Short Film - Small Print

Small Print 

Written, Directed and Edited by Emily Merritt-Moore

Starring Thea Attree-Gribbon and Felix Jordan

My first short film was nominated for a BHASVICTOR at the 2017 awards - Creative Media BTEC Final Production. The BHASVICTORS are annual awards at BHASVIC college.

Short Film Editing Techniques Evalution

For my short film, I decided to stick to continuity editing to ensure that the narrative flowed in a linear fashion, so as to not confuse the audience, and keep consistency throughout the project. To achieve this I used various techniques of continuity editing such as shot-reverse -shot and eye-line match. I also used other editing techniques such as colour correction and audio manipulation, to help convey my narrative and the emotions of the characters to the audience.

To open my short film, I edited a montage sequence of the main character getting ready in the morning (shots of them getting out of bed, cleaning their teeth, putting on makeup etc). I decided to create a montage sequence for the opening, to help set the scene of the piece and to convey the mood. I used straight cuts to switch between the shots, and kept the cuts at a steady pace to convey a slow, macabre atmosphere to emphasise the main character's grief. Over the top of this montage sequence I placed audio clips, and I added a 'Highpass' effect to them to make them sound like voicemail messages. In between them I added a 'beep' sound effect from a voicemail machine, to give the impression that these were voicemail messages for the character. I have done this to give the audience a quick overview of the character's situation, without having the character explain it in their own dialogue. This is a more subtle way of introducing my main character, as the voicemail messages (from concerned friends of the character) explain the situation by checking up on them. At the end of the montage I edited in a panning bird's eye view shot of an order of service leaflet for the character's late brother, which I used to 'show not tell' the audience about her brother passing away. I also edited the montage sequence to create questions for the viewer, to make them interested about the rest of the story line, thus drawing them in to keep watching.

 A screenshot of the montage sequence in my Premiere Pro project file.

A screenshot of the opening montage sequence, and (circled) is the audio clips that I have added the 'Highpass' effect to  

As my second scene is a duologue, I have edited it so that it comprises mainly of shot-reverse-shot between the two characters, when they are saying their respective lines. This happens for the majority of the second scene, occasionally switching to a long two-shot. However, since the audio for the long two-shot is different to the mid close ups (due to the fact that the microphone had to be further away, the two-shot is quieter), I haven't used this shot as many times as I would've liked to in the edit.

I decided to use the shot-reverse-shot edits in my short film, as it is an aspect of continuity editing, and would therefore help to tell the storyline in a linear fashion. It also helps the audience see the expressions on the character's faces better than could be seen in the long two-shot, which in turn helps tell the narrative, as the character's emotions carry this story.

There are a few shots that I have purposefully kept as longer takes than the majority of shots, to convey an uncomfortable atmosphere between the two characters.

Two examples of  shot-reverse-shot from scene two, taken from my editing programme Premiere Pro

I have not used any music in my short film, to help let the narrative take centre stage, and to not distract the viewer from the emotions of the characters. However, I have added non-diagetic sound (ticking clock and birdsong) to simulate realism within my piece. I have also added a 'Lowpass' effect to all of my audio clips, to help reduce white noise and to ensure continuity across all my audio clips. Whilst this effect does not completely eliminate white noise, I am pleased with the reduction - the volume of white noise is considerably lower than in the raw footage.

(Circled in blue) Ticking clock sound effect and (circled in red) the birdsong sound effect

The 'Lowpass' effect I used on my audio clips

As previously mentioned, the audio in the long two-shot take is quieter than the mid close ups, and below is a screenshot of how I have attempted to rectify this problem.  As shown below, I have taken sections of audio from the mid close up shots and synced it with visuals of the long two-shot. I have done this to ensure that the audio is consistent across my whole project, and that differences in volume of audio won't confuse the audience.

Circled are where I have synced the audio from the close up shots to the visuals from the long two-shot

I have also included some eye-line match shots in my project, and to do this I have cut between a mid close up or long shot of the character looking at something, and a close up shot of what they are looking at. I have done this to show the audience key pieces of information about the characters, such as to introduce them via a business card, or to explore aspects of their personality. For example, showing a close up of the 'Grief' character's notebook, to depict them doodling a cat, conveys to the audience that they have a playful personality, and that perhaps they are nonchalant about their work responsibilities. It can also convey how a character is feeling, for instance, showing a close up of a photograph that the main character is looking at can show the audience that they are feeling miserable and missing their loved one.

