Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Halfway There


Scene fifty-nine is in the works, which means we’re past the halfway mark. In fifty-nine, Vern and Prof. Roth attempt to meet and discuss what Prof. Roth knows about a particular government project that he has been working on, but something comes up… 




Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Scene Fifty Edit & Recoloration

Scene fifty is finished and fifty-one is in progress. Scene fifty-one begins the visit Jack and Vern give to Prof. Roth.
 Scene fifty proved something of a challenge for the director. It was supposed to be one whole scene but because of the unavailability of an actor, it had to be shot at two totally different times of the day (i.e. late morning and mid evening). This made for some major inconsistencies with lighting. So we had to tweak the lighting and tone of the scene to soften the colors for more of a morning look.

The right is before tweaking the left is after. (The picture doesn't quite do the difference justice.)

Scene on right is the coloration shot on left had to be matched to.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Scene Forty Edit

 Scene forty is finished (editing & sound-wise)! This is exciting because it means we are drawing close to the halfway point of editing the movie.

 The next scene in the works is the interrogation scene; a little experiment by the director to see if he prefers it here or in its originally scripted position.



Scene forty-one (maybe) :)
 

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

How-to Edit a Movie

 Today, I decided to ask the director a little bit about how he edits a movie.

 "The process of editing a scene is simple, but tedious. First, I organize all the pertinent footage for that scene, grouping takes from each camera. Next I watch all the takes, every last second, there's no telling when a seemingly useless second can be stitched into the edit to mesh the continuity of two takes or cover some error in an otherwise brilliant take. Once I'm done analyzing the footage I start splicing together the shots in a way that would best convey the story. This is one of the least tedious aspects, but that's not saying much.
After the edit comes sound syncing. Without matching timecodes on my camera and audio recorder alignment is done by ear, matching what the audio file with whatever the camera on-board mic did. A first step in this process (once again, due to the lack of corresponding timecode) is listening to the audio file and noting the in and out points of each take.
Next comes the special effects. Muzzle flashes, composite shots, and any CGI goes here. Once these elements are put into the shot the whole scene is color corrected to give it the proper mood. No scene in even the most dull film project goes without this step now that digital tools are available at a reasonable price. (“Reasonable” being hundreds versus thousands of dollars.) Sound design, e.g. gunshots, car engines, footsteps, etc. is often worked in concurrent to this step.
Last but not least is the music. Once the rough edit is complete the composer will start his work, but all the final touches can only be made once the exact timing has been established. When the final cut is locked the composer does his magic, the film is reviewed, assessed, reworked, reviewed again, and, if all goes well, printed. That, in a nutshell, is the editing process."