Editsense - the editable films

Editsense includes four main films for users to edit. They are in standard definition 4:3 DV-PAL format (.mov for Mac, AVI for PC).


Beach
This film contains 54 shots. A boy waiting on a beach gets a text, looks around but can't see anything. A girl approaches him from behind. There's no soundtrack but once you've edited your film you can export it and create one.

Depending on how you edit the film and what soundtrack you create, it could be a thriller, a ghost story or a romantic drama. The disc includes a step-by-step guide to the choices you can make when you edit the Beach sequence and how they will affect its meaning.


Crash
This sequence from the S4C youth drama 'Rownd a Rownd' shows a taxi swerving to avoid a sheep in the road and turning over. The action has been filmed from two camera positions outside the car and from positions inside the car.


Lift
A girl runs to a lift, waits anxiously for it to arrive and take her to the top floor, then runs to a door only to find that it's locked.


Stairs
A young man walks into a deserted building and climbs a set of stairs. He approaches the doorway to a darkened room.

Lift and Stairs can be used together for a parallel editing or flashback sequence. They can also be combined with the static cutaways of the building below.

Mac and PC versions

Editsense is available in Mac and PC versions. The Mac version is designed for iMovie 09 and Final Cut Express/Pro. (The clips will also work with iMovie 08 and earlier versions, but they will take a while to import into iMovie HD).

The PC version should work with all current PC editing programs: it's been tested with recent versions of MovieMaker, Premiere Elements and Pro, Vegas and Pinnacle.

Reviews and comments

Jack Kenny reviews Editsense on Merlin John's Agent for Change site. He says that Editsense is "vital" and that he "would recommend it to every media or English department".

It's also reviewed by teacher Deborah Snow in Point of View, the journal of the Media Education Association.

Here's what she says about the Beach editing activity: "This...exercise helps to clarify hours in class...Media language in all its elements comes to life. Suddenly they can see how a shot filmed from a different angle with a different sound track makes all the difference." She describes Editsense as "invaluable" and the Filmsense guide as "ideal for introducing students to film language. Continuity editing, sound, 180 degree rule and other essential tips for making a successful film are all covered in detail with examples to illustrate the points made."

The PC version has two four-star reviews on Amazon:
"An excellent resource for introducing the language and concepts of editing."
"A great classroom resource for anyone teaching A-Level Media Studies or BTECs in Media Production..."

Using the Editsense films

Here are some examples of how the films on Editsense have been used by children and young people. The first is by a Year 6 group from Millbrook Junior School in Newport. I put the unedited film on the whiteboard and edited with the whole class using iMovie 09, getting them to choose the shots, trying out different ways of sequencing and trimming them. I then exported the clips and each group created their own soundtrack using Garageband, combining music loops and sound effects.



The next version was made by students on a Modern Foreign Language workshop we ran for Year 12 students at Swansea University. The students edited the films using Final Cut Express and then added a voiceover in the target language using Garageband. Most students did a fairly 'literal' version from the point of view of the girl, but the two students who made this version had other ideas...



Finally, here's a version made by Khalid, the actor in the 'Stairs' sequence, on a youth film-making workshop in Cardiff. I like the way he used compositing as well as straightforward linear editing to tell the story. Again, made with FCE and Garageband.

Filmsense

Filmsense is an introduction to film language aimed at teenagers and young adults. . It includes over 50 video clips, 24 still clips, and clear explanations of the basic elements of film language. It's particularly relevant to students who will be making films as part of Media Studies, Film Studies or Moving Image Arts coursework.

Filmsense covers:
mise-en-scène: setting, costume, gesture, light and colour
camera: framing, angle, lens, movement, cutaways, inserts, reaction shots
continuity: shot-reverse shot, looking space, eyeline match, the 180 degree rule
time: scene time, stretch time, compressed time, ellipsis, parallel editing, flashbacks
editing: sequencing, selecting action, editing on the action, jump cuts, split edits/sound bridges, montage, pace
sound: diegetic, music, voiceover, editing to music

Filmsense runs in full-screen mode or a resizeable window on Mac or PC.

Filmsense is included on the Editsense DVD-ROM.

Why we made Editsense

Editsense is based on years of experience of film-making projects in formal and informal education. I've found that however many times you explain the importance of changing shot size and camera position, and dividing a film up into shots, the theory tends to go out of the window as soon as young film-makers get hold of the cameras. Because a lot of our film projects are very short and intensive, we needed a quicker way of getting the participants up to speed.

I decided to try starting with the editing. I began with a short sequence of 11 shots showing a girl approaching the Wales Millennium Centre. We immediately found that doing the editing exercise made a big difference to the quality of the work when the young people got on to making their own films. The original sequence was a bit rough and ready so we decided to create some new films with alternative camera angles, camera positions, focal length and framing. S4C also allowed us to use a real stunt from their popular youth TV drama Rownd a Rownd.

I've used all these films extensively with a wide age range, from Year 6 to adult (I even used the Crash footage with a very enthusiastic Year 3 group). I've also used them on teacher training events such as the Apple Teacher Institute and Film Education's CP3 conference to teach software including iMovie, Final Cut Express and Garageband.