to the race day at various points during the documentary, as well as lower thirds and direct capture footage of websites such as Alex's YouTube channel and the Kickstarter crowdfunding page.
My first task as editor would be to trim down the racing license sequence from nearly 6 minutes to somewhere closer to 4 minutes. In order to do this I was sure to eliminate any of the unnecessary pauses in dialogue between Alex and his instructor Wil, as well as cutting down the written instructor's speech significantly. This allowed the sequence to have a much more streamlined sense of narrative going from Alex's home at the beginning, in the car travelling, approaching Brands Hatch for the first real time in the documentary and going through the process of taking his ARDS test. Following the testing section there's a sequence in the car where Alex is driving home and reflects on the results of the day, he discusses his initial anxieties towards taking the test as well as the how he did in general. Given that the audience won't get to see as much footage as we'd like due to our time limitations, this is a great opportunity for us to squeeze in expository dialogue from Alex directly.
I was able to remove several lines of insignificance, for example during that ending PTC where Alex discusses the events of the day, he begins to ramble and stutter mid-way through his thoughts, so I was able to trim that down and merge his audio with itself using a 'Constant Gain' within Premiere Pro in order to blend the background noise without the audience noticing a cut. These cuts are also generally covered over by cutaways to relevant footage, in this case footage of Alex on track during his practical test, as well as shots outside of the car to continue to drive home the sense that we're on a journey, and want to take the viewer along with us. We're still not sure whether or not the written section of the test needs to be included within this sequence, however we're leaving it in there for now and will discuss this further with Simon when we get the opportunity to do so.
Following a meeting with Simon, George has informed me that he does not believe at this stage that he'll be capable of editing everything in the documentary himself. This was initially frustrating to me due to the fact that he had previously criticised me in relation to adhering to my responsibilities and role on the project, yet it was made clear that there really wasn't much choice here in regards to whether I'd be editing this project or not. Therefore I agreed to take on board 40-50% of the editing workload for 'DreamChaser' focusing specifically on most of the key montage/fast-paced sequences within the documentary. This includes sequences such as the 'What I've Done' sequence, a compilation of the three miscellaneous track days that Alex is taking part in during the course of filming. The Donington Track Day scene with Sam McKee, a sequence in which Alex meets his racing partner and gets his first experience on circuit with the car he'll be racing in, and the final race day sequence itself.I will also be taking responsibility for the VFX used on the project going forward, for example clock composites from After Effects will be rendered to simulate a countdown to the race day at various points during the documentary, as well as lower thirds and direct capture footage of websites such as Alex's YouTube channel and the Kickstarter crowdfunding page.
My first task as editor would be to trim down the racing license sequence from nearly 6 minutes to somewhere closer to 4 minutes. In order to do this I was sure to eliminate any of the unnecessary pauses in dialogue between Alex and his instructor Wil, as well as cutting down the written instructor's speech significantly. This allowed the sequence to have a much more streamlined sense of narrative going from Alex's home at the beginning, in the car travelling, approaching Brands Hatch for the first real time in the documentary and going through the process of taking his ARDS test. Following the testing section there's a sequence in the car where Alex is driving home and reflects on the results of the day, he discusses his initial anxieties towards taking the test as well as the how he did in general. Given that the audience won't get to see as much footage as we'd like due to our time limitations, this is a great opportunity for us to squeeze in expository dialogue from Alex directly.
I was able to remove several lines of insignificance, for example during that ending PTC where Alex discusses the events of the day, he begins to ramble and stutter mid-way through his thoughts, so I was able to trim that down and merge his audio with itself using a 'Constant Gain' within Premiere Pro in order to blend the background noise without the audience noticing a cut. These cuts are also generally covered over by cutaways to relevant footage, in this case footage of Alex on track during his practical test, as well as shots outside of the car to continue to drive home the sense that we're on a journey, and want to take the viewer along with us. We're still not sure whether or not the written section of the test needs to be included within this sequence, however we're leaving it in there for now and will discuss this further with Simon when we get the opportunity to do so.
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