TRANSITION: Editing the Mockumentary

As editor of this project, I have full responsibility of how the mockumentary is put together. I will liaise with Alex to make sure I am delivering his vision appropriately. 

I previously did some research into the workflow of an editor and I'm glad I did as this made the set up on Premiere much easier by following the workflow stages. I started by importing the footage into Premiere and I made separate bins to split up the shots - this made finding specific shots a lot easier.

Screenshot of bins for VETMAN

I forgot to sync the audio on the rough cut as I haven't edited in a while, but I made sure I remembered to do it this time. I only had to do it on the scenes containing dialogue, we had a multi-camera set up so we needed both sets of audio to play together. To do this I simply layered shot one on top of another and lined up the audio as close as I could and listened to see if they were in sync.

As Katie had shot this particular interview with Sheila three times, once I had synced the three different sets of audio, I decided which one was better and which I was going to use - I am also able to mix and match and use the other two if some parts of the dialogue sound better. 

Syncing audio for Sheila's interview

Syncing audio for Sheila's interview

The next thing for me to do was to start putting the footage together as it is, without worrying about audio levels and colour grading. This will create the rough cut. I did this by following the script and shot list, as this is how Alex and Katie would have planned the mockumentary in their heads and my aim is to replicate this on screen. 

I made sure to put enough reaction shots in of Sheila to maintain the comedy aspect to the film. 

Titles & lower thirds

I spoke to Alex about the having the title and lower thirds replicate The Supervet's, he said he liked that idea but we'll change it slightly. For the title I put Dr. Tim Stewart and underneath in bigger and bolder writing VET-MAN. I added a 3D effect to VET-MAN to give it a bit more bulk, but kept it in a plain font and in white to replicate The Supervet's style.

The lower thirds were done in the same font and style, similarly to The Supervet. However, instead of keeping the captions plain for the owner, Alex suggested for Sheila's lower third having 'Human Being' underneath her name to add to the humour of the show. Sheila's interview is an emotional part of the film so it made sense to put a bit of humour in it with the caption. 

Rough cuts

Rough cut 1

The first rough cut consisted of me putting down all the shots in the correct places on the timeline. This included the opening sequence of Sheila walking into the waiting room, Sheila's interview (including cover shots of Coco), the consultation, surgery scene and ending.

Screenshot of VETMAN timeline

Putting together Sheila's interview was relatively easy as I replicated the test shoot, but with the new footage. Again, I made sure to keep the emotional parts on Sheila's close up, and cover with the dog footage when we speak about her. 

The surgery scene was very difficult as I really wasn't sure how to approach it. My initial thoughts were that it would need to be fast paced with quick shots, and I haven't done this particular editing before. In the end I just put shots down in an appropriate order to have something in that gap. I will look closely into this during the second rough cut, when all the other shots are in place. 





Feedback:
I asked Alex to have a watch and give his feedback.

- Opening sequence needs to be quicker. There's too much of a gap between dialogue. This will also introduce the comedic elements in the mockumentary. 

- Surgery scene needs improving 

- Condense the off-camera dialogue, again to speed up the pace 

- Colour grading - try to match the interview scenes picture

- More shots to establish the vets surgery

- Have the photo of Kevin on the part where Sheila says he didn't make it


Rough cut 2

During the second rough cut, I sorted some of the audio. All the audio had a slight hissing noise on it from the microphone as we had it strapped to the top of the camera, so I had to remove this to improve the quality of the sound. I did this by editing the clip in Adobe Audition, capturing the noise print of a quiet part of the clip, and applying this to the whole clip.

Editing audio in Adobe Audition

Corrected audio is now green

I also made the title sequence shorter, following Alex's feedback. Before it was a whole continuous sequence, I took a few shots out and shortened the others and it still flows well. The dialogue is also a lot closer together and flows well throughout the beginning of the film.

I have improved the surgery scene by following Laurel and Hardy's technique. Instead of showing the whole scene in the surgery room, I have cut back to Sheila waiting for the operation to finish while we hear a few crashes and the Doctor swearing. I have then cut back to the doctor with the blood splashing in his face. He then appears at the waiting room door covered in blood ready to tell Sheila the bad news with a blood-stained leaflet. This worked better but still needs improving, I am unsure on how to do this yet, but I will keep experimenting with it.

I created a title sequence and the title of the mockumentary. Alex said he liked the idea of having a few clips of animals and then having a shot of the doctor at the end posing. I did this with royalty free stock footage but Katie is going to take a few videos of her own animals to use, as we want our mockumentary to showcase just our work. After picking the music for the title sequence (which Alex liked), I transitioned the animal clips to fit with the beat of the music, so they slide offscreen and the other one slides on. This worked really well and we all liked the outcome.






Feedback:
- Alex said the music for the title sequence should go on for longer, underneath the voiceover until we see Sheila and her sad music will start. 

- The surgery scene is a lot better but maybe muffle the sounds as if we are looking at Sheila, she would be hearing this through a wall and therefore so will the audience. Muffling the sound will work for this. The surgery scene needs to be longer also as its over very quickly.


Rough cut 3

I have added another reaction shot to the consultation scene, this also covers a camera shake, and it makes the conversation more awkward and therefore funnier. 

Alex helped me to muffle the sound in the surgery scene as audio isn't my strong point. I edited the clip in Adobe Audition, on FFT filter - effects - filter and EQ and after going through the different sound presets, we agreed on 'The Club Downstairs'. This worked well for the banging noises but no so well with the swearing as you couldn't really hear what he was saying at all. Therefore, I researched into other ways to muffle sound and found that there was an effect on Premiere which essentially was easier and less hassle than importing the clip onto Audition. The effect was called 'Lowpass' and muffled the sound while we could still hear the words clearly.  

