Editing
The Beginning of our Editing Process
This where we first started with the editing process, which was done using the iMovie. The image to the left displays the order of the footage that we've edited so far, along with the black screened transitions - a key part of our short film's continuity. We started off the film with a shot of public transport and a long shot of Bethnal Green Rd, where the first Slam City Skates Store is based. This is then followed by a pan of the shop front, capturing one of our actor's (Reece Williams) smoking outside it.
We also edited in a quick shot of a skateboarding brand they sell - Nike SB.
This image shows the opening to our documentary and us detatching audio from Khi Graham's interview so we could break up the conventional "sit down" interview style and use it as a quick voiceover over on top of a panning shot of skateboards featured in the store. This is an effective way to keep the audience engaged in the topic we're presenting.
Following on from the interview we edited in above, we then addedsome of the footage of skateboarder Daniel Jacobs which we filmed at our local skate area in Lloyds Park.
We decided to use the footage that showed Daniel doing the same trick over and over again, combined with Khi's voiceover whereby he responds to the interview question - Is dedication important to be a good skateboarder?
We changed the colour of the footage to grey scale to give the illusion that this is Khi's thoughts; what he thinks of when he remembers the dedication and determination needed to skateboard.
Here is what we've edited so far
In order to show the history of skateboarding at Southbank, we thought it would be effective to add footage of what the skateboarding scene was like many years ago. While researching the sport's background, we managed to find some great archive footage of a community of skateboarders in Southbank Skate Park back in the 1970's on YouTube; we selected a few short clips.
Amendments have now been made to our documentary short, as we have decided used this new footage (image on the right) for the opening, instead of starting with Slam City Skates footage. Our short film will now begin with all our footage from Southbank, since it's considered the "home of skateboarding" for many skateboarders all around the world.
Southbank is near the London Eye, a famous tourist attraction; the shot on the right includes that and a carousel. By capturing the London Eye in the background, we are ultimately connecting with the audience because it's something many are familiar with.
Editing in director names - we have used a basic font and the colour white to stick to the conventional simplistic style of documentary design, while also making sure our names stand out amongst the grey background. This establishing shot displays Waterloo Bridge, which is near Southbank Skate Park. As you can see from the image above, we have added new footage to our short film, from shots of the general public in Central London to grafitti on the walls at Southbank Skate Park.
Here is a new close-up shot that we've edited in. It captures the bright and colourful grafitti in the background, alluding to the positivity behind the skateboarding subculture. It also shows the "community" of skateboarders in Southbank Skate Park.
This is an important screenshot as it shows the progress and changes we have made to our documentary short. We have changed the whole sequence and have edited in all our new footage from Southbank, Lloyds Park and Slam City Skates Store - both the Bethnal Green and Covent Garden.
This is our production company name, which I made using our original logo design and photoshop. It will most likely be at the opening of our short film or at the end, which we will make a decision on once everything else with the documentary is how we want it.
The image to the left displays the raw footage of the short interview with Joe Thompson. We decided to edit this in next to the footage of the Slam City Skates Store (event) in Covent Garden.
We chose to ask him slightly different questions than Khi, in order to avoid getting a similar response.
These images show us in the voiceover process. I have now become the conventional "voice of God" in the documentary, as I suggested that this may help the short appeal to a female audience, since skateboarding is quite a male dominated sport.
It took a while to get the voiceover to the standard that we thought was good enough; I had to focus on my clarity and pace to sound clear.
When we initially did the voiceover with the scene's sound in the background, both sounds clashed and was too loud; the voiceover could barely be heard. In order to overcome this, we decided to mute the footage in the background and raise the volume of the voiceover, so it could be heard.
Final Touch-ups:
We decided to edit in another key point from the interview with Joe Thompson towards the end of our film to sum up the views of those in London's skateboarding community: "everyone skates man, every walk of life, every type of person..."
In additon to this, a voicover and "home video" was added to explain the film's title. The home video was taken from Tamuka's iPhone, whereby he used a fish eye lens to create a hemispherical image.
Spelling and font adjustments were also made in order for our short film to remain professional. We decided to mainly stick to the helvetica font because of its simple and classic design. Audience feedback additionally suggested that we should stick to this font type.
By Ashley Fontaine