Ghostbusters - re-editing shots

As part of my University course, we have been instructed to re-create a clip from the hit cult film 'Ghostbusters' (1984) directed by Ivan Reitman. This task was designed to allow us to work with new members of our class, to look at our cinematography skills and editing skills. The clip below is the original clip we were tasked with re-creating.

This clip was chose due to the simple cinematography design and simple editing technique. We are able to move carefully from clip to clip. It also made story boarding pretty simple.

Story Board 1

My team and I firstly decided to print of the script of the section used so we were influenced less by what Reitman actually decided to create. This also allowed us to focus on the directions that the script specified were necessary, such as head movements and actions. The script allowed us to create some basic story boards of what we would prefer the video to look like. Due to the story boards being guides it allowed us to deviate when filming actually commenced but gave us a rough idea of what we wanted.

The story boards are very rough designs and therefore are of no artistic talent, they are made to remember the next shot and are frequently just crude drawings. Much of the time only the drawer can actually tell what they mean.

These are the two story boards I created for our Ghostbusters short. As you can see they are not very detailed and provide a clear idea of the camera angle we wish to use.

Due to technical issues we actually ended up filming our clip twice because when we tried to upload our footage to a Mac, the files corrupted and we were unable to recover the lost footage. This was disappointing but it also allowed us to improve upon what decisions we made the first time. It also allowed us to work together more consistently.

Story Board 2

For this task we decided that I would be camera operator and Megan, Rob and Hazel would act. We also decided to film within my kitchen due to the open space. However this meant we had to adapt to the environment such as lack of lighting and background objects. We tried to incorporate the background into our shots as much as possible using 'the rule of thirds' however this was not always possible. Some shots that we had initially wanted were impossible to manoeuvre into in our chosen location and had to revised.

(VIMEO LINK)

Ghostbusters from Rob Young on Vimeo.

Cinematography: 
Our first shot would have worked better if we had been able to use a direct  medium shot, this would have improved the zooming effect, however by using the shot we did, it allowed us to show someone actually entering the room. We were also able to include the necessary details on the door. I also feel we need to do a bigger variety of shots for editing later so we have more choice. We also need the zooming to be smoother than it was.

We attempted to use close ups to show important details such as the 'flirting' and hand holding towards the end and to show the reaction of the characters, particularly Megan being electrocuted (1.18).
Unfortunately some shots are blurred (0.28) or focus more on the background instead of the characters. During the frame 0.28secs the footage jumps and the clip doesn't flow, showing the obvious editing. We also used very static shots, with little movement of the tripod or camera. I've also noticed that the clip 0.49secs is a better angle of Rob than the others used and would have been better to film from than the one we ended up choosing, therefore we would have benefited from filming a wider variety of shots and this would have been avoided. We would have also benefited from marking each shot as we filmed it because when we came to editing, there were a few shots we forgot as to where we wanted to place them. Therefore a clapperboard would have improved this filming as well as more note taking.

We still attempted to use a variety of shots especially high angled shots to show who was more in charge, this effected Rob's character more until Megan becomes angry and has the power to storm out. This shows the power balance of the characters. Hazel however remains very much the same until the final shot of Rob and Hazel 'flirting' were Rob is more clearly in charge of the situation.

Editing:
On looking back at our film, I feel we have cut too quickly to and from the next shots. It would have been better to make the shots more established allowing the scene to flow better. However there are other shots where we have done the opposite and left the cut off too long such as 2.02 of the door closing. This is unnecessary long and there was no need to watch the door such fully. Another shot that would have either been better with a reaction/close up shot splitting the footage, would be when Megan is retrieving the money from her pocket.  Megan stands too long struggling to remove the money although the fast close up following, of her slamming the money down on the table, improves this slightly. However it is out of balance with the slow removal of the money.

The sound quality of our film could also be improved upon. At the beginning a fuzziness can be heard, this could have been replaced with a sound track. Also the dialogue is too early in the second shot compared with the slow opening shot. It makes the footage appear very rushed, this is partly due to the editing and the somewhat bad acting skills. We also have sound issues with someone else speaking in the background such as me directing when to 'Go' or the character talking from another shot.


In conclusion, we have many things to improve on especially timing of our shots. We also need to work on a bigger variety of shots. However, as a first attempt of working together and attempting to combine all of our ideas with no established director, I believe it was a good attempt with plenty to learn from and improve upon. If I were to do this again, I would pace the editing differently and add more angles. I would also change location and improve upon our sound editing.