Construction: Editing - "The Transition"

Today's lesson involved adding the visual transition to the second half of the documentary; focussing on the changes in Tom's life and how things have improved.
To signify this change in mood, I felt it would be good to use the opening of a door into a new mood, or even a new way of life.
I felt that a simple cut would probably not create such an impact or a feeling of anticipation to the viewer, so I decided to create a blank screen for a few seconds, adding a fade into it from the previous scene. This gave the impression the scene was coming to an end and would trick the viewer into believing it was the end, however this abruptly changes with the jump cut into the next scene, showing tom having a NERF gun fight with his younger brother. I felt this would be a good way to start the new mood, showing that he is enjoying himself for the first time in the film and is the start of a new "era" for Tom.

Construction: Editing - "The Walk to Tesco"

I felt that this scene is important as it allowed the user to easily relate to Tom, doing a regular everyday activity. I wanted to make the whole scene run smoothly in a logical order to avoid confusion with the viewer.

To start the scene I felt it would be best to create a shot that allows Tom to "walk in to" the scene, showing him walk down the stairs which is followed by a Third Person shot of him walking down the road. The shots of him walking link together and can be easily interlinked to give different perspectives of the action. After walking along the road for a bit I felt that this could then easily transition to a shot inside Tesco.

To start the sequence in Tesco, I used a similar technique to the previous scene, providing a shot that shows Tom "walking into" the setting. Due to the nature of the setting, most of the aisles look similar which meant that the shots didn't necessarily have to be put in the logical order, however I felt it was necessary to continue Tom's "walking" and use the tracking shot of him walking down the aisle.

To finish the Tesco sequence, I used a short clip of Tom purchasing his items at the till and walking out the shop, this allowed me to continue footage of Tom walking. Whilst walking back, I accidentally crossed the road early whilst filming, I took this to my advantage and told him to stay where he was, to capture the action from a different point of view, I feel that this worked very successfully.

Construction: Editing - "Home Life"

This part of the documentary is probably the most powerful, focussing on Tom's family life. It's in this half of the documentary that Jon Hopkins' "Small Memory" plays in the background, a solemn yet simple song that I feel adds to the emotion conveyed. 

To create a more powerful effect I decided to edit the shots, cutting them at certain tones of the song and I felt this created an aesthetically appealing effect.
I tried to use a range of shots in this section, using close ups of Tom, as well as his aeroplane models and Lego. I decided that the best shot to use when Tom spoke of his suicidal depression would be the smashed Lego on his desk, which I feel connotates destruction and also conveys a sense that Tom's condition is beyond repair.

Construction: Editing - "Intro & Titles"

To start the film, I decided to display Tom's aircraft in a manner than made it indistinguishable against any other aircraft cockpit, almost leading the viewer to really believe the action is taking place inside of a cockpit. To add to this realism, I asked Tom to give me the sound files from the aircraft he was using at the time on Microsoft's Flight Simulator X, as the world's most realistic flight simulator, I knew that these sounds would be authentic and realistic. I also overlapped some of these sounds to ease the transition of tracks.

As the film moves on, the camera starts to show more of the surroundings, showing that Tom is in fact inside his bedroom and this then leads to the titles. I found that the title options in iMovie were fairly limited and so I decided to create my title in Photoshop CS3, removing the background to create a PNG file. This then overlayed across the image with the "Picture in Picture" tool. I felt the titles worked extremely effectively as it overlapped the video, still giving the viewer a chance to understand that Tom is not inside an aircraft, as well as the title visually fitting into the scene very well. It's here that the music starts, carrying on into the next section.