Friday, 13 February 2015
Final Cut
We've only gone and done it, after many months of planning and doing we finally have a film that I think the whole group are proud of, and here it is! Have a watch:
Re-Shoots and Re-Edits
After our film got reviewed (butchered) by our peers we decieded to go out and re-shoot some things and add a couple of extra ambient shots in to bring the film together. One of our main tasks we needed to film was the tracking shot in the park scene.
It took a few attempts to finally get it right, but we eventually did it and thankfully the weather was good and we had no shadows from the crew appearing in the shot. We also recorded a few little extras to make the narrative flow more like Mallory and Alex meeting each-other and realise they are meant to be also known as the only time we tell the actors to look at the camera.
It took a few attempts to finally get it right, but we eventually did it and thankfully the weather was good and we had no shadows from the crew appearing in the shot. We also recorded a few little extras to make the narrative flow more like Mallory and Alex meeting each-other and realise they are meant to be also known as the only time we tell the actors to look at the camera.
So after the bit of re-filming we did, we went back into editing and managed to add the new clips in by replacing them. We then started looking at the colouring of some of the clips to make look more similar in lighting and shading to make sure they flow better and our different filming days aren't obvious.
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Rough Cut Feedback
So after showing the class our rough cut of the film we have some feedback on improvements to make and what they thought about the film. It was recorded for us to look back and this is it:
11:19- 'Lighting change too drastic'
This is an issue with this shot however can easily be rectified with the exposure setting on the editing software to bring the light and shade up within the image to blend it in with the other shots in this sequence.
12:23- 'She puts all her hair up here but in other scenes she doesn't have her hair all up'
We didn't want to show the whole 30 seconds of her putting her hair up and so showed snippets of the morning routine to prevent the viewer from getting bored. This shot only shows half of her hair routine not all of it but she does continue to do her hair in this sequence, we just don't see it. Therefore this shot won't be changed as we don't want to waste time showing a not so important part of her routine.
12:47- 'Some things make sounds others don't.'
We have objects within the film that make make sounds and some haven't got sound effects. This can be solved by creating foley sounds ourselves using the actual props in which the actors use to create the sounds. This is a problem that needs to be solved as we either need all the sounds or no sounds for any of the objects which wouldn't be realistic.
13:15- 'Bit to bright.' (Shot overexposed)
The shot is brighter than all the other shots and so you can't see the actress on screen as well as we could have it. This will be improved by changing the exposure and shade of the image to darken the shot and make the actress visible. This is a little change that can be made but we do agree that the image is too over exposed.
13:56- 'Change in pace of walking.'
Ryma and Kris due to the match on action shot, it looks like they are walking at different speeds rather than it looking like a fluent walk. This can be solved one of two ways. We will either be speeding up or slowing down the clip that is too fast or slow to match the two clip speeds. Our second option will be to re-film the shots in which they walk and keep track of what speed the walk to ensure the pace matches. Also if there is speech over the top of the so it would make the audio out of sync or sound sped up and robotic so we will probably be re-filming it.
14:13- 'Too quick of a shot. One second she's walking then she suddenly stops.'
The cut between these two shots isn't smooth. She suddenly stops walking and turns rather than letting her walk a little. This is partially due to continuity error of cars on the road appearing then disappearing but this will be solved by re filming part of the scene when there are no cars or include them within the scene just to look as if there is busy traffic.
14:17- 'Camera wobbles'
The camera does wobble a little as she walks away and so we will be re-filming this. Due to it being a windy day, the camera wasn't as stable as it needed to be to ensure a static shot. It isn't that noticeable but now it has been pointed out we will need to re film it.
15:05- 'Not sure if it's a different day'
The way in which the days change so that the female meets the male character isn't clear to the audience as it needs a transaction or a mother way of showing that the day has changed. We are either going to address this by adding in transitions between the shots or we can use the soundtrack music to show the development of a relationship each day between the two characters.
