The Editing Process

Lyndon, Luke and I did the editing of the film while Patrick and Adam looked for music to use and edited the wiki. When we submitted the rough edit of our film I think that the whole group was a little concerned about how we could improve on it because none of us were entirely happy. However, we used all of Mike’s feedback and started to look at the film with fresh eyes, we realised that there were a lot of different sections that just weren’t necessary to the plot and that there were also things we could add in to create more of a style. We removed a lot of dialogue, which was making the film feel very long and drawn out, we also added music that helped pick up the pace as well as shooting a few extra bits to add in and round everything out.
As a group we realised that there were parts of the story that weren’t exactly clear to the viewer, on top of this the film didn’t feel complete, there wasn’t something that ran throughout to link the beginning with the end. These factors lead to one of the most important decisions we made in the editing process. This was to use our idea of adding voice over narration to round out the film a little bit. Marcus and I recorded the voice-over and added it to the film and I think that the whole group felt as though that was what had been missing right from the very beginning.

By the time we handed in the final edit we were all happy that we’d done the best we could with the footage we had and that overall the film worked. We didn’t want to make a film that left you feeling a little confused and dissatisfied by the ending so we made sure that despite being funny and silly, our film told a story which would leave viewers satisfied having watched it.

We are currently still discussing which film competition we would like to submit to.

Filming Weekend Two

The filming weekend went better than everyone expected. By Friday we had a main character as well as a few confirmed extras. Lyndon’s cousin also agreed to play the lightly older character of the businessman in the film, which was good because we wanted it to be convincing.

Our first day of filming went very quickly and surprisingly smoothly. We essentially shot the film in reverse order so our first shots were some of the final ones in the film. The scene in the Michael Tippet centre was challenging in some ways because of the changing light and the echo of such a large room. Our main actor was very helpful and contributed a lot of ideas but struggled slightly with lines during this scene and I feel, seemed to have a very different interpretation of the character and the style of film than the rest of us. This was partially due to his becoming involved at quite late notice and us generally not having a lot of rehearsal time.

While the acting was not exactly what we had hoped for, as a group we were very happy with how each shot was being framed and, despite the fact that I was directing, we generally made group decisions about what we thought looked best. We ended up finishing early on the first day which left us a little time to play around with different shots and angles, many of which were used in the final edit.

On the second filming day, things were a little tighter in terms of time. We had finished all the scenes set at the university but we had to film everything that took place before that and needed to be filmed in the houses. On top of this, the scenes we shot were a lot more complex. We had to put together a montage of our main character making his hangover cure and we wanted to be sure that we had all the shots we wanted. We also shot an important scene between the character and his friends, which contained a lot of dialogue. Everything went pretty well in terms of getting things done but we struggled to make the shots as interesting as we had the day before because there was such limited space and quite a few people everywhere.

During filming we had several revelations about how we wanted the film be to experienced by its viewers. Though the story was never meant to be a serious and dramatic piece, we decided that we really needed to emphasise the comedic elements of the story in several ways in order to compensate for acting abilities, any confusion regarding the story and slightly amateur looking sets. One of the ideas that we had was to use music as an integral part of the film and use it to emphasise certain moments, actions or lines. We also decided to use editing to paint the main character as more of a fool than we had first discussed, deciding that if we used more humour that people would not be inclined to take the character and his situations seriously. We also discussed putting a voice over narration over the film in order to make things more clear to the audience. We felt as though the acting might not have conveyed the motivations behind the characters actions and the most effective way of conveying them would be to literally tell the audience what was happening and why.

Examples of short films which use voice over narration.

Our Second Film.

We have now started work on our second and final film of the course. I'm working with Lyndon, Luke, Patrick and Adam and we've selected a script by Myles McAuliffe called 'The Hippophant'.
The original script is about a man who decides to try and make some money by scamming the National Geographic and claiming he's discovered a new species of animal which appears to be a hybrid of an elephant and a hippopotamus. Despite the fact that the character, Konrad, has created the taxidermy animal himself using parts of other animals, the scientists sent to his house to conduct tests on the animal find that it is real. Konrad is heralded as having made an amazing discovery and a party is thrown in his honour in which he is to be presented with a cheque. During the presentation however, Konrad begins to notice that the Hippophant that he's sewn together is starting to come apart revealing that he's a fraud.
Due to the practical difficulties we encountered when considering the original script, for example, the possibility of putting together a realistic animal as well as convincingly depicting the main character practicing taxidermy, we decided that it would be easier for us to come up with a new idea as a group that still had the basic premise of the original script.
In the end we landed on the idea of replacing the Hippophant with a miracle cure for a hangover, taking advantage of the fact that we're surrounded by university students, we felt it would be easier for the main character to be a student who stumbles upon a hangover cure which he then tries to sell to his fellow students despite experiencing bizarre side-effects.
Lyndon and I worked on the re-write and I put together a shot-list as well as a storyboard to ensure that everyone in the group has a clear idea of what the film will look like.
Despite the fact that we're filming this weekend, we're still facing issues with confirming cast, as well as locations due to being so pressed for time from the beginning. However, we're all working together to get everything sorted for the weekend, and so long as we have enough extras and actors on the day then we should be fine.

Script: Second Draft

After receiving feedback from several people I decided that it was important to make my script more visual. In my first draft there was very little action, each scene was just a sequence of interview answers and as a result it seemed as though the film may not be that interesting to sit and watch.
In the second draft I inserted four small scenes in which the viewer is able to see examples of what was going on on the set, rather than just hearing about it through the actors, they are able to experience what Hugh is like for themselves. Hopefully these scenes will add to the visual look of the film as well as keeping viewers interested.
I also think that there was an improvement in the script because after I wrote the second draft, a group of students decided that mine was the script that they wanted to turn into a film. I'm interested in seeing the changes that they make to the story and where they go with the style of the film. It will be nice to see how their version compares to how I imagined it turning out.

More Script Inspiration.

Since my previous post I have made some changes to my script, deciding to focus on one main character and how he makes life difficult for everyone on set. Keeping with the original narrative structure, using the interviews as a means by which the audience learns about the character, I have decided that the character should be an enigmatic director who uses controversial methods with his actors. When writing my first draft of my short film script, and developing the characters, I took inspiration from various sources, one of which was stories that I'd heard about the director Werner Herzog and his working relationship with actor Klaus Kinski. The director in my short film is named Hubert Hall and his character is never shown on screen. Instead, the audience learns about him through the interviews with the actors and crew-members so as to ensure that he remains mysterious/ In some ways this character is modelled on Herzog, and the character of Henry (an actor) is based on Kinski. In light of this fact I felt it was important to provide some information on Herzog and Kinskis relationship.