Malfunctions in Post and delays

Abi could not come in today due to illness. This has left us very little choice and time to edit the rest of the film as she was not as familiar with the footage as me and Jake were.  Jake has edited as much as he could today which was very helpful to see the action. Abi was able to so about 30seconds for the intro beforehand from which Jake got about 3 minutes more on top of that. Over the weekend I am hoping to be with Jake and help him out with the film and convey my vision. I find Sony Vegas very easy to use, similar set up to Premiere Pro cs6 which I am used to using.

If Jake has not started to do edit the film we would be in big trouble.
By Monday a rough cut should be finished and Abi can work her magic on either Jakes PC or we could transfer everything onto Final Cut pro depending on the circumstances and time management. If we are not able to transfer the rough cut Abi will have to work on Jake’s PC which may pro long the process but it would give Jake a break as he well deserves it.
The producer has been absent during the postproduction, which has made it very hard to organize things, but we have all managed to contact each other when needed and found a way to manage time and meetings like the one with Jake and Conor on Tuesday the 25^th of February.

Post-production.

Abigail our editor has been sickly and we could not waste any more time so the producer has delegated Jake to do the picture edit, a rough cut before Abi get better so that she can continue editing after she is better.
Jake is editing on Sony Vegas at home on his PC. This can prove to be trouble some as Abi doesn’t know how to use this software. Me, Conor and Jake have met up over the yesterday to draw a full storyboard (Conor’s drawing skills) and go over the transcripts to pick out the best lines with Jake. This was massively helpful as we knew how we wanted the film to look like from beginning to end and with a visual we had an idea about the sound, which was very key, the interviews along with the very melodic background music, possibly piano based.  It would have been helpful if Abi was there with us so she knew what was happening next with the film, but she couldn’t come on the day.
The next step is for the film to be roughly put together by Friday so that abi can edit Friday, Monday and Tuesday and Jake can take over to do the sound edit on some of Tuesday and Wednesday.

This is the full storyboard.

This order may change according to what I think is best.

Transcript - Highlighted

Jake has made a transcript of the two interviews, which was very helpful for the editor as it was for me. I have been filming and paying attention to the camera half of the time so that everything was recorded which meant I missed some of the responses. This allowed me to really imagine what we could do with the film. There is about an hour to an hour and a half worth of interviews. This may be very hard to cut down but with this transcript I am able to pick the bits that I like the most and pass it on to the editors who will be able to cut down the unimportant bits. This saves a lot of time and gives us a general overview of the direction we are heading towards.

Turquoise - good to use 

Green - I like them very much 

Yellow - unsure but can be useful

Barry Kushner

Joann Kushner

Update on Production - filming in Liverpool on 24th feb

Today’s journey

1)     We all got to the train station on time after taking out the equipment early that day.

2)     We got the taxi to Norris Green.

3)     After a 15 minute journey to the youth centre in Norris Green we have met Barry Kushner, he was very polite and he came in about 10 minutes after we have arrives which was convenient because we had to set up our equipment. We also took a little time choosing which room was best to film and which one had the most light since during the prior interview we had a set of lights and this time there wasn’t enough people to carry a very heavy bag along with our other equipment. This time we took out one of the bigger cameras XF100 which was much better at dealing with little light availability then the Canon 60D. The interview went smoothly, Jake was the one delivering the questions and Barry responded to them very formally. I expected him to be more involved with the community and know the people from the estates better, there is about 30 minutes worth of footage and we should be able to pick something that will fit with the story I am trying to tell which is how winning the capital of culture has effected the centre of Liverpool but didn’t help the deprived areas yet there are people that are there to help the less fortunate like the couple that we were lucky to interview.

4)     After the interview Barry took us around the area where the houses were being built and in some areas there were people already moved in with their families which was nice to see. He took us around telling us about the history of the place and how he helped to put things in place so the regeneration was possible.
He showed us where Bowler green was where the kids from the exhibition talked and made art about. This was the place that they spent some of their time. It was just a field with a grey fence around it but it was very nice to see that it was clean. We have filmed there for a while matching some of the images we saw in the gallery. This place looked much better then what we heard from both of our interviewees but I can also relate the fact that we were there during the day and not in the afternoon when kids get home or night when the teenagers emerge.

5)     Afterwards we went to visit St Teresa but we were greeted with a funeral.

6)     We went to the Liverpool Cathedral in which we filmed and recorded ‘atmos’ sound. This is because the art was oriented around the St Teresa and the graveyard near by which we were not able to get to today. This meant that we could try and recreate some of the shots and give it a similar feel. We also went to a near by graveyard in hope that it may be useful in our film. We didn’t spend that much time there as we wanted to film the centre of the city.

7)     Taxi failed us. We have waited for over 45 minutes for a taxi and it didn’t turn up and after calling another company that taxi go to us within 10 minutes. We were not able to get any shots in centre of town before the sun set because of this mishap. This was very unlucky but I think we have enough shots in the other three locations to cover much of what we were missing in our documentary.

8)     We filmed some of the city centre after the sun set, it was not too dark but I think it may not fit with the rest of the footage as everything else has been filmed during the day.

9)     Food

10)   Train back. Over all I am happy with today.

Change of Vision

My vision of this whole project has changed drastically since the interview with Joann and finding out that we were not able to film the young artists who’s work we can see in the exhibition which was the focal point of the way I have envisioned the final product. The viewership changed from young people to mid twenties to twenties and thirties and even forties, people who keep up with the news and are interested in local politics and art. I think this has it’s negatives and positives, I am still very interested in the topic but many people my age may not be. At the same time the people that will be judging this piece of work are our tutors and this type of film would be more interesting to them then to my peers.

With Barry’s interview the film will take on a more serious tone yet I think it will enrich the film in comparison to only Joann Kushner being interviewed. We will have the poverty and how teens are escaping from their household situations and on the other hand we look at the renovation and regeneration of the area and things looking up for the people of Liverpool.

The structure of the film will be confirmed after coming back from Liverpool and looking at all the additional footage. Chris and Conor are going to finish labeling the clips on Monday while the rest of us are in Liverpool and hopefully Abigail can start editing on Tuesday if she isn’t ill.