Editing

I did the assignments out of order, like Baker did. You'd think a graduate student could decipher a simple syllabus. Oh well.

This is a trailer for the unbelievably powerful documentary "Angels in the Dust." I wish I could see it, but it's not coming anywhere close to us.

I'll go to this place someday. I swear it.


Considering that this is a movie trailer, the entire thing is an editing masterpiece. If you can watch it without crying, you're a stronger person than I am. The trailer begins with an African hymn. This is an editing technique that helps convey the emotional content. Then we see a herd of elephants and a woman begins narrating the story. B-roll footage was used for cutaways that give insight into what the woman is talking about. We here the sound effect of a gun shot as an elephant is killed from an aerial rifle. She tells a story of baby elephants and then there is a "fade transition" into video of African children.


The editors then used Titles throughout as additional commentary and information. These are positioned to provide an extra emotional boost to an already powerful video. Actual interviews with the people who gave up everything to start this school and orphanage are shown. More b-roll footage, along with music, and audio from the interview are all wrapped into one as they share their amazing vision with the audience. Quick cuts of the documentary show narrative development without giving away the the entire documentary. All of this remarkable editing helps convey meaning and the themes of community and survival. As the title page rolls at the end with the name of film "angels in the dust," as a final hurrah, the audience is left with sounds: children singing and playing hand-clapping games...

Oh, my heart!