Story-Telling: Editing Rough Cut

My shoot is over, now I need to edit together a rough cut in Premiere Pro.

Step 1: Radio Edit

Some of the bins I used

Before doing anything, I moved my footage onto my hard drive and then imported it into Premiere Pro. I then sorted through the footage and separated it using bins. For example, some of my bins contained all of the running shots from the opening scene or all of Rachel's shots from scene 3. I also created three sequences to work in: Pre-opening, Part 1 & Part 2.

Once I had organised everything, I began working on a radio edit. That meant that I was only going to focus on getting all the audio in the correct order, insuring all the lines spoken followed the layout of the script. To do this I went through each piece of footage, choosing the shots with the best audio, marking my in and out points and then placing it into the timeline. Next I used the ripple delete and rolling edit tools to go through the clips and match all the audio up. Once I had a smooth sounding radio edit I used the same tools to go through the footage and match it up, layering some shots over audio from other shots to make the cuts seem less obvious.

The timeline for the opening scene

I went through each sequence and fine tuned each shot, adjusting cutting points where needed, even if it meant cutting a few frames earlier or later. I replaced audio on some shots were a different audio take was better and then eventually this step was complete.

Step 2: VFX

Once I had fine tuned the cuts and audio in the radio edit, I moved onto the shots that required some visual effects work. For this project there was only one shot that required some VFX work. In this shot my main character is struck by a van as he runs out into the road. To pull off this shot I had to ensure I shot it in a specific way. Unfortunately, when it came to editing the shot together I realised I had to shot it correctly. My blank slate (a shot of just the background, no actor) was different from all of my other shots. I thought I had locked off the camera but it must have moved between takes. Because of this I had to think of a way to work around it and still pull the shot off.

The van composition

Before importing the footage in After Effects, I took an image of a van from a stock photo website and imported it into Photoshop. In Photoshop I removed the wheels and saved them as a new file. I also added a driver into the front seat as the stock image did not have one. Next I opened the two new files I had in After Effects. I then created a new composition. In this composition I put the wheels back onto the van and animated them so they would spin around and then stop as though the van was braking. I also slightly animated the van so it would move a little when it stopped, like a real vehicle would recoil if I were to suddenly brake. I then added some motion blur and finally I saved it.

Cropping around the leg

Next I opened up my original shot, without any VFX, in After Effects. I watched the shot back and picked the point at which point the van would strike my actor. Once I had marked this point I added the van composition into the timeline. I then added some motion to the van so it would move onto screen and then hit my actor at the point I had chosen. I made sure to add a little recoil as though the van was braking as it hit him. Next I had to crop my actor so his leg would pass in front of the van like it was hitting him. I then had to do the same for the few frames that involved my actor doing this. Finally I added some motion blur and that was the shot finished.

The final composition

After viewing the shot back I realised it needed something else, so I opened it back up in After Effects. It needed some camera movement, so I added in a 3D camera. I then used a special After Effects code [wiggle(1,50)] that adds a handheld style look by adding a random movement to the 3D camera. Once this was complete, I added a camera zoom a few frames before my character was hit by the van and then the shot was complete.

Step 3: Sound and Titles

Now all of my footage was fine tuned, it was time to add all my sound effects and music, adjust the sound levels and mix it all together. I also needed to add my titles. To find my sound effects and music I used the YouTube Audio Library. Once I had found all the sounds and music I wanted, I imported them into Premiere Pro and began placing them into the timeline. I added a braking sound effect, horn sound effect and engine sound effect to the van accident scene. I also added ambience sound effects throughout the scenes set inside the waiting room and I added some ambience sounds during the opening scene in the park. Then, I added an ambulance sound effect to the opening scene in the hospital car park. Next, I added my titles to the opening scene and the other titles needed between scenes to help establish which parts were flashbacks and which were not.

And that was it, the rough cut was complete. I am planning to do all the colour correction after I have completed the final cut. First I will get some feedback on this rough cut.