16:30- 'Sound too loud for males voice'
Due to having the on location recording kit mic closer to the male, it made the sound a lot louder than the speech by others. This can be solved by turning down the volume in this specific clip to ensure that all of the audio of the actors is smooth and of equal volume to each other.
16:58- 'Crew shadow in shot on cast.'
We did debate about this a lot as we felt that the shadow was from the actor rather than the film crew. However if the audience felt that it looked like a shadow then we wanted to make it clear that there definitely wasn't any evidence of film crew to give them nothing to pick out. So, we will be refilling this tracking shot as a solution.
18:09- 'Shot too long.'
The shot in which Mallory is walking towards the train station is said to be too long. We wanted to show her journey, however it was suggested that we just needed to show her part way to the train station. Therefore on the feedback given we agree that by shortening the clip it will prevent the audience getting bored and the shot being to long and unnecessary.
18:54- 'Shot too bright.'
It was said that the shot was too bright, however others disagreed and said that the light isn't always going to be consistent depending on where you are standing. We are unsure whether to change this however we are considering changing the exposure just to take the light down a little to see if it has a major effect on the way in which the shot looks.
19:27- 'Incude a focus pull down the track'
It was said that it would be nice to include a focus pull to show how empty the track was when Peter appears. However, we didn't agree with this idea much as we had a focus pull as the next shot, as well as their being speaking and not fitting the moment within this scene. Mallory is supposed to be shocked and so the shot changes quickly to see him to show her quick reaction and Peter's sudden appearance.
19:56- 'Suddenly sounds like Ryma is locked in a box'
We don't understand why but for some reason, Ryma suddenly sounds like she is trapped in a box for this particular shot. It was all filmed on the same location so we don't get why the sound changes. We have one of two things we can do. Either manipulate it within final cut or re record her saying the lines in the same environment again.
20:13- 'Sound a little out of sync.'
Some of the talking is a little out of sync when one of the actors talks it doesn't quite fit their lips. This can be solved by a little shuffle of the sound audio along the timeline to sync with the actors speech.
20:47- 'Needs an establishing shot.'
There isn't really a shot that leads the audience into the new setting and so with an establishing shot, we can show the audience where the actress is before showing her actions. That or we will move the fire shot to the beginning of this scene to show she is in a homely environment.
21:41- 'Crew members talking on top of the shot'
There is some of taking from the crew member giving directions to the actors. The sound hadn't been cut in time to miss this out and so will be rectified by cutting the speaking not needed off the beginning.
22:21- 'Other keys don't make a sound but the enter key does.
The keys on the keyboard don't make a sound other than the enter key which is rather loud so that needs turning down. This is the same as previous points and so can be rectified by adding in the foley sounds of her typing.
24:03- 'Sorry, What was that?! Sound too loud!'
For some reason this sound was much louder than the first alarm even though it was copied across so this needs turning down as we managed to deafen the audience! We needed them to hear our film really...
24:24- 'Music too happy after finding out the bloke she liked is dead.'
The music is a little jolly considering yesterday she found out the man she was starting to like isn't real... so we need to either change the music round so that the sad music is at the end and the happy at the beginning or find new and varied music for the shots and scenes. This will be depending on their emotions within the scene so we will probably be getting a new set of music to vary the film and its emotions.
26:00- 'Shots too long for a repeat sequence.'
This sequence began the film and so the audience don't really need to see it in full again. We will be shortening the clips as suggested to ensure that the audience can just glance through and see that she does the same thing every morning.
26:54- 'Need a shot before they meet'
There isn't really a smooth transaction between Mallory and the new male Alex. So we really need to shoot another shot to fill this gap within the sequence to show that she is going through the same routine again before she meets the new male.
27:29- ' Sound a little out.'
The sound again is a little out of sync with he actors speech which again can be solved by moving the audio along the timeline until synced in final cut.
27:38- 'More intimate shot, eye shot.'
