#i had pen paper imovie & a dream

[inspectordookie]

shayari “i’m going to be w leander” khan (denial is a disease)

[bonnienapierfilm]

film adaptation update + reflection

post production

chapter 1: bonnie and avid - from strangers to friends

The only experience I had before beginning to edit this project, was my old iMovie days, avid online classes [which took place in the fever dream that was first year] and 'Lethe' [if I have to see that girl in a hospital bed ever again, I will cry]. So yeah, little experience. But I have always been keen to try and edit more, so I'm glad I put myself forward for this! And I actually feel a lot more familiar with Avid now... it turns out if you just practice using something you get better at it - who knew?

I started editing scene 8 [the beach scene] first, only because I was so excited to piece together our beautiful clips. I hope to learn more about the theory behind editing - do you have to edit in order or does it not matter? After playing around with scene 8, I edited the film chronologically, which I think is smart? I felt the process was smooth and editing this way aided me in pacing our scenes, but I have time to learn so much more about editing so I do not stress.

I did a lot of recording the screen on my phone to send to the group for feedback. I now have many videos on my phone of a Mac screen and the shushing of a Peer Bear in the background. I did want the group to see what I was working on, but I think I was also doubtful of my work and needed feedback every step. However, the group held my hand and encouraged me along the way, which was greatly appreciated.

After some tubing [of the you kind], I found videos on ratio changing in Avid. I played around with the timing of the change from 4:3 to wide screen [I feel silly, I don't know the numeric size for this?!], and spent ages matching our shot of the beach landscape to Joanna and Sue dancing on the beach. I felt so very professional and proud when I got it right, "look at me go!" my brain chanted.

Overall, I learnt a lot about avid and editing in general over the past month. I definitely want to widen my knowledge and keep practicing.

chapter 2: sunshine, lollipops and rainbows - exporting, colour grade and sound

Export, exporting, exported. I don't think I can say much more more about this. I wasn't present whilst Eva and Katie did the colour grade but they worked their magic, it looked lovely. Particularly making the sky look similar to the landscape, pinks were poppin'. I know it was difficult for Katie to grade the window to make the light match the room but she did a fabulous job.

Now onto sound. My heart goes out to Orla, she worked so hard on the sound edit and it payed off massively. When writing the script, I wanted to provide as many opportunities as possible for Orla to be creative with sound, like having conversations outside the room, hallucinations etc. Our composer, Arina, who we met upon a chance encounter, gave us beautiful music for the film - really bringing it all together. I can't say much about the process, but I know a lot of work was put in and I was delighted to have Orla doing sound.

Katie drew up some fancy credits for us and myself and Orla put them all in. After watching the film over and over and over and over, alas, I was happy to submit for the crit...

reflection

Once again, I was sweating, shaking and shitting it. I get very nervous in our crits... what if no one likes the film? what if my editing ruins it? did I hold on that shot for too long? yes. what if everyones film is so much better? It's a panic I think we all feel. I thoroughly enjoy watching all the films we have made, and I don't doubt everyone feels the same, no competition just cooperation :)

When rewatching on the big screen, I picked up on a few things. I hold on some shots too long and others not long enough, I doubt this is a realisation I could have only made when watching it enlarged, but I hadn't noticed when editing in screen academy. But in the future, I will make sure to get second opinions on the length of shots.

When getting our feedback, I had taken up some paper and a pen to take notes, however due to stress I turned it into a paper aeroplane instead. So from what I remember...

SCRIPT - Kate had complimented by period writing, which I was chuffed about as I have never written a period drama. So my first go wasn't terribly received! :) I think overall, some off my dialogue would have been more effective had they been delivered differently. No hate to our actors!

SOUND - Our levels were a little low, which caused confusion with dialogue and flow. However, this is something that can be easily fixed! So not much stress about this.

LIGHTING - Andrew was impressed with the lighting... well impressed that we had tried to create sunlight without sunlight. I understand the criticism, our lighting was very harsh sometimes. I think that light, especially golden hour, can be that harsh, however as we have clearly tried to recreate it, it doesn't work as well. Maybe putting more baking paper over the lights to dim them would have worked.

CAMERA - Some of our shots were shakey. I knew this when editing, I did try to use a stabiliser however it warped Eva's pretty shots and made them look weird, so I decided against it. With our final landscape scenes, I do remember on the shoot we had went between rig/no rig. I think a tripod could have worked however we were trying to achieve a sort of shakey shot to imitate Joanna's pov. Some of our shots were a bit tight, I think when shooting our close-ups sometimes we forgot that I was also going to be cropping to 4:3.

EDIT - Joe really liked our ratio change, commenting that it followed the period drama vibe. Yay! Andrew mentioned that some shots lingered and some cut short, which I knew and will keep in mind for future projects.

PRODUCTION DESIGN - Our costumes weren't exactly true to the time, however with no budget and little time, I think we did the best we could. The floral bedsheets were brought up, which I was dreading because I had noticed but thought it would be fine. Shoulda said something!

I hope I haven't missed anything.

I agree with everything criticised in the crit. I have learnt so much about filmmaking through The Last Landscape, especially working collaboratively. I liked how our roles were somewhat fluid throughout, we helped each other when it was needed and open to notes/criticism. I actually don't think I'd change anything about our film, other than little hiccups in edit/sound/camerawork. In terms of self-improvement, I will learn more about editing so in future projects I don't feel so worried about it being bad/nonsensical.

I feel a little sad that film adaptation is over. Nothing about the process felt like work, just fun... with maybe a smidge of stress.

I will miss group six [no dix]. You are all very talented women and I could not have asked for a better group to make a gay period drama with <3

+ ben + adam xx