Fiction Adaptation: Editing
Editing the stop motion was in theory relatively simple. This was because I had shot it in narrative order to review back on the camera it working as an animated piece. The tricky part was getting the length of the clips right.
As I knew that I would be filming some live action with an actress, I thought it would be best to film the stop motion per frame in video format. This was to ensure that the frame size of the film wouldn't be different, as I was uncertain whether photographs would be a different size. It would have been a lot easier if I had chosen to do photographs of each frame, as the length of each clip would be exact. However, filming each frame has allowed me the flexibility to choose how fast I want the piece to move. I originally shortened the clips right down and it made all the characters look like they were running all over the place which wasn't what I wanted. I therefore lengthened them and the piece then slowed down enough for the pictures to match the voice over.
I had some trouble with my green screened television as it wasn't recognised as a green screen, meaning I had to change what it was I wanted to do. I found an old fashioned television and put it into Adobe After Effects to create a transparent background and saved it as a PNG. This allowed me to transfer the television onto the piece adding a certain degree of realism to the piece being 'alive'. This did work to a certain degree, however if the characters were too close to the 'tv' then parts of them would disappear behind the PNG. Unfortunately in some sections this is unavoidable and I'm not pleased with that section but I have tried many different versions and have gone with the version I think is best.
Building up the sound design is something I found particularly difficult with this section of the poem. Trying to think of realistic household noise that didn't over exaggerate was difficult. I ended up going with an old fashioned whistling kettle to fit with the time period, a ticking clock and background noise of the television. The television was the hardest to find as it had to be old fashioned enough to fit with the setting, and it had to not have too much dialogue otherwise it would fight with the voice over of the poem.
My end result was actually a piece of radio from the 1940s as I decided that it could be introducing a programme about the war, making a nice transition to the war programme that we cut to later in the poem. Even though the radio piece is a lot earlier than when this is set, it is the Grandad and the young boy that is watching at first, creating a link that not only the whole stop motion piece is a memory of the little girl, but that the grandad is also remembering his memories from when he was growing up at that time. This is a subtle thing to add in and I'm not sure if I have executed it well enough to come through. In reflection, I should have got a cutaway of the Grandad in a close up watching the programme to help make that link clearer. I found it difficult to get the close ups due to the cramped conditions of the set being a dollhouse, which meant that the camera couldn't focus on the character without being a lot further away.
When editing the live action sequence, it was important that I made sure to do as much to the sound as I could to make it sound as clear as can be. I did everything that Sam and Ferg showed and suggested in Adobe Audition and it helped a lot in improving the toasting. One thing it did do that wasn't helpful was make it very quiet. When I turned it up, the crackling sounds were very prominent which wasn't good. To ensure that the poem is the main focus, I have turned the sound effects down further. Here is a comparison of what the sound files were like before and after editing.
Original Sound:
Edited Sound:
Although the differences aren't major, I personally think there is an improvement to the original. Combined with the pictures and the accompanying sound effects, the distortion of the toasting is much less distracting than if it was on its own.
As I knew that I would be filming some live action with an actress, I thought it would be best to film the stop motion per frame in video format. This was to ensure that the frame size of the film wouldn't be different, as I was uncertain whether photographs would be a different size. It would have been a lot easier if I had chosen to do photographs of each frame, as the length of each clip would be exact. However, filming each frame has allowed me the flexibility to choose how fast I want the piece to move. I originally shortened the clips right down and it made all the characters look like they were running all over the place which wasn't what I wanted. I therefore lengthened them and the piece then slowed down enough for the pictures to match the voice over.
I had some trouble with my green screened television as it wasn't recognised as a green screen, meaning I had to change what it was I wanted to do. I found an old fashioned television and put it into Adobe After Effects to create a transparent background and saved it as a PNG. This allowed me to transfer the television onto the piece adding a certain degree of realism to the piece being 'alive'. This did work to a certain degree, however if the characters were too close to the 'tv' then parts of them would disappear behind the PNG. Unfortunately in some sections this is unavoidable and I'm not pleased with that section but I have tried many different versions and have gone with the version I think is best.
Building up the sound design is something I found particularly difficult with this section of the poem. Trying to think of realistic household noise that didn't over exaggerate was difficult. I ended up going with an old fashioned whistling kettle to fit with the time period, a ticking clock and background noise of the television. The television was the hardest to find as it had to be old fashioned enough to fit with the setting, and it had to not have too much dialogue otherwise it would fight with the voice over of the poem.
My end result was actually a piece of radio from the 1940s as I decided that it could be introducing a programme about the war, making a nice transition to the war programme that we cut to later in the poem. Even though the radio piece is a lot earlier than when this is set, it is the Grandad and the young boy that is watching at first, creating a link that not only the whole stop motion piece is a memory of the little girl, but that the grandad is also remembering his memories from when he was growing up at that time. This is a subtle thing to add in and I'm not sure if I have executed it well enough to come through. In reflection, I should have got a cutaway of the Grandad in a close up watching the programme to help make that link clearer. I found it difficult to get the close ups due to the cramped conditions of the set being a dollhouse, which meant that the camera couldn't focus on the character without being a lot further away.
When editing the live action sequence, it was important that I made sure to do as much to the sound as I could to make it sound as clear as can be. I did everything that Sam and Ferg showed and suggested in Adobe Audition and it helped a lot in improving the toasting. One thing it did do that wasn't helpful was make it very quiet. When I turned it up, the crackling sounds were very prominent which wasn't good. To ensure that the poem is the main focus, I have turned the sound effects down further. Here is a comparison of what the sound files were like before and after editing.
Original Sound:
Although the differences aren't major, I personally think there is an improvement to the original. Combined with the pictures and the accompanying sound effects, the distortion of the toasting is much less distracting than if it was on its own.
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