In creating my 40 second long opening titles sequence, I went through the stages of two rough cuts before reaching a fine cut that I feel happy with. In the changes from the first rough cut to the fine cut, the steps were...
- Selecting a soundtrack: After searching through a number of royalty free music websites, I decided on a track called Slow Motion from Bensound. This song was exactly what I was looking for, as it starts softly, but quickly picks up with a beat, and had a perfect point in the track for me to cut at 40 seconds. The track also has a slightly intense, but sad feel that I was looking for.
- Getting a starting point: Which I felt was best as time lapse clouds, as this serves as a sort of beginning, middle and end for the titles. Followed by crayon drawings, as I feel that they were effective in starting the sequence innocently, but immediately change the atmosphere once burning.
- Immediately cutting to the music: By using the soundtrack as a basis for timing right from the start, I was able to cut each clip in time with the song's beat.
- Testing overlaying and chopping clips: Before adding each clip together, I decided to test putting one clip over another and dropping the opacity. I felt that the perfect combination for this was the candle footage overlaying the burning picture footage. By doing this, it gave me a feel for how I wanted to continue the sequence, instead of placing clips side by side and seeing where it goes. I also feel that this technique makes the sequence more three dimensional. I then eventually continued to do this by overlaying knife footage, autumn leaves footage and cloud footage. Below are screenshots of the candle and burning picture combination from all three cuts...
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| Rough Cut Version One (Original Unedited Footage) |
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| Rough Cut Version Two (Original Unedited Footage with Text Added) |
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| Fine Cut Version One (Edited Footage with Text Added) |
- Reserving space for text, then adding it: In some areas of the sequence, I decided to deliberately hold on a shot or make sure some sections weren't too cut up, to allow me to add my cast names to the sequence. Using a font called Lulo Clean that I found to be neat, modern and bold (and most likely using as my branding font for The Identity), I added cast names in order of character importance and where I felt they fit with the images. Such as Tatiana Maslany (main character Lauren) fitting with her 'burning' family, Felicity Huffman (mother character Helen) fitting with letting go of her daughter's hand - combined with the knife that will later kill her, and Liam Cunningham and Olivia Williams (birth parents Frank and Kathleen) fitting with before and after shots of a childhood bear - signifying the loss of their daughter's childhood. Below are screenshot examples of the latter two cast names and their pairings, along with before and after examples of the rough cuts and fine cut...
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Rough Cut Version One (Original Unedited Footage,
Knife Footage Overlaying Hand Holding Footage) |
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| Fine Cut Version One (Edited Footage with Text Added) |
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Rough Cut Version One (Original Unedited Footage,
Cloud Footage Overlaying 'Before' Bear Footage) |
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| Fine Cut Version One (Edited Footage with Text Added) |
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Rough Cut Version One (Original Unedited Footage,
Cloud Footage Overlaying 'After' Bear Footage) |
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| Fine Cut Version One (Edited Footage with Continued Text) |
- In relation, added the title: I also added the text at the end of the sequence - I feel that this is appropriate for the sequence based on my research and so that the sequence builds up to revealing the programme's name. I used the current font and logo that I'm considering for my branding, dropped the opacity slightly for a professional and suitable appearance, placed the text over the clouds, and had the sequence fade to a clean white. I'm very pleased with the results. Here is a before and after from Rough Cut Version Two and Fine Cut Version One...
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| Rough Cut Version Two (Original Unedited Footage with Text Added) |
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| Fine Cut Version One (Edited Footage) |
- Made cuts where appropriate: I removed footage of an empty swing that I simply felt didn't fit with the rest of the sequence, and tied the clips before and after this together, which fit much better. This also gave me a few extra seconds to add my 'Created By Megan Waters' credit at the end of the sequence.
- Added effects and colour corrections: The most important part (in my opinion) that made the fine cut stand apart from the rough cuts was adding tones, contrast, saturation and colourising each individual clip. By giving the clouds a warm tone with high saturation (that eventually turns more cold during the sequence to symbolise the atmosphere change), I was able to give the clouds much more definition. By adding mixed tones of warm and cold to the burning crayon drawings I was able to greatly combine the contrasting moods of what's happening in the footage, along with brightening the flame to stand out. By brightening and colourising the autumn leaves and black boot footage, I was able to make this contrast with the blue colourised map footage it was combined with for a dimensional look. By giving the 'before' bear warm tones and the 'after' bear a creepy green/blue tone, I was able to make the moods of both shots greatly contrast. And by overall brightening, contrasting, correcting and colourising each shot, I was able to bring the sequence to life and make each moment stand out.
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Rough Cut Version One (Original Unedited Footage)
The Opening Cloud Shot |
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Fine Cut Version One (Edited Footage of the Above):
Colourising, Saturation & Exposure Changes |
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Rough Cut Version One (Original Unedited Footage)
Candle Shot |
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Fine Cut Version One (Edited Footage):
Colourising & Saturation Changes |
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Rough Cut Version One (Original Unedited Footage)
Middle Cloud Shot |
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Fine Cut Version One (Edited Footage):
Cast Name Added
Slight Lowering of Saturation from Edited Opening Cloud Shot |
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Rough Cut Version One (Original Unedited Footage)
Pennsylvania Map Shot |
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Rough Cut Version Two (Unedited Footage with Autumn Leaves
Footage Overlayed) |
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Fine Cut Version One (Edited Footage):
Colourising, Saturation & Exposure Changes Made to Both |
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Rough Cut Version One (Original Unedited Footage with Map
and Leaves/Boot Footage Mixed) |
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Fine Cut Version One (Edited Footage):
Cast Name Added
Colourising, Saturation & Exposure Changes Made to Both |
I'm extremely pleased with the end result of my fine cut. The editing process consisted of a lot of trial and error, but I think that soon my ideas started to tie together and the footage naturally worked. I think the biggest improvement were my colourising etc. changes, but I think overall, the sequence well represents the themes and roughly the locations of the series. I think that it also gives the sad, slightly down beaten tone that the series had and that I planned for, while also including bright colours to include the contrast of positivity and negativity - which is experienced in the story of The Identity. My next step now is having my tutor review my fine cut and to then create a completed, final cut based on their feedback.
Below are all three cuts so far...
Rough Cut Version One
Rough Cut Version Two
Fine Cut Version One
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