Examples of when I used eye-line match shots, with their place in the timeline circled.

Due to technical issues during filming, with two of my lights breaking during my second day of shooting, many of the shots in the montage sequence have either a blue or orange colour temperature. This is because I had to rely on either natural light or one artificial light. To rectify this, I colour corrected these shots to make them all similar colours and to keep continuity in my montage sequence. To do this I added the 'Fast Colour Correct' effect in Premiere Pro, and used the colour wheel to change the colour temperature of the shots.

Before (left) and after (right) colour correction on an extreme close up shot of the main character

The colour correction 'Colour Wheel' I used to alter the colour temperature of my shots.

Due to this technical difficulty during filming, this also meant that I needed to increase or decrease the brightness of some of my shots. I did this by applying the 'Brightness and Contrast' effect on Premiere Pro, and adjusting the brightness and contrast accordingly. 

An example of before (left) and after (right) of increasing the brightness of a close up shot

The 'Contrast and Brighten' effect I used in Premiere Pro to alter the brightness of shots

An example of before (left) and after (right) of increasing the brightness of a shot that was too dark - a mid shot of the main character

To add a sombre mood to my montage sequence, I increased or decreased the brightness to make all the shots a similar colour. This is to again set the tone for the rest of the piece as sad and to convey the feelings of the main character. Again, I achieved this using the 'Brightness and Contrast' tool in Premiere Pro.

Three screenshots of shots that I altered the brightness of, to keep consistency and to create a sombre mood

To add tension to my project, I included a section of extreme close up shots of my main character's hands tapping on a mug, and an extreme close up of her face whilst she bites her lip. As well as this I increased the volume of the ticking clock to increase suspense and to convey to the audience that the main character is feeling anxious about talking to 'Grief'. I also paired this with straight cuts back to 'Grief' writing in their notebook, to again increase the tension.

Screenshots of the three shots I alternated between using straight cuts to create tension in scene two

 As a way to start my short film I faded the first shot in from black, as a way to signify the beginning of the film, and to emphasise that the narrative begins in the morning with the lights off. Also, I faded the end of the second scene to black, and begun the third scene as fading from black. I did this to signify the end of scene two and beginning of scene three, as well as to emphasise the anger of the main character as she exits off-screen, after the climax of scene two. Finally, I ended the short film with a fade to black, fading on a close up shot of a photo of the main character and her late brother. This was firstly done to show the end of the film, and secondly to create an open ending for the audience, as the narrative has no definitive end, therefore the fade to black instead of a straight cut to black, emphasises the open ending.

Three examples of when I used 'fade to black' in my short film

In class I got teacher and peer feedback on my rough cut on my short film. Both my peers and my teachers identified that I had used continuity editing, which is positive as it shows I have been successful in my use of editing style. However a peer mentioned that the sound could be lowered in some places, so I reduced the sound of the voicemail 'beeps' and the 'voicemail messages' audio in the opening montage sequence. As a consequence, the sound is much more balanced and consistent throughout my short film.

In conclusion, whilst I have kept to the conventions of continuity editing to help to tell the narrative in a linear fashion, I have also used a variety of different editing techniques to keep consistency and tell the story effectively. I believe that I have been successful in doing this, and have managed to tell the narrative well with my editing choices. 

Edit Decision List - Short Film

Rushes - Short Film

Footage Organisation - Short Film

In my hard drive I have organised my footage into a folder labelled 'SHORT FILM'. This folder is categorised alongside other folders for my previous Creative Media Projects, for my advert, documentary and music video. In the folder for my short film I have organised all my documents and footage to make it easy to access. 

I then have separate folders for my editing research, pre production. footage and rushes. The 'Pre Production' folder contains all my documents that I used for my short film pre production, and my 'Rushes' folder contains my rushes document. I have organised my folders like this to ensure that I can access the right documents at the right time, and can keep all my work separate for different processes of my short film. My 'footage' folder will help me when I'm editing, as a way to keep my workspace clean and to make my footage easy to reach.  

