Titanic Swede- Final Cut

Titanic Swede

 

CCR- Question #3- How did my production skills develop throughout this project?

Exploring the Editor's Skill Development and Perspective (Dandelions Melody)

-After feedback of my professor, I recommend the readers of this blog to not follow this example, I did learn what I did wrong, and how to improve it. In an upcoming post this will be realized in a much better way and you can use it for a reference if you need it.
 

Consistency and refinement in audio (Implemenation)

 Implement consistency and refine every aspect of the audio. First, I remove(mute) all audio from most of the visuals where the director's voice was heard as planned. Then, refine the audio volume, reduce the echo in the parts where the voice rose, and listen to the extract over and over again to vary it and find the pattern when the music sound was more prevalent than the audio and vice versa, but at the same time, make sure it's consistent and not crazy so as not to distract the audience. Also, almost everything was implemented in a separate way, this mean the sound designer did the audio records not while filming but after filming.

Audio Types

As you can see in the image above, I identify as planned the different audio types, the sound designer gave me the clear description which guides me on what to do, the red circle is voice, the green music, the pink background noise.

 I try to maintain levels of volume within them (especially in the music since it takes place all along), but also I try to place them in the best pitch, in other words as you can see in the blue circle I did a conjunction between voices, and because I dint one voice to overlap or cut the other I try to implement the 2nd voice in the perfect timing, this is when the voice #1 reaches the highest pitch, I introduce the other one that starts at the same high, and this was successful. You can hear it by yourself in the video under.

  

     

Titanic Swede -  Part of audio editing explanation

Consistency and refinement in visuals (Implementation)

 I implemented consistency and refined every aspect of the visuals. I found there were no transitions in this excerpt from the film, which saved me time. However, since the idea was to create a vivid image of the mise-en-scène, I played with the color mix for each, but consistently. That is, whenever the scene showed only water without people or the ship, I went for a cool tone, while conversely, when only people and the ship were shown, I opted for an airy tone. All these decisions were made because they enhanced the aesthetic of the visuals and reduced imperfections like hand shadows. All these changes were discussed beforehand with the director.

Cool Tones

Airy Tones

Furthermore, my biggest change in color and tones was implemented in the machinery and fire elements, which was a delight to fine-tune, as you can see below.

This not only make me realize how much I learn from the research and planning that I did beforehand, but also the powerful magic of edition, and that's actually fun to experiment with it.

Original tone of colors

After Saturation and colors were edited.

After Saturation and colors were edited.

Consistency and refinement in visuals and audio (Planning)

 Now that I've implemented the footage, it's time to create the editing magic. For this, I've taken what I've learned from previous blog posts and compiled information to create a plan to bring both the visuals and audio to their fullest expression in an aesthetically pleasing, and organized way.

For the visuals: Now that I've put everything together, I want it to look more realistic, so I've researched how to improve visual quality through color. The situation requires so, y plan is to make everything the same tones when they're the same environments, and changed when is necessary for example, in the part (0:46) where the workers are in the machinery and there a sense of fire, I want to put like the light of the flames and make it the shot with warmer colors, while in contrast the parts with the sea and dolphins something more cold to represent the difference of concepts.

Color Correction Made Easy In After Effects- After effects tutorial (Techno Mafia Visuals)

For the audio: I plan to implement the voices first, then the background noise, and finally the music. This way, I can work on one category at a time and achieve a better result, but also adjust them appropriately.

For this, I found this video that explains how to edit sounds.

How to Edit Sound Design- Step by step tutorial (Film Editing Pro)

Organizing Footage (Reflection)

 What went well: Having a plan before shooting meant I wasn't wandering around wondering what to do and how to do it. Also, at least in the initial stages, everything went efficiently and successfully without any obstacles, and when complications arose, a quick solution was found. For example: focusing on only saving in my computer the shots that will appear on the swede successfully help me to maintain organization (as we learn in older blogs) 

Organize footage by shot number

What went wrong: I didn't analyze the likelihood of something going wrong, which increased frustration when things stalled. Not having a backup plan made the process slower and more complicated.    

What could I have done better: I could have considered possible outcomes and alternative solutions and consulted my team more for help. For example, I could have specifically asked the director, who had the cinematograph shots in his phone by order. Doing so would have saved time. And I realized that at the end and I apply it, as you can see below.

Conversation between Director and Editor (me)

What I will do better: I will consult my team a, but I also need to find faster and more efficient solutions and learn how to deal with frustrations. 

In conclusion, I have learned not only to rely more on my team but also how to react to different scenarios and how to adapt effectively and quickly, which is fundamental to continuing with the production process.