Post Production Stage 1: Rough cut

 Rough cut and color grading

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        Finish filming for the first stage, we had quite enough resources to put together a rough cut, to visualize the timeline and continuity of the footage overalls.

        It should be made clear that I am not a prominent editor, and the lack of continuity edit or transition may come down to that this was made within a fast time span, and the focus was not on the beat/movement of the edit but general flow of each scene. 

Rough cut

    This is the edit that was done, and we had spotted some major flaws, including:

• Environment build up of footages: Overall, we felt like there is not enough linking of different scene, and are not convinced as a continous storyline in span of the susnset until night time of the same day. Drastic changes in location and our approach also effect the Nat's performance, as they are less committed in each take, as we were doing so many takes in the same day.
• Continuity issue in the first few footage: While we filmed, we did not visualize each action in the footage of the bridge, but going off the shot list like a checklist. Therefore, when put together, there was not any continuity of action, and the random variation of shot types also exacerbate this issue. The blend of Detective taking out their phone, to holding it near their ear, than hang up to kick the balcony, seem more like a desciption of sequence and jumping on time, than weave together as actions in the same time period, performed by the same person.
• Hand held camera: Shakiness of hand held camera is unavoidable, and we knew that we are aiming for that feeling, but excessively shaky just feel unintentional and lack of preparation. Indeed, we were very inactive and undercontrolled in that situation, as the streets are very crowded, and thus our handheld action was excessively shaky and noisy. The lack of natural lighting also harder for us to adjust camera setting to make it match with scene right before it, and prevent noises. 
• Angle matching for editting: As we shoot footage seperately, some was not match to the scene right after it. One prevalent example was when Nat is walking slowly with dutch tilt, and cut to POV of Nat looking down, but cross cut into close up of Nat looking to the left. This is crucial for logical sense, and aesthetically as well.  
• Beat of actions

Rough cut (edited by Renee) - using experimental shot

            The different between my version and Rene's is the pace of editing, as I wanted to use all the footage we can, to see if there are any faulty scene that require reshoot. Moreover, I dwelled more into close up and cross cut, to examine the headspace of the character, while Rene focus on the running and establishing of environment, thus having faster pace and wider selection of medium shots.

Rough cut 3. (final footage)

As of 9/4/23, we had reshooted 2 times minimum for each scene, and this is the last rendition of the final footage of our production schedule/reschedule

This version is composed by Rene