It was suggested that we have a shot of the two new lovers gazing into their eyes to show that they like each other. This is another shot that needs adding to the film to show the relationship building between the two character to match the music that will accompany it.
28:00- 'Walking off into the distance shot over credits'
Another good suggestion was to have the male and the female characters walk off into the distance after meeting, having a conversation and looking as if it was the start of a relationship for Mallory. This would be under the credits to show the two walking off into the distance and that as one thing ends another begins (deep stuff).
Evaluation
Overall, the feedback was good and we did get a lot of positives come back from our film. We will now send it back to the editing suite and create our final version of the product. The thing we need to work on the most is the sound, that we will re-record and over dub to the original footage. We've also been thinking about changing the soundtrack too and hopefully it will make the narrative much clearer to the audience. Here's a little video we put together about our opinions on our film:
This was also the criteria we were marked on by and given a level rating for:
So after watching our film twice through we got a list of feedback and things we need to improve on. Here i've listed what was said through the video and our feedback:
10:47- 'Alarm came in too early'
We disagree with this completely. The Alarm is perfectly timed so that it goes off the moment it turns 7. The only reasoning for this comment we can think is if the board was lagging in which it was presented on but this will not be changed as it is timed perfectly for when the clock changes.
10:54- 'Not an appropriate sound for turning off an alarm'
We agree with this as it does sound more like she has just punched someone rather than her turning off an alarm which wasn't exactly what we were going for. So this will be changed. We thought it might work if we turned it down but realistically we will be searching on online royalty free sites for the right sound as apple loops don't have any that are appropriate as you can see. 11:19- 'Lighting change too drastic'
This is an issue with this shot however can easily be rectified with the exposure setting on the editing software to bring the light and shade up within the image to blend it in with the other shots in this sequence.
12:23- 'She puts all her hair up here but in other scenes she doesn't have her hair all up'
We didn't want to show the whole 30 seconds of her putting her hair up and so showed snippets of the morning routine to prevent the viewer from getting bored. This shot only shows half of her hair routine not all of it but she does continue to do her hair in this sequence, we just don't see it. Therefore this shot won't be changed as we don't want to waste time showing a not so important part of her routine.
12:47- 'Some things make sounds others don't.'
We have objects within the film that make make sounds and some haven't got sound effects. This can be solved by creating foley sounds ourselves using the actual props in which the actors use to create the sounds. This is a problem that needs to be solved as we either need all the sounds or no sounds for any of the objects which wouldn't be realistic.
13:15- 'Bit to bright.' (Shot overexposed)
The shot is brighter than all the other shots and so you can't see the actress on screen as well as we could have it. This will be improved by changing the exposure and shade of the image to darken the shot and make the actress visible. This is a little change that can be made but we do agree that the image is too over exposed.
13:56- 'Change in pace of walking.'
Ryma and Kris due to the match on action shot, it looks like they are walking at different speeds rather than it looking like a fluent walk. This can be solved one of two ways. We will either be speeding up or slowing down the clip that is too fast or slow to match the two clip speeds. Our second option will be to re-film the shots in which they walk and keep track of what speed the walk to ensure the pace matches. Also if there is speech over the top of the so it would make the audio out of sync or sound sped up and robotic so we will probably be re-filming it.
14:13- 'Too quick of a shot. One second she's walking then she suddenly stops.'
The cut between these two shots isn't smooth. She suddenly stops walking and turns rather than letting her walk a little. This is partially due to continuity error of cars on the road appearing then disappearing but this will be solved by re filming part of the scene when there are no cars or include them within the scene just to look as if there is busy traffic.
14:17- 'Camera wobbles'
The camera does wobble a little as she walks away and so we will be re-filming this. Due to it being a windy day, the camera wasn't as stable as it needed to be to ensure a static shot. It isn't that noticeable but now it has been pointed out we will need to re film it.
15:05- 'Not sure if it's a different day'
The way in which the days change so that the female meets the male character isn't clear to the audience as it needs a transaction or a mother way of showing that the day has changed. We are either going to address this by adding in transitions between the shots or we can use the soundtrack music to show the development of a relationship each day between the two characters.
