Monday 9th
As this was our first day editing we all attended and we wanted to make sure we had all the files arranged and traded exactly how we needed them before begging the edit. We had spent several days last month uploading and transcoding all the footage however we never got to arrange and upload the sound files as the sound team hadn't yet provided us with the files they recorded externally. We got them to transfer these files to us and so today we saved these onto a hard rive and then uploaded them into our Girl Happy space on the Avid Nexus. We then used the Script Supervisor notes which Tilly (Director) provided us with to go through and find the correct sound files for the best chosen shots Tilly instructed us to transcode previously. We then imported these needed sound files into Avid however this took a long time as the sound team hadn't logged their sound files correctly. Instead they were all simply in one large folder so we had to go through number by number finding the correct sound files as the script supervisor notes weren't always correct. When we finally then had all the sound we needed in Avid we then arranged it, labelled it and put it into the correct scene bins so that everything was organised properly.
We then began syncing the external sound files with the visuals using the in/out method and matching it to the beep. However this was made difficult because the camera wasn't always set to record sound for some reason so we count hear a beep and instead had to do it via the clapper board visual with the clapper sound. This works but takes a bit longer and a bit more refining. Today we didn't get to start piecing anything together as we were still busy getting everything organised and hadn't finished syncing the sound yet, however we were slowed down by simple mistakes made on set by other members like not sound from the camera and no logging done of any of the shots or any of the sound files. This is why myself and Maisie wanted to spend a bit longer making sure we had ourselves properly organised before begging the edit process.
Tuesday 10th
Today due to Tilly and Maisie having other commitments I was in the Avid editing suite by myself. I began by continuing to sync the external sound with the visuals using the in/out point method. This took a while because some sound files were not correct because the script supervisor had made mistakes so I had to search through the sound files to listen for the correct ones every now and again. I also didn't always have sound from camera to work with so had to keep doing it via the clapper. I then also had some clips which simply for some reason didn't have matching sound files so I had to improvise and use another sound file from a different take etc and then just sync it by eyes and ears myself. I got this to work but it just meant it took a long time to do successfully. Now that I had managed to get all the sound files synced I then moved on to piecing together an assembly cut to use. This is where you put all shots in order from very start to finish so that you can easily scrub through and see everything you have and then simply duplicate this to begin cutting together an edit. I began doing this which was very helpful as it now meant I got to see every clip from start to finish to see what I had to work with. I got about a third through the assembly cut today before I then ran out of time.
Wednesday 11th
Again I was on my own in the Avid editing suite today so I simply continued with putting the assembly cut together which took a while as there was a fair few shots to go through and I wanted to make sure as I was assembling them that I watched them from start to end so that before starting the official edit I could work out exactly what I was working with. I finally got a full assembly cut put together today which meant I now knew exactly what we currently had to work with. This was good as I knew what shots I defiantly wanted in the edit because they were the best but also which shots needed more work as I found that there were a lot of shots that had shaky moments in it or a lot of camera movements which seemed too distracting. I also had to be aware of shots with sound issues and visual issues like crew in the background. I made a note so that I could make sure to avoid these problem areas from Tilly's selection of best shots but to then emphasise the piece using the best bits of these shots in the edit.
Thursday 12th
Today it was myself and Maisie in the Avid editing suite. To give her a much clearer idea of what we had to work with I let her watch the assembly cut I had put together and then discussed this with her. As I had been cutting it together by myself Maisie let me begin cutting together an official edit 1 while she was there and then whenever I needed an extra opinion or wasn't sure about something or about how to do a certain thing in Avid she would help, show me, give her opinion or fix the problem. This was helpful as it meant I didn't have to be slowed down by hard decisions, problems or software issues and also meant I was getting to learn more technical things about Avid by having Maisie show me things and help me. It also meant that I could focus on continuity cutting while Maisie focusing on more technical details like sound and visual issues that may need to be fixed later on. Maisie had to leave earlier today but I decided to stay late to get as much of the edit put together as possible and was really happy that today I managed to get just over half the main edit completed.
Friday 13th
Today it was myself in this morning to continue putting my basic continuity cut together. I carried on working through. Something I did was keep a note of any problems I had with my edit due to the footage or sound so that when Maisie came in I could speak to her about it and see if she knew any way to fix it. When she joined me I only had a few scenes left to cut together so she assisted me with these and then we went through this edit fixing the problems we could and trying to improve it more before Tilly came to view it later on this afternoon.
As I said we were only working from majority footage and shots which Tilly had told us to work from as these were the best ones. However we had a few issues with some of these shots like camera shake, focus issues, visual issues (crew etc in shot), sound issues (crew talking in shots) which we simply couldn't fix and we weren't aware of where we would be able to find replacement shots as the visuals hadn't been logged officially. We decided to leave the problems that couldn't be fixed and we currently had no replacement shot for and see what Tilly thought. When she arrived we let her watch the now completed(ish) edit we had and scene by scene she paused and gave us some feedback to work on. Here is the feedback I noted from her...
I then got straight to work with Maisie on making these changes happen. As it was late in the day we only got half way through making the changes and the rest required a lot more work so we decided we will continue making these harder changes on Monday. A lot of the major problem areas that can't be fixed in post require us to go back and search through all the visual files to find different replacement shots which weren't necessarily the ones Tilly wanted but maybe have more useable sections than the current clips we have. We will be doing this Monday along with the rest of the changes such as reordering. Before we left I had a few things to discuss with Tilly. I wanted to know what she wanted to do between scenes as one of them go straight from one conversation into another and we have no B roll to use the break it up or establish it. She has said that she wants it to just simply cut from one scene into another so this is what we will do. I also asked her about the timeline of the piece because having read the script and edited together in her order (I even called in a friend 'Tash from Film' who deals with scripts to look through the order etc) I couldn't work out the reasoning behind the middle order of the piece. Tilly explained that they aren't necessarily flash backs or forwards but instead we jump around this period of time (a month for example) going from moment to moment but not in linear or narrative order. This now makes sense however we may need to look into finding a way to maybe edit that makes this more obvious. I then asked her about the titles and credits and as she wasn't able to get an animator on board to animate these for her she would like myself and Maisie to add these sequences in for her. She will choose a font and write us a list and order of names etc to follow and we will do this at the end. We then spoke about music which she is going to get the files for and we will add it in at the end so she can work out which sound tracks work and where and then we will let the sound team now but not export it with music on as they can add the music themselves we will just provide the timecode of where to put it. Now that we have a plan of action for next week we saved what we had and went home to rest up ready to start editing again next week.
I really enjoyed this week of editing however it was very intense especially for me being the only one that was in for full days everyday this week. I felt proud however that so much progress had been made with this edit despite some of the problems I had come across during the editing process, and I am happy that I have been able to use Avid again and gain more skills in this editing software.
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