Audio during the surgery scene

To complete the ending, I added the bin thud when the doctor throws the dog into the big wheelie bin. I found this effect on Freesound and I think it works really well. We wanted to emphasise the thud into the bin so this part sounds a lot better now. 

I have finally cracked the surgery scene, and we all really like it. It developed when I changed shot to looking at Sheila instead of see inside the surgery room but it was still too short. After a few days of thinking about it, I have found an appropriate way to extend the surgery scene and it is so simple - I cut back to Sheila once more. I'm not sure why I didn't think of this before, I think I needed those few days over the weekend to think about it with a fresh mind. I did come up with another idea where we could cut back to a shot of Sheila in the park with Coco and blur and brighten the edges as if she was dreaming / thinking of playing with her beloved dog, and then the doctor comes out to shatter her dreams. However, the idea of simply cutting back to Sheila again is a lot easier and helps the scene flow well instead of bringing in another shot, I cut to her hands this time in her lap while prolonging the banging and crashing noise to cover this. 

Screenshot of added surgery scene

The music was next to be placed on the timeline. After Simon's feedback about the use of more music I started looking on YouTube and Freesound for more which would appropriately fit the surgery scene and the bit when the doctor breaks the news to Sheila. Alex said a dramatic music piece would fit well with the surgery scene and it was clear that there needed to be a sad / emotional piece for Sheila's heartbreak. I found two pieces, one called 'death match' from YouTube and the other called 'grave matters' from Kevin Macleod (who will be credited at the end of the mockumentary). 'Death match' was very dramatic and was very appropriate for the surgery and 'grave matters' was emotional enough for Sheila. 

I placed the surgery music as the doctor was putting his rubber gloves on and preparing for the operation, which worked really well. I then ended it as soon as he injected the dog. This felt right because this is when the serious side stops and the funny side starts.

I placed Sheila's music as the doctor stepped into the waiting room to break the news. I ended this music piece at the point when he throws Coco in the wheelie bin. This seemed appropriate because the footage all flows well until he turns round and sees Sheila watching him in disgust - this seemed the right part to end the music, he then gives a small wave at Sheila as if it's an 'oops' moment, the silence makes this shot very awkward but amusing. I am very happy with the music running throughout the mockumentary, it uplifts the film and takes it away from the style of a drama. Lastly, I added the same music from the start at the end. I start this just as hear the vet say "it's just part of the job". The quick cut and transition into the fun music adds to the comedy aspect.

Feedback from Alex:

- The audio needs to match in volume throughout the mockumentary. The audio should be around -6 dB.

- There are a couple of shots with audio still not edited

- Make sad music at the end start slightly earlier

- Turn up the volume on the consultation scene

- Add in another reaction shot during the drawing of the cow & sniff

- Cut to "these hands" as a close up a bit later

- Stay on the blood stained leaflet shot for longer

- Colour grading needs to be complete but apart from that, it's pretty much done

Colour grading

Katie is DoP and it is her job to decide how the shots look. I liaised with her to how she wanted the shots coloured. This is the last thing I did to the edit. 

We didn't have to spend a lot of time on the colour correction because being shot like a documentary, it's meant to be real therefore, with everyday colours. In a drama there would be heavy colour grading to suit the tone of the film. We simply just had to make the colours match throughout and spend the most time during the operation scene it a clinical look.

Colour from rough cut 3

Colour corrected

The colour correction was essential as seen in the photos above. The colour changed a lot between the two different cameras. Katie wanted to keep the warm tone that she filmed so we just brightened the wide shot and brightened and changed the close up to match. I did this on an adjustment layer so I was able to apply the exact same colour changes on the same shots, e.g. in Sheila's interview where we keep cutting back to her close up, all the close ups would have needed to look the same. 

Rough cut 3 (top) Final cut (bottom)

The consultation scene needed a fair amount done to it because the original colour wasn't very nice and we wanted a slight clinical but natural look to it. This meant brightening it and adding in blues and purples until we got the desired look (above: bottom photo). Again, I applied this to an adjustment layer so we were able to keep the same colour choices throughout the whole scene. We just made sure the colour of the doctors shirt and Sheila's dress matched in each shot to guarantee a even correction throughout the scene.

Rough cut 3 (left) Final cut (right)

Mine and Katies hardest job in the colour correction process was the surgery scene, as we wanted this to have a very clinical look to it. This consisted of putting in a lot of blues and purples and brightening the shots a lot. We are very happy with the final look we came to, again the adjustment layer takes the colour changes over each shot to maintain the continuity throughout the scene. 

Chosen colour corrections for surgery

Final cut

Final VET-MAN timeline

I had matched up the audio so the volume flows well throughout the mockumentary. I have taken the hiss out of every audio clip however, there is still a slight noise, it is an improvement from the beginning but it's not perfect. I really struggled to get rid of the hiss, we think it's because we used the rode mic on top of the camera and not a boom, meaning we can hear some camera noise, which is something I cannot get rid of in post production. It's frustrating but it's only prominent when wearing headphones so it's only a small issue.

Katie and I have finally colour corrected it so it looks a lot more professional. 

What have I learnt throughout the edit:
- Each rough cut is developed well and I am happy with how the film finished.

- I have learnt new things about editing while doing this, whether they be from research or Alex's help and advice. 

- I have learnt how important music is. The underlying sound tracks throughout the film changed the style of the mockumentary which I never expected them to do. Luckily we were able to fall back on the music to help get our mockumentary away from the style of a drama, as it was too late to re-shoot any footage, giving the fly-on-the-wall effect. The timing of the music is also essential to help bring out the comedic aspect of the mockumentary.