Editing: Techniques

    Although I haven’t reached the point of editing yet because I am still finishing up my animation, I know that it’s going to involve putting together each of the animations to just as with the storyboard. 

    Editing in animated films is a unique task, because unlike with live-action, cutting actually happens before a single frame is finished. Through the storyboarding process and the creation of animatics, editors work with directors to secure the timing and pacing of a scene using rough sketches and basic audio. This is essential for efficiency. Since every second of quality animation is incredibly expensive and difficult to produce, animators cannot just animate footage that will be left unused.

    Once the primary animation is complete, the editor's job changes into a more traditional phase. They have to fine tuning it by adjusting pauses, emphasizing physical comedy, and ensuring seamless transitions between shots. They decide on the story’s rhythm, blending together the visual effects, lighting, and sound design to turn a bunch of individual drawings or frames into a cohesive moving film.

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Important Techniques in My Opening Scene: 

    The film opens on a fade-in from black to an establishing shot of the village burning. Because black represents a total absence of visuals, fading in from it creates a significant shift in the atmosphere. It resembles the experience opening your eyes. It’s often used to ease the audience into a new world or to represent the beginning of a new story. Starting from black feels heavy, dramatic, serious, grounded, or mysterious. It’s often used in dramas or epic adventures to communicate that what you are about to see is important.

    The moment when the character points his sword towards the dragon is very prominent because it indicates his emotion and motivation. The scene cuts from a point-of-view shot from his perspective, looking at the dragon in the distance and his sword pointed towards it to a close-up of his eyes, hooded with exhaustion and full of rage. Match-cuts convey key information to the audience, forcing them to share the character’s perspective. If the character looks with anger, the cut makes the next object look threatening. In Animation, match-cuts are often used to show a character's inner desire. For example, a hungry character looks off-frame, and the match-cut shows a shimmering piece of food. The cut tells us how they are feeling or what they want before they even move or say anything. In my opening scene, this technique is used to show the protagonist’s anger and want for revenge.