Post Production: Editing Part 2

The biggest problem we faced after we finished edited the whole sequence footages is the total time is nearly 4 minutes which is too long. So we need to cut off some parts to make it shorter, we decided to cut off the car parts part as it is the less important part in our storyline. In addition to cut it all out, we have to make the front and back connect. Due to the limited shots we got here, I decided to change some orders of the plot. So I edited the girl finds out her bag is broken first, and then she feels the pain from the wound, so she rips off her sleeve to wrap the wound. Moreover, we cut some gap time between the footages. Finally, it is only 2 and half minutes. 

Then we need to add the sound and the titles in. For the title of the film, we listed a list of the names and finally choose – ‘The Revving’. We named it ‘The chop shop’ first, but then we realised there are films called this name so we changed it. And our production name is J.M.G which is the capital letters of our names. I am the editor, Max is the director of photographer and Gi is the director. For the other titles, we made up some names. We edited them through the opening sequence. Next is the soundtrack, we used the original soundtrack and also add more ambient sounds and sound effects. In our original soundtrack, the wind is really loud as we filmed outside in most of the time. So we reduce the volume of it and add a more regular wind sound. We add many sound effects such as the door close and open sound, the footsteps of the biker and the dragging sound of the axe. These can create a thriller atmosphere as these sound have been exaggerated in a quite environment. The most important part of the soundtrack is the motorcycle chasing sound. We searched many different soundtracks and find one suitable. Because it is really short, and we need it for nearly 50 seconds, so we copied some of the parts and paste it to make it longer. We edited it to match with our scenes. To reflect that the motorcycle is getting closer and farther, we adjusted the volume from low to high. Furthermore, we add reverb effect on the soundtrack which can makes it more real. The tension has been created through the motorcycle revving sound with the shaky camera shots and the footsteps with the girl’s facial expressions. 

Overall, I am really pleased with the final edited opening title sequence, it is nearly the same with what I expected. The new plot line works well, and the locations are really good. It can present the action horror atmosphere by the fast shaky action sequences, the axe with sound effects, the close up on the bloody wound, the motorcycle revving soundtrack and also the jumpscare at the end. These can all attract our target audience which is 16 to 17 teenage boys. For improvements, I think that next time we can be more careful on the continuity while filming so it will be much easier and more fluent for editing.