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Carpe Diem - Critical Reflection

Role: Production Design

Working on Carpe Diem I learnt so much and so much about the role of production designer. The feedback we received at the crit was insightful on how we could have improved the film.

Story - One of the main points of feedback for our film was in the storyline, feeling like there was stuff missing leading up to the argument and the outbursts came too fast and without too much of a lead-up of tension. This is true; we all thought the story lacked this much-needed tension when we were editing. We were praised for Lorna’s acting which is great as she delivered a great performance. On the other hand, the tutors were confused by Xanders’s place in the film as we follow a character who’s not particularly likeable in any way and treats his mother so badly. Leo also commented on how the grief of the mother seemed too far-fetched and would maybe make more sense if she had lost her mother instead of a father. There also wasn’t much enough of a led-up to make the audience care about the male protagonist and see his side of the grief of losing a loved one – just that he was being too hard on his mother that is grieving. I am glad we cut the second half of the film, which led the son to leave his mother and go out with friends, which would have made the audience hate his character even more. We were told the emotional journey was quite hard to read which is a shame because the script was worked hard and had multiple drafts towards the end. 

Edit – The edit was praised, and I think Ethan did a great job cutting around some of the story where it did not make sense such as when they reconnect at the end of the film it seemed more out of the blue and not realistic after the outburst. The moments of the film individually were praised but we were told that they didn’t work as well together but this is due to the storyline as well. 

Camera work and production – I was praised for my production design and the lecturers agreed that the production worked well with the atmosphere and visuals in the film. They liked how the house almost seemed unnaturally clean, something that I contemplated on set. They agreed that visually it made sense with the son’s character for the house to seem almost eerie and too clean. I am glad they enjoyed my and Kushal’s (DOPs) work as we worked together to make the scene work well with the story. A few others in the class also pointed out that the production design was great which made me very happy to hear. 

Sound – Zoe’s feedback for sound was helpful and she understood there was a mistake with the sound exporting in mono and not stereo which we will fix now. Casper did a good job of sound design, and it was very precise and clean.

Producer – Alana did such a great job as a producer and helped the film run smoothly. She was super organised throughout and helped make the film a success. 

I learned a lot about working as a team and the role of a production designer. There was communication between us all which made everyone up to date with what stage the film was at and what had to be done next. Working on the production design for this film was fun and I can see myself working on it again in future film projects. 

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Carpe Diem - Shoot (Monday)

A few of us went through to take the final few shots and clean down Alana's house. I made sure to grab all my production design and make her home look normal again. I had the best time working with this crew! Before we knew it was time to take all the gear and decorations the short but tiring journey back to Edinburgh!

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Carpe Diem - Shoot (Saturday&Sunday)

On Saturday we got through to Alana's bright and early ready to get the start of our film sorted! Most of my production design was still in place from the day before but i made sure to take pictures of everything so ensure i could look back over the weekend to make sure everything was in place.

I had a quick meeting with the actors who both brought their costume to match my description i sent out. Xander brought many options of suits which was super helpfull and we decided to go with the dark blue shirt with brown blazer as it went the best with our colour scheme. Lorna matched my description to wear all black and i was really happy with her leggings and baggy black t-shirt and cardigan as it matched with her character just wanting to chill around the house and not putting effort into herself. We decided to have her hair up and out the way as it was important to see the expressions on her character's face aswell as it added a messy apperance. I also decided not to add any additional makeup as her no makeup look was perfect for her character. I made sure to take pictures of her hair (as pictured below) so it would look the same the following day.

Once everything was set up there was one last job i had to complete which was to take photos of the actors in different costumes to place in picture frames around the family home. They each changed 3 times to a 'casual' description of tops i asked them to bring and we took them in different areas of Alana's garden, changing the lighting in each to look like different days. I think these worked well and really helped with the family home apperance of the house.

