Jurassic Park

The Film Society at Staffordshire University, during the first few weeks of the first semester of 2014/ 15, showed the film Jurassic Park

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Made in 1993, Jurassic Park was seen as a success after it broke records at the box office making over $47 million in it's opening weekend. The film held the title of being the highest grossing film for 4 years (IMDB, 2015).

The film has a high usage of post production using animatronics and CGI to have dinosaurs within the film, However it is estimated that within the film there is only 15 minutes of the film which contains footage of the dinosaurs, 9 minutes of Stan Wilson's animatronics and 6 minutes of ILM's (Industrial Light and Magic Company) CGI. Stan Wilson's animatronic dinosaur weighed over 12,000 pounds. This meant that all of the crew and actors had to undertake health and safety tests before going on set.

To create the effects of the dinosaurs both miniature and full sized dinosaurs were made. The creation of these took 2 years with Stan Wilson starting his work in early 1991. These animatronic figures were then both superimposed and shot with the actors, where required. It was put together by the team at ILM which was headed by Dennis Muren.

Throughout the film, stunt doubles were used when physically challenging stunts were required, one of these is when Lex hung off a ledge within the film. This was performed by the double, and they accidentally 'faced up'. This was only noticed within the post production element of the filming process. The editor then was tasked with superimposing Ariana Richard's face on to the body of the stunt double.

Editor Michael Kahn is believed to have had a rough cut ready just a couple of days after filming was completed. His previous work has been credited highly including Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Poltergeist and Close Encounters of a Third Kind.

Jurassic Park is well edited, using sound and visuals to create emotion. There's a high usage of cut to motion throughout the film. The 1990's was a important decade for post production. Electronic CGI had came advanced greatly and films were beginning to be edited at a quicker pace. This revolution in digital compositing, CGI and animatronics began in the late eighties but it quickly became a trend of feature films such as Terminator, Forrest Gump and Jurrasic Park. This was the beginning of a gold mine and  a new way of thinking for film makers.

The Football Kid Edit 2

The students were then given the opportunity to re-edit the piece in a week, taking on board the issues they had faced in the pre-production, production and post production. 

The Football Kid - Edit 2

In the first edit of The Football Kid there were 4 main aspects which had issues. These were; pace, continuity, colour grade and music timing. Below the ways in which the editor changed their editing style to make a cleaner edit will be shown and it will be explained how the editor progressed in editing in a more succinct style.

• The pace within this video is more suited to the song. It is still too slow for the action taking place but is an improvement on the first film. Within this film there is a larger variety of shots and angles which made the piece more interesting. By having these angles included it aided the film in progressing.
• This film is much better with the continuity. With the heightened amount of footage it allowed for the editor to have a larger choice of shots of the same action, this meant that the editor could keep continuity and not skip parts of the motion.
• The colours within the film were edited in post production for this piece to crush the blacks more and to create contrast within the image. This makes the images more aesthetically appeasing.
• This version of the film the editor made the cuts to the beat of the music. This enables the edits to flow more and it makes the film easier for the audience to watch.

This video was edited on Adobe Premiere Pro.

The Football Kid

A task was given to the first year Film students at Staffordshire University. In production the students were given the task to film a simple story board of 6 - 10 shots. The task was undertaken by a particular student to film a boy playing football. This meant that they could use many various angles around the footballer. Within this edit there are several issues;

The Football Kid - Edit 1

• The first of the issues is the pace. The music and the narrative of the piece are quite fast pace, whereas the pace of the edit is very slow, this disinterests the audience and if the editor were to edit this piece again then should flick between the shots at a quicker rate.
• Continuity is also another issue which the editor had not ensured was accurate, the cut between 00:14 and 00:15 in the first shot he is holding the ball and instantaneously it is then on the floor. There is also an issue where a chunk of footage is missing so the editor cuts straight to a close up of the ball for the goal kick. This jump cut takes the audience away from the film.
• Colour Grade - This film received no colour grade and this meant that some of the footage didn't have the same feel as the other pieces, the piece itself also felt a bit plain and had not strong contrast within the footage. If the editor was to do this again they would ensure to grade the piece accordingly.
• Throughout the piece there is an issue with the timings and the music as the cuts don't time well with the music and this causes the piece to feel jarred from an audience's prospective. The editor should have ensured they had check the beat of the music to the cuts and made them link better to create a more succinct and flowing edit.

This film was edited in Adobe Premiere Pro.