Critical evaluation

For our two minute piece we decided to create story about a boxer who had been kicked off his circuit and was struggling to get on with everyday life because boxing was all he knew. Ben Wilson (director) took a lot of his inspiration from Nicolas Winding Refn’s ‘Drive’. He wanted to use a lot of long drawn out fades and long cuts to focus on the characters eyes and his frustration. He also wanted to put use a very quick cut montage, as though the character was having a flash back which was affecting his day to day activities.
I think we have managed it achieve what we set out to achieve. When we originally discussed the piece and the ideas Ben had, I had pictured the montage more like the training montages from the ‘Rocky’ films. However Ben wanted them less rhythmic, and more quicker, snappy cuts between the character in the shop and the montage itself, a similar example to this can be seen in a YouTube film called ‘Time to Dance’.
As the editor of this piece I would’ve liked more montage footage because there was little to choose from while editing, which I feel made the montage less affective. Also due to time constraints, we had to cut down the script a lot. We had originally planned to have the character doing a number of different activities: shopping, clubbing etc. but eventually we had to settle with just using the shop as we were unable to get the other locations we needed within the time we had.

The production process went very smoothly, all the footage was filmed in timely manner and I think that Ben Wilson and Ben Brown worked very well together to create some very nice looking shots. However the post-production went less smoothly. Trying to edit the montage together without music to put it to as I was originally expecting to do was very difficult as I did not have a beat to put the clips to. Ben wanted the sounds to continue without them appearing on screen, sort of like a composograph style. However without the sounds there to help me or to add it was hard for me to get a clear vision in my head of what the end product would look and sound like. The sound for the piece became a real issue after a while, mainly because Alice was using the excuse of seeing her boyfriend for the reason she had not done what she needed to do, which I found very unprofessional. Eventually I had finished the picture cut but she had not done any sounds towards the piece. This meant that I had to leave the picture cut with her until she had finished the sounds.
During the process I learnt that it is important to do everything as early as possible so that if problems do arise you are not left trying to deal with them last minute as was the case with the sound design.

I feel that I put a lot of work into this project, it was decided early on that I was not needed on set, apart from one day when I was required to show the actor how to fall properly and safely onto a mat. I was required for this as I have an extensive martial arts background which includes choreography. I was came in to university to edit every day and if I felt that something needed reshooting I supplied Ben with a list of everything I thought I needed to be able to edit the piece to its best potential. The only real problems I encountered during my work was that I felt the group were not including me in the plans i.e. I was not told when they would be filming or when I could expect footage, which made it very hard to give myself deadlines. To try and solve this, I made a habit of telling everyone when I would be in the editing rooms so if they had any footage to give me they could come and find me. Another problem I ran into was trying to edit with everyone present. I had made it clear early on that I only needed Ben with me (if anyone) while I was editing. On one day however everyone in the group turned up and was trying to crowd around the computer to see what was happening and give their opinions on what I should do, it got very noisy and claustrophobic and I got very frustrated and angry. I took Ben to one side afterwards and explained to him that I could not concentrate with everyone shouting in my ear and the only person who needed to be present was him. After that there was no problem.

I feel that overall we worked well together on this project; although there were a few teething problems we managed to achieve our goals successfully.

For the second piece we followed on from the first idea and created a story about a boxer who had been kicked off his circuit, only this time he developed an eating disorder (over indulgence).
This time Ben Brown was the director and writer. At first we struggled getting off the ground with this project, mainly due to the amount of ideas Ben was trying to push into one script, all the ideas were good, but there were too many to try and fit within a ten minute time frame, and Ben (probably because he wasn’t seeing it from an outside perspective) struggled to cut anything out because he saw it all as relevant. Because of this the script took a long time to complete which meant we lagged behind. I don’t feel that this piece was as strong as our first. This is because during the filming we had to cut or change a lot of the story: either because of lack of actors or filming time etc. I felt that we should’ve focussed more on the characters degradation in boxing more and less on his eating habits. Looking at it from another perspective I can see that eating disorders happen gradually and this is what Ben wanted to show, but I still think that more footage within the boxing gym would’ve helped strengthen the story as this is what it was supposed to be about.
Had we not had to cut things out and change the story I feel that we could have filmed and included more boxing footage. I still think we managed to portray someone suffering from an eating disorder very well which was one of the original aims, but to achieve it we had to stray away from the main goal of showing boxing degradation as a result of the eating disorder.

