Practical: Cutting and Continuity Editing

Practical: Cutting and Continuity Editing Experiment

To ensure that our film opening flows well and is not obviously cut, I have to ensure that there is good continuity.  To achieve this, there are many options on Final Cut Pro. I filmed some clips in my own time to experiment. Due to filming new clips since I made this, this is not included in our film opening.

1. I imported all of the clips I wanted to edit and dragged them into the timeline.

2. I cropped and shortened the clips so that it wasn't as long as before. I did this through the 'blade' tool on FCP, as well as dragging the edge of the video to shorten it.

3. I zoomed into the timeline so that the clips are easier to recognise. I copied and pasted one of the clips of the hand as I believe it could look good with some added effects. The second clip I chose to reverse the clip, as shown below.

4. I then shortened it slightly to make the clips look better.

5. I then cut the beginning hand clip so that as soon as the clip begins the hand is in shot. This will decrease the length of time that the whole video goes on for. This will also have a better effect as the audience will not be waiting for the pale, undead hand to appear.

6. Again, I reversed this clip so that it create a good cinematic effect.

7. I felt as though the reversed clipped didn't have good continuity with the editing, so I increased the speed by 2x. Shown in the image below.

8. This is the final storyboard of the clips edited above.

The editing went well, I am likely to use this effect in the final product as it has a cinematic effect and creates tension as well as suspense. This is common convention in horror films. These effects are good to use during the titles, although, to create a better effect in our film opening we are planning to have the film opening interrupted by a full screen with each of our names on.