16:30- 'Sound too loud for males voice'
Due to having the on location recording kit mic closer to the male, it made the sound a lot louder than the speech by others. This can be solved by turning down the volume in this specific clip to ensure that all of the audio of the actors is smooth and of equal volume to each other.
16:58- 'Crew shadow in shot on cast.'
We did debate about this a lot as we felt that the shadow was from the actor rather than the film crew. However if the audience felt that it looked like a shadow then we wanted to make it clear that there definitely wasn't any evidence of film crew to give them nothing to pick out. So, we will be refilling this tracking shot as a solution.
18:09- 'Shot too long.'
The shot in which Mallory is walking towards the train station is said to be too long. We wanted to show her journey, however it was suggested that we just needed to show her part way to the train station. Therefore on the feedback given we agree that by shortening the clip it will prevent the audience getting bored and the shot being to long and unnecessary.
18:54- 'Shot too bright.'
It was said that the shot was too bright, however others disagreed and said that the light isn't always going to be consistent depending on where you are standing. We are unsure whether to change this however we are considering changing the exposure just to take the light down a little to see if it has a major effect on the way in which the shot looks.
19:27- 'Incude a focus pull down the track'
It was said that it would be nice to include a focus pull to show how empty the track was when Peter appears. However, we didn't agree with this idea much as we had a focus pull as the next shot, as well as their being speaking and not fitting the moment within this scene. Mallory is supposed to be shocked and so the shot changes quickly to see him to show her quick reaction and Peter's sudden appearance.
19:56- 'Suddenly sounds like Ryma is locked in a box'
We don't understand why but for some reason, Ryma suddenly sounds like she is trapped in a box for this particular shot. It was all filmed on the same location so we don't get why the sound changes. We have one of two things we can do. Either manipulate it within final cut or re record her saying the lines in the same environment again.
20:13- 'Sound a little out of sync.'
Some of the talking is a little out of sync when one of the actors talks it doesn't quite fit their lips. This can be solved by a little shuffle of the sound audio along the timeline to sync with the actors speech.
20:47- 'Needs an establishing shot.'
There isn't really a shot that leads the audience into the new setting and so with an establishing shot, we can show the audience where the actress is before showing her actions. That or we will move the fire shot to the beginning of this scene to show she is in a homely environment.
21:41- 'Crew members talking on top of the shot'
There is some of taking from the crew member giving directions to the actors. The sound hadn't been cut in time to miss this out and so will be rectified by cutting the speaking not needed off the beginning.
22:21- 'Other keys don't make a sound but the enter key does.
The keys on the keyboard don't make a sound other than the enter key which is rather loud so that needs turning down. This is the same as previous points and so can be rectified by adding in the foley sounds of her typing.
24:03- 'Sorry, What was that?! Sound too loud!'
For some reason this sound was much louder than the first alarm even though it was copied across so this needs turning down as we managed to deafen the audience! We needed them to hear our film really...
24:24- 'Music too happy after finding out the bloke she liked is dead.'
The music is a little jolly considering yesterday she found out the man she was starting to like isn't real... so we need to either change the music round so that the sad music is at the end and the happy at the beginning or find new and varied music for the shots and scenes. This will be depending on their emotions within the scene so we will probably be getting a new set of music to vary the film and its emotions.
26:00- 'Shots too long for a repeat sequence.'
This sequence began the film and so the audience don't really need to see it in full again. We will be shortening the clips as suggested to ensure that the audience can just glance through and see that she does the same thing every morning.
26:54- 'Need a shot before they meet'
There isn't really a smooth transaction between Mallory and the new male Alex. So we really need to shoot another shot to fill this gap within the sequence to show that she is going through the same routine again before she meets the new male.
27:29- ' Sound a little out.'
The sound again is a little out of sync with he actors speech which again can be solved by moving the audio along the timeline until synced in final cut.
