As I was the editor, I had a reduced involvement in the casting of our two main actors, and the auditioning process was carried out by only the producer and the director. Instantly, they knew the male actor George was perfect for the character of Jamie, and although their first choice for the part of Beth dropped out, they quickly found Rebecca, a good replacement for the role. After our producer had secured all the necessary props and sent the actors their call sheets, we scheduled to film on the 22^nd and 23^rd of November.

After we had a finalised script, we agreed it would be beneficial to test out our equipment and confirm we knew exactly what we were doing before our shoot. On the 6^th of November, we booked out equipment and headed to the photography studio to practice. Our main concern was how we were going to light our shots, so we spent the majority of the time experimenting. We initially tried the conventional set up (with the key, fill and back light) which, despite its undoubtable glamour, didn’t quite match the broody atmosphere we had envisioned. Not only did this style look too polished and ‘nice’, but due to shooting in a small student house we didn’t have the space for 3 lights. Therefore, we opted to use just one LED panel and any practical lights we could find to create a more shadowy, dingy feel.

In this practice session, I also experimented with the Zoom F4 Audio Recorder/Mixer. I felt comfortable with the responsibility of editing, but the added pressure of doubling as a sound recordist made me feel apprehensive about filming, especially considering I’ve had no experience with this position! Finally getting hands-on experience to test it out is something that really boosted my confidence towards our shoot.

The Tentacle Timecode Kit was another aspect of audio recording that intimidated me, as I already experienced how this seemingly small piece of equipment can have much larger implications in post-production. During my boot-camp film, a problem with the Tentacles meant that the editor was unable to sync the visuals and audio, resulting in her painstakingly matching the soundwave patterns between the in-camera and microphone audio. This is clearly a problem I don’t want to happen again, so I made sure to practice using the equipment multiple times.

So, we had a script, a storyboard, a shot list and experience in using the equipment. It was now time to find the right actors and get to filming.

In this week, we made a few revisions to the script, and started to plan and storyboard our shots. Although my role is centered around the post-production phase, it’s still important I participate in pre-production. Not only does this give me a deeper understanding of the director’s vision and aims, therefore improving the film’s cohesiveness, but it also allows me to plan aspects that will help me when I’m editing. For example, I made sure we planned a master shot for each scene, which would give me full coverage to cut back to in case some of our close-up shots didn’t come out as expected.

This is the week we were first introduced to our projects, and were placed into groups of 4 based on the roles we chose. We ranked these roles (Director, Cameraman, Editor and Producer) from 1 to 4, and fortunately I was allocated my preferred role as the editor, which includes all aspects of the post production process, from sound engineering to colour grading. After completing our bootcamp film, I feel much more prepared for our longer final film. Even though I had the role of producer I still contributed to the editing process, which helped remind me of the skills I learnt while editing my two shorts last year.

Immediately after our roles were selected, our director explained to us his idea for the short film titled 20:05. The plot is fairly basic; Beth, a woman with a history of violence finally snaps and murders her boyfriend. What is unique about this film however, is that it’s told backwards. The opening scene acts as a narrative hook for the audience, who will now want to discover the circumstances that led to the character Jamie’s death. They are taken backwards past the fight, through the argument that caused it, and finally to Jamie talking to his friend Ben as he walks home, who warns him about Beth’s dangerous temper. This format works well with the 5-minute time limit we were allocated, as we could aim for a scene per minute, which also played into the time-related title of 20:05.