I was really happy with the fake blinds i created for Alana's kitchen. Me and Kusual worked together as he wanted to distort some light from outside but i also think it helps create more depth in the frame. I additionally took pictures of the drying rack as we were going to be filming in the kitchen over a couple of days so wanted it to look the same. I was happy with how the kitchen turned out as the clean feeling went along with the sons actions and character in the scene, as he cleans the glass right after his mother uses it.

I had a really fun time over the weekend and working with the actors. Everyone was so thourough with their jobs to ensure everything ran smoothly and in the times we had set. We also had feedback from our actor Lorna saying its the most professional student film she's ever worked on which felt great!

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Carpe Diem - Shoot (Friday)

Today we were having a test shoot to plan everything out before the weekend. I brought all my design equiptment down on the train in big ikea bags (heavy) and got to Alana's ready to set up. I started with the living room as this was one of the most important spaces in the house. I decorated the mantalpiece and side tables with books and nik naks and empty photoframes for where i was planning on taking pictures of the actors in different costume to show the closeness of the mother and son.

Once i was happy with the living room i decorated the hallway with additional picture frames and diffrent levels of decorations as there was alot of empty space to cover.

I moved items around in the kitchen and worked with Kusual to see what looked best in the frame to fill it up and make it full. I placed some dishes on the drying rack but decided to make the whole look pretty clean and tidy to go along with the unnatural atmosphere in the house.

Me and Alana also finalised some of the costume, putting the top as a birthday gift in the bag and making sure the actors knew to bring a couple changes of costume tommorow for the photoshoot in the morning. Overall i was excited and happy with how the production design was laid out.

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Carpe Diem - Moodboard

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Carpe Diem - Updated Script Breakdown for Production Design and Set/Costume List

Reworked Script.

Prop List

Pictures/Picture Frames

Gift Bag

Glass

Painkillers

Steal Watch

Blinds

Lamps

Home Decor (Candles, nick-nacks, statues

Costume List

Suit and Tie (Navy)

Mary - Joggers and a dark jumper

Colourful jumper as gift (Blue?)

Change of clothes for Daniel (Jumper and joggers?)

Steal Watch

Changes of tops for photos

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Carpe Diem - Presentation

link to whole presentation ->

I want my design to go hand in hand with the DOP's visual approach and style they have in mind for the film. Kushal has picked out a very dark colour scheme with mixes of dark blues and greens and browns and black. I think the yellow tones he has also chosen will pair nicely as they will contast from the dark mood, lighting and atmosphere in the second hald of the film. The yellows will make the house seem more warm and cosy, inviting the viewer into the family home.

To go with the warm colour scheme for the first half of the film i want to incorparate wooden furniture and deep coloured couches covered in pillows and blankets to make the house seem inviting. We have also decided the film is to be set in the early 2000's so i want to find toys from around this time to decorate the floor with. I will also print pictures of the family together to show the closeness of them all.

On the other hand Daniel's flat is going to have a very dimly lit atmosphere and have hardly any colour in it at all. I will also create mess in the kitchen to show how hes not bothering to clean up after himself or look after his space. This is because he can't even look after himself at that moment.

The bedroom with be decorated with lamps of family pictures and be kept clean as the grandad is staying their his daughter will be cleaning up after him as he is unable to. There will be dark covers on the bed and quite bare decoration not to distract from the story onscreen.

Daniel will be wearing a cartoon t-shirt to really show his inoccence and young lighthearted spirit.

The older Daniel will be wearing baggy jeans that arent meant to be super baggy to show him loosing weight due to worry and stress and to make him see smaller. Even though he is older he is still fragile and hurt by his grandfather's illness. He will wear a plain jumper to not distract from the scene at hand.

In the first few scenes the Grandfather will wear a yellow jumper or cardigan to go with the homely set design.

The mother will be wearing plain baggy clothing as she's not putting effort into her apperance as she is worried about her father. Dark trousers and a dark jumper help to signify her depression due to her father's illness.

Feedback From the Presentation

They liked our presentation and thought we all had a clear idea on what we were doing in our roles.

The use of a child actor might distract from the story and be more hastle than its worth.

