Editing the Recorded Sound

Firstly, we had to select the best options out of all the pieces that we had recorded. Some sounds didn't work because they were too rhythmic or not in the adequate pace. Also, some of them did not sound natural because of the materials that we had used (e.g. a table instead of the floor, or the bed without the pertinent mattress). The sound of the boots came across as horses trotting and, no matter how we arranged them,  they ended up resembling fireworks rather than human movement. However, the lip sync —the most important part— was proficient and matched perfectly with the footage that we already had. 

The room sound was barely audible, but the door creak and the opening and closing of furniture, as well as the gasps and movements —except for the mentioned footsteps— worked. What we need to do now is set the levels of each sound to stop getting the screams in the other rooms louder than the actual conversation we are witnessing in front of us, among other things. Matt also needs to teach us how to apply the reverb to the whole audio file, which is what basically makes all the sounds match and come across as being in the same space rather than isolated.

Recording Sound Sessions

We have carried out six different recording sessions all around the Hurtwood premises. We had to get all the sounds together again:

• Voices in the other rooms
• Screams
• Footsteps
• Room noise
• Shuffling of paper
• Falling to the floor
• Bed's springs
• Mattress
• Wardrobe being opened and closed
• Someone being dragged out
• Door opening and closing
• Boot shuffling and falling to the floor
• Gasps
• Grunts
• Wind sound outside
• The whole dialogue, synchronised with the actors' mouths

We went to the library to record the footsteps because the parquet flooring there is ideal, but the time constraints did not allow us to do it properly so we ended up having to film the steps on top of a wooden table in the Lodge, not very successfully. For the screams and extra sounds coming from the other rooms in the hostel, we contacted some new faces who managed to transmit what we asked them to. I was in charge of the recording machine and the microphone all the time, as I took the initiative from the start so I was who best knew how to use it. All the sounds were recorded with more or less accomplishment after two weeks of getting them and perfecting them in order to get the closest to what we aimed at. The most difficult part was probably the dialogue, in particular when Callum kneels down and tells Louisa to hide. We can see his lips moving so we had to watch the video while recording the sound trying to emulate the actions. I must say however, that I am surprised at how quickly the actors understood and dominated the task. Louisa was perfect in her continuous cries and sighs which varied slightly according to the position of her shoulders or how she shuffled under the bed. She was also able to perform a very realistic scream when her fictional boyfriend gets killed. Bravo!

Now it is down to us again to match all the sounds to the action in the editing process.

Brainstorm for a title

Ellis and I have started considering several titles for our thriller sequence. At first, Ellis has searched for the Russian translation of some words which are relevant to our topic and future product, such as 'death' or 'danger' or 'kidnap'. However, the results were not very attractive as titles and we gave up with that idea for the moment. We then started brainstorming properly, without any visual help. Every time we thought of something acceptable, no matter how wrong it sounded or if it was truly relevant, we took a note. In that way, we managed to complete a brief list of titles.

The first one is too humoristic probably and it would bring down the tension of our thriller. The second and third are a bit cliche, and the last one, "Under... (neath)" is still developing. I believe that we could play around either with the word 'Underneath' or mix 'Under' with other nouns to achieve an interesting combination. I really do like the other two ideas that we have come up with, and I would seriously consider them for future developments. "Room 47" is clear but doesn't give out too many details about the film. It is intriguing, not extremely original, but it could be quite effective. At the same time, "Avalanche" is representative of the surroundings were the action takes place and could also be viewed as a metaphor of the sudden situation of danger in which our protagonists suddenly get involved without expecting it. 

We still have to talk about these few titles with the rest of our group, and I'm feeling positive about it because they will probably have their own ideas in a way that can be linked with ours and make the result better.

Editing our Thriller Sequence

This week we had the opportunity to go to the Studio to watch the footage of our shoot day, which Matt had already uploaded to a computer, and crack on with the editing process. In our case, this footage included both video and audio files.

Matt reminded everyone of the basic concepts in Premiere Pro, like the difference between bins and rushes, how to change from one tool to another —like the trimming action—, and the quickest way of selecting and organising footage. We watched all of our attempts, although we had already decided that, unless there were any unexpected problems, we would use the last take. We had agreed on that in the shoot day, as that take was the most complete one with the least/no mistakes. ust in case, we reviewed everything. That didn't take us much time because we had stopped filming half way through with most of the video bits when we noticed an error.

We used a new tool that came in handy that was shown to us by Matt and Luke, which is the possibility of labeling the rushes. We labeled the definite one in pink, which clearly was the last one, as expected. An orange tone was used for the footage which was not entirely wrong and could potentially be used or worked from if any changes occured. The process was similar with the audio. We noticed that, unfortunately, about half of the files were useless because the atmospheric sound was too distracting. There was a constant roar that made the whole recording quite confusing.

