Major Project - Fine Cut Screening & Feedback
Fine Cut Screening & Gathering Feedback From Our Peers
Today was an opportunity to present our documentary in a fine cut state to our course leader Simon, our technical advisor Fergus and the rest of our year group on the course. We were quite nervous given the length of our documentary (27 minutes at this stage) however the reception was much more positive than we were expecting to be completely honest.
I spent more time taking my own personal notes during the screening than watching the documentary, however we got some valuable feedback from not just the class but also Fergus and Simon who had yet to see the race day sequence at this point. One of the things we did notice and was emphasised to us following the screening was that things often sound incredibly different through speakers than they do headphones, so we should refrain from mixing solely through headphones to avoid unexpected or unsatisfactory audio design.
At this stage the credits aren't present just yet, however they'll be added within the next week as part of the finishing touches and grading process alongside guest lecturer Nathan Caws. The feedback from the class was generally very positive, some people noted that it kept them interested throughout the entire 27 minutes, holding their attention sufficiently. This was a surprise to us though in retrospective it makes a lot of sense given how many times we've all seen it through from start to finish during the editing process. There were also compliments directed towards the amount of effort that had clearly gone into the principal photography phase of the documentary which of course comprised the large majority of overall production time on 'DreamChaser', we're all glad to hear people recognising this from a single viewing as it's definitely something we want to emphasise following the release of the film.
As for Simon & Ferg, they were overall very positive about the entire thing which was somewhat surprising, we expected some harsh criticisms, though I imagine that's more to do with our collective apprehension than anything else! Ferg said that it was a really strong piece and being open with the audience when it came to discussing the highs and lows of the journey came off as powerful, especially during the south downs and race day sequences. He went on to say that we really got a sense of the incredible challenge that laid ahead of Alex at the beginning of the film and hardly knew the time went by. The only criticism Ferg noted was that we didn't need as many cuts during the diary room sequences, however we did mention that it was partially to do with the camera set-up we had considering the space restrictions in the garage area.
Simon was impressed with the race day sequence and seemed to enjoy the ending despite our apprehensions towards what happened and how to go about handling it from a story-telling perspective. His criticisms were that we need to look at the choice of music for sequences like Bruno and the fitness montage, the Donington PTC at the end with Alex mentions about a track day when we don't actually see any material from that day so that needs to come out, as well as the first diary room repeating some of the things that the introduction states. Regardless however, there was a clear sense of challenge throughout the documentary and as long as we ensure that it doesn't become overly repetitive, we're looking at some really strong work.
We left the screening session pleased with the feedback we had received and genuinely surprised to hear how much positivity there was going around when it came to the overall strength of the project, we're not entering the final 2 weeks of the unit so it's truly go time!
Today was an opportunity to present our documentary in a fine cut state to our course leader Simon, our technical advisor Fergus and the rest of our year group on the course. We were quite nervous given the length of our documentary (27 minutes at this stage) however the reception was much more positive than we were expecting to be completely honest.
I spent more time taking my own personal notes during the screening than watching the documentary, however we got some valuable feedback from not just the class but also Fergus and Simon who had yet to see the race day sequence at this point. One of the things we did notice and was emphasised to us following the screening was that things often sound incredibly different through speakers than they do headphones, so we should refrain from mixing solely through headphones to avoid unexpected or unsatisfactory audio design.
At this stage the credits aren't present just yet, however they'll be added within the next week as part of the finishing touches and grading process alongside guest lecturer Nathan Caws. The feedback from the class was generally very positive, some people noted that it kept them interested throughout the entire 27 minutes, holding their attention sufficiently. This was a surprise to us though in retrospective it makes a lot of sense given how many times we've all seen it through from start to finish during the editing process. There were also compliments directed towards the amount of effort that had clearly gone into the principal photography phase of the documentary which of course comprised the large majority of overall production time on 'DreamChaser', we're all glad to hear people recognising this from a single viewing as it's definitely something we want to emphasise following the release of the film.
As for Simon & Ferg, they were overall very positive about the entire thing which was somewhat surprising, we expected some harsh criticisms, though I imagine that's more to do with our collective apprehension than anything else! Ferg said that it was a really strong piece and being open with the audience when it came to discussing the highs and lows of the journey came off as powerful, especially during the south downs and race day sequences. He went on to say that we really got a sense of the incredible challenge that laid ahead of Alex at the beginning of the film and hardly knew the time went by. The only criticism Ferg noted was that we didn't need as many cuts during the diary room sequences, however we did mention that it was partially to do with the camera set-up we had considering the space restrictions in the garage area.
Simon was impressed with the race day sequence and seemed to enjoy the ending despite our apprehensions towards what happened and how to go about handling it from a story-telling perspective. His criticisms were that we need to look at the choice of music for sequences like Bruno and the fitness montage, the Donington PTC at the end with Alex mentions about a track day when we don't actually see any material from that day so that needs to come out, as well as the first diary room repeating some of the things that the introduction states. Regardless however, there was a clear sense of challenge throughout the documentary and as long as we ensure that it doesn't become overly repetitive, we're looking at some really strong work.
We left the screening session pleased with the feedback we had received and genuinely surprised to hear how much positivity there was going around when it came to the overall strength of the project, we're not entering the final 2 weeks of the unit so it's truly go time!
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