Chapter 55: Novice Teaching Novice

Murphy had shot a total of a thousand minutes of footage. Although the filming followed the chronological order of the story's development, editing this into a ninety-minute film still required a tremendous amount of work.

The entire post-production editing was mainly done by Murphy and the editor Griffiths, with the intern Paul Wilson and Griffiths' two assistants serving as aides.

The specific editing was handled by Griffiths, while Murphy was primarily responsible for reviewing and explaining his requirements for the film.

Every edit has a main storyline, and Murphy's was simple: Hailey discovers Jeff's hidden crimes in the room, administers punishment, finds more crimes, and punishes him again until the final castration and hanging.

The reason for this approach was straightforward. In the modified film, the protagonist Hailey was even more ruthless, using intense scenes to increase the film's appeal. However, this posed a problem as viewers might develop a dislike for the protagonist, which was not what Murphy wanted.

If the audience disliked the main character, how would the film be appealing?

Therefore, Murphy increased the severity of Jeff's crimes. Every time Hailey tortured him, she would uncover new crimes, deepening the audience's disgust for Jeff and making Hailey's actions seem justified and satisfying.

But this method couldn't be overused. Murphy planned three main stages: one with pepper spray while bound, one with castration, and one with hanging.

Of course, corresponding verbal and psychological torment were also essential.

Post-production was not just about editing; Murphy first focused on this aspect. He and Griffiths repeatedly watched the black-and-white opening scene footage shot from all angles, eventually deciding to use the seventh shot, a diagonal overhead shot, as the opening scene for the entire film.

The effect of this shot appeared quite brutal, fully displaying the different reactions of Emily, the victim, and Jeff, the perpetrator.

The opening scene lasted only a few minutes and was a complete long take. After discussing it with Griffiths, Murphy decided not to re-edit it and to use it as is.

The progress of the editing work was slow. Even though it was only a rough cut, Murphy managed to finalize just one shot in almost an entire morning.

He was very cautious, more meticulous than during filming, as editing could directly determine a film's success or failure.

Nowadays, "montage" is a fully cinematic term. Essentially, montage involves editing and combining different shots and scenes to create a unique film time and space, guiding the audience's emotions and psychology.

The most typical function of montage is to accelerate the film's pace, which is heavily utilized in "Hard Candy," a film with a simple narrative.

Griffiths later edited Hailey and Jeff's first meeting using montage to quicken the pace. Two strangers meeting would naturally involve a lot of small talk, but the film's length required these scenes to be concise. Through editing, the scenes alternated rapidly between Hailey and Jeff, completing these moments in just a few minutes.

Griffiths focused intently on his work at the editing table, in front of an old-fashioned screen with a piece of chalk in front of it. This was a common method among experienced editors, using an object like a cigarette or chalk as a reference to gauge the impact on a larger screen. This was part of the rough cut process.

However, after editing each segment, Griffiths would view it on a large screen to ensure its effectiveness.

After completing this part of the rough cut, Griffiths handed it over to his assistant, who played the edited segment on a twenty-seven-inch screen.

On the screen, only Hailey and Jeff appeared, with the camera constantly circling around them.

"Jody!" Murphy stood next to Griffiths, pointing at the two on the screen, and said, "Can we add more individual shots of the two, frequently switching the frame between the gray and red they represent?"

Griffiths immediately understood Murphy's idea and clapped his hands lightly. "Good idea."

He instructed his assistant to pause the playback and prepared to re-edit the segment.

Paul Wilson, on the other hand, had been observing from the side. Despite his formal training, he lacked experience and couldn't grasp what Murphy and Griffiths were doing. He quietly moved behind Murphy.

Paul Wilson, eager to learn as an unpaid intern, naturally asked when he didn't understand something.

"Director," he whispered, "I..."

Murphy turned to look at him. Paul Wilson awkwardly scratched his head, unable to finish his sentence.

"What Jody and I mean," Murphy explained in a low voice, appreciating the hardworking, unpaid laborer, "is to use montage to switch between comparison and contrast images of Hailey and Jeff. Imagine the frame constantly switching between Jeff's gray and Hailey's red. These two distinct colors, edited together, can introduce their implied meanings and compare them, establishing the potential conflict."

Paul Wilson immediately thought of the film's hidden thread—Little Red Riding Hood striking back against the Big Bad Wolf—and suddenly understood.

When he saw the re-edited footage on the screen, he couldn't help but nod in admiration. "Director, your idea is really ingenious."

Murphy merely smiled.

He could think of many things, but his actual execution was far inferior to an old hand like Jody Griffiths.

Jody Griffiths, still dissatisfied, continued to refine the segment. Murphy called Paul Wilson over to his workbench to assist in editing another segment.

Compared to the previous scenes, this one was much simpler. Murphy had already carefully considered the final effect he wanted during shooting.

This was the segment of Hailey and Jeff chatting online.

Murphy had not included the actors in the shots during filming, so the editing naturally only involved the computer screen. The editing started with close-ups and then followed the chat content from top to bottom, presenting the conversation on the screen.

"Moving the camera from top to bottom forces the audience to quickly browse the content, creating an initial sense of tension and establishing the film's tense, fast-paced tone."

While working, Murphy explained to the curious Paul Wilson. However, for the subsequent editing, he stopped using close-up shots and switched to panning shots. "Panning can gradually reduce the depth of field from a few sentences to a single sentence to one or two words, generating a sense of pressure and curiosity, making the audience eager to know what will happen next."

Although his level wasn't particularly high, Paul Wilson, the novice, still nodded in agreement.

Murphy added, "This part also needs voice-over to achieve the best effect."