For this project, I was assigned to experiment with the 5 master edits: contrast, symbolism, simultaneity, parallelism, and leitmotif. Through editing, I was able to transform my raw clips to convey a story, both visually and emotionally.
Firstly, for Contrast, I showed a boy holding his thumbs up, edited with a joyful "yay" sound and bright lighting. This was followed by a clip of a girl sadly shaking her head, edited with somber, blue lighting and sad, slow music. The shift between the music, from upbeat to slow and bright lighting to dark tones highlights the emotional contrast. The happy "yay" and joyful lighting created a very lifted mood that made the sad scene it was paired with have a deeper expressive impact on the audience.
Next, for Symbolism, I recorded a swinging ID as a symbol of the passage of time. I edited it with black-and-white coloring and added a ticking sound effect. The ticking clock paired with the absence of colors made the scene quite eerie and suspenseful. The clock sound effect was a key element to this scene as it caused feelings of pressure and anticipation for what is to come with the passing of time.
Then, for Simultaneity, I used a split-screen shot, one screen showing a clip of me carving a tree, and the other being a clip of me sharpening the tool I was about to use of the other shot. I added jolly music to make the scene more light-hearted and to have the scene be different from what the audience anticipated, in terms of music choice.
For Parallelism, I had multiple phone calls occurring all at once. In the first shot, I showed only myself on the phone, then transitioned to a girl on her phone, and then finally a shot that showed me, the girl, and a boy all on our phones right next to each other. I added loud crowd music with a quiet phone conversation mixed in. The overlap of these sound layers made the scene feel chaotic and makes the audience feel as though they are present in the shot. It is to seem as though you are eavesdropping on their phone conversations.
Finally, for Leitmotif, I started off with a brightly colored clip of 3 people dancing together with happy, loud music. This was followed by a clip of one of the girls alone, smiling reflectively, with grey lighting and the same music as before, only quieter. The contrast between the volumes of the same music gives a feeling of nostalgia and pushes the audience to reflect with the girl on the previous happy clip.
Overall, for each of my scenes, editing played a major part in creating the mood and emotion of the clips. By changing the sound effects, volume, music, and lighting, I was able to change how the film was perceived by the audience.
