Design English Cinematography - Meeting 15
POST-PRODUCTION PROCESS
Lecturer:
Dr. Immanuel Prasetya Gintings, S.S., M.Hum.
Elisa Betty Manullang, S.S., M.Hum.
(Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni, Universitas Negeri Medan)
3ING47144
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2020
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sks: 2
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SubCPMK8
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Able to make appropriate decisions in problem solving at the post-production process stage based on the results of the analysis of information and data in the process of documenting, storing, securing, and rediscovering data to ensure the truth and prevent plagiarism by internalizing the spirit of independence, struggle and entrepreneurship [C6 , A5, P5].
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Week
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15
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Form
of Learning
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Practice
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Learning
Methods
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Online learning
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Project Based Learning
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Assignment
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Make
a portfolio of problem solving
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Learning Activities:
01. Continuity: Shoot and Edit so your Movie Makes Sense
- The continuity system is a set of rules for making sure your shots work together
- It includes framing, camera position, shot size and editing
Film-making is a bit like a magic trick. You can film a lot of different shots, add some sounds and music, and put it together so everything seems to flow naturally. You can shoot with one camera and make it look as if you have ten. You can persuade the audience that they’re watching a real story with real people.
Here are some of the tricks and rules that make this work. You should follow these rules while you’re filming, and use them while you’re editing.
Step between shot sizes
Whether you’re showing a place, people, or action, your film will look more interesting if you shoot things with different shot sizes (above).
But don’t jump straight from, say, an extreme long shot to a big closeup unless you really want to confuse people. You need to put something like a long shot or mid shot between them so the viewer can see the connection.
Change position as well as shot size
When you change shot size, you should move the camera to a different position around the subject. If you don’t, it may seem to ‘jump’ forwards or backwards (above).
The 30 degree rule says that you should move the camera at least 30 degrees between shots. So these two will edit together better.
Shoot in opposite directions
You should normally shoot shot reverse shot. You film in one direction, then more or less the opposite direction. This lets you show a person and what they’re looking at – or two people together – using closeups for more impact.
Two characters but only one camera? No problem. Shoot the scene several times: once with both characters in the shot, then with mid shots and closeups of one character, then with mid shots or closeups of the other person. Then alternate between the characters when you edit.
If you’re filming someone moving, shoot some of the shots from in front and some from behind.
Stay on one side of an imaginary line
You could film shot-reverse shot by shooting exactly head-on (above). That’s OK for subjective shots that show the scene from each character’s point of view.
But it’s more normal for the camera to be slightly to one side of each character (above). The crucial thing is that it has to stay on the same side.
Imagine there’s a line between the two characters (above). Keep your camera on one side of that line. If you’re filming someone moving, stay on the same side of the direction they’re moving.
If you cross the line then the shots may not fit together. Your two characters will look as if they’re facing the same way, rather than facing each other.
Or your moving person will look as if they’ve changed direction.
This is called the 180 degree rule.
Put more space in the direction people are looking
If a person is looking to one side of the screen, make sure there is looking space or ‘nose room’, as I did with the closeups in the dialogue scene. This looks more natural, and it makes it obvious that the characters are facing each other.
Make sure they’re looking in the right place
Each person’s ‘gaze’ should lines up with what they’re looking at, on the opposite side of the screen. This is called eyeline match.
Try not to join two similar shots of the same thing together
Editing between two closeups of the same person (above) will give an obvious jump. Sometimes this is unavoidable if you’re editing dialogue or an interview.
You can avoid this by cutting to a master shot and then back.
Or you can use a cutaway like the reaction shot (centre), which maintains shot reverse shot.
Alternatively you could use a detail of the scene (an insert).
To see these rules in action, watch the video on this page:
02. Basic Editing Principles for Filmmakers
03. Editing and Sharing
Editing is one of the most interesting and rewarding parts of making a short film or video. It’s where the story really comes together. Decisions you make about which shots to use, how you put them together, and how you use sound, will make a big difference to your movie. So here’s a beginners’ guide to basic editing principles.
