Reflection on our film and other films

We managed to successfully complete our film, thank goodness. On watching it, we received some feedback, and I saw the film in a new light as a result, one could say.

I think we actually did quite well considering our fortune and the logistical difficulties involved with shooting it. I do agree with Ms Wong that we should have been far more careful in using shots, since we had chosen a slightly bare location. However, I was surprised to hear the comments on the acting, since I didn't think it was that great or bad. But if it exceeded expectations, I won't complain.

I think the music was chosen well, and I give some credit to the editing. However, I accept the comments on the words on screen to an extent, in that the beginning little 'introduction' to the film was absolutely unnecssary in hindsight. However, the '10 minutes later', etc., I think was there to emphasise a point. Since clearly the character didn't stay there 10 hours, it was merely for exaggeration to show a long time. My inspiration for that actually came from the film 2046.

I'll comment briefly on the other films as well. I quite liked Jonathan's film, and I thought that it had a very good idea. I do think on some editorial or scripting points, they could have been a little clearer. Something felt like it was missing. But mostly, the acting was good, and the shots reflected the melancholy mood of the film, especially since a lot of the shots were in contained spaces, with a lot of emphasis on point of view.

The other two films were shot pretty much flawlessly. I have some comment on 'In the mood of love', that the motiff of the scooter should have continued throughout the movie.

16 Dec 2009 (work)

Today, I assembled the music cuts into the film, and we added some screens representing time. I felt the music was very good, because it highlighted the mood very well (I congratulate Justin and Chris for this, since I was not heavily involved in music), though I chose to cut the music in differently. I also found much to our luck that the music and the cinematography were very well timed.

9-15 Dec

This Saturday, we planned to record audio and do a re-shoot. Unfortunately, everything went wrong at once. Firstly, my sister's costume was washed, so our attempt to re-shoot a mirrors scene had to be abandoned. Secondly, Christopher left his tapes at home, so he had to go get them. In the end, we wasted much time. However, I had put aside 3 hours, so we managed to re-do the voiceovers and we collected foley on certain sounds. Unfortunately, the footage was lost, and hence we had to re-do Justin's voiceovers and the foley in quite a rush on Tuesday. As a result, we ended up not redoing my sister's voiceover, much to my disappointment.

However, editing proceeded far more smoothly. I was not present at any of the editing sessions, however, since I was busy, and secondly, since I had done a lot of editing up until now, I wanted to ensure Justin, as editor, got a chance to edit the film. I entrusted him with putting the sound together and choosing the appropriate musical clips. This he did excellently.

I took the time on Wednesday also to alter the last shot where the tripod appeared in the shot by cropping it, which in fact makes the shot better framed.