Again in this project I was not needed on set apart from one day. Again I had to draw on my martial arts and choreography background to choreograph a quick fight scene for the beginning of the piece which shows the main character being beaten and the reason he is thrown off the circuit. When I first set out to choreograph this piece I had in my mind a very elaborate sequence with a lot of complicated shots and moves. However the director told me that he wanted something very quick and snappy without embellishment. So I had to review the fight sequence I had done and tone it down a lot. Even though I wasn’t on set for long I learnt how different it is choreographing to someone else’s needs rather than my own. Whenever I have choreographed fight sequences before I have never had a brief so I have been able to add whatever I wanted and make them look as “stunty” as possible. However I have realised that elaborate and impressive does not always fit the look you are trying to achieve. I am happy with what I managed to come out with considering that I had to make it up on the spot and teach the actors as well.
Other than this I was confined to editing. Due to time constraints and certain things going wrong with the actors knowing where they were meant to be and when I did not get all the footage I needed straight away. So That became a big problem when I was trying to edit scenes together without all the footage, I did make the best I could of it though and I did not get impatient as I usually would have. Another problem was that I did not receive the storyboards when I asked for them which made it very hard to edit scenes together because I did not know what order the scenes were supposed to take place, I had to use my intuition until Ben came and sat with me to put everything right.
Towards the end of the editing process I was constantly trying to get the credits off the Producer (Jonathan Copeman) but he would not send them to me. So on the last day I had to leave the project in the hands of Ben Brown and Alice Hathaway while they did the sounds design as well as trying to get the credits of Jonny. Unfortunately this led to them forgetting to add my name to the credits.
There was a scene in the film that was filmed outside while the sun was setting, When we watched it back one shot was really dark so Ben asked me to colour correct the shot before it so it all looked dark. Later on however I found out that Alice and Ben had tried to colour correct the shots to make them lighter, although usually I wouldn’t have minded, they did it badly and a lot of quality was lost and they didn’t tell me about it until the day of the presentation. I was very upset by this because I would have gone back to do the colour correction had I been asked to and I had asked Ben if there was anything more he wanted me to do before I left. I did not raise this issue with the group as it was beyond the point that anything could be done about it.
From this whole process I have learnt how to be more patient, with myself as well as others and I have learnt when to raise issues and when not to. Usually I am a very opinionated person and this can cause me to become confrontational. In the past I have been used to having things done my way, this is a habit that I am breaking out of, especially being editor when the decision is not ultimately mine to make.

I am happy with the feedback we received about this piece. Even though I feel that the piece could have been stronger, I feel that we have achieved our goals and managed to show a fairly convincing eating disorder. 

After presenting the piece

During the production and post-production of our 10 minute piece entitled "ropes" i have had a lot of problems with the group. I have felt like they have not been keeping me in the loop in regards to things that are happening and things that they wanted doing.

I got very aggravated with them all during the last week of editing. The main reasons for this were:

1.     I was constantly asking the Producer (Jonny Copeman) for the names of the actors so i could add the credits, but he would not send them to me.

2.     I was constantly asking the director (Ben Brown) if he wanted me to change anything or do any color correcting. to which he replied "no" every time.

It came to the point where i had to give the project over to Alice Hathaway and Ben Brown with the final picture cut on it - unexported. because the sound hadn't been finished, the credits still hadn't been sent by Jonny and i had family commitments to rush off to. 

When we presented the piece, i noticed two things, the first was that the group had failed to put my name on the credits, which considering the amount of effort i put into the piece was extremely upsetting. Secondly Ben and Alice had done some color correction without telling me about it, also the color correction they had done was done very badly and the look of the scene was ruined. This made me very angry and upset because i was constantly asking Ben Brown if there was anything he wanted me to change and he'd said no, to then go behind my back and do it anyway and do it badly, made me feel as though they had no faith in my abilities as an editor. Furthermore it was color correction on top or color correction I had already done, which I only did because Ben had originally pointed out it needed doing. Had they told me about it I would have come in and done it and made a better job of it than they did.

The scene with the color correction on it was the scene where the main character is talking to the house mate in the doorway, and in the final scene where the main character is throwing things around and there is a clip of his girlfriend up against the wall.

Editing the 10 minute piece.

Editing the 10 minute piece was very difficult for me, mainly because we had a lot of trouble getting the script finished. Our director and Writer was Ben Brown and although he had a lot of good ideas, he struggled finishing the script. his main problem was that he had too many ideas that he was trying to cram into 10 minutes, and even though he got them all onto 10 pages, realistically the piece would've come out a lot longer, and despite our help he struggled to cut things out because he saw them all as relevant to the story.

Because the script was finished late we fell behind slightly. Another reason for the fall back was our Producer Jonny Copeman. I don't want to sound unprofessional but i feel that it needs to be said. Jonny was not a very good producer, i found that his attitude towards his role was lacking, he spent too long getting actors which pushed the group back even further. 

