Preliminary Task Editing

 Whilst editing our preliminary task I learnt many new skills such as how to check in and out shots from folders into Final Cut Pro, the editing program we used. We then had to work out the shots on the timeline, arranging them into a logical order. To check out clips we had to click the cog on the left hand side of the screen and select 'Check out' which then showed a loading symbol and disappeared when a yellow pencil appeared indicating that the checking out was complete. We then had to save our work to the desktop which created our groups file that we could readily access. To check in our clips, we would have to reverse the process.
 We then were told about Logging Bins which we created and were informed of the assigned names. The bin named 'Rushes' was where we kept our best clips, the ones we wanted to work on. The bin named 'Logs' was for all our clips in order to keep them in one place.
 I really enjoyed editing as it was a new experience to me and it was very satisfactory when I managed to create a transition from one clip to another in a smooth and effective way. It was also very useful to learn the basic skills of editing for future tasks.
 The aspect I found most challenging about the editing process was how we had to edit the clips together seamlessly in order to make the editing 'invisible'. There were a few clips which we didn't finish editing perfectly as they were as precisely edited as we could manage to get them with our limited skills therefore this is where refined editing skills would be beneficial, which we will eventually gain through out the coming year when working on later projects.
 I thought we matched our shots to the storyboard well and we made our task as suspenseful and interesting as possible considering the minimal script we were given. Taking into account that this was our first time editing clips together in Final Cut Pro, I think we managed the task well and produced a scene which we can look back on and reflect on our mistakes and how we can improve them, which is the aim of the preliminary task as it was our introduction to editing and filming an actual scene.
 I found that shooting extra shots for our task made it easier to understand our scene and added a sense of creativity with the variety of low angle shots, action shots which add the effect of match on action and a few more close up shots of the characters which add extra tension.
 If we had the chance to do it again our group would definitely need to work on the continuity as we found out just how important it is to have similar looking shots which would have made the editing much easier. We needed to instruct our actors fully with more attention to detail so they would have an idea of the exact movements they were to make during the scene, although we did mark their positions with tape on the floor so they had an idea of where to stand.
 I think my team worked very well together as we all had a turn at editing the clips into a flowing order and helped each other out when we were finding it hard to cut the clips with the blade tool and move them around on the timeline.