After showing Paul my draft I decided to add in a bass-y sound, it’s me sampling a broken cassette that emits a purely droney sound. I think it works with the what the film is trying to achieve.
The colour grading took some time; it’s really my first time I’ve done it properly. Paul wanted to “blacks to be blacker” and the “whites whiter” and it made perfect sense. There’s some moments that are over-exposed, though I couldn’t fix them in while editing because hey, I shot with a camcorder.
I like how natural every frame feels. It is not at all contrived (you may disagree), I gave Kerry a lot of freedom and he was a joy to work with.
I don’t know which take to use. I’ve probably watched them both (at least) 20 times, and thought by now I would have a clear preference. It’s time to show other people.
Sound is something that I still haven’t quite worked out. I toyed with the idea of making it a silent film, though I’m not sure if it truly works and it feels a bit pretentious.
Paul suggested creating some kind of ‘soundscape’. I will use my library of samples (voice memos from my phone, mainly) and try and make something out of them on Logic. Here’s my thinking:
After reviewing my footage from the first shoot (what worked and what didn’t), I had a strong urge to return to the cemetery to refine my ideas.
The first shot was a mere experiment is zooms and close-ups. I’m not really sure about the angle, but to me, it was never about whether it was right or wrong. Only on reflection through editing did I realise that I could take some of the foundations of the shot and create something more evocative.
The second shot is something that I’ve been working on for a while. We did about 5 takes, all pretty unsuccessful because of the tripod I was using. For the last shoot this wasn’t a problem; I was using Kerry’s tripod and the pan was smooth. However, this tripod was borrowed from Uni, and I had some problems with the smoothness of the pan. I also wanted to end the shot with a slow zoom out as Kerry walks towards the camera, and though I tried it, it was hard to achieve to a satisfactory level.
The framing of the beginning of the third shot is probably my favourite. The shot works quite nicely though I didn’t have an ending that worked, so it is cut prematurely.
The final shot was me shooting Kerry walking back to his mark at the beginning of the second shot without his permission. It’s okay, probably not something I would do again.
After editing, I realised the main problems overall were the panning, and the headroom. Though I began to craft a narrative and the shots began to make sense. I will be going back to the cemetery to (hopefully) refine (again) these shots, to try something different, and to make something more cohesive.
