PART 2
July 2016. We started
shooting. An intense 2 days where all the planning, ideas, etc collide. To me,
the rehearsals and planning to the smallest detail meant everything. We had
hours just talking about the characters, rehearsals to give an idea of the feel
to the film, the visuals to give the ideas of the design, leading up to the
shoot so everyone was on the same page. It helps immensely when you have to
think fast, make changes, and answer questions.
Two 14 hour days. Little
food (don’t worry, everyone else got fed) but some of the best memories of getting
back onto a film set and creating. And it looks fucking good. While I'm sure
everyone who worked on it felt like they could do better (you shouldn't be
satisfied with anything) I can assure you they knocked it out of the park and I
couldn’t ask for any more.
Absorb. Working on
production for 6 months I needed to take a step back before diving into the
edit. Truthfully, it felt daunting so I kept putting it off. I had to watch
every take, listen to every sound take, then piece together the puzzle.
First thing that came
to mind is re-writing the movie in the edit. Non-linear structure had to go.
Reason? Straight away it needed focus on the main character. Also, the
flashback structure felt old to me, clichéd. Additionally, the opening just
didn’t fit, didn’t breathe. This was a struggle I've had with it - the ability
to let the film breathe.
20 minutes. 13
minutes. As usual, the assembly edit is always longer. Everything went in to it
but specifically the character breaks - the pauses between responses. When you
have good actors delivery good performances, you don't really want to cut
things down. So you find the go-between while trying to keep the essence of
what makes the scene, the conflicts, work. This was the most important part of
the edit as it’s the key to the whole thing.
Some people may say
it’s the action scenes sell it...well, they were, to put it bluntly, a piece of
piss to edit. You learn from everything
you do. I think a big strong point of my editing, or even the way I shoot and
storyboard, is that I know the components to make an action scene. Sure, the
odd points of trying to find that shot you didn't quite get into a sequence is
tough, but overall the music videos and shorts I've done in the past feel like
they've gave me a good sense for action and cuts.
Music is the key. I
always knew who I wanted to do the score for the film and got them involved
straight away. It basically fits like hand to glove, but it wasn't plain
sailing. The mix wasn't up to the composers standards and also took some
unsupervised turns in tone. Basically going from a dark atmospheric mood piece
to a Moby knock-off - yes, it sounds eclectic.
But it was all salvageable with a few quick sessions to beef up the gaps
to create what I think is a unique score that has heart and theme - something I
don’t feel most short films have.
So is it
finished? You'll have to wait. There's a
few surprises to go before its ready. Am I happy? Until I get a response...no. Content is
probably a word I’d like to use as I don't think it’s a mess (harsh but fair).
Would I do it again? Of course. But with
more help.
Go check out the
trailer.
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