Documentary Edit: Introduction

After importing footage, labeling it and placing it into bins we began thinking about a structure for the overall film. We broke the footage down into different sequences and looked at what Addie talks about in the interviews to see where we could support it with other content. This was important as we were told to back up any assertions from the interviews with evidence.

We decided to follow the advice given in the last seminar and start the film with Addie speaking his poem in the park, as the footage in that sequence was arguably the strongest and worked well as an opening to the film.

Opening park section

We also agreed with the comment that it forces the reader to engage more effectively than just simply starting with Addie's introduction to camera (which will come later). When choosing when to cut clips we looked for effective out-points as we had been advised, which came primarily at the end of the lines in the poem. In picking out which clips to include we tried to support what he was saying in the poem. For example, when he says that he's 'looking for adventure' we used the pull focus of him looking across Sheffield. This also linked to the next sequence we cut to which was in the Rutland Pub.

Addie looking across Sheffield

In looking through and labeling the footage we had marked out some clips which had useful audio, such as when Addie makes an introduction hosting the event at the Rutland. We condensed this heavily so that he welcomes the audience and then begins with his poem immediately. This was important as we wanted to get to his introduction as soon as possible before the audience became confused about the change in location and who they are listening to. We used an exterior pan-down of the pub to establish its location and a shot of the audience to show it is an event, roughly trying to stick to the rule of three for moving to a new location.

Transition to Rutland Pub

As Addie began his poem we key-framed the audio to fade out, overlapping it with Addie introducing himself. Here, we move into his bedroom to show him writing as he says he's a spoken word poet. Talking more about his background, we used the pan across his poetry books and small souvenir from St. Lucia to support this further. Using the audio transcript we made, we tried a few ways of ordering his speech in this section until we felt it was right. We edited together sound-bytes so that he talks briefly about why he came to England, the poetry scene in Sheffield and then what poetry means to him. At the end of this section he talks about how spoken word events are becoming more popular because they're 'accessible', so we used this opportunity to cut back to a poet at the event who's appearance seemed to support this idea.

Introducing Addie

Addie in his bedroom

In the next section of the edit we will show some of the other poets at the Rutland pub,  also including interviews if we feel they contribute towards the film. From here we will implement the sequence of Addie talking about his inspirations for writing.