Up in Frames

I have spent the entire last week and a half with my face buried, almost literally, in the screen of my laptop diligently going about the arduous process of editing my short film. The footage itself is great, although there are a couple of focus issues, however the main problem I am experiencing is the sound. My god, I knew sound was important but I didn't realise just how important it actually is. It will literally take your production from a slick, professional-looking production, to an amateur piece of shite in an instant. My problem was that, after our first day of shooting, I reviewed the footage and realised that the camera we were using picked up sound just as good as the boom/mic equipment I had hired...or so I thought.

When we were filming, the sound worried me the most. Whether it was worrying about spending hours syncing up what we recorded to the video footage, or dogs barking, or LAPD helicopters flying overhead, or an ant farting, it was on my mind constantly. However, of all the unpredictable elements surrounding us during filming, which one has been my undoing? A sodding fridge! Because of the relative stability of a kitchen, as in - it's going nowhere and there's no traffic, people, animals etc. involved, I had totally neglected the acoustics of the room. Thus I'm left with various different background buzzes and such. Most annoying. The boom mic recordings help not one bit. That bastard fridge, with it's intermittent turnings off and on, has managed to sabotage my scene. It's not the end of the world, it just means that now I'll have to spend hours upon hours filtering the background noise to get something consistent.

Infact, the more I review the footage, the more I'm sensing a re-shoot. Which doesn't worry me other than financially...after all, in the words of Joseph Fritzel, if a job is worth doing, it's worth doing well...and this is most certainly a job worth doing.

The other thing that I have found revelatory in the editing process is the difference a single frame can make. Again, if you get one frame wrong on a move between cuts, it instantly looks crap. Such a fine line...it's driving me mad! It has also really heightened my respect for editors and the genius of their work.

Still, it's all a great learning experience and the entire thing has been an absolute pleasure thus far. There is honestly few feelings better than getting it almost exactly as you originally saw it in your head, which is the essence of the challenge and probably the single most difficult thing about film-making.

As soon as I have a satisfactory rough cut, I'll have it up here for your viewing delight.

Peace,

John.