This stage of the process was the most all over the place but also the most fulfilling in the end. We had agreed that Zach and I would edit the op-doc as he has had experience in his CBTV class and I genuinely love to edit and could go on talking about why, which I have done in my "Beginning the Editing Process" blog post, so feel free to check it out :)
After we finished all of our interviews and still had b-roll to shoot (which we never ended up shooting...), it was coming close to the due date and we needed to put all of the puzzle pieces together. The two major parts we needed to edit were the two dividing parts of the doc, with the first half introducing the topic in a comedic and relatable light and the second half shifting in tone and becoming more thoughtful and insightful towards the topic, maintaining some moments of comedy yet not emphasized by music and other more enhancive editing choices to bring the topic back down to "reality" and make some real-life applications that could explain the shared reactions observed by Generation Z and make bigger picture connections/commentary.
I edited the first half of the doc, which included the introduction and MOTS, and Zach edited the main interviews together which made up the second half of the doc. Here are some key elements and factors that were important during the editing process:
Narrative Structure
As I have talked about in the past two blog posts regarding the Does This Make You Uncomfortable? documentary, the approach and narrative structure of our piece are a big decider in how the audience would receive any message, especially when trying to get Gen Z teenagers to seriously consider the relevance of their "silly" opinions on feet and what that could say about them and a large majority of their generation (in the U.S.). The lack of clarity in the planning stage as to our layout for where we wanted to insert our own interviews/ what we would say in them made it so that it all had to be figured out during the editing stage, which made me take even longer than I usually do as a perfectionist! We ended up wanting to take inspiration from Banksy's narrative structure in Exit Through the Gift Shop, inserting our own director interviews at the beginning of the doc and in some places during the MOTS to make conclusions and state surprising observations about the interviews, serving as transitions between points we wanted to make. Looking back, I even replicated the J-cut that happens at the beginning of Banksy's doc, as we are also setting up for an interview immediately into the doc, creating a more personal feel.
Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy 1st appearance, 2:30)
Does This Make You Uncomfortable? (Beginning)
Music
Music sets the tone for any production, playing an instrumental role in influencing the mood of the audience. As soon as I had pieced the opening sequence together, I knew that I wanted to add funky, possibly jazzy, instrumental music with beats to shape the editing and frame the upcoming sequence. Zach had mentioned having a song from Whiplash or a percussion-based piece after the title shot, so it helped inspire me to begin the music there. I also knew that to make the MOTS interviews more entertaining, adding music would not only engage the audience but also develop an investigative/ fun feel that emotes the process that we were going through when asking the interviewees these questions and making connections on our own.
When choosing the songs to include specifically, I looked through some of my liked songs on Spotify as I have a collection of instrumental pieces that I thought could fit the vibe I was going for for each different part of the MOTS section of the doc. For the quick montage right after the title shot, I knew I wanted something more upbeat and fast-paced to hook the audience after a slower beginning. I ended up choosing "Mambo No.5" by Perez Prado as it introduces the subject spontaneously. Then, to lead into the longer interviews, I check out one of my go-to instrumental albums by Piero Piccioni titled "Camille 2000".
Montage of MOTS
I wanted instrumentals that wouldn't take too much attention but still make an impact, helping the flow of the MOTS to also keep the viewer engaged. For the Gen Z MOTS I used the song "Slow Flute Beat" and for the non-Gen Zers (older generations) I used "Chains of Love" from the same album. I ended up choosing those for their respective parts because I thought they complemented the part of the narrative that was being developed when they were both playing, as the music made space for the audience to consider the points being made in whatever tone was being developed by the music. The lack of music in specific parts was done to bring the viewer back to the bigger picture, and while it could be taken as intense, the continuity in not-knowing-what comes next with the editing for the entire first half of the doc hopefully put the viewer on a ride which would soon dial down in the second half.
CapCut
I edited my whole sequence on CapCut for multiple reasons:
- It was the most easily accessible for me as I always have my phone (I edited on my phone) and could do it anywhere I went at any time I wanted.
- It's an application I'm used to, whereas with Adobe Premiere I would have to reaccustom myself to the application and I didn't have the time for that!!!
- I had tools such as overlay and different fonts that I didn't have on iMovie.
Editing on CapCut didn't give me any issues, allowing me to use overlays for the title shot of my foot (yes its my foot) against a white background paused with the title of the documentary.
Title shot
Struggles
Along the way, I definitely encountered some struggles...
- Audio: For the MOTS, the mic and camera had a disconnect (I think it was not plugged in properly) and we lost almost all of the audio from the mic. This was TERRIFYING considering I thought we had to reshoot everything. Luckily, we had the idea to bring Dani's camcorder-like camera so we used the audio on that one and, with Zach's CBTV skills, he enhanced the audio to the best of its ability. With adding some captions (I should've added more), what the interviewees were saying wasn't too blurry, yet definitely not perfect.
- Time (what a surprise!)
- Beginning: For the beginning of the doc, I had no idea what to do. I was stuck as I felt overwhelmed with all of the content we had filmed and didn't even know where to start. I got over this bump by writing everything I wanted to prioritize on a notes page on the Notes app on my phone, as I felt like I had a lot I wanted to get across at the beginning but hadn't put it into words/ organized it. This allowed me to get a hold on the approach for the beginning, as I put myself in the place of the viewer and thought about what I wanted to make them feel. I also reminded myself of what I said in the first blog post of this series: There's no right way! There are so many ways to get develop the narrative we wanted, so I let myself experiment.
Screen-recording of one of Note pages (ME TRYING TO PROCESS MY THOUGHTS)
Reflections
After I finished my editing part, I put together what Zach had edited to make what is the current final product. Here is a link to our op-doc, Does This Make You Uncomfortable?
This process was exhilarating and fulfilling. In the 2-week span we had to research, plan, film, and edit our 13-minute documentary, I reconnected to a fun style of editing that I hadn't exercised in a while, and dived into a topic with 2 friends of mine that genuinely interested me (NOT FEET, BUT THE SOCIOLOGICAL PART OKAY.) While there is definitely more we could've done and things we could change, I am really proud of how it ended up and even prouder of how I know we are going to maximize its potential in the near future.
This has been one of my favorite projects I've gotten to do in all of AICE Media Studies, and am excited to watch more documentaries as it has become one of my favorite genres of film. If our doc gets accepted into any places we submit it to, the whole class will show up in flip flops its been established. (Also we contacted the Baha Men band's agency and team to use the song "Who Let the Dogs Out?" for our ending credit scene and we got past one person, meaning we got a response. That was a highlight for sure.)
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