This week, Jackson and I had a busy week of editing our teaser trailer for Black Flat. To begin, I went through by labelling all files in accordance with the shot list and merging the corresponding sound and video files together – a tedious yet necessary process. Deciding it would be best to treat the scenes separately, together we made an assembly/rough cut for scenes one and two. From this point, the plan was to assess the footage acquired and use it to determine the need for a second shoot.

I strongly believed we did need to do a second shoot, as the footage captured did not really delve into the thriller genre – rather setting up the scene for the thrilling content to come. Don’t get me wrong, I was happy with the scenes and what we able to achieve, but I just felt as though we did not have enough content and did not deliver what we promised. I was confident that in the time remaining I would be able to create a rough-final cut of scenes one and two, and at least an assembly cut of scenes three and four in the event that we filmed them, which was passable as what we made did not need to be polished. Jackson shared my viewpoint and he and I made plans for what to do when in terms of editing the footage. It was do-able.

Sunday rolled around and we still had not discussed as a group whether or not we were definitively shooting on the Tuesday coming. We had our pre-production documents in place and our actors Chris and Scott locked in, so I finally put it to the group once and for all expressing why I thought we should shoot again. However, the rest of our group thought it would place unnecessary pressure on ourselves for an assignment that is not even marked on the media we produce. I understand where they were coming from – the fact of quality over quantity is a valid point, especially since we’re not being marked on what we create – but it bothered me to bail on this thing when it was merely half complete. However, I had been overruled so I accepted that and let it go.

As it turns out, I really struggle with the fact that we are not marked on what we make, nor are we expected to create something complete/whole. If we were, we would’ve surely shot at least twice and actually completed what we set out to make. I understand that it’s valuable to analyse what we make and learn from the process of getting there, but to quit on something unfinished just doesn’t sit well with me. I think I was also disappointed that we didn’t shoot again for more personal reasons – the fact that I could’ve made something really great to show for myself.

Don’t mean to rant, but rather reflect on something that has had a significant impact on my experience in this course. My next post will be more positive I promise, haha.