The devil is in the detail...

This weekend I have spent one day each with the colourist and with the sound design team. After my slight panic at seeing how close our deadline was, I am now thoroughly enjoying working with the two departments and realise we have plenty of time to not only complete the film, but also to look at the film creatively and try a few things so we know the film is absolutely right, something which is not always the case.

Picture wise, Andre has been working his way very thoroughly through the film. After a first technical pass of the film to balance out all the colours, we then went to try and establish looks for each scene (examples of this are on our Facebook page). From there, we took the DOP Azul Serra’s input as to his intentions when shooting and then left Andre to firm up some options so we could make a definitive decision. On Saturday I met Andre and we spent time on the pub interior and fight scene as these are particularly atmospheric. 

On Sunday, myself and composer Alexis Bennett headed to Brighton to meet designers Joss and Anna so we could all talk through the sound together.

We are getting close to the end and now discussing the film in a level of detail that I have not experienced with a short before. Andre has broken down each element of every shot so we can for example isolate and tweak the type of red of Bonzo’s nose to make it more or less vibrant or make Fernelli’s eyes sparkle more and Anna is designing sounds such as the squeak Bonzo’s feet make dependant on his mood and rhythm. Giving ourselves the time and getting people on the project who are not only skilled, but show great enthusiasm and passion for it is what I think will make this film stand out and these tiny little details lead the audience to both enjoy the story and wish Bonzo success against the many challenges he faces.

This week we will have a 80% pass on both picture and video so will be the first time we have all the different elements working together and then gives us a final 10 days to add the final thoughts before we lock the film and organize the premiere.

ADR session and some thoughts from Bonzo

A couple of days ago we did the ADR (Automated or Additional Dialogue Recording) for “Clowning Around” with our actors, as well as sound designer Anna Bertmark. The process of doing ADR is quite a complicated one in which the actor has to recreate the line in exactly the same way, with the same intonation, pitch and dramatic effect of the original shot and is unfortunately one of those things that you only notice when it’s done wrong! Having done it myself as an actor a few times (and been rubbish at it) I can assure you it is not as easy as it looks, and with studio time at a premium, you usually need to get through it as quickly as you can...

Luckily, our sound designer Anna has a great contact so we found somewhere that was both flexible and central (so it could be easily scheduled with the actors) and we had a session booked for three hours to cover everything. After an initial technical hitch, we started with Kiki Kendrick (who plays Mrs. Jenkins in the film) as there was a lot of traffic underneath her dialogue. After that was David Schaal (Bonzo) and Matthew Jure (Mr. Fernelli) before ending with Meddy Ford (Krystelle the Shop Asst) with Alex Waker (Jerry the Barman) to be recorded another day.

We got a variety of takes for the lines and we also ran the whole film with David Schaal (Bonzo) adding various sounds we can use.  Although Bonzo doesn’t have any lines, we have tried to express his character through sound, from his different breaths to different squeaks his shoes make and is it this depth and subtlety which will make the film stand out and our audience have more empathy with the protagonist.

It was also the first time any of the actors have seen the film cut together, and whilst it is still rough around the edges, I asked what they thought of both the film and how important being good at ADR is for an actor, to which David wrote down some thoughts below:

"Seeing the film for the first time confirmed what I already felt about it being a bright and colourful film shot in a heightened, comedic way. I liked what I saw of everybody's performance and think that we all found an acting style that I would describe as heightened naturalism. Since alot of films are created in the editing room I think ADR is an essential part of any actor's toolkit. In my experience, like anything else, the more practise you get at post synching diologue and other sound effects, the easier it gets. Most seasoned actors know their way around ADR. In any case I think that once the post is finished on Clowning Around, it will be a funny and touching story that will be pleasing on the eye. I'm very much looking forward to seeing it."

Thoughts from the editor

As with most departments in "Clowning Around", we have tried to get the thoughts conveyed of all the people who are giving their time and talent to the film. Our offline editor Ian Davies has been very busy since cutting the film, but has kindly given us some insight into the process and why he signed up to the "project...

Before the edit

This is my first short fiction in 6 years.  There is a reason you don't work on shorts and that is that everything that can go wrong in film making has a higher chance of happening in a short film:  First time directors, first time writer/directors, under developed script, over written script, no budget, no actors, insufficient shooting schedule... the biggest question for me though is can the short find an audience?  It's a tricky format to get right because the 10 minute film has difficulty attracting viewers unless it precedes the latest Pixar film or is a major award winner.  The internet is awash with short films so it is a platform I am fundamentally suspicious of.  However "Clowning Around" had three things that interested me: 

1. It's a comedy. It may be a dark comedy but it's also - at heart -  very silly.  We know from a long history of 2 reelers, commercials and sketch shows that comedy can work at any length.

2. Damien the director and producer is also an editor but he chose not to edit because he wanted to retain objectivity.  That is key to what an editor is there for.  Damien was also happy for me to work alone for the first week and a half and assemble the script with my own ideas after what was a typically crazy shoot.

3. Damien showed me a few key shots from the film and I thought they had great promise.

The Edit

For 9 days after Christmas I assembled "Clowning Around".  Fortunately Damien had set up the Avid project like a true assistant so I didn't have any syncing to do.