Inside the 'Footage' folder I have categorised my footage into scenes, with a folder for scenes 1, 2 and 3. This will help me keep organised when I'm editing, as I can quickly access footage from a certain scene, and it will help me to keep my work tidy and organised. Also it will prevent me from having to comb through all pieces of footage every time I need a file. As well as this, I have a folder that contains my audio files for my voiceovers that will be played as voicemails in the opening montage sequence. This helps me to separate the audio from visual files so that I don't get confused looking for the audio files.

I will be using my rushes log to help me identify what footage is excellent and I should use, or what footage is unacceptable and I should avoid. This will save me time when trying to find the correct piece of footage to use in my edit. I have organised my rushes into my 'Rushes' folder (see picture above).

In my editing software Adobe Premiere Pro, I have organised my footage into the same way that I have in my hard drive. As before, I have arranged my footage by scene, with a separate folder for each scene and another for my audio files. This way, whilst editing, my files are easily accessible and organised, thus making the editing process much quicker as I don't have to spend too much time looking for footage. As identified earlier, my rushes document has helped me to only place the usable footage into each folder in Premiere Pro, so that only the best shots are used. This helps again to save time as I have filtered out all the bad and unusable shots. 

This is a screen shot of my editing software, which I will be editing my film on. To the left is where I have stored all my footage in folders (see above). Alongside the footage bin is the 'Effects' tab, which is easily accessible as I need to use this often. In the bottom right is the timeline, which is the most important part of the editing process. I usually have this section, or the viewing monitor (top right), as the largest sections of the screen, as they are the parts that I need to be observing in detail. When editing, the timeline usually takes up the majority of the screen, and when viewing what I have just edited, I make the viewing monitor bigger. Finally in the top left is the source monitor, where I can view footage and select the sections I wish to put into the timeline. This section is very important, however when not needed I simply make it smaller on the screen in favour of the viewing monitor and/or timeline. 

Short Film Progress Diary

04/04/17

Today I recorded all of my voiceovers for the opening montage sequence, which I will use as voicemails to help convey the character's story to the audience. I was intending to have the actors call my home phone, and then to simply record the voicemails from my home phone and use that recording in the production. However when I tried this, the sound was not clear enough and therefore unusable. So I have decided to simply use the original recordings of the actor's voiceovers, and I will add a 'radio effect' to them, and insert voicemail 'beep' noises between them, to make the recording sound like a voicemail machine.

05/04/17

Today I completed the photoshoot with my lead actress and the actor playing her brother. All went very well, and was completed on time.

10/04/17

Due to prior engagements, filming has been moved forward from the second week of the Easter Holidays, to the first week. Filming has been moved to the 12th and 14th April 2017.

12/04/17

Today was the first day of filming, and I'm very pleased with how it went. I managed to film scene 2 and 3 (with some small exceptions from scene 2 that can be easily filmed). The actors were brilliant and very patient with me, as I am still getting used to being in the role of director. As well as this, they were confident with their delivery and listened carefully to and stuck to my directions. Overall, I'm very pleased with their performance and how the shots look. However I did have some issues with lighting, as I'm not confident with how to successfully light a scene. So I had a friend help with the lighting arrangements, who was able to calm my anxiety about it, and taught me some tips so that on the second day of filming I could successfully light a scene by myself.
The lighting in scene 3 is rather bright as it is in a white room, however I have discovered that I can dim the brightness in post production. As well as this, any white noise picked up by the microphone can be easily rectified in post production.

14/04/17

Today was the second day of filming, which I did by myself. I only needed one of my actors to film scene 1 and the beginning of scene 2. I am rather happy with the finished results, however two of the lights I was using to film, broke during filming. This meant that I had to resort to natural light for some shots, meaning that some shots have a blue colour temperature, whereas others have an orange one. To rectify this I will attempt to colour correct in post-production, and I hope that it works well enough so I don't have to re-shoot. In spite of this, the filming went well, and I believe I dealt with the problem effectively, finding ways around it such as using natural light instead.

27/04/17

Today I finished my rushes log, recording my visual and audio files. I have also made sure to organise all my footage into easily accessible files on my hard drive, and have screen-shotted my files organisation as well as my rushes document, and uploaded them to my blog.

