EYES Pilot - Submission Cut

As EYES served as my final year practical dissertation I was required to submit it even if it was not finished. However, the fact that it was awarded the highest mark of the module as an unfinished project is testament to the potential it showed! Here I have presented the submission cut post of the Pilot as it existed when I submitted it back in May 2013.

As this is a rough cut, the current state of the picture and sound are indicative in terms of layout and style, they are by no means representative of the final presentation quality. 

Below I have embedded rough cut 2, the most up to date edit of the Pilot and rough cut 1 that features some of the intended sound design for the final cut. The final video is my reflective commentary on the Rough Cut 2 of the Pilot and the overall EYES web series concept, this video provides many explanations. 

EYES Pilot - The Finished Sound Design

I now have the finished sound design in my possession. Extra special thanks to my Sound Designer, Daniel Tapper, for all the hard work he put into this! 

I will put these to good use next week, the final cut of the Pilot is not far away!

EYES Vlog Update 24 - Postproduction

EYES Pilot - Rough Cut 8

Here I have done a few more minor tweaks and fixes. The final shot has been smoothened as it was originally shaky due to the wind and the static shot of the Jazzmeister's eye will be replaced by a live action one which I will shoot some time this week.

Basically, I'm at the point where there is not much more I can or want to do with the edit.

Aside from colour grading and the odd technical fix (mostly where I fucked up the focus) there really is not much more I want to do and, quite frankly, I am at the point where I want to move on from this thing.

I will put the latest rough cut up in a bit and I will endeavour to come in tomorrow afternoon to do some more fixes. But aside from coming in next week to give everything a final going over and at some point finalising the sound design with Daniel we are almost done! 

I want to devote a whole day to the colour grade because it needs to be spot on and, hopefully, that day will be next Wednesday...

 

EYES Pilot - Rough Cut 7

Another day of hard work means another rough cut.

This one has some significant changes in it. The most significant changes are a major re-thinking of the lower weir flash back scene/memory with Ella (Letitia Ringshaw/Tish) and the changing of Ella's name to Turner. This change of name is something that I have contemplated on for a while now. It comes from an artefact of sound I found in one of the shots of Boris (Mykel Elledge) playing with Rubik cube by the weir. 

 While fiddling with the cube, Mykel whispers something along the lines of 'turner', 'turn it', 'turning'. Regardless of what Mykel actually says, I always heard it as Turner and figured it would be a nice unintentional ghost/subtextual element to incorporate; as such, I have placed the 'Turner' bit of dialogue at three points in the pilot and this dates back to rough cut 1. It is only now that the cohesion of the whole thing is starting to come together that I have decided to directly connect this whisper of 'Tuner' to Tish's character and remain that character Turner.

EYES Pilot - Rough Cut 6

Here I have done some more leveling of the sound, some more trimming and inserted a few new pieces of footage. The logic of the whole thing is starting to coalesce into a coherent whole - this has come a long way since the shooting script!

The climb up the mountain continues, but the end is in sight...

EYES Pilot - Rough Cut 5

I have had a slight fiddle with a few of the shots, I have done some more trimming and I have been levelling out all of the sound.

There is still more to do...

EYES Pilot - Rough Cut 3

A new rough cut. Not much has changed with this one, as many of the changes were concerned with correcting elements of the audio.

EYES Pilot

Due to the extraodinary workload of this module and my other two modules (Documentary Making and Film Dissertation), I have not been able to complete a final cut of the EYES Pilot Episode. However, this is not something I will apologise for and I do not believe that it is detrimental to overall success of my project. In fact, I would rather submit a rough cut and openly admit it was a rough cut, instead of trying to submit something that I was pretending was a final cut. A good editing job requires 80% of the overall production time! For more of my reasoning in this respect, see the vlog below.

The primary reason I enrolled on the Creative Enterprise Module was so I could produce a film-like entity that I could put into my professional portfolio to demonstrate my theoretical and practical filmmaking skills. Therefore, the Pilot will endure long after I am finished with module and I fully intend to complete the Pilot episode. As much as I want to finish it, I have to finish it to ensure that the other members can use it to demonstrate their work, as I promised. Myself and Daniel are already planning out when we are going to meet up for additional sound design session. 

Therefore, while I have not a fully complete project for the module, the module has enabled me to create a project and a mindset that will endure beyond it. Surely, this is the point of the module. 

As this is a rough cut, the current state of the picture and sound are indicative in terms of layout and style, they are by no means representative of the final presentation quality. 

Below I have embedded rough cut 2, the most up to date edit of the Pilot and rough cut 1 that features some of the intended sound design for the final cut. The final video is my reflective commentary on the Pilot and the overall EYES web series concept, this video provides many explanations.

EYES Pilot: Sound Design (Rough Cut 1)

Due to various technical problems, Daniel was not able to produce a version of the second rough cut with any sound design. Therefore, what follows is the work Daniel has already done for the first rough cut. As the second rough cut is my indication of what the final cut will look like, this should be seen as a demonstration of the direction the sound will go in for the final cut. 

 

EYES Feedback: Daniel Tapper (Sound Designer)

Daniel submitted his feedback on the project today.

Daniel's Feedback post in the Facebook Group.

Pasted below is Daniel's complete feedback:



EYES Feedback – Dan Tapper – Sound designer
 

• Your experiences of working on the project.

My experience of working on the project has been essentially good. Its nice to work on a project with someone who has a clear vision of what they want to achieve. Most of the time Peter was able to communicate clearly what he wanted but at points what he asked for seemed a little convoluted and occasionally contradictory to something he had previously said. However I felt that both of us were pretty much on the same page meaning we were able to work effectively together and come up with a clear plan of action.
 

• What you've gained from the project.

Previously my sound work has been for quite visually abstract works such as animations, adverts and a short horror audio visual film. Working on EYES was the first time I had worked on a more structured narrative project and proved a good bridge for me between abstract and more structured dramatized work as EYES has elements of both.

• You're views on me and my project management skills, etc

I think Peter has done a good job managing the project. From my experience managing even a small team can prove difficult. The role I am performing is fairly straightforward and doesn’t require a lot of management but from working in the field with Peter I have seen that he is able to inspire others to commit themselves to hard work in pursuit of his vision. Peter is also very personable, helpful and unintimidating making which contribute to his leadership skills as people are not afraid to put their views across.

EYES Vlog Update 15: Editing & Sound Design

A Machine to Listen to the Sky - Short Documentary

Here is the close to final cut of the documentary I filmed for Daniel's (EYES' sound designer) A Machine to Listen to the Sky. You should give it a view, you might learn something about sound you didn't know before (and because it has some fantastic cinematography)!


Machine To Listen To The Sky from Daniel Tapper on Vimeo.