When i eventually got the footage and started editing, i still hadn't been sent a finalized script or storyboards so i had no idea what order the footage was meant to go in. 

It took me almost a week before i managed to get Ben Brown to come and sit with me during the edit so he could tell me what order the footage was supposed to be in. 

After this the editing went very smoothly a lot of the footage didn't require a lot of editing as the lighting and shots were very well set up and thought out. however there was one exterior shot that did require some color correction as the shot after it was too dark due to the failing sunlight. to counteract this i made the first shot slightly darker so it appeared as though it was night or sun set rather than midday as it was supposed to be. 

To do this i used 3 way color corrector, first tinting the shot blue then using desaturation, brightness and contrast to work on the levels:

Belated Screen Shots

I have gone back into the project for "Bout" and taken some screen shots to show the decisions we made during the edit.

We wanted the opening to be very long and slow. So we could build up the intense feeling of frustration. by drawing out uncomfortable silences and shots the audience starts to feel frustrated too.

This picture shows the length of the clips we used, and how I used Opacity fade to extend them even longer.

This shows how i slowed down one of the clips to make it appear longer, as the actor is stood still, it does not obviously show that it has been slowed down.













Next was the montage scene, this was very difficult especially because i wasn't editing to music. at first i tried throwing clips together randomly, but this proved to be a fruitless effort:

the main problem i found, was that throwing them together randomly, meant that the clips were the wrong size and length and there was no rhythm to the piece.



so I tried a musical tactic, by doing it with beats, every few seconds add a clip, then as the montage progresses the time between the clips gets shorted as do the lengths of the clips. this seemed to work. once i had a basic outline of the montage structure i could add other clips in-between and create a type of composograph effect - obviously once the sound design has been added.

this picture shows the montage in progress ( luckily i had started it in a new sequence, so as not mess up the main edit. so i was able to show how i began with the montage edit).











Lastly i had trouble deciding the ending, it was a decision between a certain number of shots and whether to fade them or straight cut. so i tried out 4 different possibilities so i could watch them all one after the other and see which one i preferred.

I had quite a lot of help from Ben Wilson (director) throughout the editing, although i did the editing itself, Ben's help and input was a big part of the finished piece.

First Footage

I have been given the first lot of footage for our piece and i have started editing.
some of the shoots are really well done and have worked really well.

Unfortunately as a martial artist i have spotted quite a lot of technical errors when it comes to the actors boxing.

the main problem is that he drops his front hand when he is punching and this looks really bad as it leaves him off guard and off balance, a mistake that a professional boxer would not make.

Also when punching the speed bag (something that is already hard enough) he is bringing both his hands back over his shoulders before he punches which is why he is struggling. I can't use a speed bag myself but i do know that when doing so the hands need to be kept in front of the chin at all times. i have taken some screen shots to show exactly what i mean (i have also take some screen shots of the times when he uses good technique to show the difference between the two.) i have also asked the producer if i can go to the next shoot and work with the actor a little bit just to give him some tips on boxing.


Bad technique:

 i

Here as some images of good technique:

i am currently attempting to edit together a training montage, but i am struggling at the moment because i do not have a lot of training footage

Further editing research

After a discussion with our Director Ben Wilson, i have been forwarded towards a few videos for ideas:

these first two clips are from 'There will be blood
'

These clips are an example of what our sound will be like, at the points where i'll be making sharp quick cuts of Ray training. the sound will carry on which will make a sort of composograph. with the odd off beat percussive sound. this will build up the intesnisty of rays frustration, especially when cut in with long intense shots of Ray

This video is 'The Shoes - Time to Dance (Official Video)' there are many examples in this video of the long intense shots of the main characters eyes. which we will be using along with quick fast cuts of Ray in the gym to show his frustration.

10 minute film idea

We have been set another video assignment: it must be 5 - 10 minutes long.
it must be based on the same character from the 2 minute film.

the idea we've agreed upon, is the boxer trying to get on with everyday life, handing out C.V's for jobs, shooping etc. but having no luck. he spends alot of time in the pub, one day there is a woman who is crying. he talks to her and finds out that her boyfriend has cheated on her, he offers to walk her home and during that time she talks about how people have no morallity anymore. She agrees to go out with him the next day. they meet up and she is a completely different person to when they spoke the day before, she pays little attention to him and is more interested in dancing with her friends. the boxer resigns himself to the fact that she is not interested. at the end of the night her ex boyfriend turns up and gets violent with the him. so he does what he does best and knocks the ex boyfriend out.
The next day he packs his bags and returns to the gym.

