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.