More development of script as going on.

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Carpe Diem - Casting Calls

The amazing casting calls our producer Alana put together.

Location Recce

For the location we wanted a colourful, warm family home. We looked at a few Air b&b's but agreed they were all out of our budget. We decided to film at Alana's house as it was easily accesible for cast and crew to get to and would save our budget for other aspects such as catering, set design and costume.

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Carpe Diem - Character Breakdown

In Today's group meeting we had a character breakdown with director Davide. This was helpfull as it allowed me to start to think about how this character's would present themselves.

The Grandfather - I beleive in the first half of the film he would seem full of life happy to be hanging out with his daughter and grandson. Even thought of his health condition and old age he still presents himself well i imagine him dressing casual smartly with a plaid button up shirt and slack belted trousers. This will create contrast when he is lying in a hospital bed later in the film.

Daniel - When Daniel is a little boy i want to highlight his childhood innocense from the cartoon t-shirts he wears to all the toys that surround him on the floor. We are yet to decide what decade the film is set in but i think that it would be intresting to get toys from whatever decade the film is made in.

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Carpe Diem - Production Design

I'm excited to work as production designer for this film as ive never worked as a production designer before. I will need to work closely with the DOP in signs of colour and placement of objects in the frame. I will also need to work with the director to discuss the charcters traits in the film so i can decide their costumes, hair and makeup, and personal items in the house that belong to them.

I have watched some videos to get familar with thr role of production designer and am excited for Catriona's class to learn more about the role.

#Youtube

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Carpe Diem Update

Today we had a group meeting to disscuss all of our roles and what we planned for the film after reading the script. Ive highlighted the props i will need to arrange but at this stage the script is in a very rough stage so going to wait for Davide to develop his idea futher to go onto research the characters costume, their likes and dislikes and how the home will be set up. Im excited to develop this idea further and work with this group.

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Film Form

Carpe Diem - Production Designer.

I'm excited for this project as its the first time ive been the role of production designer. I'm excited to research into the location and time that the film is set and design costume and set. We have multiple upcoming group meetings so i'm excited to develop this script further with my group and create a world for this short film.

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Soundwalk For Ecology

-The goal of our soundwalk was to simulate the auditory experience of being in Blairadam, as well as to educate the listener about local history and its effect on the nature of Blairadam. On set, we decided to try a more theatrical approach and explore the idea that our soundwalk could be more of a ghost story. While this was a unique idea we wanted to try out, we also thought it was important not to distract from the local coal mining history and ecological effect that it has had on the forest today. As well as simulating the sounds of walking along the Glen Trail, we also wanted to use sound to trigger certain emotions or ideas for the listener. For example, not all the sounds we use on the final recording were recorded on the day, or even are naturally occurring ones. However, we believed that these sounds would reinforce the ideas and themes being discussed. -

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SECOND YEAR

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Representing the Real

Critique Feedback Form

NAME: Jessica Hynes

PROJECT: Documentary Film

DATE OF CRITIQUE: 27th April

TUTOR(S): Sana Bilgrami, Thomas Sheridan and Joe Li

VERBATIM TRANSCRIPT OF FEEDBACK:

