PRODUCTION: EDITOR ONLINE MASTERCLASS

Above is an online Masterclass I found with award winning documentary Editor, Claire Ferguson. 

Claire has been a documentary editor for many years with a wide range of experience. Her credits include Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2003), Up in Smoke (2011), Guilty Pleasures (2010) and End of the Line (2009). Claire has also edited a music documentary called Concert for George (2003) which documented the emotional tribute concert at the Royal Albert Hall for George Harrison a year after his death. Claire's editing has won her many awards and she is a well known Editor in the world of documentaries.

The beginning

Claire begins by talking through the edit process and she also explains that every film is a challenge and that each film is different and offers different challenges. As an editor, this is something you can't simply learn to avoid, but instead prepare yourself for it and you'll need to use your skills as an editor to find a way around this to fix the problem. 

Claire's first step is one I've not found in my research previously, where as others have said organise the footage or create a paper edit. Claire explains the first step is to meet the Director. You need to find out what is this film, why are they making it, what is their vision and then from that, it's the Editors job to bring that vision to life. 

I've very forchanate in my role as I'm fully aware of what Jemma's vision is and I've been in the documentary from the very beginning, from the idea right through to the edit I've been involved and I've been speaking to Jemma all the way through and I've seen every draft of the script and I'm confident about what she wants from this documentary, which is showing the development and diversity within the Drag Queen Community in the UK. But in terms of not being in that position I hadn't even considered meeting the Director as an Editor but I've not needed to since I'm also the DOP.

Claire talks about watching the rushes but in a way I've never heard someone explain it. When Claire watches the rushes she'll watch EVERY SINGLE ONE and take in everything and she explains that this is when you connect with the characters and you'll have your gut reactions, if somethings funny, you'll laugh, if somethings sad, you'll feel the emotion, if somethings shocking, you'll feel that. It's like when the audience watch the actual film for the first time, you'll get the emotions they'll want and you'll remember these emotions when you edit and it'll benefit the edit as you'll know all the rushes as well.

Although I've shot every bit of footage (Apart from the THOTany Bae event in Margate - Day 9) I've not actually sat and watched the rushes as an Editor and seen what there is to work with and what the content is. 

Claire goes on to explain the logging system you do for the footage needs to benefit you, the Editor which I've found and done through my research already. 

Talking about the technical side in terms of where the film goes afterwards is again, something I hadn't considered, Claire explains that you need to know where the film is going, what frame rate it needs to be edited in, does the audio require large amounts of editing, etc. as this can be a huge issue to fix later on and if sorted before you start the edit it saves a lot of hassle. Thankfully, I'm aware of the following:

- Our documentary is going online 

- Editing will be in 25 fps, 1920x1080 resolution with the highest resolution footage being 4K

- Audio from the live events may require additional editing due to background noise

I'm unsure if any of the interviews require audio editing so when watching the rushes through I'll need to check that.

The Edit itself

Claire moves on to talk about actually being in the edit stage and starts by talking about her first Feature Length Documentary Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2003). 

Claire showed a scene from the film and then explained that this was the first scene she cut for the Director and that he hated her first cut. Claire said she'd edited from her past experience which was 10 years in Fiction, but Fiction and Docs are very different and she explained in fiction if you get into trouble you can cut to your cutaways but apparently in documentaries that's a bit NO NO NO... This is news to me. But the Director asked her to cut the scene with only 4 shots which she was able to do because the camera operator who shot the documentary had shot it in a way that the footage didn't require to be cut. 

Documentaries are about truth, your audience as a film maker are trusting you to not lie or manipulate that truth. Claire said being told this about her first cut really helped her develop as an Editor and helped her learn not only the style of her Director, but also a different way to cut.

Claire shows another clip from Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2003) to which we see a very obvious and ugly jump cut. Claire explains that with documentaries, sometimes you don't have to hide the cuts, sometimes they're part of the story and the film, sometimes it helps get the message across better and with this clip it definitely does with this edit as it's so important what she's saying.

The next section is where we see a clip on Aileen talking to the Director but she isn't aware she's being filmed as she's opening up and saying her crime was in self defence but due to Death Row, she's pleading guilty. Here, Claire explains that sometimes as an Editor, you may question if what you're editing is appropriate and what you're doing with that edit. She explains the biggest difference between Fiction and Documentary is the responsibility to the subjects of the film as this is real, you're telling their story and you can't manipulate that.

This was the most I gained out of the Masterclass but has made me consider much more as an Editor, specifically on the story side as I've been constantly considering timings, audio, levels and grade for the edit but never how the story will flow together. As well as how this edit will work, is this a story that could have jump cuts? Is that Jemma's style as a Director? These are all aspects I'll need to consider.