Editing technique for missing footage! Help!!

B

Bababooey

Member
Ok, so i'm putting sequences together for this short doc.
It's about a local sports team and their journey to their state championships.
I was not allowed to film at the state event.

I have tons and tons of practice and game footage, but none at the state venue (it's very recognizable)
I have footage leading up to, and after the championship game.

I have enough sequences roughed out to show a nice story arc, but nothing of the climax!!
What is a good way to show the climax of a story, without specific footage?
 
Try a montage of stills - we'd use rostrum shots in the old days... now maybe get some newspaper stills and add the trendy 3D 'lift out' technique (isolating one of the players or a fan reaction etc)... you can actually be pretty creative with simple moves.

Pretty sure you should be able to get some stills (local news, newspapers or digital stringers etc?) - maybe even the team themselves or their families.

Overall, this use of 'motion' still will work quite well - and can be used as a benefit to your doc, as it'll stand out and highlight the State event (as it's treated in a different visual style)... and act as a decent climax. After that, over the credits, run some stills and a mixture of mistakes/practice stuff ie 'we made it, but we're still human etc'.

Can maybe help with more ideas if you're a bit more specific.
 
Its a bit hard to say exactly, as I think we'd need a bit more of info, but I have a couple of ideas from the top of my head.

Firstly, the montage of stills is always a pretty good way of filling, yet it does not feel all that dramatic really. The state championship is the culmination of all the video I presume, so you'd want to keep us sitting on the edge of our seats for that one. Personally, I think I would try to build up some the music and clip frequency slowly towards the game and then have a fade to black as the game gets ready to start. You know, lots of shots about them getting ready, the audience gathering etc. You know, we're all getting massively excited, and then we have this blackscreen for a short time which will then lead into a celebration (if they won? :). While I know this might be a bit more film'ish, than actually documentary, I think it could be a good way to go about it. I hope I explained my self graphically enough for you to get the idea.

Another way is, of course, voiceover. Or, even better. If the game was broadcasted on radio, ask permission to use that. Make a small audiomontage of something exciting and game-deciding. Thats a great way of telling us what happened without showing us too much. Its a very trusthworthy source as well, which is important for you I reckon.
 
JensK, funny, that's the approach I was thinking of.
They did far better than expected.
I have footage of them warming up, entering the stadium, and then of course the reactions afterwards.
I also have lots of interviews describing competing at the championships, so yeah, I was thinking of some really tension building music and cut to black, and just audio of the results announcements.
Then, show the reactions and celebrations.


One more issue I have to edit around, is, the teams main goal was to actually make the final round of playoffs.
They did that, and also placed near the top in the finals, so 2 events on same day.
I was thinking if just treating it as 1 event in 1 sequence rather than separately.
Any thoughts?
 
you can combine these ideas- stills plus the audio/radio, some reactions (which can communicate as much emotion as the actual event)! You have more flexibility than you think, editing is an amazing thing, its like the "ideas" behind the edit count more than the actual material in a way. in other words, the audience can be way flexible and understanding if the "concept" behind the editing makes sense, if that...er...makes any sense.

sound and music can do wonders. be creative and youll likely find a turns-out-better-than-you-thought solution.

I shot my nieces graduation (be warned- its hardly a video production masterpiece or anything) and missed getting her onstage getting her diploma, and was beating myself up for it, but in the edit I used her showing us her diploma as the climax and its like noone noticed, its as if I chose to have the climax be the opening of the diploma instead of a fix (or maybe Im giving myself too much credit- in any case, it works well enough, youll see below). Similarly, your "fix" will likely end up lookig like a choice, or at least not as bad as you think, so dont fret too much and find osmething to put there that "tells the story"....

theres also a stills montage here, so maybe itll get you thinking

good luck be creative

cinema=sound plus image arranged a million possible ways rite?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shdkeCAtAEs
 
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Try photoscape - print photos in square/polaroid format, put them into environment that is relevant to the story - locker room/arena and then just use slider with creativity! Add some flares and some nice ambience sounds of team playing, fan reactions, etc. The add voiceover and you're set :)
 
These are the type of treatments you could add - basically turning a 2D photo into 3D and having some depth (good fro separating people or objects and making the viewer focus on them). Samples aren't that good, but I just did a quick search... and might give you ideas.


and here's a tutorial using Hitfilm

 
Bababooey said:
JensK, funny, that's the approach I was thinking of.
They did far better than expected.
I have footage of them warming up, entering the stadium, and then of course the reactions afterwards.
I also have lots of interviews describing competing at the championships, so yeah, I was thinking of some really tension building music and cut to black, and just audio of the results announcements.
Then, show the reactions and celebrations.


One more issue I have to edit around, is, the teams main goal was to actually make the final round of playoffs.
They did that, and also placed near the top in the finals, so 2 events on same day.
I was thinking if just treating it as 1 event in 1 sequence rather than separately.
Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

I've seen this technique used successfully in many documentaries. For a documentary even more than a film, the actual event is almost irrelevant to the journey. The before and after is the emotion. The mechanics of the sport, actual footage of the event can actually detract from the pacing and story. The preparation and the fallout are what are interesting to people. Even those that were there only remember a few key moments in the story of the match and this can be summed up in an interview you do now with the participants (plus we see the lasting impact of the achievement).

On top of that the instant transition captures the feeling of watching a match for us sport tragics because every great match usally hangs on a single instant. Up until that instant the nerves grate, tension and apprehension build and then in a fraction of a second a score, pass or denial seals the game and all the emotion spills over (which is a rare enough event in our lives for us blokes) and the tension (in this case of a whole season) is released. This is an experience that only works live, even a recording of a match you haven't seen can't achieve this and that is worth capturing in your edit. After showing some victory celebrations whether as stills or footage, fevered discussion of events after the fact (if you have it) or a nostalgic group interview with the key players for film now in an informal setting will capute these moments and provide the post climax release for your pacing at the same time.

A related way to view this transition is to relate it to the idea of a tribal manhood ceremony or the modern equivalent of hazing. They go in boys, come out men. What happens inside is secret mens business known only to the participants.
 
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