Post-Production: Editing

After filming all scenes in the film, including the final interrogation scene that was added, it was only a matter of editing. Jada was in charge of the editing but all of us had to sit down to decide how the sound should be edited in certain scenes, or what transitions would be best between specific clips. Here's a breakdown of all the editing techniques used in the film and why they were added.

The first thing added after putting all the clips together was the voiceover. Originally, we weren't going to add a voiceover because we felt as if it took away from the suspense of the film. The silence of the film did make certain clips look awkward though, so we added voice over of Carla's internal monologue to let the audience know what is going through her head. This gives the audience a chance to relate to Carla.

The next and easiest thing was transitions. Transitions move a story along and if they look out of place, it can really take the audience out of the world in the story. Flashback scenes for example, had blurry transitions to resemble the time-travelling in Carla's head. If this transition were used for all clips, it would look choppy. The black fade in was used in two scenes. One, to transition from Carla's walking to her talk with Mr. Johnson and second time to transition from the murder scene to the next day.

Filters weren't used as much as the other editing factors, but they still played a big role especially in the Flashback scenes. The flashback scenes had to be a different color to resemble the scene taking place in a different time. The clips were changed to a less saturated, almost grey, color to resemble the past.

The most tedious part of this whole process was the sound editing. The sound of clips had to be controlled. If there was noise in the background it had to be reduced and the voice of the characters had to be increased. Music, voiceover, and sound effects had to fit in with scene and complement each other. A good example of all these factors working together is the scene where Carla picks up the knife and kills her teacher. Carla's mom's and Mr. Johnson's voice are duplicated to be used in those clips; they're given an echo to resemble Carla's mind. A heartbeat sound effect is added which makes the audience aware of what Carla is feeling and hints what she's about to do. A small voiceover is added until Carla's mind goes blank and loud of the voices in her head, resembling her breaking under pressure.

A small detail was the end title scene. Depending on the movie, most movies have the title after the opening scene and credits. We decided to do this because it gives a strong ending.