The Wellcome Trust funds science on how climate change affects health. Chapter Zero brings climate awareness into the boardroom. Together they formed a partnership to highlight the human aspects of climate-health governance and business.
I edited this short film as the centrepiece of a flagship event in front of 300 board members, including more than fifty FTSE 350 Chairs and non-executives, and later in the Wellcome Trust boardroom, where it received a standing ovation.
The workflow as usual begins with a transcript of all interviews which averaged at around 15 minutes per person, and I ask the client to mark up which quotes they think most important to use.
With those selects the first edit ran to 11 minutes so I set to work distilling down all that to its core essence, whittling it all down to 5 minutes then eventually 3.5 minutes.
Narrative Structure
Bypassing a typical documentary approach, I wanted the audience to feel uncomfortable, tense, from the first few seconds onwards, to throw you into a narrative with urgent pacing; the result is a film that feels more like a trailer.
The audience needs context, and Director of Climate and Health at Wellcome, Alan Dangour was an obvious choice to begin the film with - bold, assertive, instantly compelling - setting out the tone of everything that follows.
Engineer and angel investor Magali Anderson told a particularly emotive story of real loss, and I had it saved for the film’s conclusion. It was actually the client who suggested we place this up front, and I saw that it worked much better. Trailer edits often work like this - 180º swings that tickle the dopamine hits and retain audience engagement.
Soundscapes
The audio soundscape was also a huge consideration. While happy with a music track I sourced for the main body of the film I felt I wasn't enough, so I added a ticking clock mechanism with a 'Shepard tone' effect which is the auditory illusion of a tone that seems to ascend in pitch endlessly.
Understated so as to not compete with the music or dialogue, it's much more felt than heard.
