I’ve said what I needed to say in previous posts.

Having finally seen the final edit on the submission day, I have to say I’ve got mixed thoughts about our film. In perspective, since I didn’t get a chance to edit or even look at the rushes, my first impressions are easier to point out than to those who have seen it over and over. The positives I found about this film was the expressions being sold brilliantly by our actors. It is these little filler shots that add to the professional touch. I have complimented the quality of the film so many times but it can not be overlooked. The detail is amazing and I’m proud to have been involved with such excellent equipment. But then my problems arose as the film went on; the scenes looked really tight on our actors, as if the camera was right in their face. This of course wasn’t the case when we filmed it and it didn’t seem like this on the LCD screen, but that’s how it looked on the projector. I understand from the interim critique when someone mentioned that it looked claustrophobic in a majority of the shots. The room we filmed in was small and had I been able to carry out my role as AD, I probably would have suggested an alternative. In addition to this, I feel Curtis should have noticed this as he sat down with the HD field monitor during the production. This was a mistake that couldn’t be fixed it seems. Another problem with the edit was the flowing of continuity scenes. For example, we would have a close up shot of Naveen on the dinner table looking to his left – the camera would be facing him from the right side of his face. It would then cut to a medium shot of him looking to his left (the shot where he looks at the hat) and again the camera is at the right side of his face. It just wasn’t a good flow as the camera was in the same position of the character. When the cut is made, it seems as it it was a jump cut. We should have had a variety of angles and shots for this type of scene. I was surprised that the whole of the script was used within the final edit and I thought that it dragged on. Some of the dialogue needed cutting down mainly due to the tedious over the shoulder shots that would go back and forth. Again, a variety of angles were needed. I am still negative on the music used and I didn’t feel any passion towards it. Credit to Luke for getting permission but I didn’t think it was appropriate for the film. It required a score without vocals in my opinion and therefore we wouldn’t be distracted from our actors’ dialogue. I am really unhappy about the exterior shots, mainly due to the rain and construction sounds. Along with our actors needing to leave early, we had to rush the last scenes and I think we didn’t get enough. The ending was no different to the rough cut I saw almost a month ago and it just shows that we need to plan a variety of shots. Luke didn’t film enough and I didn’t think he carried out his camera role appropriately as well as he did with the lighting.

Even though a lot of people were positive about the film, I still feel there was plenty of room for improvement. I am satisfied, but don’t feel like it’s my ‘baby project’ which is what I promised I’d treat it like. It’s been a wonderful lesson learnt, that you should really (REALLY) plan well in advance. And you should also delegate tasks responsibly and not take on too much yourself. I feel that towards the end of this project, I had nothing to do and that’s why it was easier for me to point out these errors. Had I have been involved with the editing, then I would’ve overlooked these. In the future I will improve by letting my voice heard. It’s really challenging to do this when the group disagrees but if you feel it will work then you should go for it. I believe this is my one weakness and I need to overcome this next time.

The other groups’ projects were really well done and it was a fun way to end our module. I really enjoyed Sam Calverly’s and Marcus Essbergers’ ‘Divided Kingdom’ – the cinematography and acting was spot on. I really felt like I was watching Green Steet meets This Is England and not made by two students!

Here’s to the future of our media lives.

Azizur Rahman.

I am looking forward to the final day this week, submitting the group work and hopefully ending on a high note. I’m more excited to see other people’s films as I enjoy reviewing them with a fair perspective in mind. Good luck to us and everyone else!

Here is a screen grab of a Wolverhampton project I’ve recently worked on. Just looking at the original compared to the after effects and it amazes me how so many of my old videos are just ordinary shots!

I always enjoy the editing stages as it offers a variety of options for your films outcome – it may even change what you originally planned for a certain scene, for example. A film editor must creatively work with the layers of images, story, dialogue, music, pacing, as well as the actors’ performances to effectively “redirect” and even rewrite the film to a whole. It usually plays a dynamic role in the making of a film. Without getting ahead of myself, I always find that student films lack pacing and continuity within their editing; fortunately, we have a good group with a good eye for things and so this isn’t an issue. Audiences won’t pick up on it (which is the magic of editing) as it is a normal viewing for them, but as media professionals we need to apply the simple conventions of film editing.