Going back to the take which we had selected, we watched it a couple of extra times to make sure it was what we wanted. The acting was okay. I wasn't entirely satisfied with the beginning, in which the couple is chatting and Louisa tells Callum to come to bed with her. They shuffle for about three seconds and then Louisa starts telling him to stop. A bit of a contradiction, isn't it? However, it is not a major drawback, and the coordination among all the actors is impeccable. The cinematography can't be wrong because of its simple nature, but what can actually go wrong is what is included in the frame and what is not. That was correct as well. So the only thing to do in terms of editing was to cut the beginning and ending to get rid of the moments of talking and setting everything to be ready. The classic "Rolling" bit. Then, we thought that we only had to edit the moment in which Callum is shot to be over and done with it, thanks to Henry Russell and his "blood package" he has downloaded from Premiere. All the process seemed quick and almost too easy.

Of course, something had to go wrong. The sound was difficult to make out but we thought it would be fine when we watched it in a quiet room. However, Matt came to supervise our work and told us that it was clear that the microphone that we had used in the shoot day —the professional one, not the one that the camera already has— had not been properly connected to the camera and the recorded sound had been filmed with the standard mic. As a result, if we listened closely to the footage, we could perfectly make out that the voices were not perfectly audible in some parts and that there was a roaring sound making it even worse. It was the regular sound you get from any room —ambience—, but ten times worse because the Studio has lots of machinery and electronic equipment turned on, as well as the lighting. If the external microphone, the good one, had been properly used, we would not have had that problem. It is just a matter of aiming the top part at the actors, and the sound is clear without interference.

Matt went on to tell us that this problem is extremely frequent and that lots of films have been completely re-recorded in terms of sound due to different reasons. An example of this is a scene in "Star Wars Episode II". Two characters are having a conversation in a ship, but the recorded sound during the actual shoot was impossible to use because of the excessive wind boycotts the whole thing. As a consequence, the Sound Design crew had to arrange some sessions with the actors to get the sound right.

I admit that when we learnt about this problem we weren't very pleased, because that meant contacting all the actors again and getting organised for a good hour of two of sound recording. Furthermore, there is a moment in which we see Callum's face while he's speaking so the lip sync is going to be difficult to do in that part. I am glad that our choice of cinematography doesn't allow us to see many faces while talking. So the next step is to email everyone and work on the sequence once more. I have already done a list of sounds we need apart from the dialogue.

Also, the moment of the shot is going to be achieved in a different manner than we originally thought. Matt said it will be a question of adding a layer with increased exposure mixed with a gunshot to make it look fairly realistic, rather than usingn blood special effects.

Shoot Day

8:50 AM

Our group met in our usual classroom to get everything we needed that was not in the Studio already. We gathered the boots that Katie had brought and I suggested to print out two copies of both the script and the storyboard in case we needed them.

9:20 AM

We got into the studio with everything arranged. We saw the final set and greeted some of our actors who had already arrived. Louisa had to take a look at the script so I provided her with one of the copies. We decided where our hand made props, passports and tickets were going to be located in the room and Katie made the bed —an important detail—. 

While Myles went to the French classrooms to look for Andrey, the only actor who was missing from the cast, I proceeded to  refresh Luke's memory and explain him the choreography and the correlation between the character's speech and their action. I moved around the set and demonstrated him in detail how everything was thought to be carried out.

9:40 AM

Our main actors, Callum and Louisa, started warming up and practicing their lines in a relaxed way while our group set the camera and started deciding what we wanted to include in the frame and what we didn't. Everyone got into their costumes and took positions. Ellis was in charge of the sound, while Emma was holding a white light just behind the bed, on the right hand side of the camera, so that Louisa could be seen better while she was hiding under. Myles went behind the set and so did Andrey and Said, waiting for our instructions on timing. Paul turned out the Studio lights and we finally got to see the actual lightning of the sequence, It was dim but not too dark, with pink and yellow lights coming out from the windows.  The whole scene looked far more compelling.

9:55

We started running over the scene to get into grips with it, without filming yet. Callum and Louisa seemed to work well together, which was such a relief. At first, they sticked too much to the script, but we told them to get off it and be more natural. By that time, Luke had assigned me the post of director and I was more than happy to accept it after all the previous work I had done to make the shoot day possible. I told the actors what they could improve and controlled the timing, as well as their way of moving and behaviour.

We encountered some problems with the Russians because they rushed into the room when it was their turn to appear and they had to wait twice as much as they did, but Myles and I eventually sorted it out. Some corrections had to be made regarding the use of espace and position of props.

10:45 AM

After running the scene for about ten times, we had to give the actors and ourselves a good rest of twenty minutes to unwind and come back to the Studio with renewed energy.

