Final Cut

This is the final cut of our film "On the edge of love" we will be making no further changes to our film.

Re-Shoots and Re-Edits

Re-Shoots: This went fairly well, as the train scene was done a lot better than before, it looked a lot more realistic and we faced no problems. The green screen was also done a lot better as we had a new piece of equipment to green screen with known as a Chroma-Keying kit. Despite this we did run into some troubles. We could not refilm the scene near a bush, as the bush had been cut down since we filmed our Rough cut, this would mean massive continuity errors and made this part impossible to refilm. It was also hard to get our actors together around this point as our female actor was away Ill for a couple of weeks. Eventually we got all the shots we could possibly re-film done though, and got rid of any continuity errors such as the green screen clothing change.

Re-Edits: Re-editing our film was a very difficult task. Adding the new footage in and trimming down all of our shots was very easy and was done very successfuly. The green screen also edited a lot smoother with the new equipment so this went very well. The difficult part of the editing was getting the soundtrack to match up now we had added new bits of footage and adjusted the length of the shots. This took many hours of moving the soundtrack bits around to match the video shown on the screen, and we basically had to start our soundtrack again from scratch. We overcame this though and changed a few of the songs on the soundtrack around. Eventually our film came together well, it was a lot more fast paced than before, and generally flowed a lot better and looked more professional with the new shots, and the new titles/ident to compliment it.

Evaluation of Peer Feedback

Each and every bit of feedback from our class is helpful to us and we are very greatful for it, after reading through the feedback we have come up with a list of changes that we plan to make, and we are going to try and make as many of these changes as possible within the time allocated to us for Re-films and Re-edits.

• We are going to change the Livetype settings of the Ident and titles, and probably change the titles themselves to something a bit more advanced.
• We are going to make the "starring" text at the beginning of our film bolder so it is easier to read.
• We Will try to reshoot the kiss/slap from a seperate angle. 
• We Will cut the shots at the train station earlier to keep the pace of our film moving quickly.
• We will edit out the colour change mentioned at 2.26 as this is a major flaw and looks very odd. 
• We are going to make the shutter sound effect a lot less prominent as it is to loud and noticeable.
• We will try to film the cafe scene again in focus, as it is slightly out of focus in one of the shots as this is very difficult to notice on the camera preview screen.
• We will replace the shot at the start of the fight scene with something a little more self explanitory.
• We are going to Re-film/Re-edit the green screen as there is a continuity error and it just doesnt look good in general. 
• We Will try to make the cross-fades of Joe walking up the ramp more symmetrical. 
• We are going to re-film the shot of Joe jumping onto the tracks to make this look more realistic.
• We will improve the credits and make them a bit longer.

Feedback on our Rough Cut

We have presented our Rough Cut to our media class and teacher, and asked them to state what they think about our film. Their opinions are highly valued as they have all produced a film of their own and they know what it is like. So they have experience in spotting errors as they know how the production of a film works. Our Teacher is very experienced at reviewing these films as he has watched many Rough cuts and can easily spot an error. So we made sure to gather feedback from our class so we knew what to change in our film.

Here is what our media class said about our rough cut.

