MAJOR-PROJECT UNIT: Rough Cuts and Feedback

It was Mel's job to sequence the footage and produce the rough cuts of the edit - however, I still thought it necessary that I be present to review the cuts and sit in on the feedback sessions as this would inform how I would take over the edit in the fine cut stage. It was necessary for me to hear the feedback for the rough cuts to ensure that I didn't then unconsciously go against this feedback in my cuts of the edit.

Rough Cut 1:

Rough Cut 2:

Rough Cut 3:

Rough Cut 4 :

The main feedback throughout the rough cuts was that it needed to be cut down in order to give a tighter product. Another constant piece of feedback was that the sound needed to be brought up and clarified, as well as adding more sound design - I will tighten the footage further in the fine cuts as well as editing the sound and adding the sound design).

It was also suggested that it is not clear that Tim has broken in to Tess' house in the first scene - however, this cannot be changed due to not having the coverage of Tim breaking in - instead, we will just focus on making it look like Tim is sneaking around (which gives the impression that he is not supposed to be there). The audience also don't get the sense that Tess is much more successful than Tim as the pictures of here don't clearly display this - however, these were the only images we could get from our actress that made her look successful. Also in scene 1, it works well that the audience don't see the certificate until Tess holds it up, this just needs to be made tighter.

It was suggested that footage or overlays need to be placed over the top of scene 3 when Tim and Luke are driving to indicate to the audience that they are in a moving vehicle - this was always our plan but this will be my job in the fine cut (instead of being Mel's job in the rough cut).

In the following scene, it was also suggested that a clip of a dog in the road be added to make it very clear to the audience what has just happened (on top of the sound design that I will add in the fine cut), this was since added in later rough cuts.

There also needed to be more scenes of the van driving to transition between the scenes (and perhaps a shot of the van pulling quickly into the owl academy to add more urgency to this scene). These transition shots were added in later rough cuts.

It was also suggested that music be added to the night scene to give more of a 'heist' atmosphere - I will do this with the sound design in the fine cut.

Feedback was also given on individual shots that could be made better to improve the overall quality of the production (i.e. a tighter shot on the "I'm VET-MAN" line would be more beneficial to make this more dramatic). Mel implemented these changes prior to handing the project over to me for the fine cut and colour grading stage of the production.

Overall, the feedback on the rough cuts was very helpful as it helped to improve the product. All the feedback was taken on by Mel (or noted for me to adjust in the fine cut - like tightening the product, adjusting the colour and tackling the sound). This gives me a good base for me to build on in the fine cut as the project just needs fine tuning now to allow it to reach its potential.