Don’t use the NLE countdown I went to a short film night last week, and the first four films all began with an eight second countdown that had ‘Final Cut Pro’ emblazoned on it. By the time it hit the sound sync blip, most viewers had already half formed an opinion of that film. Don’t start a presentation of your pride and joy on the back foot. If you do feel the need for a countdown (and I personally think they are irrelevant on a DVD screener) find a different one that doesn’t advertise whose software you’ve pirated. (Only kidding on that last part, of course. We do not in any way encourage filmmakers to pirate software here at MFM.) It’s just a personal gripe, but it drives me nuts.
Note: Film festivals and organizations usually stipulate if they want a countdown, leader and color bars when you enter. But for a public screening, this is the behind the scenes stuff that you don’t want the audience to see.
Sound Design
Professional films have a many layered sound design, so put some thought into FX, atmosphere, sound placement and final mastering. It’s quite an art (hence the Oscar category) but even a simple consideration of where things should be, how they should sound, and what level they should sit at can improve a film one hundred percent. A well placed sound effect can turn a chuckle into a belly laugh. Alternately a bad choice can turn it into a groan. For advice regarding sound design talk to musicians, audio engineers, band mixers; anyone who has a decent grasp of audio.
Note: The Aussie film ‘The Bank’ has a great DVD extra where they take a scene and go through the layering process of the sound design. The difference between the original ‘wild sound’ scene and the end result is quite phenomenal.
De-Interlacing
There are lots of articles about what de-interlacing is and how it works so I won’t go into it. But the reason for deinterlacing is to improve clarity and reduce flicker. Most NLE’s have a deinterlacing filter you can apply to your final edit before export. Select the ‘lower’ field option if it gives you that choice.
Interlaced.
Deinterlaced.
Style
No matter whether it’s conscious or not, every film has a style. In general terms, this is the sum total of all the previous factors and then some. What style you choose dictates the color grading, the sound design, the editing, the pacing, the music, the acting and is tied up with concepts of genre and objective. With your style you should commit to it totally as a strong, clear style will benefit the overall film. Whether people like your style or believe it works or not is a subjective argument and one that can be debated. If the style of your piece is strong enough, technical issues may be overlooked by the audience or even argued as a stylistic choice. (You won’t always get away with it, but it can be worth a shot).
Whether your film is a comedy, crime caper, horror, thriller, period piece, character study, mockumentary or documentary consider what the style should be and what you will bring to it to make that style your own. It is often the small touches in a film that can be the difference between average and superior. Stylistic choices should be made throughout the filmmaking process, but it is in post that they can be brought together and honed to a fine point. What you are aiming for is a conformity of style, even if that style is non-conformist.
End Bit
As I mentioned at the start, my filmmaking experience is limited, but hopefully I’ve served up something edible to the dinner table of learning. Many of you will be far beyond any advice I have to give, and many things can only be learnt by painful experience no matter how much you read and absorb. What you should be aiming for is a technical competence that allows the audience to completely focus on the important part of your movie: the story. A good director friend and sometime DOP of mine told me ‘You can fix anything in post, as long as you have the time’. Unfortunately as filmmakers we don’t always have this luxury, but use whatever time you have to make your project as good as it can be. You can spend forever tweaking and polishing and sometimes you just have to cut it loose and send it out into the world. To misquote Peter Jackson, ‘you do not finish films, you abandon them’. Just make sure that when you abandon your baby, it can fend for itself.
Michael Wannenmacher is a Melbourne based Director, Writer and Actor working regularly in the Australian industry. His first two short films have received critical acclaim and have played in both local and international festivals. His third short, a documentary, was recently award nominated at the St Kilda Film Festival.