Post Production Journal

After capturing all the remaining shots we had to get, we began our films post production. A huge advantage to having the Canon DSLR was the addition of an SD card. When it came to editing our Preliminary task, we found that we had huge issues taking the footage we had from the tape used with the old cameras. When we went to log and capture in Final Cut Pro, the first few seconds of many of our clips was cut. It also took a very long time to get the footage on the program. With the SD card, it only took a few minutes to convert the files to an appropriate, high quality format and begin editing.

Day One...
On the first day of our editing process, we imported every shot we had so that we would not have to revisit the camera. Our primary goal was to produce the first rough cut of our opening in the first few hours. We set about ordering and cutting our clips to fit the storyboard we had produced. Unlike with our preliminary task, we had made sure to collect more than enough footage when we were filming on the underground and so we ended up having to cut a few shots that we deemed where not necessary.
We first followed the storyboard exactly and then edited to what we saw on screen and what needed to be improved. We also realised here that we had a problem when it came to the latter section of clips, as the cameras microphone had not been turned on when we were filming. We resolved that we would have to add in library sounds later to make the piece flow. The last thing we did was start cutting down the clips to make sure we would be able to get our opening as close to the two minute mark as possible, and also to increase the pace.

Day Two...
This day was more about refining than making any major changes. We took out a few more shots upon watching the entire opening again, to again work on the pacing. We also noticed that a lot of our shots had a very soft focus and where these shots intersected, it was a little too unclear to see what was happening in the scene.
We then began to think about voiceover and how it would be intergrated into our scenes, as well as downloading the background soundtrack for our missing sounds. We cut this up to match it as best we could to what was happening in the onscreen environment. However, it was evident that this would prove to be difficult due to the timing of arriving and departing trains as well as how we had edited the sequence of shots. We left it in but also considered the idea of not having any background noise when the voiceover starts.
One thing we finished on this day was the production of the VKLC Productions logo. We made this bold, in a stylised but clear font, white to contrast starkly with the black background at the beginning of our film.

Day Three...
We made a number of vital decisions on this editing day, involving the credits, title, music selection, and voiceover. Our first thoughts on the credits were to integrate them into the film environment, using a technique known as the fringe effect. This would mean that the text would stayed almost pinned to where we decide to put it in the frame, effectively making it look like a part of our location. However, when we tried this out, we decided that it looked a little cliché and too ostentatious for the narrative of our film. We made the decision to instead simply integrate the titles into the appropriate scenes and began to look for the right font.
The title was supposed to stand out from the rest of the credits and give the audience a vague idea about the plot of the film. We followed our storyboard and added a title with a black screen at the end of our 2 minute sequence to create suspense and shock. We chose a generic font to edit later.
This was the point where we started to search for the correct music to fit with our piece. We started our search on the copyright free film music website Moby, trying to search for songs that fitted to what we had envisioned to go with the film. Inspired by the research we had done into film genre and its music, we looked at tracks that created a slight feel of suspense and also of sadness - it would have been far too comically contrasting to choose a light hearted song. We short listed around five, and then cut these down to two main possibilities  Wait for Me and a track appropriately entitled Isolate, the main theme we were trying to portray with Ariadne's character. In the end, after testing these two tracks with our opening, we settled on Isolate, as it gave the film the right tone. We applied for use of the song and inserted it into our film when permission was given to us to use it.
I recorded the voiceover before this editing session, meaning that we could begin to play around with it. When I recorded, I made sure to add breaks between what I was saying to allow for us to cut it up if needed. We ended up editing out the lines "Is that even possible? I ask myself everyday." due to time constraints within the opening and to keep the pace quite fast. Whilst this was only supposed by be a first draft, it resulted in being used in the final version.

Days Four and Five
We played around with sound levels and other tracks on this first editing day. One of our group memebrs found a very good sound build up that we placed leading up to the reveal of the male protaganist. It took a few tries of experimentation to get it in the appropriate place but having it before the title arrived, unlike how we had originally planned to have it worked well with what we had cut so far. With this, we also had to cut the music track at a good moment so that it did not continue past the build up.
Adjusting the sound levels allowed for us to highlight specific things, through the sound working with the visuals. We ended up raising the levels of the sound of scruching paper as Ariadne refills her bag, and also raising the voice over level. Subversely, we also lowered the music volume and the added train effects which we had now gotten to fit to the right place.
One of the most crucial thing that came out of this day was the final decisions on the typeface for our titles and the transitions between them. We decided on a simple fade in/fade out transition - something quite understated and frequently used in  film credits. To add a little bit of emphasis to the titles, we adjusted the tracking so that the words would spread outwards, a little like a slow zoom. We thought this drew the eye of the audience to them more, without being distracting from the main narrative. We chose the font "American Typewriter" as we thought it was easy to read, bold yet not over power and is a style frequently used in the Action genre.

Day Six
With our deadline approaching, we decided to perfect small details of our opening. The main title was moved to within the opening rather than the end to avoid it looking like a trailer and we placed at the end a phrase describing the time the next scene would move to- a prominent feature of Action films. We also finalised where the soundtrack would enter.
To improve the quality of the visuals and to make them authentic to the conventions of film openings, we applied two visual techniques to our opening.
The first was aspect ratio. This meant put the film into the ratio of 2:35:1, what most cinemas use. It gives the film a widescreen effect, with black borders at the top and bottom of the frame. This did mean we had to slightly adjust the framing of some of our credits and shots, but this wasn't a problem. It gave the film a more professional look.
The second was colour grading. This process entail exporting our film to a programme called Color, where we could maually adjust the colour levels of each shot. Through research, we found that most films have a teal colour effect on them, whi8lst action films tend to go for a yellow, almost sepia look. We decided to combine the two, having a the midtones blue and the others yellow. This brought out the blue in the bag and the yellowy lighting of the underground, giving the film a richer, saturated look that overall seemed more cinematic.

Day Seven
With everything finished, we saved and exported our film opening to a high quality video file. It was then uploaded to YouTube and we asked an audience a few questions on what they thought the genre was or if the opening made them want to see the rest of the film. It took a long time, but was worth it to achieve the look we wanted.