My interest in editing started at college in 2005, where I taught myself how to use Final Cut Pro and was heavily influenced by this video. (Simple video, idea and it’s an instant success!)

These techniques for filming and editing are vital for all media professionals in my opinion. Our group certainly have this knowledge and I’m happy to say we will avoid those common editing problems. Just to leave you with an example of my video with good pacing and editing, watch this;

To explain further on what needs to be done to make a good film, I’m going to reference Noel Clarke’s ‘Kidulthood’. Even an accomplished actor like Noel Clarke was struggling to support this movie, to the point that he used his mortgage money to finance the film. Fortunately, the movie was received well but it didn’t do much for Clarke except a few awards and a lesser known sequel ‘Adulthood’. There has to be greater risk put in for these types of films and I don’t think I’m ready for that kind of level. We are not going to be overnight success with this short film and therefore I don’t see the point in putting so much effort. At the moment, I am not feeling secure about the course and my career, as it’s evident that I’m not going to get a job from making a short film. I’ve now decided that filming is a side hobby and that my bigger career aspiration is to become a media technician or teacher. As an AD and producer for many films, I really enjoy being big brother to the cast and crew; it is a nice feeling for people looking up to you and listening to you for inspiration (that is, if you know what you’re talking about). I like having the final say or second opinion on things and appreciate it more when others listen to my perspective. I’ve always thought of things differently and took that risk to use that method – the result was always good. For example, in my music video at college, I spent two months of the summer holidays filming with my friends. We planned and improvised everything throughout and it was an enjoyable process. The film was ready for editing the day I started my last year at college – that meant that I had a whole term for editing. I planned and filmed ahead of everyone, despite concerns that I was doing things way too quickly or not understanding the brief. I understood everything that needed to be understood and I got a great result out of it. My iniative is strong and I can utilise that in teaching. Hopefully I can continue making short films still, but at the moment I don’t feel secure about pushing it as a career. The best that I can get out of this experience is become a freelance videographer, which itself is highly competitive. So I think I’ve achieved everything I needed to so far in this final year; I’ve made a professional short film, negotiated with experienced actors, learn new skills with the JVC and SQN mixer and hopefully get a positive reaction to the film from my peers.

