LO2: Understand the skills I will need to carry out a chosen media production role

Film Editor:

The film editor is the production role within the film production industry that I have chosen, it takes on several responsibilities and mostly relies on practical production and creativity. The key responsibility of this role is to take the footage recorded by the production team and develop a film with a strong narrative structure that has been put together with the editors technical skills with the software they use i.e. Adobe Premiere Pro. I have had experience in this role multiple times in several units, these being units 46, 41 and 18. Unit 46 was where I had edited together the audio-visual promotion a film, in 41 I had helped edit and put together a short film and then in 18 I had edited the trailer to go with unit 41's short film called Silent Captive. 

Written Communication:

When it comes to written communication, the film editor would usually communicate over E-mails if the client or the product manager is not there in the editing suite. They would typically email the person they are working for to seek out improvements and additional features that they would like the film editor to include in the product. For example, in my experience, I had this kind of exchange in my unit 46 (Audio-Visual Promo) with the client, in this case the rest of my group, to see what changes I should make to the trailer/promo I was working on. I feel like this helped me quite a bit in the editing of the audio-visual promo and I feel as though it was quite a successful product in the end. If I hadn't had this feedback the final product would have came out unpolished and very unclear of what the film's about.

This is an example of the Emails sent between me and Louis Norton, he had gave me feedback on how the audio clips needed to be synced more with the visuals and that one shot was a a bit too dark.

Verbal Communication:

Verbal Communication is just as important as written communication and involves the film editor being face to face with the client, it can also be done over a phone call or even be done through an app such as Skype. I understand that it's important to have this kind of communication as I had done this with my group whilst editing quite a few times when we were all sat together. I feel like this was much more easier as the people in my group could directly show me on screen what I needed to improve or add in the edit.

Practical Production:

Practical Production is the most important skill a film editor needs, as it shows they can successfully use the software and have knowledge of all the technical skills you need to take advantage of all the software. The post production stage is the part of a production that the film editor is most important to and this is where the film editor needs to put all their technical knowledge and creativity into the creation of the film as they are who create the final product that the audiences will see and gain an opinion on it. How well the film has been put together is an important factor towards peoples opinions on the film. It's important for the film editor to first gather all the shots that were taken in the production stage and arrange them on the software they are using (In my case, this was Adobe Premiere Pro C6) into an offline edit, this is the full film, unaltered, with no edits or effects added to it. I made sure that all the clips and the project file itself is set up in a simple and organised folder system that will make it quicker and easier to find the shots I need, as well as the project itself, if the shots are moved from a certain location it can mess up the project file as it will need you to find the shots again, taking up time that could have been used on editing. With my knowledge of knowing how to use the software, it makes it easier for me to edit when under a strict deadline that other wise would have made me stressed, if I didn't have the knowledge that I had about the software, which I had developed with past experience using the software. Some examples of editing I had done in the audio-visual promo for Silent Captive, are; the use of 'Gamma Correction' is used multiple times in the darker shots of the audio-visual promo, as originally these clips were shot in the day,  it needed darkening to try and create the illusion of it being night time in the audio-visual promo. One of the most basic tools used to alter clips is the razor tool, I had used this multiple times in the audio-visual promo to cut down shots with extra seconds that didn't need to be there, although this tool was used originally with the offline edit, more trimming needed to be done for a few shots. Throughout the audio-visual promo I had mostly used the cut transition, this helped keep the pacing in the chase part of the audio-visual promo as it was quick and sudden, one or two shots on the otherhand were altered to use 'dip to black' most notably being used before the production logo. A final technique would be the use of 'warp stabaliser', this is used when the clip is unstable and quite shaky, typically the chase shots were the ones treated with this edit feature within Adobe Premiere Pro C6.

Here is the audio-visual promo I had edited for a film called Silent Captive in Unit 46:

This was when I arranged the clips for the offline edit, this is where the shots taken are not edited in anyway and no sound is altered in any way either including the addition of music:

This was earlier on in the production when I was editing the sound on the clips, making sure the clip was synced up with the new recorded voices that would be dubbed over the original sound that had too much sound comosion from the park and streets nearby: 

Creativity:

Film editors have to have a creative input of there own, as they don't have to strictly follow what the director wants, this means that they need to have a sense of creativity that lets them generate ideas that could improve the outcome of the production. These are things such as making the film look more visually appealing, making the film feel much more immersive to the audience and amplifying the narrative through the visuals seen by the audience.

My Skill Gaps:

Throughout my time that I have spent editing films and audio-visual promos, I have found that their are many gaps in my skills as a Film Editor that I would need to work on to become successful in that line of work. First of all, I believe my written communication skills could need help with the structuring of sentences and help me get to the point I'm trying to show, making it easier for not only me but the recipient of the, for example, Email that I have sent as they'll easily be able to understand the question or the reply I'm giving to their question own questions. Verbal communication suffers the same way as written does as it can be hard for me to structure sentences that make sense to the person listening to me, I also would need to be more confident and louder to make my question and points more clearer. There are several skill gaps that I could improve on in my practical production. The first gap I would say is that I'm not very open to criticism and improvement from the client and my peers who also help me on the editing of the film and audio-visual promotions. It's not that I don't listen to them, but sometimes I won't take it on and actually improve the things they refer to, this is usually due to me not knowing how to fix or improve it and so I basically need to expand my knowledge on the techniques, have an open mind to how I could make a work around or even simply ask someone if they know how to. Another gap in my skills would be to manage my time editing to be more efficient, such as the fact I'll spend too much time on editing a certain part and then I'll get onto a shot or scene that needs more focus and time on it. One more practical production skill gap I have is something that importantly needs improvement, this is that I don't really have a wide knowledge of the typical software I use (Adobe Premiere Pro CC), I have more now than when I did start a year and a half ago, but I feel like there's always more room for knowledge on editing techniques, different effects and transitions and knowing the meaning of some terminology within the software. This would definitely help me become more successful in my editing and way my products come out. Finally, a skill gap that I have in creativity is the lack of inspiration I have, as it can be helpful to take what I've seen used before and amplify the effect it had by having my own twist of creativity to it.

My Action Plan: 

These are the different ways I plan to help develop my skills so that I don't have any gaps, so that I can be the best film editor to my abilities;

My first plan would be to definitely help improve my written and verbal communication skills so that I can be much more clearer to my client and the people I'll be working with. I believe the best way to help improve my written communication would be to start reading more, whether that be books, newspaper articles or website articles as this will help me expand upon my vocabulary as I see new words and words I know, being used in different contexts.

The second plan would be to actually develop experience and knowledge of how to edit using different software and learning new editing techniques, this would make my next step to attend a course at a university. An ideal course could be the 3-4 year long Digital Media Production course at Sheffield Hallam University, this is a BA (Honours), there is also the MArt Digital Media Production course that offers a one year work placement. I would create a portfolio from this course and with the work experience I could look useful to employers and companies.

The third plan would involve me looking for smaller jobs and clients that I could use to gain more experience and keep on adding these to my list of work experience which would look intriguing to other employers. This could lead me onto working on bigger projects such as TV and film.