The aim of the piece will be to show how many people, especially now need a vice, something to hold onto and believe in.

the editing with this piece will be rather similar to the first, however there will be more quick cutting earlier on in the film.

I have also been given the responsibility of choreographing the fight scene between the boxer and the ex boyfriend. this is because i have had alot of martial arts experience including karate, sword fighting and kick boxing. and have had alot of experience within them choreographing fight scenes for competetions and shows. Unfortunately i do not have any videos of me doing karate or kick boxing, however i do have some videos online of some free fighting i did while sword fighting (i would like to stress that these are completely un-choreographed) these should show the type of weapons i am insured to use and that i can choreograph with:

This first video is the 'Small sword' not to be confused with the short-sword. the small sword evolved from the heavier counterpart known as the 'Rapier'. the small sword was initially used for thrusting and stabbing as it had a sharp point but blunt edges. It is a very light and thin sword which was most popular during the 17th and 18th century, it was a very effective duelling sword though to have appeared in France before spreading throughout europe. Later the techniques for using the Small-sword were adapted into the modern sport of fencing we know today. on some occasions grabbing the opponents blade was seen as there are no sharp edges down the sides so there was no danger of cutting your hand.

On this video i am the person on the right of the screen:

This next video is the Rapier. the predecessor of the Small-Sword, it was a long slender sword mainly used for thrusting attacks but with a sharp edge which could be used for slashing attacks as well. on some occasions the hilt of the sword was used for punching the opponent. The Rapier was developed around the 1500's as a Spanish dress sword for self defence and duelling. the Rapier was extremely popular amongst the wealthier population. The French musketeers were also known to carry this as a side weapon, as featured in the famous film "The Three musketeers". secondary weapons could be used with the rapier such as the 'Dirk' - a small dagger, and even a small one handed shield, grabbing the opponents blade was less common in rapier duels and was only ever done as a last resort:

in this video i start on the left but move around the right, i am wearing black trousers and i am the smaller one: 

This next video features the Longsword, a very well known sword. it is a two handed weapon with a straight double edged blade. most used during the 1300's - 1500's from late medieval to the renaissance. 

there were many systems of fighting with this sword however they all evolved from the same style, which is a german term (can't remember it) this sword was used primarily by knights on the battle field but also during duels and trials by combat. the sword is very heavy and requires a lot of practise and control to be able to wield it properly:

There are 2 parts to this video, i am again the smaller of the two on the left, wearing black gloves. the longswords we used were made of a strong flexiplastic which is designed to mimic the weight and feel of the real sword but bent on impact. this is because the real swords are very heavy and made of none bendy steal or iron, should one have hit the fencing helmets we were wearing the helmet would simply have shattered, allowing the sword to carry on and kill the wearer - even y using these swords we had many occasions where fighters broke fingers and were very badly hurt,so we later brought in a rule where we could only fight with longswords while wearing lacrosse gloves and ice hockey padding:

   

This Final video is the Elizabethan backsword, not much is known about this sword, and i am not overly practised in using it. so all i know of it is: its a very heavy sword, mainly used for slashing.

I am the person on the right, using the white sword. 

I am insured to use these weapons, however if i was to choreograph something using them i would get one of the instructors to stand with me just incase as they are first aid trained where as i am not. 

Other than this my longest experience in martial arts comes from 12 years of karate which i started at the age of 4 and left at 16. i reached 1st Que, which is one belt before black. i failed my black belt grading due to an injury i took during the test while fighting my brother (i still maintain to this day that it was his fault).

Through the last few years of learning karate, the club started doing choreography competitions, in which we would choreograph a fight scene of 3 - 6 people. the fight scene was judges based on technical accuracy, control and how impressive it was. I then became our club choreographer having recently started stage-fighting lessons at school for GCSE drama. 

Although i have left i still practise on occasion and still maintain a level of skill in the martial art and during my time at college i did start getting together a group of people who also had martial arts experience to choreograph fight scenes with. 

I also used to study and teach ballroom and latin dancing, during which myself and the main teacher would choreograph dances together which we would later teach to the children and adults in the class. 

I studied Kick boxing for a few months over the summer of 2012, however i have not carried this on after an injury i suffered to my nose during a sparring session, where i happened to be at the end of what could only be called 'A Sparta Kick' (see video below):

All the experience i have gained in martial arts over the years has giving me a large variety of knowledge into different fighting styles, including how people move best depending on their size and build. And reactions to taking hits and giving them.

Dancing and especially teaching has helped me learn how to make things easier for others who are not as experienced as i am, and also how to make movements more graceful, smooth ad overall not as forced.