The next phase

I feel it’s getting a lot tighter all round at the moment schedule wise and a good few of the films are entering the fine cut stage so good organisation is key, especially for those who have a collaborative role within postproduction. As a result I have approached Aisling and Gery to see if they can send me a postproduction plan. I’d be happy with even a loose plan to follow, as it would mean I could best arrange commitments to my own film whilst also ensuring that I can work on Colour Blind as an editor to full effect and not just be turning up to edit at inappropriate times for them.

They will both need to also find their own feet as post-directors/producers at this fine cutting stage anyway, or at least that’s how I like to work myself at this stage of the process.

Operation success

Well I am happy to say that I have managed to pull off a complete rough cut as agreed by last Wednesday evening. Personally I am happy with it and I think Aisling is too. Gery is currently on work experience so I will have to wait for her feedback once she returns.

There is a lot of theatrical surface drama, and even melodrama in Colour Blind so the exchanges between characters really set the baseline for the tone and feel for editing the film. The most crucial factor of all is to ensure that Paul remains the lead character. Aisling and Gery worked particularly hard in the script stages to ensure that Paul’s story arc came to the fore and it’s my job to ensure that it remains so in the edit. I’ll leave them both now to analyze as to what they want next for the film and wait for them to let m now when they are really to move on to fine cutting.

Screenshot example one of my edit sequences:

Preparing for the rough cut

Well the shoot is now wrapped and its time to switch my role on Colour Blind from Director of Photography to editor. I’m really looking forward to editing the film; I already know that the shots we got are nice and the way the story is arranged in the script will be interesting to edit too as there are a few scenes that inter cut with each other.

One thing I was aware of approaching the editing stage was that both Aisling and Gery came to the degree year from the Liberties media course, which uses Adobe’s Premiere Pro editing software. Coláiste Dhúlaigh uses Apple’s Final Cut Pro 7, which is the package I learned to edit on over the last two years during my HND course. The college has installed the Adobe suite this year to suit all students but I am not very familiar with it and would be reluctant to use it for the first time on a major creative project with a deadline without first having time to play around with it on practice material. Fortunately the girls understood this and they are happy to go with Final Cut for their film, especially since they are both keen to advance their postproduction skills anyway. At the end of all this however I would like to be a professional editor so I will endeavor to expand my own skills to include Premiere Pro as well as the ubiquitous AVID as soon as I graduate.