Here begins the editing process for the documentary, done by Regine
FOOTAGE AND AUDIO STITCHING
To start off, I had to combine the footage we had with their respective audio that we had recorded on a separate device (in this case, my phone was used as the microphone). This was done in the mobile software Capcut. I had chosen to use a mobile software as it's much quicker to grab the audio from my phone’s files and then stitch the footage and audio together rather than sending all the separate audio files to my laptop. Capcut is generally a user-friendly app and so it was very easy to navigate and I didn’t require much learning to begin editing.
After importing the scenes into capcut, I searched for the correct audio file by searching which scene and line it was. I realise my mistake here of naming the audio file s [] t [] for scene and take when it should have been s [] l [] (s for scene meaning which scene was I recording and l for line which line was being read out loud. This tiny mistake of not properly naming the files had me a bit confused on which line was going to be said and may have resulted in slowing down the process. However, it had a simple solution of quickly listening to the first few words being said as I could recognise the line and actors voice.
To sync the audio and the footage, I looked for the spikes in the audio file by looking at the waveform and then matching it to the clap heard from the video. It would have been beneficial to see the audio waveform from the video to match it up quicker, however I couldn’t find any feature that allowed me to do that so instead I took a little more time to ensure the audio is lined up to the point of perfectly overlapping one another. I then placed the video’s audio on mute and exported the stitched footage.
STABILISING FOOTAGE (CAPCUT)
Almost all our footage was handheld since none of our groups’ members owned a tripod. Because of this, a lot of the supposedly static shots that we took ended up being shaky. This issue was solved with the help of a capcut feature that included a stabiliser that Aurel had told me about. Most footage was set in the recommended setting.
STABILISING FOOTAGE (AFTER EFFECTS)
During compiling all the scenes, I noticed that there was an issue with this specific shot of the character, School Investigator. Possibly due to the stabiliser in capcut, the camera seemed to follow the movement of the actors head. The movement made the scene feel too casual to me as that sort of head-following movement on a shot is now typically seen in social media (tiktoks, instagram reels, youtube shorts) so I knew I had to fix it to be a static shot that would better convey that serious tone of the documentary.
Using these two Youtube tutorials, I learnt how to stabilise the shot in after effects. Applying this tracker feature on the footage allowed me to set a track point that, when applied, will become the sole focus. Because of the tutorial, I was able to solve the issue in less than 10 minutes.
This issue was seen again in the last scene of a student tampering with the medication. However, I decided not to attempt to fix it since the shaky camera, unexpectedly, fit well with the music. The unsteady movements of the camera mimic the natural human perspective, which can make the audience feel more immersed and on edge on top of the crescendo of the score.
SLOWING DOWN FOOTAGE
For some scenes, I wanted to slow down the footage to extend the tension by drawing out critical scenes and thus making each action feel more significant. This was done in Capcut with the speed feature that allowed me to slow down clips. It helped that the feature also utilised interpolation to smooth out the frames so the final clip would not seem choppy as it lessen my workload.
COMPILING ALL THE SCENES TOGETHER
After gathering all of my scenes, I transferred them over to my laptop to edit them together in After Effects by using a software called Phone/Laptop link to easily send each file over.
MUSIC AND SCORE
For the score, I look back at my research to identify common characteristics on what makes the score and soundtrack of a documentary good in building suspense.
Here are what I recalled through my notes:
- Long high notes build anticipation by making audience feel like there's something upcoming while also dragging a scene out
- Deep notes evokes a sense of suspicion and danger
- Repetitive rhythms holds the anticipation to further increase the anxiety of the audience
With this understanding, I took to finding the right soundtrack for the documentary. I had used these two websites
https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/
They provide royalty free music that's easily downloadable. Using the search feature of both websites, I wrote the keywords “suspense” “dark” “ambient” and “cinematic” to find a score that fits each section of the documentary. In total, I had used 4 different tracks that I will elaborate on;
- Establishing shots in the beginning
For this scene, I used a score that had used a mix of instruments to set a calm atmosphere. The strings begin with a long, sustained, high note that fluctuates and flows in an angelic way that contributes to the peaceful atmosphere. This is further maintained with the sound of piano notes played slowly to create a sense of simplicity and serenity. Singular piano keys being struck also lets the note linger longer which would create a soft echo that gives it an ambient quality. This feeling of tranquillity is built to act as a contrast to the actual plot of the documentary that enhances the jarringness of the crime.
