Major Project: First Assembly Result

After the extra shoot and sound day, I completed the last day of First Assembly Editing in-line with my deadline, ready to begin the Rough Cut.

Day 6 (Extra Footage, Recorded Audio & ADR Additions)

Day 6 Edit Log

The final day of First Assembly editing consisted of the following...

• Asking our Producer to make contact with our two main actors, and requesting that they record ADR for us and send it over as soon as possible, due to continuity and distortion issues.

• Receiving Rosie (Emily)'s ADR recordings on the same day, reviewing them, and using them to replace quiet and distorted audio. This was one recording of her crying to use in the shed in scene 18, where I found her crying to be too inconsistent and quiet, and the other was a recording of her scream in scene 19 after Dan's death, as her in-scene screams were too distorted and unfix-able. The ADR replacement had much better results.

• Adding the previously labelled and organised footage from our extra shoot day. This involved adding the scene 7 shot of Emily's make-up being placed down in order for the clips to cut together, the shot of her car pulling up in scene 8 for these clips to cut together, the transition shot of the shed, pulling focus to the house to connect scenes 18 and 19, and the shot of the bedroom door being slammed on us to effectively finish scene 21.

• Adding the previously labelled and organised audio recordings from our extra shoot day to the sequence. This included adding SFX such as the sounds of a corkscrew being used and placed down in scene 3, a towel and clothing being used in scene 4, an alarm clock sounding in scene 7, the use of a laptop in scene 13, the sounds of Emily moving dinnerware in scene 23, and multiple replacement atmos tracks. An example of complete sound replacement where there were continuity issues in scene 4 can be seen below...

• Using 'Exponential Fade' effects to blend the new and original audio together.

Results

Overall, the workflow, process, and result of the First Assembly cut was very good, with it already transitioning into a rough cut during my time working on it. The development and improvements since my initial work on the dailies of the film had come very far. By the end of First Assembly, the film was much more tightly cut together, had all audio replaced and synced with external audio and replacement ADR where needed, and had sound design-based SFX added - both of which had drastically improved the actual flow and realism of the film so far, pick-up shots added, J and L cuts were incorporated for a smoother flow of each scene, and everything was well prepared for beginning a proper Rough Cut.

Some areas of the First Assembly were challenging, such as syncing audio that had very minor peaks in their waveform, or having to source and sync up audio with sound from other clips and scenes where the correct audio wasn't recorded. But I feel that I handled it well, and sought help from our technical adviser and crew at appropriate times, as well as working with the crew to plan the extra shots and audio that were needed to make the film work.

With the film currently sitting at approximately 18 minutes, my next steps were to begin the Rough Cut, working with the director to cut down the film's length to an eventual 14 minutes and to tidy up and heighten the quality of the film. Along with our tutor's first viewing, and working off of his feedback to further improve the current cut.