A whole month has passed since my last reflection on Deliberate Film, and in that time, I have come to learn so many new things from the incredibly diverse range of class exercises.

The First Film Reshoot Exercise from week 4 was particularly thought-provoking.

V1 – Edit by Theo

Including V1, Wing, Saud, and I worked on 4 different versions of The Book—rotating our production roles each time.

As our group members are based in China, Kuwait, and Singapore respectively, it is unsurprising that our biggest challenge was with overcoming the strikingly obvious differences between the conflicting architectural designs of our homes.

Thus, we spent a substantial amount of time scouting locations around our houses in search of workable commonalities.

V2 – Edit by Saud

For example—whilst working on V2—we realised that a similarity between Wing’s house and my own was an upright piano. We conjectured that the instrument’s music rack could potentially function as the table required for our chosen script, and eventually settled on the idea when we noticed the presence of blackout curtains in both locations.

V3 – Edit by Wing

In truth, we had the least confidence with the production design of V3, which may come as somewhat of a surprise considering it was the version we ultimately shared with the class.

Saud’s place of residence had virtually nothing in common with my own, and we struggled to find a viable location up until the pre-arranged day of filming. We shared a collective “aha!” moment on Zoom when we figured out that the table we desperately needed had been hiding in plain sight—quite literally under a tablecloth.

As a result of our collaborative efforts in pre-production, the rest of the shoot ran like clockwork, and we were able to experiment with a few interesting shots that I would never have thought of on my own.

In conclusion, this exercise really opened my eyes to the importance of proper planning and production design, and I will definitely strive to apply this knowledge to my filmmaking practice.

V4 – Edit by Theo

At the time of writing, I have just completed the Sound Animatics Exercise.

I found this exercise truly fascinating as it was unlike anything I had ever done before in the lead up to making a film.

Over the years, I have unwittingly developed an unfounded expectation that pre-production will only be centred around visual or textual material like storyboards and AV scripts. As such, the idea of a sound animatic has honestly never crossed my mind.

In certain regards, the sound animatic is undeniably superior to its visible counterparts. Reading “she was scared” on a piece of paper is significantly less evocative than an audial experience would be.

Additionally, the sound animatic allows for a filmmaker to grasp the flow or pace of a film prior to any actual filming. In my case, it made me realise that the shot list I had put together for Failed Mission could be adjusted and simplified for a much greater effect.

This exercise also provided me with an opportunity to experiment with sound editing and mixing in Adobe Premiere Pro.

I approached the task fairly methodically, utilising the organisational skills we have been honing since the start of the semester. (Each audio file is labelled with a colour that corresponds to its respective bin/sequence.)

I began by stringing together the dialogue and—to create the echoey effect of a cave—applied reverb to a couple of additional tracks.

I then worked out the music with a sequence comprised of 3 different songs.

I moved on to line up the atmos, foley, and sound effects with the existing sequences.

Finally, I arranged the tracks in the order specified in the task brief.

By staying organised, I found myself completing the edit in no time at all. I was able to navigate and adjust the different tracks with relative ease despite my inexperience in creating sound animatics.

From this experience, I have come to a deeper understanding and wider appreciation for sound as a powerful medium of expression. I have also become much more aware of the positive effects of maintaining an orderly and methodised editing approach. Moving forward, I will absolutely try to incorporate a sound animatic into my pre-production process.

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