TRANSITION: Project Evaluation

For this unit, Katie, Alex and I came together as a group. Once we decided what we wanted to do, we chose our roles. Because we chose to do a mockumentary, Alex wanted to write and direct as he had good ideas for it. Katie wanted to be the director of photography, I wanted to be the editor. I was excited to be the editor of the project as I've always enjoyed editing. However, I haven't edited in a few months because of the studio production, this gave me the reason to research and re-cap certain parts of editing that I wasn't strong on, like the audio and colour grading.


Pre-production
Alex thought of the idea for this unit. He first thought of a mockumentary in the style of Cunk On Britain. This was the first time I had heard of this programme as it's new with only five episodes in the first series. Cunk On is a spin off series from Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe. After I had watched the first episode I realised how much I liked it and I would watch it for fun, not just for research.

However, we came across a few problems with Cunk On as we couldn't think of a current subject matter that we could make funny. Therefore, Alex's second idea was still on the mockumentary lines but to create one based off a real documentary such as The Supervet and 24 Hours in A&E. He decided on The Supervet which Katie and I were very happy with. 
As I hadn't seen this documentary before, I decided researching into it and the editing techniques was essential. I looked into the effects, lower thirds and titles, with the aim of applying the same style to our mockumentary.  

I also researched into comedy editing because it was essential for the mockumentary to be funny, and half of the humour will come from how it's edited. I looked into other mockumentaries for this, such as Cunk On Britain, The Office and Come Fly With Me. I learnt about holding reaction shots here which is a very important comedy technique. I also looked into Laurel and Hardy's comedy techniques, which ended up helping me during a hard part of the edit.  

Alex next created the script which sounded really interesting and funny. Once we had the green light from Simon, we started planning the filming days and sorting props. 

Props and the set design were very important for our film. We need to make the audience think we are in a vets, for example we couldn't just film it in a house. Ideally, we needed a big room with plain walls that we could decorate to look like a vets. At the beginning, we had agreed to film at an events venue not far from London, but we came across a problem when they told us we couldn't bring a dog into the building. Therefore, after a bit of a rush Katie found another location, a Village Hall, who did let us have a dog in the building. 

Casting was important for our mockumentary as we needed someone who knew how to deliver comedy, Alex created character profiles and we casted two people according to these, Aidan and Samantha, we also used Coco, the chocolate Labrador. 

We took on a test shoot because we had a few camera movements, props and lighting requirements that we weren't sure would work or not. The test shoot day was a great time to try these out before the filming day, incase something didn't work and we had to change it. This day was particularly helpful for the surgery scene because we needed a suitable way to squirt blood. We started with a Lucozade bottle and progressed to a water gun, which is what we used on the filming day - this worked a lot better. The test shoot also gave me an opportunity to have a go at editing it the same as what we want for the final product. This then made the final edit slightly easier in places as I simply replicated what I did for the test shoot but with the new footage. 

My part of the producer role was to create the risk assessments, these were essential for the filming ideas we had, such as filming outside around the public and being dependent on the weather, the blood splattering scene, and using a dog in our film. As working with animals is not the easiest, a risk assessment outlining the risks and control methods was needed. 


Production
As the editor of the project I didn't have a lot to do during the filming days. I was there purely to help decorate the different rooms and to be a helping hand. I also had to leave slightly earlier to get back due to work commitments, so maybe it was ideal that I was the editor and not the DoP because I couldn't be there for all of the filming time, whereas I could fit the editing around work.

I think the filming days went well, while I was there we got a lot of footage and all the shots we needed, and I heard back from Alex and Katie after they finished and they were happy with the footage they gained. They said they were slightly rushed at the end of the first day as they thought they didn't have much time left in the room at the Village Hall, therefore the last scene, the surgery scene, was slightly rushed and they weren't happy with some of the footage they got. 

Obviously, filming in a vets means we would need to have an animal involved. We used Alex's dog, Coco. This seemed like a brilliant idea at the beginning but we did come across a few issues - they say never to work with animals or children. Coco cooperated very well, but there were times when we were trying to get her to sit when she wouldn't which wasted filming time. 

Luckily, the weather was good on both filming days. This was ideal because we wanted as much natural lighting as possible and we were outside when we were filming the cover shots of Sheila and Coco. If the weather was bad we would have had to postpone filming which we really wouldn't have had time for.


Post-production
As the editor, the post production was all on me. I liaised with Alex for advice on how he wanted the edit to look, while following the script and shot list. I mainly followed these, put something together and then showed Alex for his feedback. This was good system because there were points when I became stuck with ideas and I felt that the edit just wasn't looking very good. It was good to be able to ask Alex for any fresh ideas that he might have. 

Coming back the next day to carry on editing with a fresh mind worked well. Each day I edited, I improved on the surgery scene which was my biggest concern and struggle. I eventually made it longer and amusing, by cutting back to Sheila in the waiting room a couple of times, while hearing crashing and banging sound effects. This allows the viewer to imagine what is happening throughout the operation, accompanied by the sound effects. 

Towards the end of the edit I realised how important music is. The music beds I used gave a more upbeat tone to the mockumentary rather than it feeling like a drama. The timing of the music beds were essential to aid the comedy. I made sure they cut at awkward times which was amusing to watch, e.g. I stopped the sad music when the vet threw the dog in the bin, it then makes the viewer feel awkward that the owner has just seen her pet get thrown in a wheelie bin, but amused at the thought of it all as well.

Colour correction went really well, and gave me more confidence in the film. It was helpful that Katie knew how she wanted it coloured, i.e. warm and natural for Sheila's interview, shots of Coco and the waiting room. Slightly clinical looking for the consultation, and a strong clinical look during the surgery scene. This information made that part of the edit very simple and straightforward. 


What went well
- The set design went really well. We were able to film in a room with plain walls, allowing us to dress it as a vets. I think we made a believable vet setting and the posters, leaflets and vet props added to the aesthetics well. 

- I think the location we got a few days before we were due to film was really good. I really didn't want to film in the lecture rooms because it would be difficult to change it into anything other than the lecture rooms, so we were very pleased with the location. 

- Researching into other mockumentaries and comedy techniques really helped. I wouldn't have got the surgery scene where it is now without reading about Laurel and Hardy. I had also never thought about holding reaction shots until I research into it. The edit wouldn't have been funny at all if I hadn't done the research. 

- Testing some of the tricky shots was very helpful for filming but more importantly for me, I was able to test my edit before the real edit. Luckily it went well and I didn't have to change my style for Sheila's interview, meaning this was a straightforward part of the final edit, and I could spend more time on harder parts like the surgery scene.

- The colour grading worked really well. The colours were awful before and didn't match at all, Katie and I worked well together and managed to match up all the shots, particularly wide shots and the matching close ups.


What didn't go well
- We didn't get professional actors from a casting website, which is ok but during the edit we realised at times they didn't give us the energy we wanted. E.g. the line "I'd milk that" that the vet says while the owner walks in the room was quite dull when we really wanted it to be said with a bit more emphasis. This wasn't the vets fault as he isn't an actor but we've realised how important it is to cast professional actors because they would be able to play the part better. 

- I wasn't 100% pleased with the audio in the final edit. I tried to get rid of the background hiss, I improved it but didn't take it away completely. This could be because we used a rode mic on top of the camera, meaning theres some noise from the camera in the audio and I can't do anything about this. Nevertheless, there was an improvement with the audio after I edited it which is the main thing.


What could be improved
- Next year, we will be using a casting website and holding auditions to cast our actors. 

- My time management skills could be improved because I was editing right up until the day before the deadline, and we were getting to a point where we were agreeing with bits rather than trying them another way to speed up the edit slightly. 

- My knowledge of editing from the start. I haven't edited in months because of the studio production, and I was very rough to start with. I should have researched more before this unit or edited regularly before to keep it fresh in my mind. 


What did I learn?
- I have learnt a lot about editing during this small amount of time. I was very grateful for my research throughout the project as I learnt things I didn't know before, and it gave me new ideas for the edit, such as Laurel and Hardy and the surgery scene, getting other people to watch the edit to see if its genuinely funny or not, and learning about holding reaction shots to maintain comedy.

- Working with animals can be hard but as long as we have a plan / shot list / script to follow to get through the day quicker, it's not too bad. We were lucky that Coco was well behaved, we also made sure she went out for walks regularly and had plenty of water to keep her happy. 

- I learnt how important music is, it changed the style of the edit completely which I was very happy with. 

- Colour grading can also change the look of an edit completely. I was feeling more confident with the film once we had colour corrected it.