Editing Stage (cutting process)

We have ammounted a lot of footage, so much that we have almost 25 minutes of footage on our timeline and our final piece is almost 6 minutes long. Therefore we have to cut most of our footage to meet the 2 minute 20 second limit.

The shot list for the final 6 minute edit was:

1. Black Screen, fade in to a tilting tracking shot of Mo Adel walking down the high street.
2. Long shot of Mo Adel walking down the high street.
3. Long Wide Shot of Mo Adel crossing the road.
4. Tracking Shot of Mo Adel walking down the high street.
5. Long wide establishing shot of 'Kro Bar' with Mo Adel walking into frame and sitting down.
6. Long shot of Mo Adel sitting down opposite Ashriel
7. Close-up on Mo Adel.
8. Close-up on Ashriel.
(Shot reverse shot during dialogue)
9. Tilting shot following a cigarette which will be lit by Adam.
10. Handheld camera during the scene where Dale is beaten up.
11. POV shot (Dale) of light, which is then blocked by Nathan as he picks Dale and throws him into a punch.
12. Tracking shot of Adam as he walks into the underpass.
13. Mid-shot of Adam and Nathan as they greet each other.
14. Long Shot of Bruce and Reuben as they are lurking about.
15. POV shot (Dale) as Adam talks to him. (Close-up on Adam)
16. POV shot (Adam) as he talks to Dale. (Close-up on Dale)
17. Tilting shot (Dales POV) of Adam standing up then going to kick Dale.
Freeze Frame.
18. Close-up on Mo Adel having taken in what Ashriel has told him.
(Shot reverse shot)
19. Mo Adel gets up and walks off.

Since this ammounted to 6 minutes worth of footage we had to cut some of it out. We had to think very carefully about what worked and what didn't work, in the end we decided to take out the monologue and the scenes in the underpass. Instead we have the scenes with Mohammed and Ashriel conversing together about Adam.

The scene with Adam walking into the underpass has remained, we hope that with the narration, it will add an air of ambiguity to the scene. Both by the actions of Adam and his character aswell.

This is the shot list for the 2 minute 20 version:

1. Black Screen, fade in to a tilting tracking shot of Mo Adel walking down the high street.
2. Long shot of Mo Adel walking down the high street.
3. Tracking Shot of Mo Adel walking down the high street.
4. Long shot of Mo Adel sitting down opposite Ashriel
5. Close-up on Mo Adel.
6. Close-up on Ashriel.
(Shot reverse shot during dialogue)
7. Tilting shot following a cigarette which will be lit by Adam.
8. Tracking shot of Adam as he walks into the underpass.
9. Close-up on Mo Adel having taken in what Ashriel has told him.
(Shot reverse shot)
10. Mo Adel gets up and walks off.


We have had to sacrifice several vital plot points and several key shots to fit the opening into the 2 minute 20 second time frame. However we are still happy with the result we have got.