Detailed plans for editing!

In one of my previous blog posts, I wrote about all the micro elements that we were considering for our video, but I didn't really talk that much about editing.
Since then Caroline and I have discussed editing in more detail and so we have a bit more of an idea as to how we are going to edit our video!
We knew we wanted to use split screen for definite at the end, but now we are considering using it at the beginning too. Instead of cutting between the boy and the girl both getting ready, we are going to have the entire intro as a split screen so you see the girl getting ready in one half and the boy getting ready in the other half. We think this will work really well, as it will show the contrast between the two. The girl will be very happy as she thinks she is meeting her boyfriend to sort out their argument, and the boy will be completely miserable! He will be dreading meeting his girlfriend to tell her he cheated on her after their argument. We think it will look really good as we could colour manipulate the girls half to be really bright and colourful and positive and then colour manipulate the boys half to be really sad, depressing grey/black colours or perhaps even black and white, to portray just how miserable he is.
Our inspiration behind this is from the film 500 Days of Summer!

This was the clip that has the biggest influence on us:

(Ignore the subtitles, and the bad quality, it's just the only one I could find of the whole scene)

Although there seems to be no colour manipulation in these two clips, really similar things are happening in both situations which is how we want ours to look so that we can create a huge contrast. The main contrast and focus is on Tom's different emotions. I really like the way this makes the audience feel, it makes the situation even more sad because you see that he could have been really happy! Hopefully, this will make our audience sympathise more with our female's character as they see how happy she was prior to her boyfriend's revelation. I also really like the way the expectation half takes over the reality part, I think that is something we could use in our video. If the boy's black and white half took over the girl's half, I think that would be really effective as it could sybolise that her world is now going to turn bad (black and white). 

So far, we think we will only use the split screen technique during the intro and as the final shot. However, in the final shot there will be no split down the screen as the two images will be joined together in the middle, making it look like they are sat on the same bench, but they are actually not. Symbolising that they are in 'the same boat'; loving each other, but being unable to be together.

Throughout the rest of the song, there are many present day moments and flashbacks. We really want to use colour manipulation (as I earlier stated) not only in the opening sequence but at other points throughout the rest of the song. So far, we have considered these particular moments to include colour manipulation:

• Throughout the opening; brightening up the girls side of the split screen and darkening or making the boys side black and white
• We are considering making everything that is from the boys perspective black and white, sybolising that now that he has cheated on his girlfriend, he has no good in his life. Therefore, his side of the split screen would be black and white and the cheating scenes would be black and white
• Another alternative would be to have all the flashback scenes in black and white, so that the audience can recognise when the times change. Although, the problem with this would be that as we have so many different flashbacks, it may seem like he cheated on her when they were happy, as there are happy flashbacks and cheating flashbacks
• A similar alternative was just to have the cheating scenes in black and white, to highlight that what he is doing is bad
• A different option, would be just to have the flashback scenes when they are young in black and white, though that was a time when they were happy, so it may not be very fitting with the connotations that are associated with the black and white effect
• And finally, the last option was to have the whole thing in black and white, except the girls half of the split screen at the start and the flashbacks when they were together. Therefore, every moment in our video where we want our audience to feel sadness, will be in black and white

We can't decide which of these to use yet, so we think we are just going to decide when it comes to editing so we can physically see which option looks best :)