Editing: Opening Clip

During the first clip shown in our opening scene, I was in charge of creating the choppy and 'glitchy' effect as the victim is tracked walking towards the killer's lair, including mini flashbacks of fire created at particular intervals. This entire scene was created using the Blading tool in Final Cut, various transitions and various effects; the process is explored below. 

Adding the Glitch Effect:

Firstly, I used the Blade tool to cut the footage at the desired intervals; I made cuts either side of a small segment of footage which would then be removed and replaced with the footage of the fire. Once the cuts had been made, I either dragged the fire footage from the top left hand panel into place or added a transition. 

I added the transition labelled 'Security' in a selection of the previously made cuts to appear as though the camera or screen is glitching or facing interference; this also allowed for a smoother transition between clips rather than an abrupt cut. Using the Precision Editor, I then shortened the transition to a much smaller, almost non-existent length so as not to take attention away from the victim. 

I then repeated the above process for the remainder of the first clip, adding a further 2 glitching effect. This screenshot demonstrates each transition once inserted into place. 

Inserting the Fire Flashback:

Furthermore, in the remaining cuts previously created, I dragged the footage of the fire which would be used to portray a mini flashback and dropped it into place. Once again using the Blade tool, I was able to shorten the newly inserted clip to a much smaller length to allow the clip to flash up quickly, representing a short flashback. This process was repeated for the remainder of the small cuts initially created.

Manipulating Aesthetics:

To further coincide with the psychological aspect of our genre, I decided to add a 'Trails' effect onto this opening clip,  as explored in a previous blog post. This allowed the continuation of the glitch effect throughout the opening segment despite the flashbacks having already been played. The layering of the victim's body which the effect creates gave the idea of disorientation, as commonly demonstrated in the psychological genre. 

Adding Sound:

I then added sound to compliment the glitch effect created. We had agreed on a slow and eerie non-diegetic backing track to be played throughout the opening scene, which is the long green sound clip; however, I also decided to include glitch effects and fire sounds to layer over the clips. Taken from YouTube, I added a glitching sound effect for the 'Security' transition, which created the illusion that the computer or TV screen was faced with interference; these are the smaller green clips on the top line of the editing screen in Final Cut. I then also added the diegetic sound of a fire crackling to layer over the fire flashback, labelled 'Fire'. 

This screenshot shows a close up of the sound added for the opening clip of the scene. By converting the clips from YouTube, I was able to import each sound clip and manipulate the length using the Blade tool. 

Evaluation:

Overall, I feel that I have executed the glitch and flashback effect rather well for this opening scene whilst also still capturing the chosen genre (psychological). Although the process was difficult to grasp initially, after research and completing the first effect, it became much easier for myself to do. Sound is also an extremely important aspect of any film and I feel that the mix of diegetic and non-diegetic sound imported successfully compliments the scene and creates the desired effect. In summary, I believe that this opening clip produced greatly demonstrates my creativity and skill set.