General Editing

Editing. It's so peaceful, interesting, and infuriating. Alexa and I are almost wrapped on production, there's only a couple of shots we need to reshoot, which means I have a lot to work with.

I started editing as I got the footage, first putting together a scene, and then adding the audio I had recorded separately on my phone with my RODE mic. This is not the way you should do it, but I am pretty competent at quickly lining up audio just from a small snippet, so this way was more convenient for me. (The more proper way would be to line up the audio in each take first, and then add them to the project.) 

As I was editing, I was quickly just adding the Black and White preset to each clip, just to get a sense of how the clips would look in the end. This helps me better diagnose any problems with flow, knowing that my problems are not coming from color difference but instead from audio problems or merely timing. Later I will go back and further color correct each shot (I have already done a few to get a sense of what we want), adding darker blacks and lighter whites (for the neo-noir look we are going for and overall for just enhancing the shots). 

When editing I tend to just use feeling to know when to move from one shot to the next, it is impossible to truly determine the place to cut. However, when I am unsure of when to cut, or what the problem with a certain cut is, I try to follow

Walter Murch's Rule of Six:

                                1. Emotion (51%)

                                2. Story (23%)

                                3. Rhythm (10%)

                                4. Eye Trace (7%)

                                5. 2D Place of Screen (5%)

                                6. 3D Space (4%)

(a more detailed description here)