Beginning the Editing Process (Rough Cut 1)

Once I had all my footage I uploaded it all into final cut to edit it. I have now realised this to be quite a long process as I have lots of different bits of film to cut together. Although, with the exception of the hospital scene, once each clip is in it is relatively self contained. First I got all sections of the videos I need into the timeline. Then I watched the whole thing through over and over, adjusting the lengths of each video to try and get it to run with the best pace possible. Once I'd got this initial rough cut together I added the sound effects I had - a gunshot, and diegetic hospital sound. I also got a visual animation of a heart monitor and uploaded it, layering the sound over the top. Unfortunately, the speed of the beeps in the audio and the jumps of the needle were different and, so, totally out of time. To fix this I had to 'chop' my audio into individual beeps and position each one so it played in time with the animation on the screen. Once this was done, I layered further beeps and, eventually, the sound of the heart monitor flatlining, to build tension and create a stressful atmosphere.

When I watched the whole thing through I decided that the sound from my second flashback (with the news report) and Lucy's scream at the end were not good enough. Therefore I am going to mute both videos and layer separate sound on top. For the second flashback I'll use the sound from the original recording as this was taken directly with a microphone and is, therefore, very clear. For Lucy's scream I will either download one or record one separately and layer this over the muted video as it is important to have a loud, bloodcurdling scream to create the effect I'd envisioned.
I also need to add the sound of a defibrillator to add to the naturalistic style of the scene and make it more clear what is going on.

I have discovered that sound is going to be phenomenally important in my opening because my clips are all separate and quite disjointed and seriously require bringing together with sound. To do this I am going uses sound bridges e.g. in flashback two I am going to let the sound of the news report run into the next scene to create a better feeling of continuity. I also need a general underscore to tie the whole thing together and make it feel like a more complete, coherent opening rather than a montage of different clips. I think I'm going to use piano music for this to create quite a sad dramatic mood. I am going to have the music build to a crescendo at the end of the opening to add to the building tension of the increasingly chaotic flashbacks.
I was also thinking of having general hospital sounds running under the whole opening and getting louder in the actual hospital scenes. This connotes that the opening is taking place in the hospital and makes it even more clear that the other scenes are flashbacks.

To show this even more I am going to edit my flashback footage to make it look almost dreamlike, possibly by reducing the colour in the picture and making all the scenes more muted and grey. This further connotes that these scenarios are not happening in real time but are memories leading up to what the audience see at the end.

Similarly, I want to give the hospital a very bright, clinical feel by editing this footage, possibly making it look overexposed. This will heavily contrast with the flashbacks, again creating a clear distinction between them and the real-time action, and also add to the drama of the whole opening.

Overall I am really enjoying the editing process and moulding the footage into something I'd imagined from the beginning. It is difficult and requires a lot of experimenting to see what works and what doesn't. I am happy with the way my footage has turned out and next will be moving on to  creating the sound for my opening which will make a real difference to the overall effect.