Clash Of The Choirs S04: Video Editing Breakdown

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(All clips that appear in this case study were edited by me.)
A Video-Editing Breakdown:
Mzanzi Magic's
Clash Of The Choirs - Season 04

The Revival Season After A 7-year Hiatus

Clash Of The Choirs is a singing reality-competition format that first debuted on NBC in the United States in 2007. A South African version hosted by the Queen B herself, Bonang Matheba debuted on DStv in 2013. The last season of Clash Of The Choirs South Africa aired in 2016 and had since stayed off the air.

OBJECTIVE:
In 2023, Mzanzi Magic decided to revive the beloved format with a fresh new approach, promising that Clash Of The Choirs is back - bigger and better than ever.

Produced by GOAT Originals, I was recruited to be a part of the post-production team tasked with reviving Clash Of The Choirs for a modern audience. This was a monumental task and I believe that we knocked it out the park.

Mzanzi Magic | Clash Of The Choirs South Africa_S04 EP02 Promo

SHOW FORMAT

9 Provinces.

9 Choirmasters.

Each choirmaster is randomly assigned a province.

Choirmasters will seek 14 members to form a choir to represent their province.

Under the guidance of their choirmaster, each choir will perform on the big stage in front of 3 judges and a live audience.

3 judges will score each choir's performance based on each week's challenge.

The choir with the lowest score will be eliminated each week.

Choirmasters (from left to right):

HLE, Langa Mavuso, Prince Kaybee, Vusi Nova, Lady Du, Ntencane, Stoan, Zaza Mokhethi, Khanyisa.

OUR EDITING APPROACH

After many MANY drafts amongst the team, the vision became clear - it was all about the human experience of yearning to achieve one's dream. We then focused on wholesome moments and how the competition brought talent together. My favourite part was witnessing choir members evolve into superstars.

We spent late nights, office dinners and smoke breaks together. We put as many hours as we could into this project because we became heavily invested in the competition - we all had a choir that we were rooting for. For me, I channeled that energy into the edits. I imagined myself as a choir member and thought "What do I want the country to see?". The answer was "I want South Africa to see our talent and feel our performances on stage." That was my own personal approach to the project - I wanted the viewer to feel every heart that was left on the Clash Of The Choirs stage.

Mzanzi Magic | Clash Of The Choirs South Africa_S04 EP04 Promo

Mzanzi Magic | Clash Of The Choirs South Africa_S04 EP05 Promo

THE PROCESS:

Whilst the production crew was on set filming golden moments, the editing team was in the dungeons crafting narratives from the auditions and cutting the riveting stage performances.

This is a rough breakdown of the post-production workflow that allowed us to deliver one 45minute episode every week.
1. Receive footage from the production team and upload daily footage to the network server. Size est. -+1TB footage per day.

2. Once uploaded, the footage is meticulously organized by: Date, Scene, Location, Camera. Proxies for footage are created shortly after, using Media Encoder.

3. In Premiere Pro, synch sequences with footage and audio are created based on each province. The synch sequences are accessible to all editors on the team and each sequence is assigned to an editor based on their availability and capacity.

4. Durations per performance/scene are discussed with the producer and editors go forth to cutting to fit content is specified durations.
5. Editors share edits with the team and receive feedback before sending the latest draft to client. Meanwhile, the online editor roughly assembles the full episode by compiling scenes/performances based on the episode script.
6. Changes are then made to the edit based on client feedback and once client has locked visuals for each episode, the episode is then sent away for colour-grading.
7. SFX are then refined and approved with client before sending OMF files for final mix.
8. Once locked visuals from colour-grading and final mix are finalized - they are married on the timeline before exporting the deliverable for broadcast.

CONCLUSION:

Working on Clash Of The Choirs provided me with invaluable experience in editing a competition format. The show's wholesome moments, influential musical personalities, and high-stakes drama pushed the boundaries of my creative abilities. Through a keen eye for capturing emotional moments and working alongside other talented editors, we successfully contributed to the revival season's overall success.

A series of performances that rocked the boat: