MAJOR PROJECT: Creating Rough Cut 1 & Feedback

Creating Rough Cut 1 
(all shoot days complete)

Syncing the audio:

My initial job during the rough cut was to sync the audio. This project was the first time I had used a clapperboard, and as I explained previously, this is a very important method in which to help sync the audio. Katie had set up a Premiere Pro timeline with the correct settings for our footage, and relating back to my research from Anthony Boys, I decided it would be best to continue using her set-up to allow the continuity of the style to flow smoothly while the edit gets passed from Katie to me, and then back to Katie. She had organised the footage from the Kent Owl Academy in separate bins, I continued this when importing the new footage and audio from the most recent shoot week. Katie started by syncing the audio on one sequence and then went back and fourth with a new sequence when she was ready to start putting the timeline together. I continued using this technique in order to keep the edit simple for when the edit gets passed back for the fine cut.

This was my opportunity to try editing with the silent camera and clapperboard. It wasn't as hard as what I thought as long as the clapperboard was in shot. This was the case for the majority of the takes apart from a couple in the last scene outside the pub, I couldn't see the whole clapperboard and had to estimate when it had been used. Overall, syncing the audio wasn't extremely difficult, but it just took a while to sync all the takes. This took me two full days, which in the scheme of things isn't very long as we have around two months to edit the project. However, I just wanted to get into editing the footage together on the separate timeline in order to see how to looks and if we needed to re-shoot at all. I actually started this process a week before the edit was scheduled on my post-production schedule. After realising that the sync took two full days, I am grateful for starting it earlier as I should be able to stay on schedule or have the rough cut complete earlier than scheduled. 

Syncing the audio

Once the audio was synced, I also had to adjust the audio channels so the sound was coming out of the same side on each channel. This allowed the audio to be played in both headphones and had an even volume level throughout the takes. I adjusted both audio levels so they were coming from the left side.

Adjusting audio channels 

Once the timeline started to come together, I adjusted some additional audio levels. The audio and sound effects come into the edit during the fine cut, however, as I will have control of this rough cut for a while, I felt it was best to change the audio levels so we didn't peak throughout the film. As it is shown in the photo below, when Tim gets into the Vet Van and shuts the door, the audio peaks. As our characters get in and out of the van and shut the side door a number of times throughout the film, this happens a couple of times. However, this is very easy to correct and because of that we didn't have to compromise our sound by having the sound assistant stand away from the characters. Therefore, we still have very clear dialogue for the majority of the film.

To correct the audio level here, I used the pen tool (as shown in the second photo below) and plotted a couple of audio spots before and after the high audio level of the van door. Once these spots were in place, I brought the audio volume down in the section between the spots. I listened to this back to make sure it sounded natural and not edited. I only lowered it slightly as the van door shutting is expected to make a loud noise, I simply wanted to prevent the audio from peaking at this point on the timeline. This was successful, I made sure the van door still made a loud noise but not loud enough to peak.

Audio peaking

Using the pen tool to lower the volume of the audio

On shoot day 4 when we filmed the final scene of VET-MAN, we had a slight problem with the natural light. It was relatively cloudy on this shoot day but the sun was shining, this caused the daylight to change very often. It started slightly more dull when the clouds were covering the sun but a few moments later the clouds had moved and the sun was beaming down onto the car park. We realised this half way through the day and to prevent it we tried to shoot the scene twice in order to get two full sequences - one with the sun out and one with the sun covered. If we hadn't realised this, when it came to the edit, I would be constantly cutting between shots with sun and shots without the sun. 

Once it came to the edit, I remembered the issues we had with the sunlight and tried to make two sequences with the sun and without the sun. Unfortunately, there were a couple of shots which we only had one of so I couldn't make a whole sequence of either sun or no sun. The sun gave a brighter and more pleasing look to the shots - these may be easier to colour grade as well so I was leaning more towards using the sunlight shots, but they were very noticeable with or without the sun. As a result of this, I decided to try and position the shots so the sun came in gradually. This means that the sun won't appear and disappear in consecutive shots, but the sun will not be present at the beginning of the scene and then will appear towards the end of the scene (as shown in the photos below). I was surprisingly happy with this result. I showed Alex and he was also happy with it. We both agreed that this was the best way of approaching the natural light issue in a way which doesn't look too obvious that the light changes. Editing this scene with the sunlight in mind prevented us from needing to consider a re-shoot. 

Gradual change in sunlight

Using jump cuts

In the film, there are a couple of sequences with no dialogue where we are just watching Tim doing something on screen - scenes 1 & 4. In scene 1, Tim has just walked into Tess's house and is looking for her laptop to print his fake diploma. Here we are watching Tim rummage through her front room drawers and look under the sofa to find the laptop. To show Tim printing the diploma I put together a sequence of events including Tim putting the laptop down on top of the printer, taking the USB stick out of his pocket, putting it into the laptop, watching him use the touch pad on the laptop, and finally pressing print on the screen. I initially put the footage together so it was a lot longer, just so I could get each shot down on the timeline for the assembly cut. However, for a comedy which needs to be fast-paced, this seemed to be quite a slow and uninteresting sequence. I felt that we needed to get to the point of the fake diploma quicker. I liaised with Alex once the assembly cut was complete and I wanted to start refining the shots and shortening scenes. I suggested a couple of jump cuts so we just see the important parts of the sequence, such as putting the laptop down on the printer, getting the USB out and putting it into the printer, rather than actually watching the sequence showing him getting to each of these points. For example instead of seeing him put his hand in his pocket, we'll just see him take out the USB. Alex agreed that this would be the best way to approach this slower-paced sequence. He said that the jump cuts could signify Tim being in his own world as a successful vet, and then once we go back to full sequences, this is when we are back in real life where he is a failed vet.

Alex also said that he particularly didn't want to see the misspelt word - VETT - on the laptop screen, instead he wanted the word to be revealed when Tess turns the diploma round and tells Tim that he's spelt it wrong. I felt that this was a good idea, because if I am using jump cuts to signify being in Tim's mind and believing that he is a successful vet, the misspelt word wouldn't fit in with this if the audience then saw it during this sequence. As a result of this, I was able to jump from seeing Tim's hand using the touchpad to then pressing the print button. 

Revealing VETT

Following this advice from Alex, I applied the jump cuts to the surgical scene in the back of the van in Scene 4. We shot a sequence where Tim puts on the surgical gloves and mask and prepares the dog for surgery. Again, I used the jump cuts to signify being in Tim's mind where he believes he is being a successful vet. Subsequently, once we hear Sheila calling for Sooty I created full sequences and stop creating the jump cuts.

Screenshots of jump cuts in Scene 4 (surgery on dog in Van)

Gaining inspiration from The Thick Of It

As explained in my research I looked into The Thick Of It to note down their editing techniques. I felt this was necessary because it is our main inspiration for VET-MAN and how we want our film to be edited. I already knew that one way to bring comedy across is holding reaction shots so I was doing this wherever it could fit, but I wanted to see if The Thick Of It used any other techniques that I could replicate. While watching the series, I found that they really emphasise the zooms and pans in the edit. It is shot with the intention of using these camera movements but they use them in the episodes many times, rather than cutting them out. Katie shot our footage with intentional zooms and pans so I have used as many as I can in the edit, rather than cutting them out. They were used to help bring the comedy across so they are going to be included in the edit regardless, however, occasionally I held onto shots for slightly longer to get these camera movements in. For example, there is a shot where Katie is sat in the back of the stationary van when Luke opens the side door after they've hit the dog. He then runs round to the back of the van to get the tools for Tim so Katie pans his movement, then when he gets the screwdrivers out, she pans back to Tim's reaction for the line - "it's not a fu*king flatpack Luke. Stethoscope". I was deciding between removing the pan and just cutting back to Tim but I kept the pan in to reflect our inspiration of The Thick Of It. The camera doesn't quite get back to Tim before he says his line, however, this is something that I noticed when watching The Thick Of It, the camera seems to chase the action as some of the time there's so much going on at once. I understand this may change throughout the course of the edit, but I have kept it in for now to reflect our inspiration, I will see what Alex says and change it accordingly if needed. 

Our footage is not quite as shaky as The Thick Of It, however, because I know the idea of handheld is to get that specific look I didn't have to concern myself with any really shaky footage as I knew that was the style we wanted. I also noticed that they hold the shots for an amount of time and then zoom rather than zoom while changing shots. There were a couple of shots that I cut together where the zooms were too close together which meant it was harder to see where the focus was meant to be. As a result of this, each zoom I incorporated into the edit, I made sure the camera was still before and after the zoom before cutting again to prevent too much movement in the cuts. Although The Thick Of It are known for their quick cuts which add to the comedy, they hold shots where needed. I took this point on into our edit and held reaction shots that added to the story, such as the Sheila's close up when Tim puts his blood stained hand on her shoulder. He puts his hand on her left shoulder which is away from the camera, ideally, it would have been better if he had put his hand on the right shoulder which was facing the camera. Nevertheless, her reaction is still appropriate for what's happening in the scene so I felt it was essential for the comedy to hold her reaction while Tim is taking with his hand on her shoulder. 

Comparison to post-production schedule made in pre-production unit

In order to involve the post-production schedule I made in the Pre-Production unit, I made a comparison of what I said would happen during the editing stage, and what has actually happened. I also aim to update the post-production schedule to do a full comparison towards the end of the Major Project unit. 

When I created the post-production unit, I gave us a week's break between filming and editing, however, once I actually got to the end of filming I found that the weekend was enough time off and I was eager to get in and start editing the film together. In addition to this, now I have experienced all of our shoot days, getting the edit started quicker will also help determine what we need to re-shoot - if we do at all. As a result of this, I started the edit on the 25th February rather than the 4th March. I am very glad that I did start the edit earlier than scheduled now as I said previously, because I didn't realise how long syncing the audio would take. I didn't take this into consideration when planning the post-production schedule. As I was creating it months prior to editing or even filming, I wasn't completely clear on each step I needed to take during the edit. There is room for the post-production schedule to change due to the large amount of time that we have to edit the film. Again, I didn't realise how much time we would actually have after filming, and as a result of this, I have kept onto the rough cut slightly longer than I scheduled, giving me more time to perfect the rough cut so Katie can go straight into refining audio, adding sound effects and colour grading.

Current changes to post-production schedule

I synced the audio on Monday 25th Feb & Tuesday 26th Feb, and started putting the footage together onto a separate timeline on Wednesday 27th Feb. Friday was the first day where I sat with Alex to show him what I had done to the edit so far and he was please with the amount of footage that was on the timeline that early on. He gave me a few early pointers and I corrected them on the timeline. I will aim to export the first draft and send it to him so he can watch it through fully and make notes and corrections for me to work on.

I had finished putting everything on the timeline in the correct order by Monday 4th March, ready for our first rough cut viewing on Tuesday 5th March. Relating back to my research about assembly cuts, this video is essentially my assembly cut, however, I added in a bit of refinement as I had the time. I put everything down on the timeline and then showed Alex so he could see whether or not I was going in the correct direction. After the viewing with Simon, I continued to make edits and corrections to start rough cut 2.

Rough Cut 1 (assembly cut with a bit of refinement)

Due to the upcoming tutorial with Simon, I wanted to export the timeline once I had each scene worked out however, I still had a few tweaks to make so I made my own notes to work on after the tutorial.

My notes:

- ADR for owl punch & Kent Owl Acad. car park scenes
- Shot of slogan on van when Tim looks at it in scene 2
- Crop door out of shot before they hit the dog
- Close up of bag dropping
- Remove black on Sheila’s house scene
- Can’t see Tim’s hand movements in night scene
- Add general audio to night scene

Simon's notes:
- How do we know Tim has broken into the house?
- Didn't get the sense of the more successful sister from photos
- Good decision to not show VETT
- No sense of specialness of the bag
- Tighten scene 2
- Car reversing from drive is too long - coverage / something happen?
- Light changing on their faces in the van
- Driving scene before dog hit will work once edit finishes
- Luke’s character is a little over the top - cut around it?
- NEED to see a dog on the floor & Tim looking at dog in van - not believable at the moment
- Dog hit scene looks rushed
- There is enough moments to understand the importance of the father
- Show Mollie getting angry
- On Tim tighter in pub cheers & VET-BOY reaction
- On Tim’s face more in pub
- End on Tim’s face not van?
- See van shoot past Academy and reverse in?

Simon was very impressed to see a rough cut at this early stage. This made me realise that starting the edit a week earlier than scheduled was a good idea. I was also happy with this comment as I had put in a lot of work in the first week of the edit to get it to this stage.

In addition to this, Simon didn't notice the change in sunlight in the final scene in the pub car park, therefore, I believe I did a good job in gradually bringing in the sun.

After the viewing I liaised with both Alex and Katie to get their thoughts on the feedback. As the editor, I need to know where I am going with the edit, whether they liked each one of the feedback points, or whether I am only changing a few of them. To tighten scene 2 was one I agreed with as the whole film needs tightening before it's choppy enough to add to the comedy aspect. I also agreed with the point about the van reversing off the drive and that it's too long and doesn't fit with the rest of the film. Unfortunately, we only had the wide shot listed for the coverage here, so that's the only shot we have of the van reversing off the drive. Instead of worrying ourselves with coverage, Alex suggested a bit of voice over to cover the shot so the audience are listening to something rather than sat watching a van drive away. I was eager to try this as it may add to the story and is easier than getting more coverage now. The light changing on their faces in the van is something that will be fixed in the fine cut. We liaised about the comment of Dan's character being a bit over the top, and we quite liked the personality he gives off as Luke as we want it to be a bit overenthusiastic, it combines well with his innocence that we originally wanted to come through in his character. I understand that we may have too many comments from Luke after Tim has said something, so I could change these around.

After getting advice in the tutorial, we have decided to re-shoot scenes 4 and 6 (possibly 5) in Margate. Simon expected to see a shot of a dog in the film as in the script Alex had stated that we hit a dog, therefore, this had to be shown. We spoke about this as a group and decided to shoot the dog footage in a different location to Margate, as I have no access to a dog here, but Katie and Alex do in their areas. However, we will be bringing the cast and crew back to Margate for the re-shoot as there were a couple of shots that Katie wasn't happy with and we weren't completely happy with the blood splatter due to being short of time on the first attempt in Margate. Although the re-arrangment for the initial Margate shoot was unavoidable and occurred a few days before, I will ensure the cast are available all day, and if they think they may become busy then we will change the day. We don't want to re-shoot for a second time in the furthest and most expensive location. In case we want to re-use any shots from the main shoot week, it is ideal to do the re-shoot in the original location, which we are. This will prevent the pressure of re-shooting everything if we were happy with it originally. 

We also may get a shot of Tim and Luke inside the Vet Van noticing the Kent Owl Academy sign and turning into the site. These shots aren't as important but will be beneficial towards the story if we were able to get it.

Reflection
- We thought we had solved the sunlight problem on shoot day 4, however during the edit I realised that we hadn't got every single take twice - with the sun and without the sun. As a result of this, I had to try and gradually bring the sun out into the scene. This would have been prevented if I had a successful method in making sure we had each shot twice. I had the shot list making sure we had each take, but reflecting back on the shoot day I should have marked the paper to make sure we had captured each shot twice, rather than just ticking off the fact that we recorded the shot listed. Nonetheless, bringing the sun out gradually worked quite well and no one has criticised it so fortunately it was fixable.

- I was impressed with my idea of using jump cuts, and it makes sense with the idea of being inside Tim's mind. I think the jump cuts also suit the choppy tone of the film which is another benefit. 

- I felt that I used The Thick Of It's editing technique well in the first rough cut. This was helped by the similar style footage including zooms and pans. I followed their example of using the handheld and really shaky footage to my advantage, and I held appropriate reaction shots.