Sana, “I really enjoyed that, I thought it was good that you started off with her talking about having been born during the war. And then there’s a nice slow process of revelation. She moves to this place for peace and then you find out about the firing range. So that’s shocking and you really get the feel of irony. And then you get the whole war thing at the end. So, I think structurally the film works really well. Actually, my main feedback to improve the film is for a start. She starts literally when the film starts, and she starts speaking and she stops when the credits are rolling, and she doesn’t stop for a minute in between. You need to let the Film breathe. You could have cut out some of that and had started with her not speaking. You use the landscape beautifully in your film, I just wanted the film to start with silence. Just hear, you know get constructed, the ready-made sounds of nature and put us in that space. Like using ready made Library sounds. Let us be emersed in that country side before she starts speaking about being from London, and we can see her sitting there. I’m sure you might have a moment of footage when she’s not speaking. I really appreciate that you held the shots, like the cutaways. You said you didn’t treat them like cutaways, and I can see that. So I actually have nothing against the nicely held shots. You let us look at the stream and the mountains and so on. So really well done on that. And I guess maybe in alongside what you would do in those moments of silence, where she stops speaking is let us be emersed in the sound of the countryside, because your whole film is about sound. Your film is quite literally about the sound of silence that she wants, the sound of prayer that you didn’t get and the sounds of gunshots, which we never hear. But we don’t need to hear them. What she says is enough. Those signs. All of that is enough for us to imagine it. But you, your film is just like gasping for the sound of nature. I mean otherwise it’s totally engaging and really interesting. I mean the only other thing I’d say would be if you had any more shots of the temple and the praying that would help give us a little bit more. I liked the interview and the way you set it up and I didn’t mind the sound of the wind. Well, done for improving it, you know it didn’t bother me because we were outside. So yeh that’s my feedback.” 

Joe, “So well done I like the film. The fact that you go all the way to the Scottish Border Its not easy for the shoot so well done. First the film is really about a delay in the voiceover for a few seconds. It’s just too fast and to have the empty shot using music or ambience first and then start the voice. And the other thing about the sound aswell is we are watching things that have sound, like the river, but we don’t hear any sound. So we need that sort of ambient sound. It’s quite bizarre we hear the wind see the wind cut to the river, there is no water. I think you did a good job anyway for most of the film. The water sounds you could have just downloaded you know.”

Tommy, “They have the sound they just couldn’t find it and so it was like the classic sort of sound last thing. And then you don’t have time for this. We know your Editor dropped out so this was really a time issue.”

Joe, “The other thing about the technical aspect was the shaky camera and shaky shots. It happened across the board the whole day. What you need to say is I’m going to be using handheld for empty shots. I will recommend for you to still take your tripod with you put your camera on the tripod and also imitate their movement. That makes is look natural as it’s like hey it’s on a tripod when at the same time you can just imitate a movement. I think that would really help with some of those shaking shots.”

Joe “I mean I have to talk to Tommy about giving you guys extra points for going on this adventure to make the film. Yeah, we will have to talk about it next week. My last point is really about across the board today is really the narratives challenge. It’s the way you tell a story maybe is not fiction film, so we are not conscious of this. You have such a conflict here that the place just next door is a shooting range and it’s a really big issue. Establishing this conflict at the start would have made the interview more intresting to listen to. You don’t establish the conflict; all of this is done through her interview. The gunfire is awesome its such an important element. Why do we not hear gunfire at all? I think there should have atleast been some gunfire or peaceful crowds.”

Tommy, “Ok, So first of all congratulations on the trip down there that was bold. I thought it was a bad idea to go all the way down there so you couldn’t re-shoot couldn’t pick stuff up. And I know you worked really hard while you were there to make it happen. Long Days. So well done. I totally agree with Joe on that. On the technical camera side, I think there was quite a lot of over-exposure what was meant to be peaceful seemed quite over cast. I kind of wanted the peacefulness because the shots and landscape were really beautiful just the brightness and colour and contrast put it down a bit you know. But I did find the cutaways very useful, but I would have left them for longer because of the peace. I kind of agree with more than with Joe than with Sana because of the creative potential with the sound of bullets. Especially because when I saw those metal plates for the bullets, for the shooting range those are like gongs. Like and when you hit them, they make noise and when you hit them from far away. You won’t know this but there are so many overlaps between the gun range and the prayer space and the Buddhist philosophy. So, when she was like ‘they told us to live and let live’ I felt the irony and when they were like ‘it should improve your meditation practices’, you know meditate through gunshots that’s actually kind off true in terms of meditating in noisy places. But I can tell she’s bothered by it being guns and I just think that subtlety is very nice in the storytelling and the storytelling and feel is quite a complex situation which I kind of like the way that it across. Definitely agree about starting later I would have loved; Duncan I know you’re not very experienced and were thrown into the deep end in this project. Sound design in a pro shoot has its own time. You lock the picture which means no more edits are going to happen the have about two to three weeks where it’s just sound design. Go find the sounds that the sound recordist made etc. I feel like this film would benefit massively by sound design. The silence and the noise and all the prayers, all of these things are really sounds driven rather than picture driven, and I feel creative sound design could enrich this so much. I feel like if the film started with birds chirping and silence and the pew and you hear the gunshots it would have been so much more effective. Yeh, I think there’s a lot of opportunity here to work with the sound design potential and work with the peace and non-peace. I thought the dealing from a technical point of view with the sound. I was very impressed with the recording in the wind. Like you can see horizontal laundry you know from the wind and the cleaning up was impressive because it was a very clean sound of that. Really like your pay offline or conclusion over the credits is really killing it. Not in a good way. It really undermines her story, and we should hear it. Then go back to the countryside then go to the credits like really give it breathing space. I’m aware that you were aware for time. Overall, I really thought she was a great character and appreciated all the tough outs you faced along the way, so im aware of that so I thought it was good.

