Postproduction Strategies
As soon as the first filming day wraps, it’s time to officially begin the editing process. Cinematic stories are shaped through careful editing. In this blog entry, author Leslie Lopez discusses postproduction in relation to Jillian Holt’s article Intuition in creative film editing practice: using phenomenology to explain editing as an embodied experience.
The Emotion of Editing
by Leslie Lopez
Crestwood is the name of the mockumentary film that my colleagues and I have been working on throughout the semester. It has been a prominent experience for us and the cast that we got to work with, to be able to work as a team to make a film. We wanted to take a different approach with this film and decided to put together a mockumentary production. As co-producers, we came together and discussed how we could alter the original Crestwood script, which was originally written as a drama, so it could embellish more comedic relief. A mockumentary was born!
I want to speak on how editing is a very important part of a film. The way something is edited makes the viewers connect with the story a certain way. The way you edit a film is very important and should be a main focus because if it’s done well, the audience will undoubtedly resonate with the film. Editing creates emotional reactions.
I was most interested in how Holt (2020) referenced the work of scholars Vivian Sobchack and Jennifer Barker, who “…argue the ‘body of the spectator’ and the ‘body of the film’ as reciprocal to the ‘existential act of viewing’” (Holt, 2020, p. 121). In particular, Barker’s idea that the audience is “touched” by the film stands out to me. The concept of a certain film “touching you” and making you feel something goes back to the editor and how they help show these emotions on the screen (Holt, 2020). Editors bring their intuition and their physiological and cognitive responses to the content and story they’re working with. They must process and think about how to edit it in the best way to tell the story. Each editor has a different approach.
For our Crestwood production, our group has discussed the way we would like it to be edited so that it can show humor and a mockumentary style production. As you can see when you watch our film, we leave time for the audience to laugh and take in when a joke is said. Holt states: “As Walter Murch concedes, ‘emotion, story, rhythm, are extremely tightly connected’, but of the key criteria that defines ‘good editing’ he puts emotion at the top of the list: ‘how do you want the audience to feel?… What they finally remember is not the editing, not the camerawork, not the performances, not even the story – it’s how they felt’ (Murch 2001, 18)” (Holt, 2020, p. 131).
We hope our audience will laugh and feel joy as they are watching our film. Getting the comedy to connect to the audience can be difficult at times. Sometimes certain jokes don’t stick, and you must edit the scene a different way to let the audience have time to laugh. A cut at the wrong time can ruin the flow and the presentation of the film. For a comedy, you want an emotional reaction, laughter. You have to make sure you work on the project and that it presents a strong and emotional story and that it’s told well.
Here is my advice for future editors: Your instincts are important! Trust your instincts. The more you try to improve something in comedy, it could possibly get less humorous. Don’t overthink too much and if it was funny the first time around, then leave it at that. Don’t try to make too many cuts or it could become jumpy, and the scene could feel frantic and messy. Sometimes less is better and funnier. One scene in our project that had to be carefully edited was the scene in which Kathryn and Keith were folding the towels in the laundry room. There was a voiceover playing in the video and Kathryn and Keith were simply folding the gym towels. Keith was slowly and obliviously folding away, while Kathryn, on the other hand, was angrily folding them and was doing it super-fast and very well. The way that her annoyance was portrayed had to be edited in a certain way so that you could see the emotion of annoyance growing throughout the scene. Cutting to different facial expressions makes the scene more amusing and entertaining for the viewer to watch. Transitions are crucial for cinematic storytelling and comedic timing. If the transition is too early, it can feel rushed, but if there’s a cut that feels too late, it could feel awkward or misplaced. We tried hard to find the right balance, to present a scene that “touches” the audience and leaves them with a feeling of laughter and joy. I believe we were successful.
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References:
Holt, J. (2020). Intuition in creative film editing practice: using phenomenology to explain editing as an embodied experience. Media Practice and Education, 21(2), 121-132.
Image credit:
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko, courtesy of Pexels