Post-production

Post-Production

Post-production journal, management, documentation, feedback, technical aspects, reflections

 Post-Production Journal 

Before reading my post-production it is important to note that these were not consecutive days, and that the editing took place over a few weeks.

Editing day 1

On the very first day of editing, I organised all my files see here. After going through each audio and raw file, I imported the scenes I liked into Final Cut Pro X. I realised that the B-roll I took on the second day of filming was going to be a lifesaver, as it allowed me to lay out the timeline and gave the film a better introduction.

After making a general timeline, I synced the audio to the raw footage. This was quite difficult but after doing it a few times I found it really easy.

I also imported the song ‘SSD’ by ‘La Femme’ and placed it over the general bar shots. I tried various filters on the song to make it more ambiant and suit the atmosphere but I wasn’t successful so noted to ask a friend to help me later on in post.

I did a lot of editing on the first day, and realised that a lot of my footage of the first conversation was just out of focus, therefore I had to find more creative ways to get around this. I used sharpening filters and cut the image smaller to make the shot more engaging and flow better with the narrative.

Editing day 2

During the first editing session, I created a few jump-cuts in the alley scene to add a stylistic feel, but after watching my work with a fresh set of eyes I realised that it didn’t work AT ALL. I smoothed out the cuts instead by trimming down the scenes, and overlaying sound as it was obvious when we stopped the recording.

I also got rid of a conversation between the characters when they’re in the bar, as I didn’t think it worked well with the storyline and the images were a bit off.

On this second round of editing, I focused most of my time on the motif in my film (click here). This meant that I added in diegetic sounds of sirens in the background, and decided on footage of the protagonist outside the police station (and with this footage I overlaid the siren as the actual clip didn’t have audio recorded and you could hear me giving the actor instructions whilst filming).

The last thing I added was the conversation between the actors Lara and JK (Costa and Al). I had recorded Lara’s lines at a later date, and overlaid them into the scene, whilst also adding a ‘phonecall’ filter to make it realistic.

At this point in editing, I was focusing on more depth of each scene, and got half-way through (about the 5 minute mark) before stopping for the session.

Editing day 3

At this point, I was focusing on the details of each scene (as noted above), and therefore I spent most of this session on the underpass sequence.

-Music levels changed SCREENSHOT – UNDERPASS MUSIC

-added in the last of the timeline SCREENSHOT OF TIMELINE

-audio to raw

-overlaying of audio – not sure about the catcalling scenes MOTIF LINK

-walking down hallway – need to get audio of girls AUDIO FILES FROM JK

Editing day 4

– synced all timeline, added rosie’s music at end

-added sirens when sound was bad + other white noise audio – running up

Editing day 5

– sound levels bad – need to change

amy to help with la femme song

-sharpened the clip of boys

-added in boys convo SCREENSHOT

Editing day 6

– post-feedback

-lara voice re-record SCREENSHOT – effect of phone

-JK whispers

-Music change – too loud

-Cuts to walls

-fixed up sound levels Screenshot- sound (green boxes).

-Finalised