On Tuesday we had a screen of the films that Level 4 have made in both the factual and fictional groups. The films that the Factual groups made all looked amazing, they had been shot in a highly professional manner and they could have easily sold their footage. There was loads of room for improvement in these films but the overall consensus was they had produced some extremely good looking films, for the most part well edited, with only slight flaws that brought them down. When it come time to show Fan Man to the whole year after having seen these great professional looking films, the experience was an embarrassing one to say the least.
The version of Fan Man that we showed didn't resemble a finished film but a work print, and it was only when seeing it there in front of me that I realized this in horror. I instantly regretted not spending more time to perfect the edit. As a film and a narrative it does make sense but it looks far from professional. Though the version of the voice over we have is much more dynamic and gives the film its lighthearted, comic feel, there is a big chunk in the middle of the film where it drops out, leaving mostly dead air. I should been more imaginative with the sound, but at least putting in different music tracks to underscore the action helped a bit. The film needed a more dynamic sound scape, louder effects to go along with the music, and more voice over. Ours was also the only film not to include any credits sequences, which I simply never thought to put on.
I think I should have taken a more active role in the group and made a stand for the film. Though I was supposed to be the main editor on the film someone else took over and I don't believe that they had the same enthusiasm for the project that I had. They took out some of the more creative choices I had made in rough versions, and I even had to put one of these back in after it was pointed out the film looked a lot better with it in. The versions of the film that come out of this I felt was edited rather dryly and brought down the film. When I finally got the chance to get on a mac and edit myself I felt I was being pulled in different by the group, some who supported the decisions I had made, and the other editor who wanted to keep his version. The frustrated me so much at one point I had to leave the edit suite. What frustrates me the most is I believe that the film could have been better if I had complete control over the editing, but in the end I didn't speak up like I should have so it's my fault.
In the end, though the finished product did not come as well as we would have hoped, Fan Man still proved to be an invaluable experience. It taught me about the inner-workings of teamwork when working on film projects, how you all to pull your weight and it becomes immediately obvious when someone isn't. Communication is vital and without this progress and creativity can slam to a halt. It is no good enough to think something is done, you have to watch it over and over again and get it perfect. I am excited to begin my factual module in January and am looking forward to incorporating the lessons I have learned in my fiction experience in my future projects. Fan Man was a much needed lesson and kick up the arse.
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