27:38- 'More intimate shot, eye shot.'
It was suggested that we have a shot of the two new lovers gazing into their eyes to show that they like each other. This is another shot that needs adding to the film to show the relationship building between the two character to match the music that will accompany it.
28:00- 'Walking off into the distance shot over credits'
Another good suggestion was to have the male and the female characters walk off into the distance after meeting, having a conversation and looking as if it was the start of a relationship for Mallory. This would be under the credits to show the two walking off into the distance and that as one thing ends another begins (deep stuff).
Evaluation
Overall, the feedback was good and we did get a lot of positives come back from our film. We will now send it back to the editing suite and create our final version of the product. The thing we need to work on the most is the sound, that we will re-record and over dub to the original footage. We've also been thinking about changing the soundtrack too and hopefully it will make the narrative much clearer to the audience. Here's a little video we put together about our opinions on our film:
Wednesday, 11 February 2015
The Illusion Of Existence Rough Cut
So I guess here we are, we know that rough cuts are never perfect and there is a lot of improvement to be made. But we're all in all still very proud of our work, so here it is.
Tuesday, 10 February 2015
Editing The Footage
Editing the footage is a long, strenuous, tiring task that takes the most time to do. Staying after school for days on end to get a film done and a lot of money spent in Esso to keep us going for hours. Editing is not just about putting clips together and leaving it at that, its everything else too from soundtrack, colouring, visual/sound balance etc. Here's some things we've done to edit the film as well as cutting and placing clips:
Here is where we expand the video/audio clips to make sure the balance between the two is right, and the syncing of the sound with the clip.
This is where we began to blend the audios of different tracks together to make the sound more fluent and flowing. Making the sound quality better over all and not jumpy.Editing was a bit different this year as we had to edit both the footage and sound on the same software, where as last year we used Soundtrack Pro to make the soundtracks and the implemented them back into Final Cut. In a way, this year was easier as we could edit sound as we went along rather than having to edit the entire film and then the soundtrack to put them back together. So the editing did go alot more fluently that what we expected it to be like.
Monday, 9 February 2015
Filming On Location - Day 4 (19th December)
On the 13th December we filmed scene 3 which was the scene where Mallory meets Peter in the park. Overall the filming went well, however there were one or two minor problems as there always is when filming. I will detail these later in the post.
After meeting at Charlotte's house, (which was closest to the location and therefore an ideal meeting point) between the crew and the cast we managed to carry all the equipment to our location. Upon arriving we set up the camera and tripod and adjusted the framing and focus for the park bench shot. We then recapped with the cast their lines and actions as well as crew and equipment movements. Just before we were ready to shoot we realised that Mallory, played by Ryma was missing her hair bobble. This was the first of two minor problems we stumbled upon however it was an easy mistake to make and nobodies fault as we had checked and doubled checked everything else. Whilst Charlotte had the task of running back for the bobble, myself and Tom set up the tracking kit ready for the later shots as this would take some time to construct the track. Lucy shot some B-roll footage, and then we finished up by having another run through with the cast. By which time Charlotte had returned so we made use of the time we had.
The rest of the filming went well. We managed to record some really good footage, as well as clear sound from the location recording kit. Despite it being the middle of winter and quite a windy day, no one suffered to badly and fortunately the wind was not picked up on the location recording kit. After a few attempts, we managed to film a good tracking shot with Peter (Kris) and Mallory walking towards the camera whilst the camera moved back with them. The second minor problem was when we were showing Peter walking away into the distance. For the sake of continuity, we had to wait for the path to empty so that we didn't have a passer by in one shot but then not the other. Therefore we had to wait a while before we could shoot that particular shot. Once we had got that out the way we packed up and headed back to drop off the equipment.
Overall I think the filming went really well. There were only two slight problems that were quickly overcome and we got all the shots we planned to film without difficulty. The location wasn't too difficult to get to or from and since there wasn't that much equipment to take, we did not struggle to carry all of it. Also the weather stayed consistent throughout the day so the lighting in our shots was not affected.
