Editing

We started by splitting the shots into separate bins for separate parts of the drama according to the script; drug taking scenes, close ups, leaving the house, outside etc. We tried to stick to the order of the script and do the drug taking scene first as we knew that it would demand the most time of the 3-minutes, so we would then know how much was left for the other scenes.

Having used 2 cameras when filming, we had 2 pieces of footage that matched up exactly, making it easier to cut between the 2. We had talking about how we wanted to use additional sounds recorded to create an atmosphere, however one of the cameras didn’t pick up any sound and so we decided to re-record everything, so we would have complete control on what audio we could use. We had also talked about the pace of editing we wanted to use. We decided we didn’t want to create excitement with fast paced editing that would involve the audience in the drug taking, but also didn’t want it slow and ambling along as we had a lot to get in with a very real purpose, so decided for a medium-paced edit.

All in all for the drug taking scenes we used 3 main types of shots; long/wide, mid and close-up. We cut from long to mid (where it was the same footage as these were the 2 cameras filming at the same time) and hen for specific, important, realistic moments we cut in from mid to close-up.

Using the colour corrector we desaturated and lightened the pictures slightly (so they were still dark, but so facial expressions etc were clear) to make them dingier and as if colour and warmth had been sucked out of their lives. We also stretched and zoomed in on the images to make them grainy, to add to the aforementioned dingy effect and so it didn’t seem like we were glorifying drug taking.

To add to the surrealism in these scenes, and with the placement of the TV, we took the footage on their mum speaking to them which we used for the projections, and cut it down to just her mouth moving, desaturated it and made it quite transparent, and then stuck it on the TV. We didn’t make it obvious and so transparently overlaid it so that it looked as if it was only something that Sid and Owen were aware of, and not something that a drug-free audience might specifically pick up on straight away, and if they did, would recognise because it wasn’t fully coloured, that it was the twins’ imagination.

The final shot of the scene was to show the progression of time and to reinforce the death of Sid; we thought by making him disappear whilst Owen sits motionless, we could create an emotive shot that would show that Owen was still coming round from his drugs binge and slowly coming to realise what had happened. This shot has been used in many different TV shows and films, the latest that I have seen being in Scrubs, when organs infected with rabies get given to patients who start dieing. We used a cross fade/transition on a shot with Sid in it, to one with him not there, before fading to black.

For the next scene where Owen is walking down the hallway, we just left it as one symbolic shot, before he opens the door, on its swing back, when cut as the very moment that the door closes. This is something we picked up from Scorsese in his brilliant Goodfellas. When a car door slams shut, he cuts to another image, not a frame before or after, creating a string of images that flow.

On the outside footage we used two cameras again, one from the side and a long shot and the other from in front, as a mid-shot, with Owen placed on the left side of the screen. We also filmed afterwards an extreme close-up of the letter, and him playing with the lighter, and a close-up from behind him reading the letter. This, at the end of the drama, allowed us to cut quickly between shots to create a bit more excitement that he’s getting on with his life.

We again used the colour corrector on these shots, but to set the white of his tie as the over-riding colour of the whole shot, to make it look brighter, like he’s now got more to live for.

The titles we decided would come up instantly with the shot. The name “Every Cloud” is obviously from the saying “Every cloud has a silver lining”, the majority of the audience will be able to read into this so we didn’t feel the need to put the whole saying. We also didn’t put it at the start of the drama as we didn’t want it to tell the audience what was going to happen.