✩finalizing my film (for the most part)

Since my film was only 1:23 and that’s wayyyyyyyy too short, I needed to go and grab some more footage. Throwback to this blog post where I spoke with my brother about my film opening and he gave me the idea to preview different locations that would later show up in the film. SO, in order to add some more time to the film, I drove around town to a few different places (town center, shopping plaza, park) to get some shots. I got shots such as cars passing by, a lake view, trees, and a coffee shop, all around 7 seconds long so that I could trim them to the desired length. On each shot I included my credits which (not in order) are as follows:

• Producer: Kailey Fretwell
• Editor: Kailey Fretwell
• Writer: Kailey Fretwell
• Director: Kailey Fretwell
• Filming: Kailey Fretwell
• Miranda Ferreira
• Sophia Magette

Very cool :) I also did some audio adjusting to try and get my film to sound cohesive. This includes muting the video audio and inserting a different clip’s audio that I didn’t use in the film in its place. Overall, a pretty tedious and exhausting process, but very worth it. I’m pretty happy with how the ambiance sounds on that front.


I also had to do some adjusting to one of Sophia’s (404’s) lines. This was a line I had her rerecord after the filming day because her line didn’t sound authentic after Miranda’s. Sophia recorded the line inside, meaning unlike her other lines, it didn’t have the outdoor background noise. In order to fix this, I took two other video audios, put the telephone audio filter on them, and slapped them underneath the second line. Bam! Problem solved.


One last thing, I showed what I had to my brother Jake, the one from the blog post I linked earlier, and he and his girlfriend gave me some advice. Both thought it would be nice to add some music into the background near the end of the opening to add some more drama and I completely agree. I didn’t want something with vocals but I knew I needed something ominous to fit the mood of the opening. So, I turned to an infamous instrumental artist to find a song I could use: Kevin MacLeod! Most famous for being the soundtrack of all those cringey 2012 YouTube videos, his songs like Sneaky Snitch, Monkeys Spinning Monkeys, and Fluffing a Duck. (Side note: I have Sneaky Snitch in multiple of my current playlists and it brings me so much joy to hear them, especially with other people who are instantly caught off guard by the song LOL). Anyways, I listened to many beginnings of MacLeod’s songs, and funny enough I found the track Spider Eyes from the same album as Sneaky Snitch, one track below it. It’s just the right mix of ominous and mystical that I added the track to my film opening during Miranda’s (Julia’s) last line. The timing was actually perfect! Something like bell chimes plays in a melody right when the title card comes up, making the notes appear to be a leitmotif throughout the movie which is super cool! It also reinforces the mystery and wonder of the opening which I find delicious.


Jake also recommended that some of the opening scenes were in reverse to emphasize the reverse timeline ideas. While I think this is a neat idea, I feel like it’ll be jarring to see a car drive in reverse and then see nothing else travel backward in the rest of the opening. Especially since the story is only following Julia who travels forwards. So, I opted not to make my most obvious opening shot (one focusing on a car driving across the screen) backward but made two other shots with cars in the background reverse. This way it’s very subtle but still might catch an observant viewer’s eye to implement the theme of time.


Phew! That was a lot of progress in the last few days. I think I’m pretty much done with editing my opening though, which is a scary thought. I might change some things if I go back and decide to alter some things, but definitely nothing major.


With that, I’m gonna blast, I’ve got a CCR to begin! Wish me luck ahhhhh!!