Leo “I think it’s such a fascinating premise and I totally agree what Sana said about giving the film breathing time aswell and giving the peaceful shots some sound design. So, imagine having these beautiful shots. And then in the middle you just hear rapid gunfire, and your audience goes, what is that? What is going on? Then you kind off reveal it. This might not be a shared experience around here, but I think your subject was very boring to listen to. Like she has a very interesting story but the way she speaks dragging on sentences. So, in a sense I agree that you should have cut around it to make it more concise I don’t know how you would have done it. So, in a sense I feel for you because you had a lot of information to coney to make the conflict clear but it wasn’t easy to do so. I feel like it could have benefited from adopting a more abstract, more fictionalised approach to what you were showing. Don’t be afraid to push the fiction aspect a little bit more if it’s necessary. I don’t think in any way it would have been the case of lying it would just be placing sound so you can have at the moment. So, I think this film can be replanned around sound and play with that a bit more. 

MAIN POINTS GLEANED FROM FEEDBACK:

Sound Design: Using sound effects to establish more of the plot. For example, the sound of a gong mirroring the shots of metal plates of the shooting range. More sound design of the cut-away shots, river with no sound etc. 

Give the film some breathing time: Have some peaceful shots of the landscape at the start of the film and create some ambiance using music or sound library sounds. 

Conclusion: Instead of going straight into the credits let Julie finish her sentence and cut away to more scenery before rolling the credits on a black screen. 

Make conflict clear: This could have been done using sound design, making a contrast between the gun sound and peacefulness of the monastery. 

REFLECTION:

The main criticism of our film was the sound design and there not being enough ambient, or complementary sounds in the film to make it appear more finished and add structure to the story that Julie was telling. I think the main problem was that we ran out of time in the edit leaving sound effects a last resort if we had our film finished on time. If we had more time our group would add more creative sound design and discuss creative ways to display the conflict out with Julie’s interview in the film. 

ACTION PLAN:

-Re-edit the film using sounds we recorder on the day or library sounds to create a more ambient film as well as adding more layers to the conflict in the story. Going back to work on sound design will add a more finished feel to the film.

-Go into projects record and label every sound as it makes is so much easier for the editor.

-Make sure you time manage so that the sound designer has enough time to play around after the edit.

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Film Narrative 2 

Critical Reflection - Lady of the House

Sound Recordist/Sound Designer

Working on sound for this film was a great opportunity as I have never worked on this role before. It was fun to experiment post-production and play around with different tools to get the best result for the final film. I really enjoyed the supported pro-tools sessions as it helped to put me in a position where I could input my own creative ideas into the edit using software I had never used before.

In the rough stages of our idea we had supported group sessions with Kate Davidson and spoke about our ideas as a group. I felt this worked well in getting us all on the same page although it was difficult not having the director there. After having zoom calls and getting the whole team up to date we had a final script and were finally ready to plan for the shoot.

