Last night I worked until 2am with editor Eddie Hamilton as we fine tuned the third major recut of the film. This third cut is really a long series of tweaks rather than a re-cut. I think we had the structure nailed in the last edit. This edit was all about adding the shots we filmed last week, and also the ADR I recorded with Bill Patterson yesterday.
Straight off the bat, the new shots REALLY make a difference. There are only about ten in all, but boy do they really help. It’s that final 10% that always makes a difference, and for me, this is where many other short film makers fail. Truly at the last hurdle. They simply don’t go that extra distance to get it the best than it can be. Good is just not good enough for world class. That’s my personal benchmark.
The newly recorded voice over from Bill Patterson makes a hug difference too. It’s cleaner, clearer, better timed and of course rewritten in the edit suite weeks ago, so it fits the edit perfectly.
We also integrated many little tweaks that were suggestions from other editors I had shown the film to over the last few weeks. Best buddie, editor and DP Jon Walker had some really great suggestions about allowing the first few shots to breathe. We tried this and it’s a definite improvement.
Eddie also spent a great deal of time tweaking the sound and adding sound effects. All this makes a huge difference too. I am just one major sound effect short for the test screening tonight, but I just have to remember that tonight is not the final version, but an audience test.
Getting very, very, VERY excited now!
Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author
www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]
