Planning Editing - Miss Georgiou

Brief plan of editing

Editing in film is the process whereby shots from a scene are selected and constructed together to create the final edit. Editing styles create meaning in the film through collages, tempo and timing through the scenes. Which helps highlight the significant parts of the film and also editing styles are used in thrillers to create shock,surprise,suspense. Planning the editing will be useful as it will allow me and group members to discuss and plan the possible editing styles we will use in our thriller opening to help create relationships, engage and connote first emotions with the audience. 

Timing of shots (slow editing)

The first editing style me and my group have decided to include was the timing of shots, this was going to be used when the girl walks towards the antagonist who is laying down in the middle of the road. As this will be slower, it will create suspense and tension in the audience making them feel anxious of what might happen next. The use of this editing technique will help mirror the fact that the girl is walking slow, which will also reflect on the audience as they'll be full of suspense as she is taking her time to approach the boy. This will help build a close relationship with the girl as the slowness of the editing will make them feel tensed as well as she is, so the shared emotions between the girl and audience is that they'll be feeling apprehensive about her walking towards the boy. Slow editing is conventional to a thriller as it creates enigma and suspense to suggest something will happen but you don't know when. 

Reaction shot

a woman screaming after seeing the  antagonist

In my opening thriller scene, the girl will drop her phone when she hears a certain noise coming from where her friend was whilst she was checking on the mysterious boy on the road. Within this part of the scene, we will include a reaction shot to show the girl's facial expressions after seeing her friend lying on the floor dead. The reaction shot will show her face, which will be shocked and horrified as she cannot believe that her friend is hurt. This will create a sense of terror in the audience as it shows her emotional state, also the audience can relate to her reaction as they can put themselves in her position and reflect on whats happened. It also helps build a closer relationship with the girl as both the audience and she share the same shock to finding her friend mysteriously dead. A reaction shot is conventional to a thriller as it allows the characters to connect with the audience as it shows what emotional state their in which could also relate with the audiences. Moreover, it helps show the different character representation e.g victims will be seen screaming in shock, in contrast antagonist will have a straight face as if he has no remorse of what his done. 

Filter

black and white filter 

Within our thriller opening scene we will have a short flashback which will be showing a little boy swinging on a swing by himself. The editing technique we decide to accompany this particular part of the scene  will be a filter. The colour of the filter will be black and white or a tea stain effect, this will reveal to the audience that this precise bit is not in the present day and is in the past.
Furthermore we chose to use black and white as the filter as the colours both convey different meanings which will confuse the audience and make them want to continue to watch the film as they would want to find out why this specific flashback was included. Black shows death, mystery, power and darkness , whereas white indicates life, light, goodness and innocence, the two used together will question the audience whether the flashback is a good or bad one which will also help provoke the suspense and shock element when they find out what the use of the flashback was. The use of this editing style is conventional to a thriller as it helps establish to the audience that the particular part of the film is different to its normal state which makes the audience engage more to the scene. 

Fade

The screen gradually fading to black

Lastly the editing technique I will be using in my thriller opening scene will be a fade; often used when its the end of a scene or sequence. This specific editing style will occur at the end of the scene where the victim is screaming as she sees the antagonist in her way at the forest. The use of this technique will leave a massive amount of suspense and enigma in the audience as the do not know what will happen next due to the scene automatically turning black. It also gives the audience a breather and time to reflect on what they've just watched and whether they'll want to continue watching the film to see the final outcome of the girls fate. The fade also could represent the victims life as it gradually turns into dark, suggesting that her time in life is running out and that she may be unfortunate with dying later on. This creates a closer, sympathetic relationship between the audience and the girl as they both don't know what is going to happen to her at this stage as she in vulnerable position. A fade is conventional to a thriller as it helps provoke suspense and tension in the audience because it gradually fades into another scene or turns black and the audience do not know what is going to happen next, so they pay more attention to the film. 

Planning for editing was very helpful because it helped me and my group members discuss and evaluate the different techniques we will use to create a huge impact on the scene and audience. Editing styles are very important as it helps tell the narrative in a more interesting way, grabbing the audiences attention and building relationships with them and the characters. If the scene was to be in all one editing style, it will be very dull and boring and the audience will probably not continue watching the film due to its first impressions in the opening scene. I believe that editing styles that we have decided to include in our thriller opening are conventional to a thriller as they all either create suspense,shock or tension in the scene making the thriller more appealing to watch.