We had the Automatic wrap party last Saturday night at a pub in Brighton. Around 30 people turned up, including cast, crew and others who’d helped out on the film. It was a great chance to catch up after filming and talk about what we’d all been up to. Oddly, none of us seems to have taken any photos, which I’m choosing to attribute to everyone having such a good time that pictures simply didn’t occur to us.

Of course, having the wrap party doesn’t mean we’re all done and dusted. I’ve been working on the second draft of Automatic, choosing better shots and takes and tightening up the cuts. I’ve also allocated specific audio tracks for each actor, selecting the best audio and placing it on the correct track. I’m slightly torn between the technical side, trying to get everything right, and the more intuitive process of choosing which shot works best. So, my approach has been to work on the scene, improve it, but not perfect it, then move on to another. I’ve listed all the scenes in a spreadsheet along with the duration of the current version, which lets me calculate roughly how far through the edit I am. For this draft, I’m about 50% of the way through.

There are a couple of scenes which are fairly intense and I haven’t yet tackled those properly for draft 2. With the help of ChatGPT, I’m learning more about editing as I go, and my thinking is that what I learn working on the simpler scenes will benefit the more complex ones later on. I’m realising that there is much more to this editing lark than meets the eye.

For example, a J-cut is where the audio from the next scene starts before the video cuts to it, and an L-cut is where the audio from the current scene continues after the video has cut to the next. I have used these techniques to some extent and gave myself a pat on the head for being so creative. However, last week, while editing, I asked ChatGPT about this technique, and I’ve now discovered that it’s actually fairly standard practice, and that J-cuts in particular feel more natural and draw the viewer in. Suddenly, it dawned on me that this is probably the norm for most edits, and that cutting of audio and video at exactly the same point might actually seem quite clunky.

It did cross my mind to hire a professional editor who would already know all this stuff. But then I might also have hired a professional producer and a professional director. In fact, I could simply have bought some shares in Warner Brothers and gone down the pub. But I wanted to direct, and I wanted to edit – so here I am.

Last week, while editing, I realised I needed phone ringtones. I can’t use standard ones because they’re covered by copyright. I hunted around online and found a few possibilities, but I really need to stay focused on editing. So I put a call out on Facebook, and two friends came back to me. One guy I’ve known for years is a whiz with synthesisers, and he’s generated some ominous and irritating buzzing noises. Another is the son of an old sailing friend who’s just completed a degree in Film, TV and Digital Production at Royal Holloway University. He’s going to get me some tones for phones and computers.

There is also some specific music I’d love to use in the film. Although I doubted I’d be able to afford the copyright fees, I reasoned nothing ventured, nothing gained, so I contacted one of the bands and was pleasantly surprised when they replied, saying they are considering the idea. I’ve also contacted a local musician about other music, and we’re currently in discussion. I still need to finalise the voice-over for a presentation which appears in the film. I’ve got a couple of options, both of which are promising, but I need to get that scene edited so I can try out the audio properly.

As mentioned in a separate post, Chichester Film Makers have asked me to talk about Automatic and screen a short excerpt at their Winter Event on Saturday, 31st January 2026. Today, I’ve been working on a teaser trailer for that.

Tom and Julie are back from gallivanting around the Far East. Tom has completed a new version of the poster, and Julie managed to get my Chichester talk listed on the Sussex World website. Many thanks to both of them.

Last but not least, I’ve agreed an internship with a student at Valencia College in Orlando, Florida. He’ll be starting very soon and will be working on social media promotion.

At the moment, I’m aiming to get Automatic into the Brighton Rocks Film Festival by the closing date of 21^st April 2026.