At the screening the audience reacted just how we wanted them too; with them laughing at all the right parts in the film. Our groups feedback was pretty positive with the comedy going down well. This is a relief as the script wasn't originally written as a comedy and thanks to Aisling's editing. In the edit Aisling cut down dialogue to change the tone of the film. I was also able to do this during the sound design process by adding in unrealistic sound effects like the twinkling of the vase and kissing noise. I think the song "Only a. fool would say that." by Steely Dan also works well to create a lighthearted tone to the film.

A criticism of the film we faced was the shot of the after-noon tea set up and close-up of the shaking cup when Scot was having their outburst. Whilst I agree that the shot does look out of place our teams thought process behind it was a lack of differentiating shots. Our film mainly contained close ups of both character's faces as the tension rises so we just wanted to give the audience something new to look at so that we keep their attention. Although, I think this did the opposite taking the audience out of the scene and instead distracting them with objects on a table.

Another criticism of the film was Credits and Title were both missing. I think this is down to lack of time at the end of the edit although I wish this was added in when the Editor and Director went back to Edit after sound production.

As a team we worked well together, although I think we could have benefited from more communication and everyone showing up to group workshops provided for us. When our group was developing the script and discussing ideas with Kate Davidson it was difficult as the director wasn't there to give their input. We overcame this by having group zoom calls at least once a week so that everyone was up to date.

During the shoot there were a few issues; the DoP and Director had a couple problems such as the DoP wanted to take establishing shots and master shots so that we had more variety to choose from in the edit and the Director not thinking that was necessary. I think this is furtherly down to the time pressure as we only had the Actor's and the room booked out for one day and the Director wanted to get all the shots he had in mind before the day was over and the sun went down. Although there was a time pressure on us I feel like it would have been useful to get these shots as it would have given Aisling more variety to choose from in the edit.

We faced a few problems in the editing stage. Aisling spent hours trying to make the film flow and actually make sense since on the day of the shoot the shots of both actors saying their lines was taken separately leaving the film to look clunky and not run smoothly. After the final Edit, Aisling the DoP and I met up a few times to discuss the sound edit and the next stages.

There was a slight problem of the director not coming to any editing classes so once I had finished the sound Edit (See last blog both for in-depth choices of my sound edit) the director came to watch the final film and wanted to make editing changes on Pro Tools. When we finally tried to export the edited pro tools version of the film with the film had a time stamp on it which we thought was originally just a convention of pro tools but we soon realised that this was on the film when it was originally exported onto pro tools before the sound edit.

Over the next few days there was a lot of pressure to get the film done on time and the director and editor exported my finished sound mix and decided to go back onto Avid, remove the time stamp and make the changes the director did on Pro Tools but on Avid and sync up the sound. I think the second export of the sound maybe made my mix quieter as at the crit it was difficult to hear my sound effects which I could hear clearly in the edit. From this almost disastrous post-production session I learnt that I should be more stern about the director seeing the finished product before it goes into pro tools and more demanding that they cannot change it once it is there.

At the crit I learnt a lot from watching my classmates films. I learnt how key sound design was to making a good quality film. Many of the films had great visuals and great stories to what I could tell but were let down by bad sound design and the film being too quiet. I now know to ALWAYS make sure to watch the film without headphones aswell as checking the levels and making sure to export it correctly. I think some groups were also let down by the recording on the day and not having proper equipment. So I noted to also keep consistent with the boom mic to make it easier for post-production.

Overall I think I learnt a lot from this project about time management, the basics of sound editing and recording and most of all how important communication is as a team. I'm excited to work on sound again in the future but also to try out new roles and work with new people.

