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Shaping a film September 30, 2007

Posted by joost in : LFA, editing , comments closed

After a slow start editing finally got underway. To me the most interesting part of the process is not so much sitting behind a computer and pushing all the buttons, but the interaction between the director and the editor. You (try to) take a fresh look at the material that has been shot and ask yourself what the film should be about. This might sound odd, “because surely by now you know the story, the theme and the characters by heart?”. Yes, but during editing you revisit all of this. Does the director like the performances of the actors? Do certain scenes work, from a technical and dramatic point of view?
This means that you spend a good time of the day having conceptual discussions, pointing at the screen, showing different ways of achieving your intention.

Sometimes it’s not even about what is on the screen, but what you want there to be on screen. “I want to show the psychology, what is going on inside her head at this moment. So we need a close-up shot where she is looking at the other character before she moves towards her, instead of the other way around. Can we steal that from an unused slate?”.
Or: “The dialog is too much on the nose. Can we cut out the dialog and convey the same thing by just showing the action and reactions?”.

Our group is editing four short films at the same time. During the day we walk around to see what the others are up to, how their film is shaping up, you bounce off ideas and ask for feedback on rough cuts or on more finished sequences.

A week from now we have a screening of these films at the London Film Academy. Currently one film is completely done, another one (the one that I produced) has a final cut and just needs to spot and lay the score, the third one is near the final cut and has one week for a composer to come up with a suitable soundtrack (which is tight but not unusual), and the fourth one will probably not be finished on time.
This fourth film happens to be the one I am editing :-(
We had a two week delay compared to other films because of issues with the sound. Those problems have not completely been solved, we probably have to do half a day of pickups in a few weeks time to fill in the gaps and to make the film work as a whole. At the moment the director is not happy with the result and it seems wiser not to show the film as it is now at the screening.

The screening is an important milestone. It is not only a deadline for the (main) editing process, but it is also the first time the finished films are shown on a big screen with an audience that has not seen the film before. Scary but very useful to understand what things work or don’t work. Several of our tutors who were involved in the pre-production or production will see the finished films there for the first time as well. Hopefully that will lead to some extra feedback to further improve the film(s). And soon after that, it’s time for the 10 minute films!

D stands for… September 13, 2007

Posted by joost in : LFA, lifestyle, london, reflection , comments closed

This is the first week of the third term at the London Film Academy, but things don’t really want to take off. I am supposed to be editing but I can’t seem to activate myself. It doesn’t help that there are problems with the audio, because of which I am currently limited to do a “mute edit”, i.e. a rough cut of the 5 minute film without sound.

The contrast with the rush of three weeks of filming in August is big. On the first day back in London we were already reminiscing how great that experience was, and calculating how long it would take til the next weeks of filmshoots (2 months and encounting).

Maybe ten days in The Netherlands made me too relaxed, too “Zen”. It’s hard to describe how good it feels to be back for a little while and to reconnect with everyone. Heartwarming to meet so many people, I feel proud to know them and that they are (still) part of my life (and vice versa).
A visit like this also works as an excellent way to step back from my life / work at the LFA, to ramble about all my adventures there, and to reflect on what I am doing filmwise, now and in the near future.

How to cope with being right here and right now? It’s a simple A-B-C:
Monday – Alcoholic “lunch” that lasts until midnight
Tuesday – Bodycheck by running
Wednesday – Conducting a midnight stroll in Oxford

And D? Among other things, D stands for Denial.