02/05/17

Today I have finished my edit decision list, documenting how I will edit my short film, and the reasons why. I have included the types of shots I will use, types of cut and transition, as well as discussing my reasons for using diagetic sound only. I will be handing in my rushes log, screen shots of my organisation and my edit decision list on Thursday.

09/05/17

I have started editing today and am pleased with how it is going. So far I have edited the montage sequence for the opening to my short film, with voicemail messages playing over the top. 

10/05/17

I am continuing to edit, and have started the second scene. Editing so far has been going well, however I have discovered that the sound from the long two-shot is quieter than the sound from the mid close ups of the characters, meaning that when I switch from one shot to another in quick succession, the audio doesn't flow as naturally as I'd like it to. To try and rectify this, I have increased the volume on the long two-shot take, and have doubled up the audio files in the timeline when one of the characters is speaking, as she is the quietest. As well as this I am adding a 'deNoiser' effect on all my audio clips to reduce any white noise, and to keep continuity with my footage.

11/05/17

I am continuing editing, and have discovered that the 'deNoiser' effect has made my audio sound muffled. Therefore I have added the 'Parametric EQ' effect, and increased the 'Q' to 20.0 to try and rectify this. Whilst it has not fully solved the issue, it has helped. I've also found a way to better the audio in the long two shot. I've synced the audio from the close up shots to the long two shot, to keep continuity and to not disturb the audio.  

16/05/17

I have finished editing the third scene with some exceptions. I have also colour corrected and brightened many of my shots to keep continuity with the lighting. In the second scene I have added some close up shots of my main character's hand tapping on a mug, and an extreme close up of her face (whilst she is biting her lip) to convey her anxiety about the situation. This will help tell the story and help the narrative flow. I am also considering adding some aspects of non-diagetic sound such as a clock ticking in the background and bird song for the opening shot. This will help to add depth and more emotion to the project. 

18/05/17

I am continuing to edit, and have nearly finished. There are only a few minor corrections left to make, such as cleaning up the last scene. Whilst editing, I have also been writing my evaluation on my editing choices and techniques, and have nearly completed this as well. Also, I have uploaded my short film (as a work in progress) to YouTube, and have emailed it to Bill Smith from Latest TV for professional feedback. I hope his feedback will help me to improve my short film.

22/05/17

I noticed that, even though I'd added a 'DeNoiser' effect to my audio, when I exported it, white noise/hiss could be heard intermittently throughout. I was very confused as to what this was, so removed all the effects I'd added to the audio to start again. I tried various different effects to rectify this problem, and have decided on the effect 'Lowpass', to reduce the white noise. Whilst this does not completely solve the problem, and there is still white noise present, it isn't as prominent as in the raw footage, and it doesn't create random bursts of hissing. I am going to adapt my editing evaluation to include the 'Lowpass' effect.

I haven't yet heard back from Bill Smith.

25/05/17

I made final adjustments to my short film and ironed out any small issues, such as the volume of the 'voicemail messages' audio clips in the opening montage. I have also completed my editing choices evaluation, and will be uploading my short film export soon, and sending a copy to the technicians at college. 

'The Konjac Sponge' Advert - Social Media Progress

The company that I worked with to make my advert, 'The Konjac Sponge Company', was so pleased with my two 30 second adverts that they asked me to make a 10 second version for their Instagram page. Whilst they posted my full-length 30 second versions on their Twitter, they used my 10 second version on their Facebook and Instagram pages.

10 second advert for 'The Konjac Sponge Company''s 

Instagram page

After posting these, they sent me an email to inform me of the progress my advert had made on their Instagram page, in terms of 'views' and 'likes'. 

They were very pleased with the progress, as it had performed very well, especially as it was not a review from a beauty blogger or one of their own productions. 

Since upload, my video is ranked #4 out of 7 videos in terms of views, and #3 in terms of 'likes'. This is very impressive and I'm very pleased with this result, as I'm very proud of my adverts and am pleased others like them too. Furthermore, around 21% of those who viewed my advert on Instagram, 'liked' it. Again, I'm very pleased with this result. 

In conclusion, I'm delighted with the progress my advert has made on the company's social media, as this is my first advert and my first time working with a real company.