"Off-Track" Article 6: At last, Picture Lock (Or is it?)

The Penultimate Stretch.

After a somewhat relaxing Easter break, we find ourselves in the final month of our deadline. The edit before the break seemed all right with nothing much to change besides minor adjustments. I figured we needed to get some tutor feedback before we really declared picture lock.

Enter Mikey Murray , who has read David's script before and has experience with directing a feature-length indie film. It was the second day that campus opened after its closure during Easter, and so I scheduled a short, half hour screening and review session with him. Before I knew it, it ended being nearly two hours.

There were many considerations to unpack, though nothing as huge as the garage scene from the previous article. Looking at certain takes, angles, and lines of dialogue, he felt that there could have been better performances we could use, and for most of them, there were. It really puts into perspective how getting a second pair of eyes on the edit really matters, especially with someone of his expertise. He also gave suggestions on stylistic choices like the chapter title cards. Instead of placing them in specific shots only, we could be more flexible and place them wherever it fits the pacing of the story.

Unfortunately, David, the director, contracted COVID during Easter, and was unable to come in person to review and discuss. He was still able to type me his own notes as I shared online YouTube links to the cut I finished on that day. He eventually recovered well enough to come in for one day on the weekend. Most changes after Mikey's feedback were welcomed by him, and we spent an hour or so going over the few sections that needed additional reworking.

And at last, the picture lock was complete, just in time as we planned in our post-production schedule. It is up to the colourist and sound editor to finish the last stage.

The Colour Grade

Thanks to the workflow I planned, bringing the timeline over to DaVinci Resolve was no problem. I accompanied the grading sessions occasionally, and had to fix a few technical issues (e.g. certain files did not link correctly.)

Even within a film like Off-Track, which sounds simple on paper, colour grading can be a mighty beast.

It is not just adjusting parameters universally to the picture, but also targeting specific areas if necessary. For example, skin tones may look odd compared to the graded surroundings, so masks would be motion-tracked to the important spots (e.g. face, arms) and an extra layer of grade applied to those masks.

Some ideas only emerge once we get to the actual grading process. In the garage flashback sections, for example, an idea was to add a hazy filter to make it more dreamy or distant. It definitely looks much more stylised and impactful.

There were a few shots of the same scene can be difficult to match each other in its grades. The first two sequential shots of the film in particular looked quite different lighting-wise, and was a challenge to get them right. However, there is only so much one can do with parameters and masks. It can't be all perfect, just the best it could be.

The Sound Mix & Edit

As the heading suggests, finishing the audio proponent involves sound level mixing as well as adding, deleting or replacing existing sounds altogether.

For the mixing, it is not as simple as making audio louder or quieter. The details are important in selling a convincing environment that the characters inhabit. In the garage scene, for example, it is supposed to be indoors but the door is open, so you can faintly hear the morning soundscape: birds chirping, wind blowing, the occasional car driving past, etc. Then when we go to the exterior scene right after, those sounds become much louder as the characters are now fully outdoors. It's all about the right atmosphere.

For the edit, our sound editor may wish to use better sound effects instead. I must admit that I am personally rather attached to most sounds I used, especially the stock steam train chugs I obtained from the university's sound library. This is apparently known as "temp love". However, I know that my understanding of sound design is quite limited, so I am happy to let someone with more experience take over for me.

There is one case of automatic dialogue replacement (ADR) in the film, where the line used was poorly recorded such that the sound editor insisted on bringing our actor to the recording studio just to re-record that one short line. This did not stand out to me, but when I listened to it again, it was much more obvious. That's why you need a soundperson that's more sensitive to these flaws.

Text and Titles

The film opens with the crescendoing sound of a modern train leaving a station, followed by the logo of the film as shown on the cover image of this article. A simple font will do for this.

Next, we have the chapter titles, which we added in using Resolve's text tool.

Last but not least, we added in the credits. Always a pleasure to recognise everyone's efforts in the film by typing out each of their names.

Conclusion

Though it is easy to do some basic colour grading or sound mixing in non-linear editing (NLE) systems nowadays, I understand that it is essential to have people dedicated to those aspects, if possible. It allows me to focus on the offline edit, freeing me of the responsibility that awaits after the picture is locked. There are some editors that are able to do everything in post, which is great, but for a project that requires such detail, I most definitely prefer to pass it on to others for who can spend all their efforts in polishing up what they do.