rough cut

Progress of a sort

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I finished Rough Cut 3! The intention was to get all the scenes in roughly good shape so that we can view the whole story. There are still some problematic scenes but I thought it was time to show the film to our Music Producer Carrie Higgs. So on the 12th March, Carrie, Angela and I watched the whole thing through and made notes.

There were many notes. Boom in shot, unintended jump cut etc. Oddly, there was one shot where a very stark shadow of the entire crew passed straight across the frame as some car headlights move past yet I had not noticed a thing! Many notes but most can be fixed fairly easily. The sound needs attention and it needs colour grading but in general, the technical aspects are satisfactory.

However, this is just all the scenes strung together. I now need to think about pacing and narrative. Music will help as will better transitions scenes. At the moment I just have place holder shots of buildings. This coming weekend we have another screening with a bunch of non-combatants. Friends who aren’t involved in making films. So I’ll get more feedback on the shape of the film then.

Meanwhile I have contacted a professional editor to give advice and potentially take on the cutting of the problematic scenes. A fresh eye will be less attached to shots and dialogue and, as the film is currently just over two hours long, there may be scope for some fairly ruthless cutting.

I must admit that after getting to this stage I am a bit burnt out with editing and I am waiting for the feedback from the civilians and the professionals before making any big changes. While I wait I’m working my way through the notes that myself an Angela made, filming pickup shots and collecting additional B-Roll for transition scenes. Yesterday saw me standing about on the streets of Brighton for six hours getting shots of different tower blocks at different times of the day.

So, progress of a sort.

Rough Cut

/ jonesxxx / Leave a comment

A good Christmas though I feel slightly betrayed by being murdered by our truck driver during a game of Traitors around the dinner table on Box Day. The last of the mince pies consumed, the left overs thrown out and the port put away until next year to avoid temptation.

To kick off 2026 I’ve started editing in earnest. To be honest, I had felt a bit daunted by the sheer volume of media I’d accumulated and didn’t really know how to start. The idea of going through it all, take by take, determining the best shots and takes and then slotting them together seemed like hard work.

A friend suggested I create a “rough cut” and the more I thought about it the more sense it made. Just throw it together not worrying about getting the best takes or the best shots and not spending too long on fine tuning the cuts or the audio. Just put it together to get a sense of the film as a whole. I started doing this before Christmas but this week I’ve been at it for at least 4 hours every day and it’s coming together. Not just coming together, I think I have some fantastic sequences.

One idea that comes to mind is what they say about writing; that it’s a creative process. This sounds like a cliche but I think what is meant is that it’s the act of writing that generates the ideas. When I was working on the script I found this to be true and I am now appreciating its relevance to editing. I think I was previously thinking of editing as an analytical task of slotting the best takes together in the right order. I am now starting to think of it a a creative process similar to drawing. I hack away at the clips and arrange them and then rearrange them and gradually something coherent emerges……hopefully.

I think I have about 80% of the rough cut complete and this has given me a good feel for the whole as well as highlighting areas which need attention. I ned additional transitions, some of which I can assemble out of existing footage, some might need some additional B-Roll and there is a chance that some might need short additional scenes.

Part of the editing this week involved assembling a couple of montage sequences and I started to appreciate the impactful effect of music. Right now I’m using Vaughan Williams, Fela Kuta, Lewsberg and Max Richter. I’m doubtful I’ll be able to afford to license any of these but it provides a feel for the scenes as I edit.

Also this week myself and Angela filmed the short outstanding scene and I spoke to a potential intern with a view to him helping Julie with social media and promotion. More on this later.

I have also been having discussion with CHatGPT about some of the themes of Automatic and it delivered a neat little recap:

  • Advice becomes guidance
  • Guidance becomes policy
  • Policy becomes enforcement

This ratchet only turns one way.