Shoot for editing
You should be thinking about editing as you plan and shoot your film. The pages about continuity and coverage have advice on how to film shots that will edit together.
Select just what the story needs
Don’t be precious about your footage, however proud of it you are. The finished film is the important thing. You may need to leave out some really good stuff if it doesn’t fit. (But don’t delete any clips unless you’re absolutely sure they’re unusable.)
Select the important action
Choose the clips that show the essential action. You can leave out anything that doesn’t help tell the story. Use just the part of the clip that has the action you need.
Show something new with each edit
Show a different subject, or a different view of the same thing: a different shot size or camera position.
Vary the shot size and angle
Don’t cut between two very similar shots of the same thing, unless you really want a ‘jump cut’ for effect.
Step between shot sizes
If you cut straight from an extreme long shot to an extreme closeup, viewers won’t understand where the closeup fits into the bigger picture. Use an in-between size like a mid shot to bring the viewer with you.
Use cutaways to hide jumpy edits
If you have to cut similar shot sizes together, use another shot to hide the join. Add it as a ‘cutaway’ above the main clips.
Use a master shot for an overview
Long shots and extreme long shots remind viewers of where everything fits into the scene.
Get the pace right
A shot should stay on screen long enough for people to understand it, but not so long that they get bored.
Closeups, simple shots, and shots without any action or movement, can be short. Long shots, extreme long shots, and any shots with detail will need to be on screen for longer.
Check that the pace is consistent. Sudden changes of pace look really clunky, whether it’s a shot that outstays its welcome, or one that flashes by too fast to grasp.
Use the right transitions
Transitions are the ‘joins’ between shots.
Does your scene show continuous action, or one short space of time? You should use cuts, where the shot goes straight into the next one. If you use fades or dissolves, you’ll confuse people.
In a cross dissolve or cross fade, the shots dissolve into each other (one image gets weaker while the next shot gets stronger). You can use these to show that you’ve left out a short space of time, or part of a journey.
You can use a fade out (usually to black) at the end of a scene. Fade out followed by a fade in means that a period of time has passed.
Wipes and other elaborate transitions don’t usually contribute to storytelling.
Edit on the action
If you edit while an action is happening, rather than at the beginning or the end, it’ll look smoother. Viewers will concentrate on the movement, not the edit.
Don’t cut moving shots to still shots
It’s jarring if you show something moving in one shot and it’s not moving in the next shot. Let the movement come to an end before you cut to a static shot.
Pay attention to the sound
Don’t have sudden changes in sound level, or dead silence, unless you’re deliberately trying to shock people.
Build your soundtrack carefully
When you have more than one audio track, you need to balance the sound levels. You don’t want background sound, or music, drowning out dialogue.
Use sound that carries across the edit
You can use ‘wild track’, ‘room tone’ or ‘ambience’ – background sound from the location – to avoid silence and keep things smooth.
For dialogue scenes – where you cut between shots of each character – try using split edits where the sound changes at a different time from the picture.
These are also called J-cuts (where the sound changes first) and L-cuts. You can use a J-cut as a sound bridge between separate scenes, where you hear the sound from the new location before you see it.
Keep track of the bigger picture
Don’t get so bogged down in one edit that you lose track of how it fits into the sequence. Play several shots together – or the whole sequence – to check how it all works together.
Once you’ve shot your film you need to put it together and get it ready for sharing. This stage is called post-production.
Video editing is much easier if you get organised before you start, and follow a plan.
Before you start
Get ready to save and backup
You can lose hours of work if your editing program crashes before you save. Set your program to autosave regularly every five or ten minutes. (You don’t need to do this with iMovie and Final Cut Pro X as they autosave continuously). If there’s no autosave, set a reminder and save manually at regular intervals, and before you make any big changes.
You also need a backup plan. You can’t take the risk of losing your original video files, or project files that you’ve spend days working on.
For serious projects, I keep backups of all my video footage, and my projects, on a separate drive to the main computer. I backup every hour or so to the external drive, duplicate that to another drive at the end of the day, and keep the second drive in a different location.
Find out where your program keeps the files, so you know which ones to back up (read the manual or online help). Don’t just back up the project files: you need backups of the media as well. Some programs bundle everything into one project file, which makes it easy to copy and backup.
With most editing programs, the project file doesn’t include the actual video files that you imported from your camera. These are usually stored somewhere else on the computer or an external drive. If the original files are missing or have been moved, the project file won’t be able to use them and your film won’t play properly.
Choose the stuff you’re going to use
If you’ve only shot a few clips, load them all onto the computer.
If you’ve filmed lots of material, it’s best to check each clip out first. You can use a logging sheet for this. Make notes about each clip and just import the good ones. But don’t delete any clips at this stage unless you’re absolutely sure they’re unusable – they might come in useful later.
Create a project
Open your editing program and create a project. Give it a name.
Get your video into your editing program
Connect your camera to the computer with a USB cable, or slot the memory card into the computer or a card reader. Then use the editing program to import the clips . If you have a tape camera, you’ll need a Firewire (IIEE1394) lead. Not all computers can accept these.
Get organised
It’s easy to lose track of stuff on bigger projects. So, if the program lets you, organise your video into separate ‘bins’, ‘folders’, ‘events’ – whatever your program calls them. Name the folders so you know what they are – e.g. not just ‘Untitled 1, Untitled 2’ and so on.
Follow a plan
If you planned your film with a storyboard or shot list, it should be pretty straightforward to edit your clips together.
Unpredictable projects, like documentaries and events, are more challenging. For these, I try to work out the edit on paper first, before starting to cut the material together.
There are a few ways to do this: you could use a documentary script template.
Divide a long film into shorter sequences
If your film is complicated, with a lot of separate sequences, it’s better to work on one at a time before you assemble them all together into the longer film. This is where pro programs have an advantage, as they’re designed to work this way.
Start editing
For editing drama or action, this is roughly the sequence I’d follow:
- Put the shots in order (an assemble edit)
- Trim them roughly so that they flow together (the rough cut)
- Edit them precisely, adjust sound levels and add sound and visual effects.
This gives me a quick idea of how the sequence is going to work before I start fine-tuning it.
You can work in other ways. If you’re going to use several parts of the same shot (like in a dialogue scene or interview) it’s best to select exactly the section of the shot you want before you drag it to the timeline.
To make a music video or a ‘digital story’ you’ll start with the soundtrack and then fit your shots to it. You can put ‘markers’ on the timeline to see where the cuts should go, either by pausing your film at each marker, or using a keyboard shortcut to insert them as the soundtrack is playing. If your editing software or app doesn’t have markers, you might be able to use the audio waveforms to help.
Keep reviewing
It’s easy to get bogged down in detail and lose sight of the bigger picture, which is why I always put a rough cut of the sequence together first.
As you adjust your edits, keep going back and seeing how they work together. Every now and then, watch the whole sequence.
Show it to other people
When you’ve got a reasonably good edit together, show it to other people. Get their feedback. Is there anything that doesn’t make sense, or feels awkward to them? If so, revise the edit and show it to them again.
Add the finishing touches
Now you need to fine-tune the edits, smooth out the sound and make sure colours match from shot to shot.
Pay attention to sound levels: make sure it doesn’t get too loud, the levels don’t vary too much, the background sound or music doesn’t drown out speech, and that there’s no dead silence.
Most programs will also let you adjust and correct the exposure, contrast and colour, so that clips match. You can also colour grade your video to give it a consistent style. Some programs include basic colour grading, or you could use a separate program.
Finally you can add titles and credits, either within your editing program or using a separate titling program.
When you’ve finished
Save and backup your project.
Export a copy of the film at the highest quality. (Until you export your film, it won’t play on another device, or if you delete or move the original media). Then export any lower-quality copies you need. If they’re for video sharing sites like Vimeo, follow their online compression guidelines for best results.
Distribution
If you want your movie to be screened in front of audiences, you’ll need to work out a distribution strategy. For independent movies, film festivals are the first point for this. There’s a useful international directory of film festivals on the British Council site here.
(Source: learnaboutfilm.com)
02. Practice Guide
03. Practice
04. Structured Assignment
05. Evaluation
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