It was a quite straight forward process thanks to the careful preparation that I had done in naming and filing the subclips. Footage was easy to find in the subclips and I could arrange the assembly as per my storyboard.
Seeing how the clips ran together enabled me to try using different takes to see which fit best. Sometimes it was a different take to the one that I thought would work best that actually fit the film better. At this point I did try out the labelling option for files. The labelling option lets the editor colour code the subclips, which then shows as a coloured tag on the subclip file and as a coloured bar through the clip on the timeline. I thought about colour coding the 'best clips' but decided not to use this system in the end. In my research after reading In the Blink of an Eye, one blogger who was discussing Walter Murch's book wrote about the use of temporary music during editing. The idea is that having some audio with which to work against helped some editors visualise the desired final cut better, however, this blogger wrote that it can also have a ngeative effect because then the editor becomes attached to that particular piece of music or audio and it throws them slightly off kilter when the actual track is brought in. I understand entirely about wanting audio on the timeline whilst assembling and preparing a rough cut. I found this with Night Journey. I needed to put an atmos track down to play with the footage to put me in 'the place' and understand how the audio and sound would link. I think this helped with my choice of footage and preferred takes. I also understand the viewpoint of the editor becoming attached to a particular piece which has been so important in the compilation of the whole. However, one thing that I thinks puts me in good stead for being an editor is that I don't believe that there is one final, perfect outcome for a film, such as in the Night Journey exercise. I know that there are thousands upon thousands of variations to be hand with each frame and many of them will work equally well. Therefore I don't get stuck too rigidly to one idea or visualisation. If I think that something can be improved by scrapping a shot (even if I love the shot) I will willingly get rid of it and try a different arrangement. Sometimes it may work out for the better, sometimes I go back to the original shot and experiment with the context with which I had placed it to see if that has an effect. I am very flexible and don't mind putting in the extra work to try something else just out of curiosity to see if it works better. So when I say that I like to have an audio track on the timeline to help create an atmos, I am happy to replace it with something else that works better at any stage. Because I am flexible, I don't think that just because I thought one take was better than another in the rushes that that discounts all the other takes. As I've said, I will experiment with the other takes and the surrounding clips to see which arrangement works best overall. Because of this I didn't want to use the colour coded labelling system as I didn't want to be pushed into thinking that I had decided which clips were 'the best' and be swayed in my own judgements during the assembly and feel that I had to use the 'best' clips when others might work better.
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