Evaluation fo the last filmmaking stage.

1. PRELIMINARY TASK 2
POST-PRODUCTION EVALUATION
Adam Kalabiska
AS Level Media Studies

2. Post-production
After finishing with principal photography, I went straight into the post-production stage, during which I edited and eventually
published the final version of my continuity sequence. Consequently, I learned a significant amount of new practical and
valuable information about this final stage, most importantly editing. I used the editing software, Davinci Resolve 16, which is
rather complex due to its wide range of working tools and it therefore took me a while get the hang of it at first, but I was quickly
able to identify its strengths and use them effectively. The previously mentioned wide range of possibilities otherwise really
encouraged me to experiment with different editing techniques, transitions and even special effects.
First I imported all of my raw footage, selected and arranged all of my best uncut takes on a timeline in chronological order,
thereby crating a so called rough cut. One of the primary things I learned to use was the mark in and mark out tool, which
allowed to me to only show a specific part of a given shot. From there on, I was able to eliminate unnecessary shots and cut
everything together in such way to create a sense of continuity.This effect was mainly achieved by using the basic technique of
match on action. Once I completed the initially rough editing stage, I went on to use enhanced techniques which added layers to
my video. After having constructed my narrative structure, experimentation took over, as I was free to explore the widely
interactive and modern interface of Davinci Resolve 16. The usage of text required me to find appropriate font and implement it
in an original and memorable way. For the end credits, I found that to be in the combination of a mirrored shot of an eye in black
and white, and text in theTimes New Roman font.The B&W is an example to colour correction and was necessary for contrast,
whilst the mirrored effect was meant to reflect the dual personality of the main character. Ultimately, the very same effect was
done for the opening title as well, once again teasing at the themes of story at an early point.

4. Editing - transitions
When it came to transitioning from one scene to another, I usually opted for a simple cut or and occasional cut to black. In my
mind, every single cut needs to have a motivation.That’s why whenever I decided to implement a cut to black, I always
attempted to connect it with a scene which likewise starts of black in order to make the transition much smoother. In the case of
a longer scene (which still included relevant information to the story), I made the decision to split it into four independent
sections and connect them with jump cuts. As a result, this gave the originally rather boring scene more energy and a faster
momentum, which fit significantly better with the rest of the sequence. My original idea was to make the tea making scene at
the beginning much faster paced, as I was inspired by the montages from Requiem for a Dream (directed by - Darren Aronofsky)
and I thought that the following long take would serve a perfectly suitable contrast.This unfortunately didn’t fully work out, as I
realised that many of the scenes wouldn’t fit into that rapid cut montage and instead needed time to properly play out on
screen. Instead, there are two separate shots which play out at the same time but the sound overlaps in order not to break the
previously established continuity.The following long take of the tea has a visual match cut at the end. This was achieved by
placing two shots over one and other in a timeline and crossfading between them.
After the first dialogue scene, I learned that instead of repetitively showing the whole process again, it works significantly better
to simply cut to one shot which has the obvious indication and conveys the same information that a group of 10 different shots
would.This additionally helps to not slow down the pace of the story, which has only been slowly rising since the last scene.
Afterwards, I intercut multiple close-up shots with accompanying shots that correlate with the opening. Finally, this build up of
tension is released by the a sudden cut to black.

5. Presented below is an example of a match cut (in this case, a cross-fade between two distinct shots) , followed by a cut to black, which
seamlessly connects with the subsequent shot.

6. Editing - sound
After having watched and studied countless of film, and having read In the Blink of an Eye by Walter Murch, I learned one
essential piece of information. Sound is basically half of the entire film. Without it, you would go back to the era of silent cinema
in the 1910s and 20s. As a result, not only did I begin to pay much more attention to the usage of sound, but more interestingly,
the absence of it and what impact that has on the audience. For example, I paired up the previously mentioned sudden cut to
black (after the continuous build up of tension) with a few seconds of silence. In my opinion, it really allows the audience to not
only catch their breath again, but also reflect on what just happened and how it will influence the direction of the story.All
diegetic sound was recorded using a rode microphone which was attached to my camera. Diegetic refers to all sound that
originates from inside the film’s world, whilst the complete opposite is true for non-diegetic music.This is sound added in post
production, such as the soundtrack and sound effects. When came to the utilization of said sound, I decided to go with
something thematically suitable. I eventually found a piece of music which had the perfect balance of eerie elements and the
necessary build leading towards the inevitable crescendo. I later edited the finally of the music by additionally increasing the
volume step by step, just like a staircase in an attempt to make it further more dramatic and profound. Originally, I considered
implementing some contrapuntal music for the finally instead, but eventually came to the conclusion that it would feel a bit too
out of place when compared with the rest of the film. Occasionally, Lastly, I recorded all additional voiceover separately and
then had to match it with the dialogue in the scene.

7. Conclusion
If I was to do this project again, I would most certainly given a significantly larger portion of my focus to sound reduction and
balancing. This is especially crucial when it comes to the collision of dialogue and sound, as certain sections of the dialogue were
inaudible. On that note, the voice-over came along with some unpleasant noise grain. In the future, I would either like to learn if
it’s possible to effectively eliminate this is in the editing stage or otherwise apply better measures when recording. Additionally,
the rising music at end proved to make the following segment of music feel much quieter.This once again boils down to the
problem of sound balancing. Otherwise, it was fascinating to see how during both during the 2nd and 3rd stage of production, I
started to diverge from the original script and began to improvise significantly. There truly something very magical about the
sudden bursts of spontaneity on set or during editing.
Conclusively, the last stage of the entire filmmaking is one that I was least familiar with at the time and therefore not only had a
lot of fun, but much new and valuable experience has been gained as well. I hope to improve upon my future work by using my
newly gained knowledge and techniques.
“My job as an editor is to gently prod the attention of the audience to look at various
parts of the frame. I do that by manipulating how and where I cut and what
succession of images I work with.”
- Walter Murch