11:05 AM

We did one last general rehearsal and then started recording. We still had to solve the problem of Callum's death and the fake blood effect. However, Luke called Henry to make sure we could do that afterwards during the editing process, and he said there wouldn't be any problems at all with a pack that he had downloaded. To add some realism to go with the effect, we got hold of some fake blood and placed it in a bowl next to Louisa's under the bed position. She had to take some with her right hand and put some drops in her face so that when Callum collapsed, she reacted by turning and we could see that he had splashed her in the mean time. 

This idea made the process longer because, each time there was a conflict —the cables of the Studio could be seen behind the door, Callum fell in an artificial way and didn't seem dead, one of the actors forgot their lines...), Louisa had to clean her hands and face from a substance that was quite difficult to remove.

The screenplay, by that point, had become merely an inspiration and that made the sequence much better. We added details like the extremists in the end checking the passports around the room and discovering that there were two instead of one, which made them aware of the fact that there was probably someone under the bed.

In the end, we came up with some beautiful takes and the last one is bound to work perfectly with some colour grading and sound effects.

12:45 AM

By this time, we were done filming. We told Callum and Louisa that we didn't require them any longer and thanked them for being so collaborative and quick at obeying instructions and suggesting better ways of doing certain things. There was a break for lunch that everyone deserved. 

2:30 PM

There was a meeting in the Studio again, this time only with the Russians, because we wanted to get extra sounds on the spot to include them in the background in the parts of the sequence when the couple is still hiding without knowing what's going to happen and also to add some pleonastic sounds from time to time.

3:00 PM

We went up to Hurtwood to get some ambiance noise from the corridors, the toilets and furniture moving. It was difficult because, almost everywhere, there was someone having a conversation in their room or music playing. Luke joined us from time to time and helped us use the microphone to capture the sounds better and shut the ones that were ruining the filming as much as possible. We didn't get all the effects that we intended to, but Luke told us to wait until we had everything cut and edited to see if we were actually missing anything that couldn't be arranged with a program.

3:30 PM

Everything was finally done. We cleared up our costumes and props from the Studio and asked Paul if he needed any additional help. I felt and still feel utterly satisfied with how the thriller sequence looks like at the moment thanks to our effort and creativity. I would like to thank Luke especially because of all his professional support.

Last Minute Problems & Solutions

To make sure that everything went according to plan on Monday, I emailed the actors about checking the script for the last time and reminded them to bring their costumes. I also confirmed that Andrey and Said, the extremists, didn't have any black boots to wear in the shoot day, which would make it difficult for them to be recognised as terrorists. By the time we realised how alarming this problem was, it was too late to order some shoes online. Luckily enough, Katie told us that she could bring us her father and husband's boots, which are the same size and matched perfectly the roles we needed them for.

We also had to get hold of a wardrobe urgently. It is one of the key objects of our sequence as it adds continuity and suspense as the same time. Adam was the one who was supposed to provide us with one, but when we mentioned it to him he seemed a bit doubtful about the prospects. As he is my Housemaster, I had the chance to talk about it more extensively back in Peaslake and we arranged something. In Sunday evening, we loaded a big wooden wardrobe that would be perfect for the sequence regarding size and overall appearance in one of the vans and took it to Hurtwood. It was really heavy to carry, but definitely worth it.

Finally, everything was set for the shoot day. 

Supervising the Construction of the Set

The other day we went to check how the process of building our set was going. Paul was very attentive and told us all the details of the construction. We asked for some information about the bed and mattress, and decided to put lights behind the windows to add some atmosphere to the scene. I reminded him about the position of the pieces of furniture around the room as well, so that everything would be perfectly sorted by Monday.

Ellis has made some props to use them as additional material decorating the room: key chains with pictures of Moscow and a book about Trans-Siberian routes. Emma is going to bring a chair and some sheets for the bed. Myles will contribute with two passports and his flight and train tickets.

Planning in the Studio

Last week before half term we intended to do a screen test at least with the main actors but the plan was eventually cancelled because of lack of availability. Many people had left the school ahead of time for the break or were taking official exams.

Nevertheless, my group and I went to the studio to get an insight of what was being prepared there in terms of set and check if our chosen camera angles and arrangements were possible to do and effective, as well as the choreography. At first, Luke showed us part of our set, which was already being built. One of the walls was there, and we could decide to paint it or put any wallpaper that we'd like out of the ones available. The door was also there, and so was an old chair which we will use. The parquet floor was starting to get some shape, and Luke offered us to bring the bed —without matress— so that we could practice for a while with the camera, some hands-on experience.

Mike eventually popped in because we were arguing about the position of the camera. I am glad to say that he shared the same point of view as me. He taught us some depth of field by using some chairs of different colours and insisted on the fact that the take should be continuous throughout most of the scene, the whole scene if possible. He also agreed that it should barely move from right behind the bed.