In my short film 'Malfeasance' there was quite a bit of audio edits that I had to make. For example in many scenes the weir overpowered the dialog audio. To counteract this I used a nose reducing audio filter on the Weirs audio. I thought long and hard about it but came to the conclusion that the filter actually made the dialog audio worse, making it sound 'tinny' so I decided against it and just turned down the volume. As seen throughout the scenes screenshotted below.
I also played around with the audio effects levels on the different clips to try making the sound even throughout the film. This was because in some scenes depending on where the microphone was, it would picked up different volume levels. In the final orchestral piece, I chose to sample a piece from a song I fell in love with a while back and had to use in a film (You & Me - The Flume Remix). I also chose to have all diagetic sound fade out to silence when the song starts, isolating just the song, giving it a more dramatic affect. I made sure to remove any loud and random disturbances in the audio, like a car honking its horn. I did this by detaching the audio clip, cutting the sound out and then layering a background audio track under it that I recorded on the day.
For what it was, yes I think it was successful. I did not set out to create a Hollywood level film, that would be very unrealistic. The perfectionist i me had to convince myself of this over and over again. I didn't try to cram an immense plot in that short time frame, resulting in a complicated and rushed film. So instead I set out to make something three minutes long that used context clues and broken dialog to give the audience a vague idea of a bigger plot, leaving the rest up to imagination. I was proud of what I produced, definitely a far higher standard of production for me. I was able to apply what I learnt about cameras, microphones, script writing, and directing over the last few months all into 'Malfeasance".
What feedback did you receive from your peers?
What my peer had to say:
"Wow that was so epic, it's a shame about the noise of The Weir but that's just a problem with the location, the rest of it was epic, I loved the use of extreme close ups and the music, also the story was really good!" - Tom Arthur, 19 (YouTube)
What would you change/do differently?
I would definitely try to improve the audio next time. The weir is far to overpowering most of the film. I thought I had the right microphone set up but maybe Lavalieres would of been a better choice over directional microphones. Or I could of overdubbed all the dialog.
How will you improve for your next project?
I will use more interesting camera set-ups and movements in my next film. Like crane and tracking shots. Also I will get better audio and costumes.
What did you enjoy/not enjoy?
What I Enjoyed - Directing, I love directing! Getting to film in such a beautiful location. Also I enjoyed every aspect of editing the film as I find it fun and incredibly relaxing.
What I Didn't Enjoy - My cast letting me down. They all forgot their costumes which I thought, really broke the characters. Jillian is supposed to be a hugely successful and influential politician, but is wearing ripped jeans, and our private detective is wearing a t-shirt under his blazer, instead of a shirt and tie.
How effective was your production team?
At times they were very productive, and we were able to get a lot of filming done quite quickly. But at other times they completely switched off and no matter how frustrated I got or how much I begged they wouldn't cooperate.
How effective was your planning in terms of execution?
Pre Production was definitely the most important part of the filmmaking process. It was critical that every aspect of the production is thought out and psychoanalysed Doing that saved us a lot of time and money. It also made the filmmaking process as smooth and hassle-free as possible. On the day of filming, besides them not having their costumes, everyone had their scripts and knew their lines and what they had to do, and where they had to do it.
Day 1 - Friday We got to meet Alex on our first day. Due to the Bath Chronicle's new room being quite quiet my group and I were able to work on the spare computers in the office. We were tasked to rewrite some newsletters into a newspaper article. Fairly simple and menial job but good experience none the less.
Day 2 - Monday Today we got asked film a news video on police officers that were going to the Royal High School to show the students their police horse and dogs. It was a lot of fun filming the videos and then coming back to the college to edit it! I learnt a lot about team work and communication from this experience and would love to do more of it.
Day 3 - Tuesday Alex asked us to scan the city of Bath for various landmarks that we can screenshot and put in an online gallery for people to guess where it is. This was quite a fun thing to do and I enjoyed doing it.
Day 4 - Wednesday
As it was a bank holiday the following Monday, we were asked to come up with a list of activities around Bath that the family can do on the holiday. Going to the Clavedon Weir for a swim (pictured) was one of the 19 ideas we came up with.
Day 5 - Thursday for our final day we were asked to go all around Bath and compile a list of places that offer lunch specials for £10 or less. We tried our best to come up with a list of very popular places like, Wetherspoons, but also places people might never of heard of like a quaint little Thai restaurant in the back streets of town.
