So Roland sent me his latest mix by FTP, and I was able to see and hear it together on Sunday night. There were a few minor problems or questions.
One of the off-camera sounds (when he awakens in the morning and leaves the bedroom, we hear him open and shut the door) came across too much like a BBC sound effect.
Another question came in the form of the mix. The background texture are subtle, but perhaps too much so. The volume difference between the voices and certain sounds effects, such as the alarm clock, and the background atmosphere was too wide. Or so it seemed on my system. This all gets rather complicated when you go from one system to another.
But outside of that I have to say I was again very much surprised at my own film. Or rather after hearing it again at least it was a question. Is it good or bad? I just don't know. I think right now all I see is what it could have been, instead of what it is. So...
I am sending it off the Berlin Film Festival tomorrow. Yes, I know, this is the Berlin Film Festival, and they only accept 10 short films a year. What are my chances? But I can hope that they would at least remember rejecting me. You do have to enter these things, big or small. In mid-November I will send it to the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
In these places you will quickly find out where you stand.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Sound design - II
On Sunday I went to Roland's to hear the first cut of the sound design. I have to say it was the same disquieting (sorry) experience I had on my last film when I first added the composer's music to the cut. It had became another film, like a child who has grown up, someone new, something else besides the parent that raised him.
It also lifted the film, brought it to another level.
It fixed or solved or completed ideas I had from the beginning, but which I had forgotten were there.
I would have to describe from the end: when the male character leaves the flat and goes into the world, the sound too pushes out and expands outward. The sounds of London are a whole universe, layer after layer of textures, close, far and near.
(And Roland experimented with something that I still can't decide upon: as the picture goes from him, looking out, to the close landscape, to the far landscape, the volume increased abruptly. It was odd at first, but then added to the expansion and widening affect).
Then, if one thinks backwards, some of these same sounds are heard inside the flat, in the silences between the couple, far in the background, a voice, children playing, the roar of traffic, so subtle you would not be certain you heard them (I could be imagining the whole thing).
And in the beginning, in the title sequence there is a low hum, and behind it, again very subtle, a birdsong, as if the means for their reconciliation were at close at hand.
Roland wanted to add a few more layers, that particular London white noise, heard from afar. Then he will post the next cut for me to hear. It's getting close...
It also lifted the film, brought it to another level.
It fixed or solved or completed ideas I had from the beginning, but which I had forgotten were there.
I would have to describe from the end: when the male character leaves the flat and goes into the world, the sound too pushes out and expands outward. The sounds of London are a whole universe, layer after layer of textures, close, far and near.
(And Roland experimented with something that I still can't decide upon: as the picture goes from him, looking out, to the close landscape, to the far landscape, the volume increased abruptly. It was odd at first, but then added to the expansion and widening affect).
Then, if one thinks backwards, some of these same sounds are heard inside the flat, in the silences between the couple, far in the background, a voice, children playing, the roar of traffic, so subtle you would not be certain you heard them (I could be imagining the whole thing).
And in the beginning, in the title sequence there is a low hum, and behind it, again very subtle, a birdsong, as if the means for their reconciliation were at close at hand.
Roland wanted to add a few more layers, that particular London white noise, heard from afar. Then he will post the next cut for me to hear. It's getting close...
Friday, October 12, 2007
Sound design
Just a quick post-production update.
As I have completed the final edit, the next stage is the sound design.
So on Sunday I will deliver the edit to Roland. It should be complete at the end of the week.
As I have completed the final edit, the next stage is the sound design.
So on Sunday I will deliver the edit to Roland. It should be complete at the end of the week.
Monday, October 8, 2007
The last edit
On this past Sunday evening I watched the final edit.
What did I think? Well at this stage I felt I had finally gained some objectivity. Perhaps it was that this was the first time I watched the edit alone (I have a projector and a screen in my flat, so watching the edit is very much like being in the cinema by yourself).
So, with my eyes clear all I could see is where it is weak, and what I could have done.
For the most part, this revolved around that point in the story where a reconciliation of some kind has already occurred between the man and the woman.
The worst part? I used dialogue. What more could I have done with something physical between them? Here, it comes to me as writer, and that I really needed to push further.
It is in the moments of the script that I am happy/satisfied with, but not truly taken with. It is easy to miss the weaknesses when you probably more pressing problems in the script. But this where the difference lies between good and great.
So now I must apply this lesson to the next script.
What did I think? Well at this stage I felt I had finally gained some objectivity. Perhaps it was that this was the first time I watched the edit alone (I have a projector and a screen in my flat, so watching the edit is very much like being in the cinema by yourself).
So, with my eyes clear all I could see is where it is weak, and what I could have done.
For the most part, this revolved around that point in the story where a reconciliation of some kind has already occurred between the man and the woman.
The worst part? I used dialogue. What more could I have done with something physical between them? Here, it comes to me as writer, and that I really needed to push further.
It is in the moments of the script that I am happy/satisfied with, but not truly taken with. It is easy to miss the weaknesses when you probably more pressing problems in the script. But this where the difference lies between good and great.
So now I must apply this lesson to the next script.
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