• Production company ident has been made in Livetype. That's fine, but you need to change Livetype settings to PAL and 16:9 so that it matches the rest of your film. You can change the settings and then just render & export it again. (At the moment you are using NTSC and 4:3).
• The Glam Productions ident disappears just a little too quick.
• Same applies to the film title; wrong settings and not on screen long enough.
• Establishing of shot of train station with train movement is good, but maybe the 'starring' text needs to be a little bolder.
• Music fade-up at 0.35 needs to be a little slicker (perhaps more gradual).
• Dialogue in 'swing scene' needs to be clearer (overdub whole film?) and the camera moves just at the end of the shot. You seem to fade over Stevie's last bit of dialogue.
• Love the way that the photo blows away. Was this deliberate?
• At 1.26, it isn't clear that he tried to kiss her until she slaps him. Perhaps a change of angle is called for?
• Some of the shots of Rob at the station linger just a little too long (1.58 for example). Keep the pace moving.
• Shot of Stevie at the bus stop is crying out for a focus pull.
• At 2.10 we have a shot of Rob's bum. I know he bends down into shot, but I'm not convinced that this is the best choice of shot distance. Can you make it more obvious that he is watching her?
• At 2.16 it seems funny that Rob to talking to her on the phone and then we see her raise the phone to her ear. Was he leaving a message?
• Again, the grass in the foreground is in focus and surely we want to see the characters at the bus stop?
• At 2.26 there is a sudden colour change.
• At 2.30 (and other places) the camera shutter effect is too prominent in the mix (do digital cameras have shutters?)
• Love it when she turns round and Rob ducks; good editing. Would be even better if we could see the couple in the distance from behind Rob.
• At 2.35, the POV shot is too shaky don't you think?
• At 2.42, it would be good to cut to the medium shot of Rob sitting back at the station first; before we cut to a close-up of the next photo.
• Cafe shot, at 3.05, is out of focus. Again, begging for a focus pull to Rob in the background. I expect that this is what you attempted, but it didn't quite work.
• POV shot at 3.13 works great.
• Where is the ambient sound at 3.23? We can hear the camera, so why can't we hear the wind & traffic?
• When Rob walks out of shot here (which is a good idea), he doesn't quite walk out of shot. You need him to do it in a more assertive/aggressive/intimidating manner than his previous movements; to represent the building of his emotions; moving from hurt boyfriend to suicidal psycho. The way he stays on the edge of the shot doesn't quite work; you don't need to show him at all as we know that he is still watching them. It is more tense if even the audience doesn't know where he is!
• Inconsistent ambient sounds around 3.50.
• Photo shot at 3.53 is a little weird. Wouldn't Rob be seen if he was that close?
• Tracking shot at 3.58 is effective.
• Rob still looking down at 4.16 is a little strange. The other bloke is now standing up! I know Rob is probably just hanging his head in depression, but it doesn't quite look right. Get him to look at the other character.
• At 4.18 he walks too close to the camera and the framing is now weird. This would work is Rob continued to walk towards the camera (until it goes dark) and then you can cut to the opposite view showing Rob approaching the other bloke or walking off. That would make a good march-on-action. Are there any MOAs in this film?
• Need shot/reverse shot during the dialogue between the two blokes (just before 'Joe' runs off). The editing needs to be fast pace here to represent Joe's building stress.
• At 4.42, Rob looks a little weird. I know you are using green screen, but I'm sure this can be improved now that you have a little experience.
• Cross-fade jump shots of Rob walking up the path need to be symmetrical; he should 'miss out' the same amount of path each time for this to work really well.
• When Rob stands up in the train station shelter, you cut his head off. This is sometimes ok, but you need to be able to demonstrate the advantage of only showing his torso at this point. I think you can't! Remember, you are assessed on framing; what you exclude as well as what you include.
• When he walks to the train tracks, why would he think to put down his camera/phone? He's just about to commit suicide, why would he worry? Would be more tense if he walks slowly and erect; imagine how someone would walk if they were sleep-walking; that's what I'm talking about. Would be good if you could then introduce some kind of shot of a train speeding past (perhaps via a cut-away so that Rob doesn't actually have to jump in front of a train to get the shot). Or maybe a more shocking sound effect!
• At the end, Stevie should run up the path and stop dead in her tracks; cut to close-up of her shocked face and scream; on the scream, cut to her falling to her knees (in a much more convincing way than she did here. Sorry Stevie).
• Slower fade required at the end; to represent life fading away (both his and hers).
• End credits are not good. Not enough of them and too big. Why not differentiate between the job titles and the person's name? Consider all the roles of all the people; including production crew and actors. Consider all the roles you see at the end of a real film. You can put the same person's name forward for several roles if that helps.
• Excellent use of fades throughout; even though I usually advise against using them, you've used them in a totally appropriate manner here. Well done.