Night Journey

 Before starting assemble a rough cut on the timeline we imported the footage into 'Final Cut Pro', we created sub clips from the rushes by setting in and out points in the preview window left of the tab (see above). To set the in and out points we used the shortcuts cmd+i and cmd+o, making for a more efficient editing process, these sub clips were then renamed accordingly. After all the footage had been sub clipped and renamed, we created 10 bins to categorise the type of shot or who was in it. We also did the same with the audio rushes, these were then placed into 2 different bins "Narration" and "Train Sounds". The final version of our 'Night Journey' tab can be seen above. 

 We went into 'User Preferences' after this to set the timeline to 10 hours to abide by the industry standard. 

Incase of the computer freezing, power cut or any other unforeseen circumstance we set the auto save to every 3 minutes.

Once we were happy with the overall structure of the footage in its rough cut stage we added all the outside audio to the appropriate shots, we then added the inside atmos in the gaps. 

Prior to adding the inside train atmos to the timeline we had noticed that there was a recording that was noticeably long, this we felt would fit perfectly in the inside train cuts as we wouldn't have to loop or repeat it, thus making a more realistic soundscape.   

Though we had cut sub audio clips from the rushes these still had to be matched to the visuals, the shot of the train in the above photo emerges toward the camera from a distance and so to give a realistic of time progression both audibly and visually we adjusted the timing of the recording. 

After watching the rough cut we went back and trimmed frames to create smoother and less noticeable transitions, this above shot is the previous frame before the inside medium shot appears, we felt the blurred piece of bridge creeping into the edge of the frame is a distraction to avoid this we cut a couple frames later with the dark structure in full frame. 

This is the frame we used opposed to the one above, the dark structure cuts seamlessly with dark interior of the train.  

To fade between shots in respect to the audio we used a very small fade on each clip, this was to reduce the pop and not as a stylistic choice, as we did feel the abrupt change in shot/audio worked well in this piece as opposed to a gradual fade. Notice that their is a long pause in the audio waveform before the actual train sound is heard this like mentioned previously was to create a tangible aesthetic. 

We felt that the out of window shot played in a unnatural direction in comparison to the previous long shot of the train and so we reversed its playback direction in the 'Change Speed" option box. 

To show a progression of time we cross faded this shot with a out of window shot of the city lights, this change in time alos aided the continuity as in the adjacent footage the window next to the characters is opaque.

After watching the transition between the two shots back a couple times we felt that a more elongated cross fade was needed to show a more substantial lapse in time, this theme time of development suggested by the editing choices justifies the idea that he cannot sleep as he's in fear of the canibal sitting opposite him.

As you can see in this shot the passenger looks exhausted by the fact he's unable to drift into sleep.

Following on from the shot above we decided to illustrate the character passing into sleep, we cross faded from the pan to the window to the scenic footage of Amsterdam. The motion of the pan and the tracking forward in the city footage creates a lucid transition advocating the drifting into the dream like state.

To exaggerate this sense of utopia we decided that at this point there should be no atmos just purely dialogue, developing a substantial difference between what is reality and what the character is actually experiencing.

Referring back to the statement about what the character is experiencing on board the train in terms of narrative context, we felt that the idea of the distressed man being schizophrenic and imagining the man on the train opposite him would be achievable through the use of the empty shots that match perfectly with the ones with characters in. For example this medium shot was cut together with another medium shot that pictures the character seated smoking a cigarette.  

We utilised a frame from the over exposed footage to initiate the cannibals appearance on the train, the yellow flash creates an immediate sense of bewilderment.

Though the shots are framed slightly different the flash helps to conceal this discrepancy, we decided the action of smoking the cigarette starting with it close to his face then blowing smoke was a powerful motif to introduce the character.

 Once the footage and audio had been added and trimmed to a point where we were happy we went through and modified the levels of the dialogue so that they played at 12db all the way through and as they were the most important track in the piece we kept them at this level throughout. We used the audio mixer to determine the levels. So that the atmos wasn't competing with the dialogue we brought the level of the atmos down to about half or to a level that worked, with the mixer in the centre box, we then added cross fades between each of the cuts in audio so the level change wasn't noticeable.

To end the film we used a CU shot of the mans face and the canibal walking off from the train and turning to the scared passenger, prior to this we reversed the train atmos suggest a state of confusion, leaving us with the question as to wether he actually met this man or he himself is psychotic. 

As the man passes off into the distance we faded out to black holding as the scared passenger emerges in the reflection of the window.