Major Project: Editing-South Downs Sequence

Major Project: Editing-South Downs Sequence

The final sequence I edited (in the chronology of our edit timeline) was the South Downs Sequence. This is definitely one of the sequences I'm most proud of, and it has an interesting development. I did it a certain way, Alex had me make chnages, but Cailan and I found it less effective with these changes, so put it back to be closer to how it was originally. 

This is one of the more emotive scenes in our documentary. And as such music played a key role in it (even though Alex hadn't originally planned for it to). Other than music a big consideration was atmos. I wanted a really effective sound design like I had found in my research of similar documentaries and that acted on what Beth had said to us, so I underlaced the sea and waves as atmos right the way through the sequence. 

The music allowed me to do some rhythmic cuts at the start (upon Cailans suggestion), which helped set the pace for the rest of the scene. For this scene, I had quite a good idea of what music I wanted, I needed something in a bit of a minor key, preferably piano based. This way it would stand to raise the emotional value of what Alex says during this sequence. As well as adding to the cinimatic effect when paired with our establishing drone shots and cut aways. These elements together help bring home the journey metaphor that we've tried to instil throughout. I was indeed able to find a track that fitted these peramitors and I am pleased with my choice.

I made sure to keep my opening shots on screen longer than i normally would in order to build up the suspense and tone that Alex would later bring in his monologue. As soon as Alex started speaking I was careful to gently lower the music and sea to ensure his dialogue was the most prominent sound (but you could still hear the atmosphere and feel as of your there with him). Cutting away on ocasion during his speech but less often than normal, and usually just to an alternative shot of him as he is to be the core focus of this scene. 

I watched back the clips multiple times to find the best take, which was a really hard decision to make, but I'm happy with the version I selected. 

Alex initially wanted to completely re-shape the structure of the scene and remove most of the transitioning shots that break up the scene. But after speaking with Helen we agreed that the audience needs this time to breathe and take in what is being said. So after some discussion, it was agreed to be put back the way it was. 

The one change that did get made though was the addition of a recap monatge on the end of the sequence which helps re-ground our story and leads us more gently in to the race day. Even though i didn't spend as much time on this montage as i did the rest of the sequence i'm still really happy with it. Originally this had its own backing track but we discovered it more effective to continue the one that was playing throughout the rest of the sequence.

I did have quite a hard time looping the soundtrack to extend this far (as it wasn't quite long enough to span the whole sequence), but after some trial and error I found a point subtle enough for it to work and I am really happy with the outcome of this whole sequence.