Film Studies 201

Editing the Master Shot Scene was, of course, different from the documentary. We had many more cuts than in the documentary and had the extra-added concern of trying to match action and uphold continuity. Even though the documentary was in parts when it went to editing, the main structure of it – the interview – was intact. The footage for the Master Shot Scene was in scattered pieces, with even the master shot itself not resembling the final product's effect. Editing made the scene slowly come to life. From the rough footage, it turned into a cohesive series of events, the titles helped it to seem like a unit, and the music infused the identity into the project. While editing sometimes revealed problems we couldn’t recognize on set, it also was the time when our film really formed. We made changes to the storyboard throughout the project, modifying and moving things during editing beyond what we’d intended during principal photography.

Making previsualization materials was a new experience for me. Some things, like the lined script, I’d never really heard of much before, but having used them I can see why they can be valuable. Although creating the storyboards was a little challenging and somewhat stressful, I’m pretty glad with how they came out and had some fun making them. The previsualization materials were helpful in getting us to focus on the details of the film’s components before shooting. It was nice to have a draft of the film to guide us, and the trial and error was able to happen mostly on the page, rather than during shooting. The most difficult part was coordinating all the materials (the shotlist, storyboard, and lined script) so that they reflected the same information in different formats. At times they got a little confusing, but with practice it will all probably come much more easily.