1. Make sure you have a story worth telling
   When Alam and I discussed various ideas of mocking our Asian culture, he suddenly made the decision to make a film about the first night between an arranged marriage couple. After the change of the genre and the list of scenarios we created, I instantly got hooked by the story. It was its own ultimate selling point and when we presented this to other groups, friends and family, they too thought of it as a clever idea. It has never been done before and you start to ask yourself questions about an arranged marriage, regardless of whether you follow the tradition or not. This story was worth telling because it would engage audiences to question the tradition and perhaps, feel for the bride and groom as well as think that it may not be as bad as people make it out to be. In the UK, the BBC always reports the negatives of arranged marriages and how the mother in law is always mean to the bride; this real life account supports our project even more as people will expect to see something negative.
2. Don’t start production without a budget
   Films always cost money and the group agreed to start pitching £50 each. In the beginning, we did production plans and daily budget sheets via a spreadsheet. With this format, we were able to be confident in our filming approach, knowing that the group will support one another to pay for the project. I did several film projects for the Wolverhampton City Council and I was happy to put most of the money to the project as a result. We had to over-estimate our budget and it came to £400-£450. This was including the details such as bottles of water, plastic cups to petrol, make up and hotel bookings, among others
3. Get all clearances before shooting
   We all understood the importance of releases for actors, music, crew and many more. We also knew it was best to do it now rather than later. The process is very daunting and tedious, but it adds to the professional touch of the group. Our actors were very surprised that we had high standards in our approach to them and the final project, We were serious about this film and therefore had to follow the rules of filmmaking as well as the law. You never know what will happen if you forget to get someone to sign a release form! In addition to this, risk assessments and health and safety forms must be cleared also. Originally, I anticipated problems with weather that might do damage to film equipment and borrowing the Univeristy equipment for longer than we expected. We had to jot down things that needed attention, for example, bringing an umbrella and gaffer tape to stick on top of the camera (if it rains). These small details saved us from damaging equipment! But we also had to make sure the lecturers at the Uni were willing to lend us the equipment for two days and so they signed a form.
4. Make the film shorter than you want
   I’m not clear about our editing stage as of yet, but I hope the group don’t literally follow their initial shot list or storyboards. I always let the editing tell the story as it offers a variety of options. This is why it is a very good idea to film from a variety of angles and include filler shots. Our actors repeated their lines on a dinner table numerous times from different shots and then we would make them do certain actions, such as filling a glass with orange juice and film that as a filler. As a result, we can use the dialogue of the actors while the juice is being poured, for example. These scenes are overlooked in mainstream cinema – the editing machine is a powerful tool that we are so used to these shots without thinking about it. Our film may be longer or it may be short.
5. When using non-professional actors, cast with personality
   Our group had experienced actors, although they’ve never done student short films before. We launched auditions and went through the process of picking the right person(s). We did cast on personality, but also the appearance. What I liked about Ashwin and Bhavna was their ability to act when not doing their dialogue – they would improvise by making facial expressions and certain actions, such as eating a piece of food and taking a few bites before they talk again. And as I mentioned many times before on this blog, I appreciated them both for their fun attitude off the camera. They were down to earth and friendly, which created a good working environment. As a result there were a lot of off set laughs and they were willing to repeat scenes regardless of how tedious it got. Ashwin was a hilarious person but when it came to acting on the screen, he was a true professional. Bhavna was more focused throughout the process of filming and I appreciated her commitment for the film. Both were different and lived miles away from Coventry (Lancashire and SPAIN!) and this is just a highlight of their personality.
6. Invest in good sound
   The University had a professional sound mixer that was handled well by Chris Cattle. The sound is very crisp and delivers the dialouge. Chris went through the effort of going to the skills instruction and learning everything about the equipment. Without good sound, you can’t make a good film. But I think the group overlooked the wildtrack and atmos sounds. Hopefully the editing process in terms of sound is alright for when shots cut to another shot, meaning that you don’t hear different background noise on each cut. I always follow the tip of recording background noise for one minute and looping that when needed.  
7. Fix it now, not in post-production
   If I have to be honest, the only mistake the group made was not moving the film equipment from the bushes (it was in a scene when the actors sit on the bench) and that’s it. Every scene we went through was professionally handled, ensuring that no mistakes were made that we would regret in post-production. I was in charge of continuity and there were no problems at all. I even did little tasks such as taking images of the props that would be moved and make sure that I reference them for when they need to be put back.
8. Don’t zoom in a shot
   There were no zoom shots and we would have disagreed with the shot anyway. We relied on the dolly track easing in on our actor rather than the zoom function.
9. Know the indie/short film clichés
   What I enjoyed about this film was that everything was fresh and coming from us. We had certain references that inspired us when we produced this project, but the style of filming techniques were devised by us. We didn’t emulate popular techniques unless it helped move the story. In a way we created our own independent cliche. We knew of all the techniques out there, but it was a question of whether it was needed.
10. Unless you’re shooting on film, avoid night exteriors
    ‘Darkness is the enemy of most camcorders. You’ll become acquainted with noise, color shifting, definition drop-out, and more if you choose to shoot at night without a medium size lighting package. It’s usually a lot easier to change the script than deal with all these problems’ – because we had all the necessary equipment from the University, such as dedo/redhead lights and white sheets as a diffuser, we created a perfect lighting set for the night exteriors. When you watch it on film, it does look like it was filmed within a studio, but we were actually filming in the cold rain! What was also in our advantage was the usage of the new JVC camcorders which was of very high professional quality. Even without the lighting set up, the camera would still have picked up our actors in the night exteriors.

The sound was excellent and you could hardly pick up the rain, which was pretty distracting on the production day. I was extremely happy with Chris Cattle for his excellent role in the sound department. I was happy to help him with the boom as well as pay for my mistakes from last years module. It was clear and crisp, as you could only hear what you wanted to hear. There were no distracting footsteps or sounds of the crew walking around or clothes rustling etc.

For a rough edit, this was a good start. Hopefully there are more shots to be used for the exterior scenes because I think it falls flat in contrast to the interior scenes. As a filmmaking group, we will have to sort out this problem in a professional manner. Again, heres to the second cut, third cut and eventual final cut.