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The Orange FilmFour Prize For Short Film This week: Post Production |
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 As part of their workshop with the six prize finalists, Bille Eltringham, the director of This Is Not A love Song, and Simon Beaufoy, the writer of This Is Not A Love Song and The Full Monty, talked about shooting short films on DV, using examples from their work together.
In this final instalment of footage from their talk, they explain how shooting on DV can save money during the post production process. Plus, we interview editor David Charap (pictured above) about the vital post-production process. He gives advice on the best way to approach this area of film-making. Can you explain your role as an Editor? Helping someone else realise their creative vision can vary from joining dots up to thoroughly reshaping and restructuring a film by encouraging a director to articulate his/her ideas - why not this take, what does this scene do - you are actually helping them make the film. Can you talk us through the editing process? There are four distinct phases. Mix them at your peril.Assembly - Edit out material that is hopeless, get familiar with what is left, start shaping scenes and get a feel for overall film. Rough Cut - Consider what is the purpose of each scene, and shot by shot make sure it is fulfilled. Do not get bogged down in fine cutting but make sure you have the right takes. View this version with fresh eyes (maybe the producer's) on a Friday with a long lunch to talk about it and make notes. Fine Cut - Start fresh and be ruthless. This is the first time you should notice the duration and address issues of length! Keep honing things and polishing until nothing jars. Steady work is more important than all night marathons. Beware of multiplying other factors - graphics, composers, publicity - all of which start to impinge on director and editor. Tracklay Try to avoid getting too far into adjusting sound until the picture is locked. Working on four tracks is one thing; keeping sync on 14 is a pain. Make sure you are not duplicating work better done in the prep for the dub. Be as inventive as you dare. It is easy to cut things out, hard to manufacture them quickly. What would be the best way for a filmmaker to prepare for their edit? Know your material, ideally having had a chance to log it after the shoot. This can save an enormous amount of time in the cutting room. Have a rough realistic schedule for completing the various editing phases. Tell us about the most interesting edit that you have worked on? Last Resort was a very special film. The idea of filming then editing, then filming again, editing again and so on is much more common in documentaries. Doing this in a drama meant that the story was being shaped in the cutting room as much as on location and that was thrilling if a little scary. There is one cut where I learnt a lot from Pawel Pawlikowski: I cut to a man looking up as he notices a woman crying. By cutting a fraction later we miss a good performance from him but gain a sense of documentary realism, (no cameraman could have swung round to anticipate the moment of realisation on his face) and emotional intensity (we share the woman's moment of breakdown rather than experience it from the onlooker's point of view). What is your favourite film? As hard to answer as what is your favourite pasta sauce. I just saw High Noon again and still think it is a triumph! Who is your favourite Director? The person I am about to work with. What is the most valuable piece of advice you could give to a new writer/director about editing? If it doesn't work, cut it. |
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