Part 3. Keeping it Simple. Editing A General Assignment Story.
This Route is Known for the Dogs is our story for the week.
It’s a package about dogs and postal carriers and their often lacerating relationship. Everett McEwan shot this story and I wrote it. In this weeks blog were going to talk about;
- Breaking up SOTS with natural sound
- Covering inteviews with video and/or leaving interviews full
- Simple natural sound
THE BEGINNING
We start our story with a tight shot of the mail truck’s back door opening. Everett shot a lot of video including shots of the post office exteriors and many shots of postal trucks. I like to start with set up shots like these most of the time. But in this story I decide we don’t need any of that. We need to get into the story as fast as possible in my opinion.
- The producer gave me 1:50 and I’m going to use that time to maximize the story.
I’m very meticulous with the match action in the sequence of her putting mail in the truck. Watch the first shot of Lynn putting a package into the truck. Her actions flow easily between the two edits. I think sequences help tell stories. I also think it’s an easy way to introduce someone and the action helps take the viewer there as if they were standing right next to her watching her load the truck. I break up her explanation of what she’s doing with natural sound of her loading.
“I am loading up…(natural sound of her picking up crate)…my mail…(natural sound of her putting crate in truck)…for today.”
The main reason I do this is because she stumbles over her words in the sentence. By using natural sound I simply create a sentence thats tighter and takes less time (we all know about time in the news).
THE MIDDLE
Two pieces of natural sound transition her onto the mail route. I had lots of video including a sequence of Lynn getting into her truck and driving away. I couldn’t figure out an efficient way to use without it just being an extra sequence. I didn’t really need it.
“Delivering the mail seems like a routine job.” “It’s not the easiest job huh?”
Nice little moment I write into. Little things to make story a little fun. You’ll notice from here to the end of the story the natural sound is mostly simple. It’s easy to have a series of natural sound pops of Lynn putting mail into mailboxes. I avoid doing that for a few reasons. Mainly because that’s not how your eye would see if it you were following here.
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Edit as if your eye was the camera. This is my new motto. Take the viewer somewhere the best you can. Would she put mail in 3 different mailboxs quickly? No.
Ok, last week I complained about feet shots. Here you see feet shots twice. Am I a hypocrite? Kinda. So, I’ll try and justify this foot shot.
“While she’s delivering the mail”
So the reasons;
- I’m trying to show her delivering the mail.
- I want to show her moving along on the route.
- I need a shot to transition from the tight shot at :23 of her putting mail in the mailbox and the next medium shot of her putting mail in the mailbox.
- I don’t have anything better that will work.
- So, again I still don’t like using feet shots but I will if I’m stuck. If you were out there walking with her you might actually look down at her legs as well.
At :28 I use a shot of Lynn closing and locking the mail truck door with natural sound, then she says,
“Safety is really a big thing too with the post office”
Then, I use the natural sound of her locking the mail truck door.
- One shot, two pieces of natural sound, and a SOT. My new/old trick. I now use this as often as I can. I love milking shots for all they are worth.
It’s quick and usually very easy to accomplish.
At :32 did you hear that dog bark? Subtle wasn’t it. Watch it again if you didn’t, it’s little natural sound forshadowing. You’re gonna hear as much dog barking as I can put in without it overpowering the story. Because if you were with her that’s what you would hear.
At :44 is an interview, on paper it reads,
“Just one afternoon doing a normal delivery as I was walking I noticed that the screen door was not fully shut and the dog just instantly came out and bit me.”
Now look at the video and natural sound I use to break up the bite and make the story flow better. Natural sound can also be compared to a period. That sentence is a lot of information. By breaking up the sentence with natural sound it’s like breaking up a sentence into multiple sentences.
Also at the end of that SOT at :56 I milk the dog barking twice!
At 1:03 I have a spokeswoman’s SOT, I cover the last portion of her SOT because I’m butting two SOTS together.
At 1:18 I bring Lynn back on camera. The viewer know who she is because she’s the primary person in the story. It never hurts to bring people back on camera especially if they say something important or emotional. Those are the two times I like to see someone.
- Bring people back on camera if they say something emotional or important.
“Yeah it is a carriers worst fear to get bit by a dog.”
I’d say that’s both important information and something with emotion.
At 1:29 I bring her back on camera again for the same reason.
“A lot of customer always say my dog’s not gonna bite. And every carrier has heard that thousands of times, the dog will bite.”
THE ENDING
The last shot is the walking off into the sunset shot. I bring the story to a close with a simple shot of her walking away still doing her job. I’m covering with a closing piece of sound and I throw in one more dog barking. No need to show the dog here. If she were walking along she wouldn’t necessarily see a dog barking. Just hear it.
WRAP UP
- Try breaking up your SOTS with natural sound
- Try keeping you natural sound simple. Just one piece of natural sound is all that’s really necessary.
- Think about bringing your SOTS back on camera, especially if they are saying something important or emotional.