Post-Production
LO3 3.1
After I had completed my shoots, I then transferred all the files from my SD card onto my PC. I then logged my rushes onto a table on google docs. This is so that I have a chance to review my footage before editing and make notes of the shots I want to use in the final edit. This makes the rest of the post-production stage more efficient. To indicate good shots and bad shots, I used a traffic light system. Post production is extremely important to the filmmaking process as its the part where I combine all my production work.
Overall me and milo split the project into 6 parts, I have 3 parts and he has 3 parts. I started to by focusing on my first, second and third part in chronological order as that also turned out to be the easiest way to film, but also if it were an actual documentary that would be how you would film it also.
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I started by making a rough cut of the first bit which introduces us to this character of chuck who gives his perspective after being in the mouse cult since he was a child.
I edited in in 16:9 so it gave me a a larger workspace to work in, however I did add an adjustment layer crop of 2.35:1 cinescope which gave me a guidline of where to repostition my shots to give me a good compostition with the right amount of headspace
Pretty early on I decided to start my edit as I was filming the production, this allowed me to preview what the production looks like as I am going which gave me both motivation and also allowed me to pick up on continuity errors and check if missed anything. This is a technique they used at Sandstorm when I did my work there when the DIT took the rushes and started making a rough cut as he went.
I then did this for all my sections of video (Intro, Middle and End) where I compiled them together and added all the audio elements along side it to match it with the video.
Brie Muridae interview/ car chase scene
End interview with chuck / end credits
Once I had done that, I started adding the final touches to my video I started off by keeping a VHS theme throughout when introducing found footage, this helped to keep some sort of consistency throughout the project and kept a theme. This also helped add kind of a Netflix feel to my work as the overlays added some depth to a 2d image to keep the audiences attention.
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I then began to work on the audio of both tracks, since audio is really important on documentaries with a high production value similar to the Netflix series' we studied in our research stage such as Unsolved Mysteries.
One problem that I faced is using my grandad for the role of chuck, although he looks the part, when it came to recording the voice over, he struggled to read the script and didn't sound that dramatic but also because he struggled to read it, it sounded kind of scripted.
Due time constraints we decided the best way to deal with it is hire a voice actor to dub him, which worked out well even if the voice didn't match because it kind of added to the whole 'witness protection' feeling we were going for with the silhouette.
Here is the audio file we got back from our voice actor, Paul Casselle who had his own recording studio:
Once that was done I matched it to the video which gave a nice hook for the viewer and let nicely into Milo's part which was an interview with him.
Once I added the voice over on top, I added a low frequency rumble to when he spoke to add some kind of impact to what he was saying. I was watching this interview with Hans Zimmer once about how music can change meaning to film and one of the things he spoke about was how you can feel moved by what's going on in a film when the frequency of the music is actually physically moving you, so bass is extremely important within our project.
After I had done that for one track I then repeated the process for the rest of my projects, I repeated the bass throughout whilst changing the volume to track to change the tone and pase of the video.
I then began to add my effects to my video including overlays and transitions. One of the most challenging parts about this process was the opening title sequence as we knew we wanted one since it was a typical code and convention for Netflix documentaries. The only question was how to keep it interesting. To do this I decided to go for an over scanned 16mm film kind of look.