EDITING PROCESS

On the first draft, we just finished the adding and trimming stage where every footage was being cut at the right time and placed in the right order. We decided to mute the sound and edited the visual first. On the first draft, we also added the timelapse effect because if not the video would take a long time so putting on the effect would help us to have a vision of the future finished product. To improve for our second draft, we could add close ups or zoom-ins to add more tension when Max stabbed the teddy bear to make the action more clear to the audience.

On the second draft, our group managed to complete our opening sequence with everything we planned for the second draft. We were able to add our film production company ident, the word definition and some cinematic effect between each scene. There was just a lack of sound and color grading before the opening could be published. To improve for our third draft, we may ask for some feedback from our peers before the showcase of the final product.

On the third draft, after gathering feedback from one of our peers, we changed the sequence of the opening slightly. For example, instead of ending with Max’s creepy smile, we pushed that scene forward and decided to end the opening with the reveal of the earrings. We also got rid of the zoom in of Max’s action when he stabbed the teddy bear because we felt that the zoom in seems to be some kind of comedic element. To improve for our fourth draft, a color grading stage may take place to outline the real difference and start to create a gloomy atmosphere of a psychological thriller film.

As we planned, the fourth draft was the one that had been altered the most where a greenish and blueish color palette was added to the opening. This brought a feeling of coldness that correctly portrays the film as a psychological thriller film. However, the pace of our progress still seemed to be quite slow as up to this moment, we had not adjusted the sound yet. This meant that we would have lots of things to go through before the release of the opening. To improve the next draft, we could add sound and some more cinematic effects to connect the scenes even more.

Since we are still inexperienced with using Premiere Pro, I followed several tutorials on Youtube on how to adjust the sound, add effects or stabilize the footage. After a vast amount of time for experiments, I finally successfully finished the opening, however the final product may not meet exactly everything in my perfectionism because I know that my ability is still limited.

These are three specific videos that contributed to the overall production of Styx.

Adding & trimming

Colour grading

Editing Timelapse

Sound mixing

Export

We used the Lumetri Color tab to color grade our footage. First, we shifted the temperature to the other edge of cold color to stimulate the hidden tension throughout the opening, as being distant and intense. This cold color palette was being used for every scene as we wanted the tone to be uniform; however, based on each scene’s lighting, we still had to undergo some adjustments. We then used the ‘Color Wheel and Match’ too to analyze the previous clip we have color graded and apply them to other shots.