"Off-Track" Article 4: Cuts and Feedback

A little over 2 weeks after wrapping up principal photography, I have made an assembly, a rough cut, and a "creative" cut.

The initial assembly was intended to give everyone a quick glance at how the shots looked together. Looking at the rushes, we had plenty of coverage and takes, usually around 3 to 5 per slate. There was a day where we shot in the garage, alternating slates between two scenes, which confused me when labelling them in the project as some were mis-slated (in the logs as well), leading to me presenting those scenes out of place in the assembly.

With some notes from the director the weekend after, I rearranged and refined the cuts to match it more faithfully with the script.

Feedback from our tutor and team revealed plenty of room for improvement, which I spent the rest of the week re-editing the sequence to address those points.

For example, Robert in the flashback scene with a younger James was said to look unconvincing as he has not looked younger than he does in the present day, older even. I tried cutting it down so we at most see Robert's hands and back but not his face, filling in coverage gaps with inserts of the model train.

Another criticism was that many of the scenes had Robert reassure James when he gets stressed out. It happens a few times in consecutive scenes, which can feel frustrating and repetitive. I cut out one such exchange in a garage scene, as a result the scene becomes very quiet even with location and movement sound. Music composition may be considered for this.

Meanwhile, voiceover for a train station announcement for one of the scenes was recorded by sound mixer Sophie, voiced by David's dad - the real life inspiration for Robert's character. I also took the opportunity to browse the university's sound library for sound effects during this period, as I found some integral sound we recorded on set, such as the steam train chugs, did not sound good to listen on its own even if it's authentic.

I shall relax a bit next week as I will be volunteering at Manchester Film Festival 2024 for several days. We should be at a good stage with the edit currently - though if the next tutor feedback session reveals more work to be done, I will have to work it out on my laptop in Manchester.