Post Production Main Task Editing

1) In comparison to our Prelim Shot this Thriller Opening sequence is much more complicated sophisticated and complex. In terms of filming length, organisation of the shots, creating the right mood and delivering a narrative visually rather than through dialogue.

When we shot our Prelim Task Scene we only shot the whole scene from different positions of the camera and as wide/mid shot and close ups. Whereas the Opening sequence for our thriller demanded us to have Tracking Shots, Close Ups, Extreme Close Ups, Wide Shots. We moved the camera around a lot to have some shots from different angles to have a greater variety of views at one scene. Obviously, tracking shots are also much more complicated to organise and get a good end result than only shooting from a steady position not moving the camera at all as we did in our Prelim Task Production.

Because we had a lot of different shots and some of them even several times our rushtape was much bigger than the one we had in our Prelim Task production. We had to create 4 different LogBin files in which at least 5 different shots where placed to keep track of all the footage we had. In the Prelim Task this was much easier because the LogBins were more or less already set (Wide Shot/Mid Shot/Close Ups) and the rushtape only had around 10minutes or so.

Therefore, when we chose the shots which looked the best for future usage it took as a lot more time when we started editing our Thriller. In the Prelim Task this only took less than a lesson.

For our Thriller Opening Sequence we did not want to use any dialogue and try to deliever a narrative through all the images to make the whole project more sophisticated than the Prelim task. To tell what is happening visually we obviously had to create the right mood in the pictures whereas in the Prelim Task we didnt worry too much about lighting because the environment would be established through the actors and their lines anyway.

2) We had the idea to make our library sequence more exciting and interesting by using jumpcuts, flashbacks and rewinds. We got told off because the teachers said we should not destroy our nice tracking shots with these styles. And apparently they didn’t work anyway. So now we are editing our sequence using after effects. Our incorporated titles get highlighted and more interesting using a Glow Effect. Calmness and Steadiness is ensured through the visual.

3) Diegetic Sound is not greatlt used in our Thriller. You can still hear the bookslam and the heels on the wooden floor, though.


The Non-Diegetic sound we are using so basically our theme song was inspired by the “Dead Silence” Theme Song.




In the song you can hear a Glockenspiel playing which establishes a creepy atmosphere. I personally think of children which does not go well with darkness etc. which might be the explanation why it seems creepy and scary to me. You can also hear strings playing which form dark, sinister and scary feelings about the upcoming event.


With this music we want the audience to get excited about our film. They should also get a bit scared of what is going to happen. Will the researcher solve the case? Is she going to be tortured and eventually die?

Unfortunately, in the end this idea didn't work out very well and we looked for different music and found two pieces which we then cut together and put as our film music. The music came from our school resources out of a file called cavendish music.


4) Most of our Titles, the credits such as "edited by" "produced by" are incorporated in our sequence on a iPodTouch, a Library Card etc. They get emphasised by using AfterEffects such as Glow.


We stuck on one title which is "Directed by Felix Klinkhammer" using AfterEffects. We used the option "Add Text" used the font bank gothic and wrote it on the shot of the photocopier. We inverted the colours of the writing as the photocopier light was sliding underneath it.


We also stuck on the name of our film "Cliodynamics" at the end of our film. Simply in the same font and colour which was white on a black background. We want the title to emerge from the darkness.


5) As mentioned in earlier blogs our target audience is both teenagers and the older generation who enjoys watching sophisticated thrillers that make you feel the excitement of the process solving a crime and finding out what happened when why and how. The film makes you think and trying to solve the riddle. Obviously, some explicit intercourse scenes with the sexy researcher shown in the opening sequence played by Catrina Kirby would be included which then would attract male teenagers. The choices we made in terms of editing are all emphasising the mood of the film. The sound makes you get excited. The titles are written in futuristic and interesting font.

Editing Process

This monday we had our second editing lesson in which we finished logging our shots into bins. (logging means sorting similiar shots(the best ones) into categories (files called bins).

We named every single shot with a special name so we can be able to know imediately which shot is which. The whole "Cliodynamics" rushtape was about 22mins long.

Our Log bin titles are:

1.Titles (all the shots were we see a title incoorperated into probs etc)
2. Library Shots (the ones we shot in the Library)
3. Photocopier (because we did quite a few shots with the photocopier we made a seperate file)
4. Extras ( containing CU´s; OSS´s; tracking shot´s etc)

LogBins are very important to keep track of all the different mainly short sequences of our film. The more files the better. It simplifies finding a shot later when you are editing all together to one sequence.

We also started editing in this lesson.

We cut following shots together:

1. Tracking of books
2. Feet Walking
3. Book Slam
4. again Feet walking
5. again Book Slam
6. OSS reading the book


This is the order we wanted to have our shots in. But while edititng we noticed that we can create a bigger impact and a more interesting sequence if we have quick cuts between 2 different shots. This is the reason why we basically did 2.3.2.3.

We tried to styalise our film wit jumpcuts and rewinds to make the whole sequence more exciting. After two lessons we got told that this is not working so we had to dumb that idea and start with our clear version again and think how we want to use after effects and how to put more titles into the sequence.