After meeting at Charlotte's house, (which was closest to the location and therefore an ideal meeting point) between the crew and the cast we managed to carry all the equipment to our location. Upon arriving we set up the camera and tripod and adjusted the framing and focus for the park bench shot. We then recapped with the cast their lines and actions as well as crew and equipment movements. Just before we were ready to shoot we realised that Mallory, played by Ryma was missing her hair bobble. This was the first of two minor problems we stumbled upon however it was an easy mistake to make and nobodies fault as we had checked and doubled checked everything else. Whilst Charlotte had the task of running back for the bobble, myself and Tom set up the tracking kit ready for the later shots as this would take some time to construct the track. Lucy shot some B-roll footage, and then we finished up by having another run through with the cast. By which time Charlotte had returned so we made use of the time we had.
The rest of the filming went well. We managed to record some really good footage, as well as clear sound from the location recording kit. Despite it being the middle of winter and quite a windy day, no one suffered to badly and fortunately the wind was not picked up on the location recording kit. After a few attempts, we managed to film a good tracking shot with Peter (Kris) and Mallory walking towards the camera whilst the camera moved back with them. The second minor problem was when we were showing Peter walking away into the distance. For the sake of continuity, we had to wait for the path to empty so that we didn't have a passer by in one shot but then not the other. Therefore we had to wait a while before we could shoot that particular shot. Once we had got that out the way we packed up and headed back to drop off the equipment.
Overall I think the filming went really well. There were only two slight problems that were quickly overcome and we got all the shots we planned to film without difficulty. The location wasn't too difficult to get to or from and since there wasn't that much equipment to take, we did not struggle to carry all of it. Also the weather stayed consistent throughout the day so the lighting in our shots was not affected.
Filming On Location - Day 3 (13th December)
Location: Strawberry Lane
Scenes: 2 and 7
This day was dedicated to filming when Mallory meets her two 'love interests' throughout the story, so all actors were present on set on this very cold day.
We began filming with just Ryma and Kris as we didn't need Alex until later. We briefed each actor on what they had to do in each bit of the scene and also let them improvise a bit due to there acting skill with the way they say there lines and perform things. While recording the scenes we used the Location Recording Kit to record the dialogue but due to the whether and location of the set it became a bit of a struggle to get a clear, crisp sound.
Both scenes we had to keep refilming shots several times due to traffic and walkers coming along onto the set and the light did keep changing as the sun began to set, however we still managed to film everything we needed to and got footage that we wanted to initially get
Scenes: 2 and 7
This day was dedicated to filming when Mallory meets her two 'love interests' throughout the story, so all actors were present on set on this very cold day.
We began filming with just Ryma and Kris as we didn't need Alex until later. We briefed each actor on what they had to do in each bit of the scene and also let them improvise a bit due to there acting skill with the way they say there lines and perform things. While recording the scenes we used the Location Recording Kit to record the dialogue but due to the whether and location of the set it became a bit of a struggle to get a clear, crisp sound.
Both scenes we had to keep refilming shots several times due to traffic and walkers coming along onto the set and the light did keep changing as the sun began to set, however we still managed to film everything we needed to and got footage that we wanted to initially get
Evaluation
The filming day was good overall just the location as we realised was a little un-ideal with the amount of Saturday traffic, cold weather and people seemed to be constantly walking dogs and even a couple of horses. That was a strange one. We lost some time too walking to the location due to some complications.
We still got all the shots we needed, and they looked good despite the actors nearly dying of hypothermia everyone did great. Alex who had rarely acted before did a great job and really impresses all of us! All together the footage was good quality and well framed. Hopefully this will look good for the editing.
We still got all the shots we needed, and they looked good despite the actors nearly dying of hypothermia everyone did great. Alex who had rarely acted before did a great job and really impresses all of us! All together the footage was good quality and well framed. Hopefully this will look good for the editing.
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