Research Dossier

Useful Documents

Statement of Intent

Shooting Schedule

Project Information

Homeless Doc Production Research

Please see my section of the Statement of Intent further down the page.

Quotes

“The documentary is concerned with the exposition of a theme.” Karel Reisz p.225

“The editing process can be broken down into two stages: (1) the stage of assembling the shots into a rough cut and (2) the stage in which the editor and director fine-tune the rough cut […] transforming it into a fine cut.” Ken Dancyger p.371

“The documentary sequence has very different criteria for success than those of the dramatic sequence.” Ken Dancyger p.304

“Narration has the capacity to alter the meaning of the visual. […] Through the narration the guide helps us understand.” Ken Dancyger p.357

“A seamless, or smooth, cut is the editor’s first goal. A seamless cut doesn’t draw attention to itself and comes at a logical point within the shots.” Ken Dancyger p.372

“Variations in light and color from shot to shot can break continuity. These elements are under the cameraperson’s control, but when variations do exist between shots, they can be particularly problematic for the editor.” Ken Dancyger p.378

“Once the rough cut assembly is satisfactory, the question of narrative clarity has, to a certain extent, been satisfied.” Ken Dancyger, p.381

 

Media References

I began to watch some Youtube seminars and general guides on Documentary Editing to try and grasp how best to go about it. Documentary editing is entirely different to fictional or dramatic editing, therefore it was important for me to decipher the differences and begin to work on how I could make the most out of the footage I was given.

This clip from Blackfish was very useful when deciding how the interview should be edited together with other shots. The shots intertwine with the interview effortlessly, and I wanted to recreate this within our documentary. Breaking up an interview is a good way to keep audiences watching.

I found some examples of editing techniques that I wanted to use, for example the split edit. For example, this scene from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. This is when the audio track transitions at a different time than the video. It’s a really effective way of moving the story along.

Statement of Intent – Editing

As editor of the documentary I have a responsibility to piece together all of the footage that has been collected. In this production I will use Avid Media Composer to edit this raw footage. After using the editing software for over a year now I feel confident it will help me get the best possible edit from the footage. With a documentary sequence, an editor is given a lot more creative freedom than say a dramatic film. This means I will need to work closely with the director to produce something with a likeness to what was intended.

I intend to edit the documentary footage in a thoughtful and compelling way. The subject of the documentary is important and needs to be taken seriously.

Once all of the footage is imported into Avid Media Composer, the first thing I will do is screen the material a few times so that I can get a feel and understanding of what I will be working with. At first, I will work closely with the editing assistants to bring together a rough cut. Once a rough cut has been finished, I will consult the director and will transform the rough edit into a final cut. In this time, it is imperative that I make sure the footage flows well and the cuts are clean. The built in microphone of the C100 camera will help me synchronise the footage with the sound.

I plan to use split edits throughout the documentary. L cuts and J cuts are a good way to keep film looking fluid. With a documentary, this is something I feel would work well. During the planned interview section, I intend to use a variety of different shots. As the camera operator is hoping to use two cameras within this section, this means I will be have a greater amount of camera angles of the subject so that the interview doesn’t appear static and boring.

I don’t plan to use fast, jump cuts in the documentary as I feel this takes away from the realism of a piece of film. As mentioned earlier, with a documentary the editor has quite a lot of creative freedom. However, with this freedom comes responsibility. I would be responsible of making sure the edit is the way the group wants it rather than my individual preference. I also need to try and pace my editing time out equally as I believe trying to do a chunk of editing in one session would be a bad idea.

Web Page Excerpts

 “If your documentary tale is built out of interview clips, then a lot of your time as an editor will go into organizing the material and playing with story structure. That is, editing and re-arranging sound bites in a way to tell a complete story without the need for a narrator. Often this requires that you assemble sound bites in a way that’s quite different from the way they were recorded in linear time.”

Click here to view the web page.

The 6 Stages of Editing as a Film Director:

  1. Logging
  2. First Assembly
  3. Rough Cut and Variations
  4. First Cut
  5. Fine Cut
  6. Final Cut

Click here to view the web page.

 

Bibliography

 

 

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