Editing

Editing

Once we had filmed all the appropriate footage, we began editing on Sony Vegas Pro.

First of all, we had to select the appropriate clips and cut them down to the correct length. We then had to make sure that all the clips that were in the present in the narrative were kept in colour. However, some of the clips looked very dark so we edited them in terms of brightness and contrast. Also, we had to change all the clips with Myra watching the child into black and white to create a clear representation that this is in the past, like a flash back. We edited these clips to 100% black and white and also added a slight film effect too. The obvious difference between the colour and black and white clips creates a clear establishment that one is present and one is past. We then put the clips in the order that we wanted and which made the most possible sense.

For the first shot of Lucy on the swing, we altered the playback rate to make it slower which creates an interesting effect for the begging of the opening sequence. A few seconds into this shot we superimposed “A Cookie Monster Production” in the bottom right hand corner of the shot.

The over the shoulder shot of Myra is of her taking a Polaroid picture of Lucy. On this shot we superimposed "Starring Jessica Hutchinson" in white text at the bottom of the shot and used a fade on both its entrance and exit. We used the sound of the camera taking a picture however, when we came to film the camera would not work, but luckily we already had a previous recording of the camera making the appropriate desired sound. We therefore cut the sound from this clip and used it for the one we were using. We had to carefully match up the sound effect with when the camera button was pressed. We also added an effect onto the end of this shot which made the shot brighten and turn to a white screen as it portrays the development of the Polaroid picture. We also added another sound effect of an abrupt strange noise as soon as the shot begins so create an instant creepy and negative view of Myra.

After this we returned to the shot of Lucy swinging on the swing. This was an ideal time to add the next piece of superimposing “April Edwards” again in the bottom of the screen so the focus is still on the action rather than the text. We faded the text and once the text had disappeared we added the section where Lucy disappeared off the swing. We used another shot and spent along time matching them up exactly and then slightly overlaying them so that the disappearance looked authentic. The swing had to be in exactly the same place or else it wouldn’t match and would look out of sync. Once we had got the match as perfect as possible we added a sound effect of a “woosh” sort of noise to emphasise that Lucy has disappeared; she has been taken. Once she had disappeared from the swing the sound of her singing "1,2..." begins and continues throughout the next shots.

Next is the introduction of the brother. We edited three shots together of the same action but from different angles. We had to maintain consistent lighting on these clips so that the change between different angles remained smooth. We overlaid each shot slightly so the movement to the next shot wasn’t sudden. We then superimposed “Oliver Aird”, again in the bottom of the shot.

Throughout the opening sequence we continued to edit each clip in terms of brightness and also by changing relevant clips to black and white.  We also added the appropriate soundtrack throughout (a combination of a music box, lucy singing "1,2 shes coming for you..." and "twinkle twinkle", a heartbeat and a screeching) and used some diagetic sound of the brother shouting "Lucy".  At the end of the opening sequence, we adjusted the playback rate of the gradual zoom out to make is slower like the beginning of te sequence.