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Film Narrative 2

Audio Post-Production 

Over the final weeks of term and Easter Break I booked out many sessions at the Screen Academy to work on the sound of our film to the most of it’s potential. Firstly I decided to split Scott and Max’s lines as it made it easier to overlay sounds and make sure the levels were all okay. I then added the song the film would start with “only a fool would say that” by Steely Dan. This song was key to the film as the Director had communicated that’s what he wanted it to start on in the script and on set on filming day. I spoke to the Director about what part of the song he wanted it to start on and I chose a suitable part of the song to pick back up again at the end of the film. I used fades to make sure the song wasn’t too abrupt and wouldn’t make the audience feel as if it wouldn’t fit.

I had a clear idea in my head that some sort of ambient classical music would go well with the genre of the film and vibe in the scenes leading up to Scott’s outburst. I thought this would create contrast aswell as creating more layers to the film. I took my time searching Pro Tools Sound libraries until I finally found one I felt worked well with the pacing in the scene. I think the classical music worked well with the comedic tone of the film. 

As the prop Vase was seen as a character in our film I had input a twinkiling noise whenever the camera focused on the object. This was used to highlight the importance of the object to the audience and create a relationship between Max’s character Maxine and show the importance of the vase through their eyes. 

Problems Faced

On the day the sound equipment died I put it on charge and tried to record the last bits of sound whilst charging but struggled as the plug was too far away from where we were wanting to film. Only having the actor’s for a limited amount of time left me to be stuck without certain clear lines of dialogue or sound effects which would have been helpful in the edit. Luckily during her editing process Aisling managed to cut lines of dialogue to make the film run smoothly leaving only the lines that were recorded clearly before equipment dying. 

During the editing process I had fun by being able to play around with different sound effects and funny noises to add to the comedic tone of the film. For example,  the twinkling noise associated with the vase worked well with the film only because of the already unserious nature established in the first few shots. I added in quiet footsteps where you couldn't hear any and the kissing noise of max kissing the vase which was actually a sound effect of a man sucking on a lime. I added in an eerie synth tone to add to the tension leading up to Scott’s outburst. 

Another struggle I faced is at 58 seconds into the film another voice is heard faintly in the background this is due to the director talking with the actors on set and not wanting to rerecord the audio due to time pressures. Although I tried my best to cut it out the voice was really difficult to cut without cutting the start of Max’s line which would have sounded worse. With this being so difficult to cut it has taught me to be more demanding on set and take multiple takes of each line even if we are under time pressure.

Since ‘the husband’ was a background pressence as a group we discussed ways in which we could make this more clear. Maybe by adding his voice in or  having him call on the wife at the end of the film. I felt like a lot a pressure was left on me to add the presence in at the sound design stage but it felt unclear on what I was to do as the presence wasn't written in the script neither did we get any footage where it would have made sense for there to be a voice in the background. I decided the film would benefit more if the audience had the vase to focus on as a central character. To create more interest around the vase I also added faint squeaking cleaning noises when max is cleaning it at the start.

Once I had finished the sound design I called the director in to take a look at the final product- this was his first time seeing the film as he had not seen the edit before it went into sound design although he was made aware of this. He made a couple of changes to the sound, mainly on the song but his main problem was he wanted to make changes to the edit on pro tools which took all day but once we were finally happy it was time to export, this is where things started to go wrong. There was a time stamp on the film which we thought was a pro tools addition but after exporting it several times we realised it was put onto the final edit and Aisling was planning on taking it off when she had the full audio of the film. This was now annoying as we had the film and audio together but had numbers on the bottom of the screen it was clear we had to make changes. Alex and I exported the final audio of the film as a finished copy and decided that him and Aisling would go in the next day get rid of the timestamp and make the edits which Alex made in pro tools in order to sync up the audio and the film. Although I couldn’t come along because I was working Alex and Aisling did a great job of syncing up the film and exporting it on time. Although I do think the second export of the film on Avid made my audio quite somehow and the mix was let down at the screening as you couldn't hear many of the sound effects that I put in. I now know that we should have been more stern on the director coming to see the edit in avid so that he could make his changes then without having to go through a much longer process. Though saying that I am proud of our final project and think I got to learn a lot about Pro Tools and sound design and am excited to learn more about it Next year.