- Throughout the interviews
A deep rhythm loops during this section of the documentary. I had chosen this score as the deep notes incites a suspicious feeling in audiences which guides them to the direction the documentary is intended to go. Not only that, audiences begin to build anticipation in this section as the seemingly never-ending loop acts as a way to build uncertainty. A noticeable crescendo is soon heard to drive the stakes up and intensifies the moment.
- Last interview with the anonymous student
In this section I experimented by using two tracks that overlap each other. One was a deep, constant rhythm while the other was an increasing crescendo to reach the climax at the end. Similarly to the previous reason, the deep rhythm was added to develop the audience's wary perception of the institution but also adds depth to the score. The crescending track kept audiences on engaged and at the edge of their seats to encourage curiosity. This was the final piece into generating suspense in the audience.
ADDITIONAL SCENES
Although it was not stated in the original script, I had made the decision to add in a principal's speech on top of establishing shots. This decision was inspired by the Final; Attack on Wembley (2024) as I enjoyed the opposition from calm to chaos. I used selective construction to cut the principal’s speeches to connect to the topic of student’s health and safety. However, I then used this scene as contradiction from the conscientiousness of teachers and staff to protect children to the
While editing, I had noticed the scene between the Investigator's “coincidence” line and the nurse did not transition well because they lacked something that connected or linked both scenes together. This pushed me to approach my teacher to find a solution. He suggested that I find students that would develop the plot behind the accusations and pointing fingers as the bridge between the scenes. With this idea, I asked a friend for help to film an interview with me as the subject as well as asking a few other friends to read out lines such as “it was definitely her” “everyone knows its her” “there's no doubt about it” to enforce the narrative that everyone believed it to be the nurse.
One scene required a mix of archival news reports which posed a problem as there's no actual news on our plot, thus I had to get creative. I began by using the inspect tool on news websites to change the title of articles to fit towards the topic and screenshotted that. Then I compiled the voices of news anchors reporting on similar news stories but cutting out the parts that don't fit our story.
TEXTS
As my team's script had few texts/graphics that would be displayed, I did my own research of the typical conventions of text in documentaries. Here are screenshots of a just a few documentaries I looked at:
from Lover, Stalker, Killer (2024)
from American Murder: The Family Next Door (2020)
from Painkiller: The Tylenol Murders (2023)
from Capturing the Killer Nurse (2022)
Use of texts in documentaries :
- To provide information about the subject shown (name, occupation, relations to the victim/perpetrator)
- To set the setting/location for the audience
- As credit for the staff involved in the making of the film (producers, directors, executive producers, etc)
- As the title card
Based on my observation, the sans serif font is always used in documentaries. Oftentimes, the font is quite tall but it's not necessary. The reasons for this could be found through understanding the connotations of different typefaces. With the help of Sharon’s research on typefaces, I can understand sans serif is seen as clean, modern, and highly legible due to its lack of decorative strokes (seen in serif fonts), it's minimalistic style is more likely to come across as straightforward, professional and serious, therefore fitting into the tone of documentaries. I conform to this during editing by using a helvetica font for all the texts displayed.
COLOUR GRADING
Firstly, I tried experimenting with black and white filters, especially for the “photos of the crime” but it just made the scene bland and I felt as though I had lost a lot of connotations from colours so I decided to go without it.
Next was to colour grade some scenes. I added saturation and increased the brightness of the establishing shots of the school seen in the beginning to give it a brighter, positive look. I then contrasted this by taking away colour from the following scenes by lowering the saturation, brightness to fit the conventions (dull and dark to appear more serious) as well as increasing the contrast to better enhance the shadows. The reason I had done this was because shadows carry the connotations of mystery as they are often associated with secrets, concealed or hidden information. This connotation fits perfectly with our documentary’s plot of an unknown perpetrator.