Post-Production: Feedback and Changes

After presenting the rough cut of the film to our peers, I asked my group to review it and suggest changes to be made. From reviewing the film myself I have already identified some areas for improvement, and an overall sharpening of the pace and dialogue. I set Wednesday as the deadline for giving feedback, at which point I will have to lock the picture and begin colour correction.

Our director Alex provided feedback first...

Followed by Chris, in response to Alex...

Whilst I agreed with some of the changes Alex suggested, particularly around the unconvincing voice-over,  overall I felt he was being too self-critical and negative of some of the earlier scenes - which he was suggesting to cut completely.

I strongly disagreed with his suggestion to cut the bedroom scenes following the montage, and I do not feel that they 'let the visuals down' at all, as they are entirely functional in the film. Following his feedback I had considered trying an edit where the fast-cut montage sequence leads directly into the Grindleford scene, but after discussions with other group members decided against this as these scenes were valuable for comedy, plot and character development.

Although I value his feedback, saying that he 'despises' a certain line or scene is not useful, constructive criticism for editing feedback, and as we had been aware of this throughout production, an alternative had never been put forward.

I agreed also that we reveal too much of the villain during his spying scene, and I revisited this scene to cut out the MCU where we see his entire face.

Alex suggested that we should hold on the shot at the end until the very end of the scene, which would add another 30 seconds to the film for no real effect, and so I did not implement this change. However, I did revisit the ending to make it more upbeat in a similar style to what Chris suggested, and I responded to their feedback before starting changes.

Overall, my main changes to the edit were corrections with sound, cutting a selection of unnecessary shots and generally improving the pace of the scenes and dialogue - cutting 40 seconds from the run time. Below is a full list of changes, which I provided to the group afterwards with my second draft:

• Scene 1 - Brought the cut to black closer at the end of the scene, and introduced the audio from the next scene sooner.
• Scene 2 - Removed the line 'Really, its that simple' in response to feedback and adjusted edit to fit. Also improved the pace of the exchange between Laurence and Ed and tried to balance the quality of the sound in different shots. 
• Scene 3 - Trimmed down some dialogue in the bedroom scenes to improve and balance pace across the sequence. 
• Kept all of the scenes but cut some of them down where the comedy was not coming across or lingered too long afterward.
• Cut out a shot of the bag being placed down as it was not required and didn't have a sound effect attached to it such as the zip or clicking of the tape. 

• Tried to cut down the scene on the stairs but did not work due to the need to hold on a shot whilst dialogue from the next scene fades in.
• Scene 4 - Improved the pace of the exchange and introduced the next scene transition quicker.
• Added an ambient video camera noise to the camcorder footage as an atmos track, and 'resonant filter' effects to make it sound more camera-like.

• Completely replaced the news reporter's VO with a new actor, and added similar effects to their voices. Also added an extra news ticker to the screen to fill the space.
• Scene 6 - Took out the MCU where you could see too much of interrogator's face (below), but had to keep in the slow reveal of his hood as the sequence did not cut together without. 

• Scene 7 - Adjusted the effects on Ed's voice at the end of the scene to be more natural.
• Scene 8 - Tightened up dialogue and improved pacing for the entire scene. 
• Did not change take of Lewis's performance after reviewing other takes and deciding it was the best.
• Scene 9 - Cut to black after the bin it shut when Laurence exits the house - used the dramatic whoosh sound and introduced the music back for a more upbeat ending. 

Once this was done, I shared the redrafted version of the film with the group and explained the rationale for changes, including scenes/shots which I have kept in as they are necessary to the structure. Although I opened it up to further comment and small changes, I also announced that it was close to the final version as I would be starting the final colour correction ready for exporting.