Collage (Edit Three) and Where to From Here

Edit Three

Unfortunately due to continuous technical failures I was unable to make this film as long as I wanted.  I therefore have much that I want to achieve with the next phase of editing.

 Title and Credit Sequences

I spent a lot of time photoshopping the font for the title sequence as the feedback from the class was that it needed to be more original and this font was not available for download so I had to adapt it.  I like the screwed up paper imagery because it contributes to the scrapbook/collage aesthetic of the whole film.  I also think it stands out more and is more memorable now.  I chose the chalkduster font for the rest of the writing because to me it appeared school-like and had a hand-drawn feel which again complimented the aesthetic of the film and contributes to the metaphor of multiple layers of meaning and multiple layers to people and to life itself.  The names of the interviewees appear quite quickly initially as I wanted them to contribute to a sense of chaos before the rip away transition.  I chose to include a tea/coffee stain and child's drawing to contrast between adulthood and childhood and contrasting worldviews.  I thought these images were symbolic of the different perspectives.  I decided to make some of the fonts black to add to the sense of chaos at the beginning.  The title sequence builds up into a mes of layered voices and then cuts to silence as the title appears.  I used silence intentionally here to provide the viewer a thinking break to prepare for what might come next.  

The end credits again utilise the child's drawing imagery and includes some visual and audio material from Oliver.  I wanted to end with Oliver because his perspective on the world is so simple yet complex.  He captures the mystery of life with certainty when talking about magic and tinkerbell.  I also thought it was funny to have him explaining how hard life is at the age of 3 after all the heavy discussion from the adults.  The illustration helps bring the film back to an innocence and concludes with someone who is still developing their view of the world, which is reflective of the how I want the viewers to feel.

Imagery

 I tried to incorporate a lot of metaphor into the imagery where I could.  I tried to always have the images layered and leaving traces behind.  Creating the imagery for the torn cardboard was completely new to me and more involved than it initially seemed which presented a bit of a challenge for me.  Also the limitations of Finalcut in editing the shape of objects, and the malfunctioning of the after effects programme created added difficulties.  Initially, although the faces are laid out side by side and the voices are still audible I wanted to bring the images forward and backward through opacity - this also helped control the intended focal point which I think will be less overwhelming for the audience.  I also wanted the traces that remained on the frame outer to be subtle and to not be too obvious when they change - so that after a while you realise there is something there but it hasn't distracted you from the main focus of the film.  I used after effects to create moving points of light in the landscape to convey the existence and exchange of energy that the subjects discuss.  

I followed the discussion of a 'higher power' with Oliver talking about Superman - he is simultaneously talking about the existence of a higher power and his own identity which was a good bridge to transition into ideas around identity.  Ideally I would like to make all of these segments more fleshed out with more depth and subtlety of images, so this may be a task for the next phase.  I transitioned with Oliver flying across the screen as Superman because it seemed a light, fun and innocent way to move from a focus on him back to more serious material.

The discussion around water and identity utilises an image of a hand print underwater.  Here I again used after effects in a way that I wasn't familiar.  I am very happy with the end result.  The hand print of course representing identity which exists under the veil of language.  

I used the repeated picture of Bev that goes from colour to black and white and slightly decreases in time to convey the shattering nature of questioning ones own identity and to reflect the questioning of 'who' that appears above so frequently in relation to whats being said.  

I wanted to focus on the eyes in this segment because to me the eyes are the most expressionate and emotionally revealing feature of someone - the windows to the soul if you will.  I put Bev in black and white to play with the idea of distance while discussing intimacy.

The final rip away happens mid sentence after Natalie says "I guess humanity is-" to show how humanity can be ripped away at any moment, life can be ripped away, existence and even the changeable nature of our own perceptions.  It conveys a fragility and the temporary nature of ideas and the world.  This then transitions into Oliver talking about how its all just too hard which is amusing because he is so young and is mimicking adults which seemed a poignant place to leave the audience to think.

Where to From Here

1. Lessen the talking heads - add multiple perspectives like Hockney, animations and more graphic elements concerning whats being talked about
    
2. Make it much longer with more interesting variation in images
    
3. Play with other kinds of transitions - putting pieces of paper on like paper mache
    
4. Make the ending smoother, and more logically connected?
    
5. Make the depth more obvious so that the layers are more pronounced
    
6. Experiment and take more risks - have more examples of failures to learn from and build upon