The film came together very quickly.  I always tried to cut the short as per the shooting script - even if I didn't agree - because it's only right that the director (and writer) should see what they had intended.  Obviously I came upon a few problems such as continuity, missing shots and children looking at the camera.  These I changed and adapted but still tried to retain the original story.  I also began to add guide music for timing and atmosphere.  This is often a very messy process because you can rarely just "lift" one piece of music from a film to fit perfectly in another.  In the final action scene I used 3 pieces including one from the film "Drive" and also a Morricone piece from "Days of Heaven."   It's a real bodge job but it proved the sequence would work with the shots captured.

Throughout this process I sent Damien the assembled film and he gave me notes.  Generally they would skew towards his original intentions as the writer and would be the ones I had decided couldn't work with the actual footage in the can, but I looked again and we discussed.  Damien was very honest and could see if they didn't work and immediately dropped some, but there were moments when I had mis-read the script or the rushes and on a second attempt they worked.  Between us the first assembly was a very good working assembly.  You could say it had all the right shots in roughly the right order.

What was clear at this point was that we were missing a few key shots.  Fortunately Damien had planned to film pick-ups.  These were generally close shots without any need of actors so we compiled a list and tried to think of what he could practically achieve without a crew.

Finally once Damien had the pick ups we sat in the edit suite for the first time together and cut them in.  Damien also went through a few final thoughts but it took us less than a day to work through the edit and make the first "fine cut".  The pacing felt right and we could see that a proper mix and composed music could only enhance the film.  It was a little long at over 15 minutes but at this stage if you have the time in the schedule its nice to step away from the film if you can.  I left at this point and Damien trimmed "Clowning Around" down to 15 minutes.  I'm sure its better for it.

Busy times ahead

Since the shoot has finished, the post production side up to this point has been, well...quite laid back. I have taken my time to choose an editor, make sure everything is backed up correctly and workflows checked and adhered to, met with the composer, colourists, onliners and various sound designers and even fitted in a minor re-shoot.

However now that our May deadline looms larger, things have started to pick up a bit as all those things I had been working on and were ‘in progress’ now have to be sorted in the next few weeks. This includes getting a voiceover artist for our Clowns UK representative, an ADR session for all the actors, the mastering of the film and the premiere and 101 things in between. Looking at the next four weeks I can’t see a single day when I won’t be dealing with one aspect of the film or another...and this doesn’t count the day job, which is in its busiest time of the year with The FA Cup and Euro 2012.

I don’t say any of this to get any sympathy, more as a reminder of how much persistence, doggedness and enthusiasm are the most key aspects to film-making , at least in my opinion. There are times when you just want to go home and go to bed, especially after a stressful 14 hour day and a wonderful (and very patient) wife waiting for your return, but to continue striving forwards and pursuing things that may be slightly beyond our reach is what make it all worthwhile in the end.

As I type this I am sat with colourist Andre Rusu (although I forgot my camera so you will have to do with the crap Blackbery picture) having already met with composer Alexis yesterday. We are now at the stage of fine-tuning and making sure the final touches give it that cinematic feel we have been working for all along. Me and Andre will be working till late tonight and again tomorrow and after that will be an ADR session with Attic Sound and all the actors on Monday, followed by more grading most evenings and a sound meeting next weekend before we move into getting everything locked in the first few weeks of May.

This all brings up another thought...what will I do when this film is done? It has been in my brain for nearly four years and has been a journey that I really haven’t thought about the end of and yet we will be premiering (fingers crossed) this time next month. Can’t think about that too much at the moment as best to concentrate on things one bit at a time, rather than seeing the end before we have accomplished it but it is genuinely the first time I have thought about having the film completed!  

A big week for announcements!

This week, we have been able to make two exciting announcements....the first is that we will be running another IndieGoGo campaign to complete the film and secondly we have now moved onto the next stage of the post production process, which is colour grading and online, working with BAFTA award-winning colourist Andre Rusu.

The reasons for the second IndieGoGo campaign is to raise enough funds to prepare the film for festivals at by creating all the correct masters, posters and DVDs so the film looks as professional and visually inspiring as it had throughout, as well as covering the expenses of our post production teams.

Our first IndieGoGo campaign was very successful and everyone on the team worked very, very hard to make that budget go as far as it could, but it has just not been possible for it to take us from concept to screen. We also wanted to build up momentum for the films release by engaging with our backers (and get some new ones!) as this was something we very much enjoyed last time around and think it would be great to see people excited about the films release again!

As with every other department, we have strived to get the best possible on board and have continued that with Andre, who was part of the BAFTA winning team for the 2011 Best Short "Until The River Runs Red". You can check out his website www.colourgrade.com to see why we are so pleased he is on board with the project. I met up with up yesterday and he is currently ingesting the media ready for our first session on Saturday.

We are also still continuing with the sound composition and design and have a rough first mix of the sound and score already. I am meeting with Alexis (composer) on Friday to go through some ideas so we can get into fine-tuning and also doing some ADR with Joss and Anna (our sound designers) as well as our cast next Monday at a studio in Soho. I am hoping that by the end of April we will be in very good shape as we aim to get the entire film completed by 16th May :-)