Does anyone have any idea how I could edit this sequence, I am having trouble with?

ironpony

New member
I'm in filmschool and we are shooting our final film projects for the course. However, I am having trouble editing it together. Basically I was cut short for shoot time cause of the weather. In the scene the protagonist discovers a time machine buried in the ground.

However, cause I had to cut the shoot short, there is no footage of the actual time machine. She looks in a direction, says "Is this a machine?". to another character, and then she pushes some buttons, and figures out how to time travel it.

But there is no footage of the machine or her actually pushing the buttons on it. I just have a shot of her leaning in and with arm, and can add some button pressing sounds, and that's it.

So I cannot explain how she figured out that it was a time machine so quickly, especially since she found it by accident, while investigating another matter, in the story. The matter she was investigating is related to the time machine, but she of course, had no idea there would be a time machine, relating to this matter at all.

And how she figures it out, I cannot figure out how to cut in the editing, since there are no shots of her inspecting it, since the shoot had to be cut short. I tried making three more attempts to shoot the rest, but was unsuccessful cause of raining weather again, and people's availability to come again.

I know have a day to edit this scene in and am still lost on how to cut it together in a way that makes sense, since I do not have any shots of the time machine, at least not from her POV (I have a medium pof of the antagonist handling it, but you cannot tell he is actually using it for time travel, since he just moves it).

And I do not have any shots of the controls either. I could put in a host of a computer screen, to display what she is doing control wise. But it doesn't look like a time machine, it just looks like a computer. What do you think, any ideas at all, on how to cut it better possibly?
 
If you have time for a pickup shot, could you use someone else's hands on the machine and do it in a close up. If it is still raining you could maybe find some place under cover that matches the ground where you originally shot.

If those aren't possibilities, sound effects can do wonders for helping piece things together.
 
Well I have considered that, but it seems to be raining everywhere, within a good perimeter of the city. I am going to try again tomorrow, but after that, not sure if I will get another chance, if it rains again, or if I cannot find a hand double that will match. I did manage to get a very close up shot of the computer screen though, which can say what year it is, and what year the person wishes to go back to, and all that, but all it looks like is a normal computer, and the audience is going to have to assume that it is connected to the time machine they do not see, wirelessly.
 
Okay thanks. I tried but I am having trouble matching the lighting. I need to do it on grass too. But still having trouble with a match. I hope to do it tomorrow if it doesn't rain hopefully. Preparing for the worst if it does again. I had to shoot during magic hour which lead to a very rushed shoot, and mismatched sunlight and color, since the sun kept changing.

Here's a rough cut actually, of the scene, but the only scene of the time machine is from the woman's far away POV. Afer that, you do not see any shots of her typing on the laptop:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDaJSv2czCc&t=1s
 
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I am attending the Recording Arts Institute of Saskatoon.

I showed a second draft of my edit to the instructor and he said that the story makes zero sense, and that I have to find a way to edit to make sense before he shows it to other people connected in the industry next week.

I asked him that if it doesn't make any sense, that maybe he shouldn't show it to connections in the industry if that's okay. But he said that's part of the program that he shows it to them so I have to figure out a way to edit myself out of the plot holes, which I can't seem to do since there is only so much of the story I can change in the footage I have.

What do you think? Is him showing them a bad idea?
 
My name is Ryan Elder. As far as I know facebook does not give links but I can add you show you my facebook page on facebook if you like.
 

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