Critical Reflection

Final Project

Editing

Let me lay down our two main issues with the editing process at the moment:

1. We have barely enough usable footage to scrape by
2. Some of the most important shots are missing audio

Trust me, I know. There is nothing more that I'd rather do than smash my head into the wall for not thinking to check all of the audio on the night that we filmed. By the time we were done shooting, it was late at night, our actors and extras were leaving, and we were dead tired of it all. Still, there is no excuse for such a detrimental mistake and I know that. 

But agonizing over it now is useless to us, so all we can do is try our best to cover it up in post-production with our wicked editing skills. And, in an attempt to stay optimistic, I think we've been doing a good job, given the footage that we're working with. 

This is how we have been approaching our main issues:

1. We've chopped up the footage that we got and cut it every which way in order to get as much variety in our shots as possible. There's still a distinct shortage of close-ups and movement techniques, but we are trying to see what we can salvage from the ruined footage, and were hoping we can pick out some decent cuts. 
2. At first we thought that the audio we lost could somehow be restored. However, we realized that would be impossible once we figured out what the cause of our trouble was. While filming the last two scenes, our boom was somehow disconnected from the camera. As far as the equipment is concerned, that audio never even existed. Because of this, Jania and I are forced to resort to plan B, a plan neither of us is too excited about. We agreed that the only viable solution is to get our actors to dub over themselves. Then we'll layer their voices with the diegetic sound that we recorded in order to make it sound more realistic. And when the editing is all done, we're hoping that it won't look awkward or out of place. 

All in all, I truly do believe that we can pull it together and make this film work. It's been tough, and it's certainly not over. But we're almost at the finish line, and I can't wait to cross it with Jania at my side.

Filming

Last Friday, Jania and I finally managed to arrange our fake party so that we could film everything. And, in all honesty, it was an absolute nightmare.

I was a complete mess the whole night, and I could tell that I was cracking under the stress of our circumstances. There were just too many factors that all restricted what we could and couldn't do. We needed the sun to go down, we needed a good amount of people to fill up the scene, we needed everyone to stay quiet and then get loud whenever we wanted, and it all had to be within a certain time frame before our main actor would have to go home. It was chaotic and crazy, and I think I was probably the most annoying person on the planet that night. By the time we finished filming the bare minimum of what we needed, our actor had to leave and it was almost eleven o'clock. I was exhausted and tense, and it didn't help that Jania and I had been clashing a bit while recording (I know it was mostly my fault though, on account of how high strung and panicked I had become).

The worst part was that I know it could have bee fun. If there hadn't been so many factors adding to my anxiety, things would have gone better. I would have been enjoying the experience rather than running around like a maniac; and I take responsibility for that. I wish I could redo that night and get it right. But that doesn't matter, because Friday was our one shot. And now all we have is a lot of useless footage and mediocre takes.

But I'm not gonna let that stop us from finishing this opening. We will just have to work with what we have, and hope that by the end of it all, we'll have something worth presenting.